I know that the Pats look weaker than they did in previous years, but they still have the two most important pieces to the puzzle: Brady and Belichick. Both are arguably the best at what they do in the NFL and are great leaders for the Pats. Add in two top tier TE's and Amendola (who may be better than Welker if he can stay healthy) and the Pats offense is deadly already without even considering their running game, which played great last year and will continue to benefit having the threat of Brady distracting defenses from the running backs. Their pass defense is very suspect, but their run defense is solid and is enough to stop teams from keeping up with the high point totals the Pats put up. Denver is still better than them, but Houston needs to prove themselves in the playoffs before I'm ready to pick them over the Patriots.