On the real, The last Super Bowl they went to, they didn't have the talent to go, but won enough to go anyways when they had no business doing, and it took an epic Baltimore choke to ensure that they did.
In 2009, and 2010....they had two of the worst defenses the league has EVER SEEN.......and they still had winning records and playoff births.
The last two years have been filled with injured starters at the worst possible times, roster churns and spotty, inconsistent play that us Patriots fans have witnessed first hand, week in week out. Make no mistake, the Patriots haven't been some 'great' team since 2008. But.....for some reason....(ahem) Belly and Brady (ahem) they win 11-14 games a year anyways.
Trust me, I expect them to lose more games than they do almost every year.
It takes the end of the playoffs and the best/hottest team in the league to finally show their warts lately it seems. But truly, they should be no better than the rest fo the pack, it's just the Belly/Brady stuff that keeps people from counting them out.