Key Questions:

Will Brady be back close enough to peak form to lead this team effectively? Yes. I have been stalking him with binoculars.
Does Belichick agree with everyone else that the team needs to get faster at LB? I guess not.
Do the Pats have what it takes win a 4th Super Bowl? TBD

Position by position:

QB: See above
RB: Fred Taylor should be a solid addition and capable of providing high quality production when healthy (recurring theme for this team). Sammy Morris, Maroney, Faulk and BJGE round out a very deep position
WR: Randy Moss has declined but is still elite. Wes Welker may not be elite but is exactly what this team needs. Question marks from here, with Joey Galloway and (R, 3rd round) Brandon Tate, and JAGS after that
OL: Top 5 projects same as last year, hopefully with a healthy Stephen Neal
TE: Chris Baker is a potential key addition here. Ben Watson has shown speed and...not too much beyond that
DL: elite squad is all back, though maybe this is the last go round for Big Vince. Ditto for Richard Seymour as well, but in better news his wife was recently cleared of lynching charges! Good for her.
LB: AD will hopefully be able to get in a full season this year. Mayo had a great rookie season, and I think we're gonna need him to keep getting better. Tedy Bruschi is still an active NFL player and a projected starter on this team. Yikes. Even more yikesy is the 4th LB spot with Pierre Woods as a projected starter. To my eyes this is a shockingly shallow LB squad
DB: BB decided that was this team needed, even more than more draft picks, was a Safety. Hrrrrm. We should have 2 new starting CB's, Leigh Bodden and Shawn Springs for the 1/2 year he is healthy. There are lots of other bodies at CB - guys like Wheatley, Richardson, Wilhite, and the aforementioned newcomer Chung.

Schedule: what goes around comes around, at least in NFL scheduling. Not many easy spots here. Courtesy of Mike Reiss:

# Sept. 14 (Monday) -- vs. Buffalo (7 p.m., Ch. 5, ESPN)
# Sept. 20 – at N.Y. Jets (1 p.m., Ch. 4)
# Sept. 27 – vs. Atlanta (1 p.m., Ch. 25)
# Oct. 4 – vs. Baltimore (1 p.m., Ch. 4)
# Oct. 11 – at Denver (4:15 p.m., Ch. 4)
# Oct. 18 – vs. Tennessee (4:15 p.m., Ch. 4)
# Oct. 25 -- at Buccaneers (in London, 1 p.m., Ch. 4)
# Nov. 1 -- BYE
# Nov. 8 – vs. Miami (1 p.m., Ch. 4)
# Nov. 15 – at Indianapolis (8:20 p.m., Ch. 7)
# Nov. 22 – vs. N.Y. Jets (4:15 p.m., Ch. 4)*
# Nov. 30 (Monday) – at New Orleans (8:30 p.m., Ch. 5, ESPN)
# Dec. 6 – at Miami (8:20 p.m., Ch. 7)*
# Dec. 13 – vs. Carolina (1 p.m., Ch. 25)*
# Dec. 20 – at Buffalo (1 p.m., Ch. 4)*
# Dec. 27 – vs. Jacksonville (1 p.m., Ch. 4)*
# Jan. 3 – at Houston (1 p.m., Ch. 4)*

* subject to flexible scheduling
KBZ outlook: replacing an average QB with a great one should be a gigantic gain. much more talent at CB should help, as will RB depth. BB seems to be going with my fantasy baseball strategy of "who cares about acquiring injury prone guys who are good when healthy, we'll figure something out when they get hurt". We* still have the best coach in the NFL. Our old rivals the Colts have lost Dungy and seem to be on the decline. the Steelers are good but we may never end up facing them, and I think they are due to have a worse D this year. I'm also not sad to miss the Chargers on the regular season schedule. This team should win 11 or 12 games and be a force throughout the pre-, regular, and post-seasons. Jambalaya!!!!

*yes I say "we". if you don't like it, I don't care.

dude it's May

this

funny pic:

Wow, I disagree with so much of the OP.

I expect absolutely nothing from Fred Taylor nor Richard Seymour.

I love our young LB's (Mayo of course, but Woods and Guyton, too).

I do agree that AD Thomas is going to be crucial to this LDO.

Looking forward to the return of Monty Brady's Flying Circus.

ya what's with all the 2009 team threads

Tom Brady's doctor:

which means the draft has already happened and rookie camp is underway!

woot, brady gonna be sick. hopefully he hasnt gone soft.

what are you going off though? Guyton was undrafted, and has accumulated enough pt to make 34 tackles (lifetime) with 2 starts. Pierre Woods has played 3 full years and has started 3 games.

The NFL is more difficult when you don't know what blitz the defense has called ahead of time

7-9 or 8-8

betting is welcome in this thread!

I will take the Over on 8 wins

What's funny is, I love the Jets/Pats rivalry. And IMO, the Jets are a decent team now, which will make the games good. But jeez, I'm getting so sick of home openers for the Jets being against the Pats. Just give me a new team already

Let's see about the Jets QB situation before we call them decent. Will Clemens be the Day 1 starter? If not, I'd expect a pretty awful year with Sanchez as the starting QB.

I think the Jets were a decent team last year that was basically sabotaged by awful QB play towards the end. of course mediocre/bad QB play is what I would expect for much of upcoming year. Mangini probably got a raw deal and I'm not sure you can expect HC improvements this year. I think you're looking at like 7-9 or something for the NYJ.

i think chris baker was a nice addition for you guys; he blocks well and while he doesnt possess great speed or quickness, he catches EVERYTHING. seriously, if the ball is anywhere near him, he will bring it down. he had far and away the best hands of any jet receivers.

as for the jets, ive been a fan of clemens this entire offseason, i want him to be the starter and i think they are def a wild card playoff team if he starts. people love to discount him based on his statline from 8 games as a rookie, which is pretty stupid. he was a rookie. the team around him was terrible. also theres nothing wrong at all with letting sanchez sit for a year or longer. the defense is going to be really really good imo

which is why the football diehards need these kinda threads

I had no idea Woods has played 3 years.

I only saw Woods and Guyton at the end of last season, but it seemed like they were always around the ball, and making nice-looking plays.

this has been lacking at TE for us. Watson is a boom or bust type who drops too many balls.

I see the pats losing AT MOST 5 games : ravens, titans, colts, panthers, and maybe jags

playoffs for sure.

why would this be his last year? leave via FA?

the pats will be dominant

yes, and he will likely command big bucks. it's probably a large reason why the Pats drafted an interior DL with their 2nd pick this year, Ron Brace

ya that kinda seemed likely

im just surprised they wouldnt want to resign their homegrown elite NT (NT is the most valuable of all 3-4 positions imo)

unless he commanded a haynesworth-like contract i guess. actually that makes me wonder if mcdaniels is planning to sign him next year, and why denver didnt draft a DT...dam i hope not, i liked him looking really stupid

some other things to look out for:

- In the next 3-4 weeks, Jason TAylor signing with the Pats is pretty likely as it is either the Dolphins or Pats for him

- Peppers 95% won't go to the Pats this year but I wouldn't rule out next year. In fact, I think there is a >30% chance next year that Peppers might go to the Pats, especially with them being his #1 team, what Belichick and Kraft have publicly said so far about a possible trade, etc. Maybe this is why Belichick didn't draft any LB's? Who knows, it's always a guessing game with Belichick anyways

- Randy Moss will catch AT LEAST 14 TD's this season