I think the Pats organization deserves a lot of credit but at the end of they day, they lucked out with Tom Brady. There would be no Superbowls or any of the other accolades without that guy. Belichick might not even still be the coach.
You think Tom Brady would be *the* Tom Brady if he went to the Browns or some other NFL wasteland?I'm not a NE fanboy and I'm certainly not a hater. I just can't help but respect the high level of quality that this organization has demonstrated for a long time now in the free agency era.
Not only are they competitive season in and season out, they also always seem to have a whack load of draft picks to continually reload year in and year out. Belichik plug-and-plays the players he has into the positions he can and then adapts his scheme around what he has to work with. His team can always beat you in at least a few different ways.
And, when a player costs too much or becomes a distraction, they know when to pull the trigger on getting rid of them. Conversely, they have also rehabilitated a number of players from other teams at bargain-basement costs to acquire.
I'm not saying they have the Midas touch, because they have whiffed on occasion too, but, show me a team that doesn't -- now show me a team with the level of success they've strung together recently (hint: there aren't many).