I think you're all deluding yourselves. This is going to be a very challenging year with serious problems of aging in many areas combined with some fairly high-priced new arrivals that I think will pose serious chemistry problems to the team. I've never seen a team work so hard as the 2016 Patriots, and what did they get for it? Just to be paid half what some guy who hasn't played a down for the Pats has? I think there is a big risk this is going to harm the chemistry, which is going to show up in poor preparation and unintelligent on-field decisions.
Apart from that, the very fact that so many sportscasters are proclaiming the skill of these new acquisitions is a serious tell that the Patriots, who have built their team on undervalued players, are losing their creativity. It's like when Spielberg started casting famous movie stars in his films: you knew he was done.
If average viewers (like sportscasters and the media) can see the strengths of a new acquisition, then so can opposing coaches, and prepare for them. I'd be much more comfortable if the media was insulting the ability of the Patriots players, like they usually do, and then getting perplexed when the Patriots win. Because if the media insults a player, it means the media doesn't understand him, which means he has hidden ability that Belichick can use. When the media compliments a player, it means the media does understand him, which means so do opposing coaches (including the GMs who traded him, or other GMs who declined to trade for him).