Here's the thing:
YES, the Pats improved overall between the draft and free agency both in adding talent AND depth, but so did EVERYBODY else.
In the vacuum of the shorts and t-shirts football season, any fan of ANY team can look at their new pickups and say, "We are better now".
All I have ever asked of the Pats (and I have been there from day one), is that they field a COMPETITIVE team. A team that, in a vast majority of their games will have a chance to win the game well into the 4th quarter. Also, to be entertaining and "likeable", a fun team to watch and root for and every now and then reach the top levels of the league in a given season.
Last season was a perfect example of that, plus a LOT of things that could have gone wrong... DIDN'T. Even during the LONG dark times of the '22-24 seasons, there were always double digit games that were one TD or less games. That is the nature of the NFL. So there will ALWAYS be a lot of games where a bad bounce, bad call, untimely injury can cost us a game so easily. That just comes with the nature of the game.
So, it is easy to think, "We won 14 games last season, and we have improved at multiple position thru the draft and FA, ergo we should win even more THIS season". Hey, we should know it doesn't work that way. History is rife with superbowl losers being worse the next year. Hell, we didn't even make the playoffs the year after we WON, in 2001. So, for me, an 11 win season this year would be a fantastic result, and given the schedule, we would need an improved team to accomplish that feat.