1. Brady evolved as a QB. You saw in the 2014 season where we won SB XLIX, he started scrambling and running the ball more than ever before. Defenses gave him space and he took it if he couldn't find an open receiver. This paid off big time in this years Super Bowl as well, as his 15 year run at the time was a big momentum swing and our best run of the entire game up to that point. After drafting Jimmy Garopollo, who was praised coming out of the draft for his quick release.... Tom Brady's release got super fast. He started making decisions and releasing the ball so quick it's become hard for most edge rushers to get to him before he throws it. He also improved pre-snap and became more like Peyton Manning in this area. It's as if Brady is able to take the best parts of other QB's and add it to his repertoire. Brady is the best student of the game. It's amazing that such an old QB is still evolving and adding new things to his game.
2. Consistency at the Offensive and Defensive coordinator positions. We won 3 lombardi's with Romeo Crenel and Charlie Weis. After they left it took 10 years to win another Lombardi! We went through Mangini, Dom Capers, and Dean Pees at defensive coordinator. Josh McD and then Bill OBrien, then back to Josh McDaniels at Offensive coordinator. Finally there is stability and both of our coordinators are amongst the best in the NFL.
3. We have a defense again. After the 3 SB wins in the early 2000's, our defense was aging. We eventually lost key players like Seymour and Ty Law. Bruschi, Vrabel, Seau, Harrison, all got old and retired. The next generation of defenders didn't carry the torch. Asante Samuel wanted too much money, Meriweather didn't pan out, and Jerod Mayo was good but not great. Finally we have a real defense again. Devin McCourty and Chung took a few years to find their groove but now their one of the top safety tandems in the league. Malcolm Butler came out of nowhere and is a top CB in the league. Hightower might go down as the best Patriots MLB ever if he sticks around. You really have to credit Belichick, Nick Caserio, and the rest of the front office for the bargain bin finds they've picked up.... Alan Branch. Akeem Ayers. Kyle Van Noy. Chris Long. Eric Rowe. Matt Patricia has obviously been a big reason for our defensive improvement.
4. Rebuilding takes time. Most won't admit that we went through a rebuilding phase, but we definitely did. You look at the 2009 to 2013 draft classes. Almost ALL of those players that stuck with the team took a few years to develop. Edelman certainly wasn't this good during his first few years in the league. He kept getting injured, made mistakes, and had to gain a lot of muscle. 2014 was really his break out season. Chung was drafted in 2009, got labeled a bust, went to another team, came back as "camp fodder" in 2014 and that was really his break out season as well. McCourtey bounced around CB to Safety, then took some time to master his craft at Safety. Now he's one of the best in the league. Marcus Cannon was drafted in 2011 and looked like a bench warmer up until this season. In 2016 he was one of the best RT in the NFL and a huge reason Brady was kept upright this year. Logan Ryan and Duron Harmon were both drafted in 2013. Ryan in particular has had a lot of ups and downs, but he looks like he finally settled in this year. Those two Rutgers defensive backs solidified our secondary.
Players like Gronk and Hightower that come in and beast from Day 1 are the exception not the rule.
5. Brady got injured. 2008 and 2009 were wasted seasons due to Bradys knee injury. Obviously he came back in 2009 but I felt like it took him a whole season to really come back from that injury. If Brady's healthy those years, who knows what happens.
