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Without a doubt TB12 was the difference maker. But even he couldn't do it all by himself.Yup we had one X-factor who helped cover up the cracks in the wall - TB12. I know some fans hate him now because he left. But the way BB treated him, and was slowly destroying the offense around him, I can't blame him. And for TB12 to win a championship outside of Foxboro kinda says it all about who was the real driving force behind all those Patriots championships.
In the beginniing of that stretch the Patriots still had Gronk, Edelman, Blount and a solid o-line: Solder-Mankins-Wendell-Connolly-Vollmer. There was also a stout defense that included Ninkovich, Chandler Jones, Collins, Hightower, Talib, Gregory and McCourty.
Even at the end of the stretch the offense had a backfield of Michel, White, Burkhead and Develin; Gronk, Edelman, Gordon, Hogan and White catching the ball; and an o-line of Brown-Thuney-Andrews-Mason-Cannon. The defense only had one pro bowler (Gilmore), but there was not a single weak spot on that unit.
It took a while, but the bad drafting eventually took it's toll. As a fan I was able to brush off the previous occasional whiffs - for example the 2008 draft. After Mayo the next picks were 2.62 Terrance Wheatley, 3.78 Shawn Crable, 3.94 Kevin O'Connell and 4.129 Jonathan Wilhite. At the time I could rationalize that all teams have some draft misses, it's not that big of a deal - because the team kept winning.
However, there is no rationalizing or condoning the stretch of drafts outlined above. Drafting badly in one year is not unusual. Drafting that badly for that many consecutive years is unacceptable; it guarantees your team will be one of the worst in the league, and in for a long rebuild.