The Pats stunned everyone in 2001 and even though some Superbowl reservations (Steelers) and coronations (Rams) had to be cancelled, the Pats were applauded. Ever since then the Pats have been treated by the media in a manner that suggests "Okay, you had your moment of glory, now get out of the way while we decide who the next champion should be."
Well, the Pats have refused to play along and just keep on winning. The media has been openly cheerleading for the Colts ("Everyone agrees that Peyton deserves a ring") and finally helped get them one.
Now along comes Spygate, and the media sees an opportunity to finish of the Pats once and for all. They made suggestions of penalties for the Pats and raised the bar of expectations among fans of other teams much higher than the offense had any right to be penalized with.
Everyone licked their chops as they waited for the vaunted Chargers to dismantle those "cheating" Pats on national television so that they would finally been sent away in disgrace, never to mess with the powers that be again.
Unfortunately, all this witch-hunt did was galvanize the Pats against their enemies and put a chip the size of a Sequoia on their supremely talented shoulders. They gave the Pats one thing that can be difficult to find for an entity used to success...motivation.
Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they are not out to get you. The Pats are NOT paranoid, but the rest of the league IS out to get them. The rest of the league and the media snuck up on the Pats and everyone of them hit the Pats with a sucker punch. Much to their chagrin, the Pats only ended up with a slightly bloodied nose, but now are taking the gloves off and are proceeding to beat the tar out of everyone of the sucker punchers.
Now we are hearing all sorts of praise from the media about "wow,the Pats are great" and "please don't beat the crap out of us."
Sorry, too late, you led the witch-hunt and you sucker punched us, and we are taking it out on you and the rest of the NFL.
Oh, as to the question as to whether we should be more humble?
After the sucker punch is not the time to ask, the answer is a clear and resounding "NO!"