At this point, anyone who *doesn't* put the Patriots at the top is just trolling. They were the best team last year, won the Super Bowl, have added some major free agents and also will be getting Gronkowski back.
They should be the favs. They have proven players who have won in tough spots and they've been on fire the last three seasons.
Having said that : "on paper" doesn't win you anything. I believe this team is #1. But it'd be foolish to get a tattoo celebrating their season at this point.
On a somewhat related (not really) note, I see the Red Sox are winning 54.5% of their games, good enough for second place in the American League. What a total, boring crapshoot that sport is. The NFL has become fairly predictable in the preseason, barring injuries.
Belichick thanks you for pointing out their preseason ranking in the month of July.
One thing is for sure, we can expect a well timed ass whooping in the preseason that's meant to re-focus the team on all of their weaknesses and mistakes.