What is it with these darn New England Patriots??? Every year I come into the season hoping, just hoping, that maybe Bill Belichik decided he has had enough and Tom Brady would demand a trade to another team! Ah...if only dreams could come true. Instead they go out and load up on WR's,including Randy Moss and now the grins on the faces of Belichik and Brady have turned my dreams into nightmares!!! Brady doesn't have those 3 Super Bowl rings for nothing and a +30 TD season and another possible MVP may not be out of the question. Tom Brady is not known for getting hurt, but if he were to have to take some time off QB Matt Cassell is one of the better backups in the league. This leaves plenty of time for rookie QB Matt Gutierrez to learn and develop. You would think the loss of a RB the caliber of Corey Dillon would hurt a team. Unfortunately this is the Patriots. Laurence Maroney needs to prove he can stay healthy, but is capable of being even better than the departed Dillon. RB's Kevin Faulk and ex-Dolphin Sammy Morris are both better than given credit for and supply great depth for New England at the RB position. Heath Evans will likely start at FB and can play RB as well and 2nd year FB/TE Garrett Mills would probably start on any other team in this division. As you can see the running game should be just fine but can they throw the ball? Oh yeah, I did mention that Randy Moss guy is here now huh. And the QB is Tom Brady. And the other starter will probably be Donte Stallworth,ok, looks pretty good. Oh yeah, and that Wesley Welker guy  came over from the Dolphins. And did I mention Reche Caldwell, you know, their no.1 WR from last year. Oh, that's right, that no.5 WR sounds familiar, Troy Brown, yeah he's been around a while. Man, I don't know, ya still think they may have a problem throwing the ball? Oh crap, that's right. They have that TE too, Ben Watson, usually gets open when you need a big play. And behind him is that ex-Jaguar Kyle Brady and 2nd year talent David Thomas. OK, that doesn't look bad, but come on, do you think their offensive line can actually block? Lets see, C Dan Koppen, probably one of the top 7 centers in the league and backing up is veteran long snapper Lonie Paxton. T Matt Light, top 20 tackles in the league, and Ryan O'Callaghan or Nick Kaczur at the other tackle, well they both can't start you know. Oh, and Wes Britt will be there to add depth.  G Logan Mankins, probably one of the top 10 G's in the league and either Stephen Neal or Russ Hochstein, both who could be considered starters, will be the starting G's and rookie Corey Hilliard will only get better in time. So lets see, QB-check,RB-check,WR-check,TE-check, OL-check,one of the Top 4 offenses in the NFL-check....do you think they even need a defense? Well,apparently the Patriots think so because they're not bad on that side of the ball either. DE/DT Richard Seymour is one of the elite defensive players in the game but if teams are to have success against them this year this may be the area they need to attack. DE Jarvis Green is a good player but would best be suited coming off the bench and rookie DE/DT Kareem Brown should be just as good but may have to develop into a starting role. Rookie DE/LB Justin Rogers is going to have to prove he was worthy of their draft pick to play any significant role on this defense. Another reason you may want to try and exploit they're DE's is because of their strength up the middle. DT's Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren are a force with or without Richard Seymour in the lineup and they have added DT Rashad Moore to go along with the ever improving DT Mike Wright to form a solid defense up the middle. You would think any team that already had Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, and Roosevelt Colvin at LB would be happy. Not Big Bill though! He signed ex-Raven Adalius Thomas to give them 4 vicious LB's and when your backups include Junior Seau,ex-Steeler Chad Brown, special teams ace Larry Izzo, and improving youngster Pierre Woods, there are not many teams that are going to compare with that kind of talent. With CB Asante Samuel still holding out and CB Chad Scott already on injured reserve for this season, the CB position could become the weakest on the team. Ellis Hobbs and veteran Tory James will likely battle CB/S Artrell Hawkins for the starting corners and the nickel back while Willie Andrews would likely get the nod over Randall Gay for the dimeback. The Patriots remain strong at safety however with vet Rodney Harrison back to health and Eugene Wilson trying to hold off an improving James Sanders and talented rookie Brandon Meriweather for the other starting safety. This defense is good enough to once again be in the top 10 defenses in the league, and if Samuel comes back may be 2nd to only the Bears this season. One glaring soft spot for the Patriots could be their special teams. K Stephen Gostkowski will be in his 2nd year but still needs to prove he can be reliable and consistent. P Tom Malone will also prove to be inconsistent at times but the question remains, with a team this talented, will these 2 have much of an effect on their W-L record? Every year I pick a team I think will challenge my 72 Fish's undefeated season, and this could be the team this year. They should win the AFC East pretty easily. The AFC East is no longer one of the power divisions in the NFL, but they will have to get by some tough NFC East opponents this year as well to have that perfect season.  However, if everything falls right for this team I don't think an undefeated season would be out of the question, although 13 wins is a more likely scenario. Another division title and another trip to the Super Bowl could be in the cards for 2007. Well, that will wrap up my AFC East division so come on back tomorrow when I start the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens.