I see your point but you're forgetting that we're talking about the Pats. In 2004 they won the SB and in that off-season they lost their OC, their DC, Pro Bowl CB Ty Law, Bruschi had a stroke and missed most of the season, Andruzzi went to Cleveland and after all that they still went 10-6 and won the division.
Not to rain on the parade because I do see your point, it's just that we're not doing ourselves any good by hoping the other teams in our division will falter. Instead we should be worrying about how we can compete with them.