The Patriots schedule has - through no fault of theirs - been astonishingly easy this year. The AFC East did its usual Buster Keaton-esque house collapse around the Patriot foundation (in fairness, the Dolphins have looked good at times, and the Bills have had about 3 games where they have looked like they don't belong in the XFL, but generally, not good), then the Pats got the Steelers without Ben, Denver in the midst of a death spiral, and while the Seahawks played out of their gourds against them, it was a home game.The Pats defense is 1st in points but haven't played any good offenses except Pitt's and even then they faced Jones at QB instead of the Rapist. So it's really hard to tell their quality, although in my book leaving Denver with a win and 3 points allowed is a good day for any team.
As for Collins, I haven't watched full Browns games much but from what I saw yesterday he was dogging it pretty good against Buffalo. But they're 0-14 and have nothing else so that's unfair to judge too.
That doesn't take anything away from what they have done, you win the games on your schedule. But it is interesting given that, at the beginning of the season their schedule looked pretty tough.