Oh man, 9-7 feels too low. They'll fix the secondary; maybe not to the point that they actually realize their potential, but likely into a formidable unit. Even if that means sitting Gilmore and signing someone off the street (Revis?).
I see more of an 11-5 team (maybe 12-4 if Gilmore finally graduates from the playbook), at worse 10-6, that wins the division but doesn't make it past the second round. Buffalo, Miami, and the NYJ will all be 8-8, or worse, teams. Then, maybe they get a Denver or Tennessee or Miami or something at home and squeeze by, but as they stand today, they'd probably get crushed in KC or Pittsburgh.
But the fact that it's only Week 4 is the good thing about the NFL; what you see today, among contenders, is rarely what you see by Week 17. Let's hope they can shake this off and still squeeze into a two seed or something.
It appears there's no real dominant team in the NFL this year, in either conference. KC is probably the closest thing we've seen to one, but they still feel like a team that can be slowed down offensively and be exposed in the passing game defensively.
Whoever wins SB52 won't be one of the all-time great teams, so it's too soon to count the Patriots out just yet.