Mark my words.
Corey Dillon is an aging running back beyond his years, who will not fit into NE's dink-and-dunk offense, and will get fed up with Belichick by Week 4 at the latest. This will fire up a controversy and Dillon will be suspended by the team sometime during Week 6.
Teams will finally stop overrating Tom Brady's arm strength and actually come up to defend his little floaters over the middle. Corners will, for once, begin to play physical with the Patriots' smurf receivers, who will not be able to get off the line of scrimmage. Because of this, Brady will have to stand longer in the pocket, and in Week 5 it will really hurt NE when Brady is knocked out of the game. NFL Europe "phenomenon" Rohan Davey will step for the next five or six games, and prove he is NOT worth a 1st-round pick (NE fans will eat much crow) by having a QB rating under 60.
After bottling up his true emotions for months, "co-existing" with his coaches and teammates, Ty Law will step out of line the minute New England begins to struggle, slamming all of his defensive teammates except Willie McGinest (because no one can disrespect a kind old man like that). Law will claim he is the sole reason for the Pats' defensive success, which will set off a firestorm of other Pats' defenders arguing they are the true leader, from Seymour to Bruschi to Harrison to Vrabel -- a domino effect if you will. This will throw Belichick's "TEAM-BASED DEFENSE" completely out of whack, as players purposely miss assignments to make others look bad.
The final nail in the coffin will be when Adam Vinatieri, so far the team's only rock through the first seven games, turns to drugs and alcohol to take his mind off his struggling teammates. It is not long before Vinatieri begins spending time with fellow drunken kicker Sebastian Janikowski, and not long after that before the two are found writhing on the floor of an Oakland nightclub, annihalated on whiskey and crystal meth.
A late surge might still put them in the playoffs, but NE fans can forget about 16-0 right now.