With few exceptions, Belichick would never overspend or typically use low draft picks for OL. There were exceptions but he seemed to pride himself in finding free agents/cuts/or mid round draft picks for his teams. Dante S also seemed to enjoy the challenge of coaching guys "up" and was excellent at it.
I have tons of respect for Tom's accomplishments and doing it his way. On paper during SB time/playoffs over the years, rarely did the Pats have the better athletes as a whole. They were winners ,well-prepared/ rarely outcoached. Despite their tremendous successes as a franchise. .I always thought of them as a blue collar/lunch pail kind of team.
Tom is a student of the game and is always well-prepared and precise. Sunday was a lot of fun to watch.
BTW.Agree with you on OL liking to know what QB is going to do: was a season ticket holder in Denver during the Elway years.. Another baseball player oriented QB like Patrick M with great athleticism.
