One thing about the cheating scandal that isn't talked about -- and this for the people saying "they went 16-0, yada yada, so cheating doesn't matter, etc." -- is that the season they went 16-0 they were only caught at the beginning, with no forfeiture of wins, and only a demand to surrender extant tapes. And, NO forensic investigation, i.e. they still had the game keys for all the teams they had scouted. No question that the Pats were able to use the cheating info throughout that year, to lesser and greater degrees depending on the teams, in residual effect.
Now, when you compare this to the kinds of wins they got previously and the level of talent they were dealing with, it's pretty incredible, the difference that cheating made for the Pats, for 5-6 years. The wins they got on the back of cheating so far outweighed the slap on the wrist they subsequently received that it's really unbelievable.
When you look at the level of success since Spygate, the 16-0 season has to be set aside as a flier [residual benefit to the Pats, etc.]. The real truth is even starker than some people realize, imo.
LD