It's not twicsting, it's stating a fact how TWICE they blew double digit 4th qtr SB leads which I don't think had ever happened to that point(and may not have happened since). you can have all the rankings you want, a big time D steps up in the biggest moments which clearly NEs D did not do.
Ok, so in conclusion, after all your facts and my facts, the Patriots in the Superbowl years were in fact one of the stingiest defenses, but like the Steelers, Ravens, 49ers, and the Saint's defenses, did not look all-world in the championship.....You can talk about rankings not counting all you want, but when the fact in those years tells you they gave up only 17, 14.9, and 16.2 points per game, you can actually admit the obvious, that the defense was tough to score on, or you can continue to lie to yourself, and think they really gave up more points then that, and can refuse to admit to yourself the truth.
Brady was THE reason they even made the playoffs let alone won SBs. AV was set up b/c of Brady and the O, Peyton had AV for as long as Brady- how come he didn't win 3 SBs? how come he didn't even win 2?
If the defense allows an average of 20 points or more per game in any of those season, the Patriots do not reach the playoffs, and considering most of the games the Patriots won , were thanks to a key FG, or last minute game winning FG by one of the best pressure FG Kickers ever, if not for Vinarieri, the Patriots without doubt don't reach the playoffs.