NE scored 557 points this year. They had 513 in 2011, 518 in 2010, and 427 in 2009. Their defense gave up 18 more points this year than in 2010 (not counting special teams/offensive TOs for TDs if there were any).
They also had a point differential of +226 this year and scored the most pts in the league which was 76 more than Denver who finished second.
so O and D were close but they had no challenger in the division where they had one in 2010 and the AFC was much stronger in 2010. They also had a better record by 2 games, they went 6-1 against playoff bound teams in 2010 vs. 3-3 this year