End of New England's domination?

The seemingly never-ending NFL season is about to start another cycle.

In fact, I received the email stating that my 2013 Fantasy Football League on NFL.com had been activated. It's 10 July.

So, what with the departure of Wes Welker, the Aaron Hernandez saga, and 'Gronk' needing more surgeries than Mark Schlereth, it's not to early to wonder if even the tandem of Brady and Bellicheck can save this season for the New England Patriots.

Since Rob Gronkowski will enter training camp on the PUP list, he is not eligible to return to the active roster until after Week 6. So, lets look at the production Tom Brady got from this trio of receivers through 6 weeks of last season:

89 receptions, 7 TDs, 1026 yards

For any one player, that would be considered a darn good full season.

With Vegas issuing lines and odds on games for the following season within days of the Super Bowl ending -- you'll get a hint of that with the Bovada data tool on our Home page -- it would be interesting to know the difference in value you could've -- or would've -- gotten by betting on any of the first six opponents on the Patriots schedule. Here they are:

Buffalo, New York Jets, Tampa, Atlanta, Cincinnati, New Orleans

Young up-and-coming teams like Buffalo and Tampa have to be licking their chops. Seasoned playoff-caliber teams like Cincinnati and New Orleans must be thrilled, and Super Bowl-contending Atlanta has likely already marked it a 'win' on their team calendar.

I'm sorry, but Julian Edelman, Jake Ballard, and Danny Amendola are not keeping any defensive coordinators up at night. But, I'll bet their keeping Tom Brady up at night. Even more than Giselle.

So, you have to ask yourself, can the Patriots really start the season 1-5, or 2-4?

Not if Tim Tebow has anything to say about it.