Good GMs (is Belichick even the GM?) don't make great teams, but they can ruin them or at least make them worse - Ted Thompson being a prime example. Belichick's best quality is doing no harm. I reject the idea that he has some kind of a monopoly on football smarts. Like almost every other consistent winner, he has had some great LUCK - getting Brady in the 6th round among other things - and has managed to not screw things up. Cheating probably hasn't hurt his outcomes either.