It wasn't a question of being less threatened. Here's a partial quote from what he said today:
"To the Glazer family, thank you for taking a chance on me and supporting me. I know I was demanding at times, but you provided everything we needed to win..."
He didn't say a word in his statement today about the Pats or the fans here. Could it be that the Pats over his last few years hardly provided him with the weapons he needed to win? He won in spite of that. He even took less of a salary to allow for more money to get the support he needed. And it wasn't always just receivers and running backs. The Pats had a history of not wanting to pay to keep good talent.