If the Patriots are smart (and they are), they spend some capital on the OLine. Brady is still tremendous when he's given time and weapons. Had Belichick coached a little better down the stretch of that game, the Patriots are in the Super Bowl. Again.
This is despite an epic beating from Wade's defense. Their OLine is banged up and Brady isn't mobile, which led to him taking some vicious shots down the stretch of the season. Want to know why Belichick kicked off in OT against the Jets? Because they couldn't block the Jets' DLine. BB was hoping to get a 3-and-out with a short field to win the game because he knew his QB couldn't take much more and they couldn't protect him. They had five completions in the first half of that game. Read that again. FIVE completions. That's pretty much a standard Patriots' scoring drive.
I think the saddest thing about yesterday is watching Manning struggle to make throws he's been making in his sleep for almost two decades. Had he made two simple throws, that game never comes down to the final seconds.