I am a Pats fan.
Losing this guy did not make a difference. The Pats were lucky to be there. You cannot go all season pulling games out at the last second, and expect to win a championship game.
If a Pats fan, too, and love the way Belichek and Brady have worked together. You're correct about that flaw, though. Too often over the years the excitement was to a great part seeing how they'd pull off seemingly impossible wins.
It didn't seem that Brady was at peak performance yesterday. I don't understand why he doesn't retire, with his body and mind still intact. He's got responsibilities now, and there's a whole new generation of QBs that need to develop.