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You can always tell that a pitcher is nearing the end of his career when he is depending on guile and savvy to out-duel the batter. Save for a few notable exceptions like Maddux, Glavine, or Hershiser, I'm hard pressed to find another pitcher in the past 30 years who could be dominant in their prime without a knockout fastball. Having your fastball is as much a figurative state as it is a literal pitch. It means you still can operate at MAXQ. When you need to, you can still rear back and seemingly impose your will on your opponent when everyone might count you out. Still possessing your fastball means that no matter how smart or crafty you are, you still have the chops and confidence to essentially say to your opponent, "Here it comes, now try and hit it." It's an attitude, a state of mind, and something that I unconditionally knew Tom Brady and Bill Belichick always possessed.

Don't believe the sycophantic pundits; championship windows are very real. They stay open only for a finite amount of time, and then one day you wake up and poof, the window is latched closed. And no matter how hard you try, you aren't ever going to pry that window open again.

The New England Patriots have reached the zenith of their decade of dominance over the NFL. In the past ten years, the only team that even approaches their level of consistency has been the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brady and Belichick have now reached the Super Bowl five times in ten seasons, a feat most unlikely in the modern salary cap era of the NFL. Think about that. In a league where parity isn't just some buzz word thrown around to give the have nots the illusion of hope, the New England Patriots have been the Spielberg of their sport. That's not pure posturing by a Patriots fan, it's the unassailable truth. But as with every successful empire or dynasty we have started to notice Shaq-sized chinks in the Patriots armor, making even the most devout Patriots fan question whether or not football's most dynamic duo still have their heaters.

Credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Do you know how many draft selections the Patriots have on their roster from 2005 to 2009? Nine. Do you know how many total draft picks they have used over the same time frame? 46. (Ed. note: seems appropriate heading into this week, doesn't it?) That's a hit rate of 19.56 percent.¹ The only first round picks that are still in New England? Logan Mankins and Jerod Mayo. For all of the acclaim that Belichick receives about his ability to manipulate the draft — and yes, the last two years the Hoodie has hit on much higher rate — maybe his mastery might be a bit overstated.

Does this mean that Coach Bill is a poor judge of talent, or is falling to the Al Davis Zone of Draft Day debacles? Not in the slightest, but you can't rule out the facts. This April the Hoodie will turn 60, his last Super Bowl ring came when he was 55, and until the Divisional round against the Broncos, he hadn't won a playoff game since 2007. I watched A Football Life as closely as you can, and usually even in a massively edited production like that you can always find some slippage (just ask Mr. Humphries about that fact) and there wasn't any. Yet the simple fact of the matter is that in the last few seasons, Bill's teams have been outperformed in the postseason.

Historically, "the Patriot way" meant finding guys like Mike Vrabel, Roman Phifer, or Bobby Hamilton. Castaways and waiver wire talent were brought into the fold and incorporated into the ultimate team. Of course Bill still manages to find the occasional Kyle Arrington, but most players in New England have more often than not had a productive rookie campaign, and in most cases seem to regress in their sophomore season. Just ask Lawrence Maroney, Jonathan Wilhite, Jermaine Cunningham, and you can also add Devin McCourty to that list. I'm not questioning Bill's ability to coach, but as New Englanders, skepticism is something that is ingrained into all of us. So it begs the question when it comes to finding talent — is Bill Belichick still hitting 99 on the gun?

Meanwhile, if there is one individual that Father Time has toyed with, it's been Tom Brady. He's given us glimpses of his former self, but now he's 34, and it's only natural that some of what made him arguably best crunch time QB of all-time may have waned some. Brady's competitive juices used to burn hotter than Hades. If you blitzed him, forget about it. That was like winking at Gisele while she was standing next Tom at party. You don't let some strange dude wink at your Super Model wife without severe, albeit very public repercussions to accompany it.

And yet Tom Brady has not played well in a playoff game since 2007. Fact! I don't count the Denver game because that's like taking home the drunkest of drunk girls who's missing both heels. And maybe the Ravens just have his number. But that's the point; when Tommy was hitting 99 on the gun, nobody had his number.

Maybe the Ravens just have his number. But that's the point; when Tommy was hitting 99 on the gun, nobody had his number.

The argument isn't that Tom Brady is no longer one of the NFL's most elite quarterbacks. He has a chance to win his fourth Super Bowl ring in five appearances, and that's not something to dismiss. However, the knock on Brady now is a bit like it was on Muhammad Ali later in his career. If you catch him early on the chin, he has more of a concept of his mortality; the game might not come as easily as it used to, and the M-O on how to beat the Patriots is out, written in part by Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants.

Super Bowl XLVI isn't just about the Patriots and Giants. It isn't about Tom and Bill looking for the most absolute of vengeance for the embarrassment that happened in Glendale in 2008. This game isn't about beating the brother of his biggest, most revered rival, a rival who might be forced out of town by an owner who could challenge James Dolan on the weirdness scale. This game is Brady and Belichick's legacy come full circle. For the first time since 2001, the Patriots aren't considered the best team in Super Bowl — despite what Vegas has to say. This game is about whether or not Tom Brady and Bill Belichick can still reach back on the grandest of stages, and send one up and in at the collective chin of the New York Giants. It's about respect, legacy, infamy, and the right to be called the best ever at what they do.

fn1. For a point of comparison, the Steelers have 14 players out of 40 players from those drafts still on their roster, a retention rate of 35 percent, and have two Super Bowl rings during the same decade.