Super Bowl 2012: Win or Lose, Patriots Will Contend for Years to Come

The New England Patriots have grown used to the Super Bowl spotlight, and they aren't going anywhere. This is their fifth Super Bowl out of the last 11. They have won three of those, and they are ready to add to both of those totals.

This is a team that has proven it can reload instead of rebuilding, and they have everything they need in place to keep rebuilding. Take a look. 

Belichick and Brady

The real nucleus and common thread of the Patriots' greatness has come from the coach and the QB. Brady is 34, and while he is certainly nearing the end of his dominance, he is not showing any signs of slowing yet. 

Brady has posted two of his three highest QB ratings in the last two seasons. He can easily have another four years of Pro Bowl-caliber play. 

Belichick is 59, and he has never hinted at retirement. Nor has he shown any signs of the game passing him by. In fact, this very well may have been his finest job of coaching. 

While a coach may retire at any moment, the hooded one doesn't exactly seem like the kind of guy that is itching to broaden his horizons beyond football, or ditch the stress of coaching for the broadcast booth. 

These two are going to be teamed together for the foreseeable future, and even when Brady steps away, the Patriots will be ready. 

This team narrowly missed the playoffs at 11-5 when the amazingly inexperienced Matt Cassel had to play the entire season for Brady. 

It won't take much for the Patriots to find an answer for Brady's eventual retirement that is better than Cassel. 

Draft Picks

New England has been hoarding draft picks like they are trying to get on reality TV. For example, the Patriots have two first-round and two second-round selections in next year's draft. 

No team has done a better job of trading down and stockpiling high-round selections. 

This is going to ensure the Patriots' success. They will be able to address their much needed issues in their secondary in the upcoming draft, and anything else they deem needs fixing. 

This Year's Success

The Patriots have rolled into the Super Bowl despite having the 31st ranked defense. This defense is not going to get any worse. 

Belichick has proven he can make up for a weakness by accentuating his team's strengths and devising plays that allow his players to flourish when it matters most. 

This is true on offense and defense. 

The last time the Pats were in the Super Bowl, they were led by the dangerous and record-breaking deep duo of Brady to Randy Moss. 

This year, it has been Brady hitting Wes Welker on shorter routes, and utilizing two tight end sets, which allowed Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski to pave the way for an entirely different type of passing game. 

This is an organization that knows how to cater to their strengths, and they have the upcoming draft picks to make sure they will continue to have plenty of strengths.