Can Tom Brady Get the One Victory We Didn't See Coming?

  The New England Patriots are coming off an AFC championship game loss to the Denver Broncos, one year after winning the Super Bowl over the Seattle Seahawks. But this pattern seems to be the norm for nearly two decades now for the Bill Belichick led team. And next year I think most people can expect a good run from the Patriots as well.

I think that by now "The Patriot Way" is a phrase that all football fans are familiar with, it's not only a style of football but a standard that has been set by Belichick and his staff. Quarterback, Tom Brady has been the "poster child" for the Patriot's organization/team for nearly two decades.

In his Career, Tom Brady has:

• 58,028 passing yards (5th all-time)
• 428 Touchdowns (t - 3rd all-time)
• Six Super Bowl appearances, winner of four of them and MVP of three.
• NFL MVP (2x) - 2007 & 2010

However, even with all of his career accomplishments, it's one thing that we could be overlooking. 

Brady, 38 and will be 39 years of age by the start of next season, doesn't seem to be slowing down on the field as far as his production goes.  Just this past week the Patriots locked up the veteran quarterback for an additional two years, with a contract extension that goes through 2019 (he'll be 42 years of age).

Why is this important?

Historically, it hasn't worked out well for players at the age of 40 or older. As we've seen recently with aged athletes like Kobe Bryant and Peyton Manning, it's very common for aged superstar athletes to have a decrease in production.

Manning, 39, had 9 passing touchdowns and 17 interceptions through 10 games before being sidelined for a foot injury. But was this lack of production and bad play due to the foot injury or did father time play a role in the downward spiral of Manning's production? The one thing that's saving Manning's name right now is that his team is coming off a Super Bowl victory and well his legacy, honestly.

The one upside to this whole "father time" vs aging player battle is that, no matter what, when it comes to the elite players who suffer a downfall in their production it's only remembered temporarily; we don't talk about the Michael Jordan years when he was with the Wizards, we talk about his iconic moments and his championship years with the Chicago Bulls. We don't talk about Joe Montana with the Kansas City Chiefs, we talk about his glory days with the San Francisco 49ers.

We often see these aging players become one-dimensional in sports and that's when we can start to notice them fading in production. Derek Jeter, even though he was never known to be a home-run hitter, when he got older teams knew he most likely wasn't going to hit the ball very far. In 2010, teams knew that Shaquille O'Neal wasn't going to do the same things in the post area as he would've in 2000.

What does all of this mean for Brady? Can we really expect a decrease in his performance? Can his body hold up another three season? Could he win another MVP or Super Bowl and continue to play at an elite level through the age of 42?

Right now, they say father time is undefeated. But, could Tom Brady be the one to finally defeat him? Or will father time remain undefeated?

In 2015 Brady passed for 4,770 yards, 36 touchdowns and 7 interceptions while completing 64 percent of his passes.

stats via NFL.com and ESPN.com