They were coming off a 12-4 regular season and another division title. They advanced to the AFC title game, but they went on the road and lost to Peyton Manning. It was a gallant effort, and most Patriots fans felt their team went about as far as anyone in New England could have hoped.

The Patriots won a lot of games, sold a lot of tickets and made a lot of money in 2006, but for the second straight season, they failed to win a Super Bowl. They were broken, as far as Bill Belichick was concerned, so he went about fixing them.

He traded for Randy Moss. He signed Adalius Thomas to a five-year, $35 million deal. He traded two draft picks to Miami for Wes Welker. He traded away three of his top four draft picks.

If we didn’t know better, we’d say Bill Belichick went for it. He loaded up for the 2007 season as if winning the championship was all that mattered. He knew he had a transcendent talent at quarterback and didn’t want to waste another day of Tom Brady’s prime.

In 2006, Reche Caldwell led the Patriots in receptions with 61. Troy Brown had 43. No other wide receiver had more than 25. The Patriots were still a top-10 offense because of their quarterback, but Belichick knew they were capable of so much more.

He was right, of course. All the Patriots did in 2007 was field the greatest offense the NFL had ever seen. One year after throwing 24 touchdown passes, Brady threw 23 — just to Moss. He threw a total of 50 — an NFL record until Manning broke it last season. The Patriots went 18-0 before falling to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. They went for it, and came up one play short.

It was seven years ago this month that Belichick signed Thomas as a free agent and stole Welker from the Dolphins. The Moss deal didn’t happen until draft weekend, but if you weren’t around here then, we’ll give you a quick recap of the reaction to the rumors leading up to the trade. Randy Moss? The Randy Moss? To the Patriots? It can’t happen, it won’t happen, it’ll never happen. The Patriots just don’t do things like that.

But they did do it — they went for it, baby — and they were one David Tyree helmet catch away from a perfect season. And now here they are again, coming off a 12-win season and a ho-hum division title, with the window slowly closing on their transcendent quarterback and a chance to load up and dominate the weak AFC. And what do we hear from so many Patriots fans and observers? Oh, no. They won’t trade for Darrelle Revis. They won’t sign Jared Allen. They won’t pay Aqib Talib. They’re the Patriots. It’s just not what they do.

Well, it’s what they should do if they’re serious about winning their first Super Bowl in a decade.

This is not the time for boasting and bragging about sustainability or perennial competitiveness or knocking on the door every year. This is Glendale-or-bust time. This is time to kick in the door and wreck the place. Brady will be 37 in August. He says he’d like to play forever, but realistically he has two or three more seasons at the top of his game. John Elway was 38 when he won it all with the Broncos in his final season. He remains the oldest Super Bowl-winning quarterback.

At 4 p.m. today, the NFL free agent frenzy begins, and by dinner time, the Patriots could be without their best defensive back and best wide receiver. Talib and Julian Edelman are free agents, and someone is going to pay them. According to reports, the Redskins are interested in Talib. Peter King thinks Cleveland is the best fit for Edelman, who was fourth in the NFL with 105 catches last season.

Edelman has said he would like to stay in New England, and Brady would like him to stay. Edelman is a great punt returner and a fearless inside receiver, but he won’t command huge money. He was 115th in the NFL in yards per catch and has only played 16 games in a season once. So why can’t the Patriots pay him? They can and they should.

They should be adding weapons to Brady’s arsenal, not allowing his most reliable receiver to walk away. Pay him. And pay Talib or Revis or Alterraun Verner. Pay for a top left corner or forget about getting back to Glendale. And pay Allen. It’s a passing league, and the Patriots need another guy who can get to the quarterback. Allen is the best one out there, and like Verner, he plays every game.

The Patriots are more than $12 million under the cap, and that number is going up after they re-do deals for Vince Wilfork and Devin McCourty and cut a handful of veterans. There is no excuse any more. They have the money, they have the need, and they have the quarterback. Soon Brady will be gone, the window will be closed, and division titles will matter again. And that will be a sad day, indeed.