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Tom Brady's arm looks like overcooked fettuccine right now.

There, we stated the obvious, and no fiery hail rained down upon us. So it's OK to say it out loud. Brady looked like a knuckleball pitcher in the Patriots' stunning 34-10 upset loss to the Titans, and he didn't have much of a fastball against the Packers or Bills in his last two games.

Long Brady passes now flutter out of bounds or bounce before they reach receivers. Short ones take too long to reach their targets, allowing defenders to swat them away. Passes toward the sideline arrive low and outside.

The Patriots offense has become a succession of touch passes over the middle, intricate screens and increasingly desperate trick plays. The Titans caught on, and other opponents are about to figure it out as well.

Don't act shocked that we're saying it. Patriots fans may deny it on the comment threads, but they whisper it among themselves when us Muggles are not around. Other analysts might tiptoe around the topic, but that's just because we've all been writing End of Brady fanfic since 2009, and none of us want to read the "this didn't age well" tweets when Brady throws four touchdown passes against the Jets after the bye.

Brady may well throw four touchdown passes against the Jets after the bye, because Matt Barkley just threw two touchdown passes against the Jets, and Barkley's arm is a slingshot made out of hair scrunchies. But Brady can barely muster any velocity right now, and unless he's harboring some secret injury that Alex Guerrero can heal with eye of newt or something, the 41-year-old's arm isn't going to suddenly spring back into 2007 form.

And what does that mean for the Patriots' playoff fortunes, you ask?

For now, very little.

The Patriots get the Jets twice and the Bills once down the stretch. That gets them to 10 wins, even if they must build their whole offense out of Cordarrelle Patterson Wildcat plays.

The Vikings, Steelers and even the Dolphins provide tougher tests, but the Patriots proved against the Packers last Sunday night that they have a lot of ways to manufacture wins with defense, scheme, special teams and Brady's knowledge of his own limits.

If that "manufactured wins" talk sounds familiar, the Broncos faced the same dilemma when Peyton Manning faded fast in 2015. They played vicious defense, ran the ball and even turned to Brock Osweiler in relief. Manning overcame an injury spree and started playing within the confines of what he had left, and the Broncos clawed their way to a Super Bowl win.

The Patriots can win yet another championship in a similar way, especially with Brady not yet rusted out as badly as Manning was. But the first step is admitting Brady's mortality, which isn't their organizational strong suit.

It's time for the Patriots to run the ball like a normal team: with rookie Sony Michel, not a moonlighting wide receiver. It's time to clean up all the mistakes on defense and play like every stop matters. It's time to anticipate that defenses will creep up to take away those little flair passes. It's time to get Rob Gronkowski back if possible, to get Josh Gordon as involved as he can be, to wring every available point and yard from the special teams.

Most of all, it's time to think of Brady as a wily old quarterback, but not one of the best in the league anymore.

Sure, Brady won shootouts against Patrick Mahomes and other young guns just a few weeks ago. But the end came fast for Manning, and for Brett Favre, and for many other quarterbacks who were outstanding enough to hang on a little too long.

The great ones can compensate for losing a little velocity here and a little athleticism there until one day they are compensating their way through whole games just to stay competitive. That's what Brady has done for three weeks.

He can probably do it well enough for two more months to keep the Patriots in the Super Bowl picture.

But tomorrow is guaranteed to no one, not even Tom Brady.