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It’s about system with the Patriots

Seeing that Tom Brady may keep playing until he’s 50, the future for the rest of the NFL would appear to be dim.

The rest of the league sure doesn’t seem to have a clue how to handle the New England Patriots or the ageless quarterback, who’s 40 years young.

The thing about the Patriots and their amazing success isn’t all about Brady, of course.

He’ll undoubtedly go down in league history as one of the very best signal-callers of all time.

Anytime you can win five or six Super Bowl titles, your place is secure in history.

But the really big key to the success of New England is it has a system, and the team follows it with numbing consistency.

The Pats don’t necessarily have more talent than the rest of the league, but they know how to utilize that talent.

Former Detroit Lions player Kyle Van Noy is a sterling example of that.

With the Lions, Van Noy was an underachieving player at linebacker for a couple of seasons. With New England, which got him for a song, he’s developed a steady contributor.

There are numerous other examples of how the Patriots manage to get the best out of what they have on the roster.

Take the success of the so-called “Smurf Crew.” No team has had that success with short receivers who manage to get open more often than not.

Wes Welker was the first of this group to emerge, and he’s been followed by such key players as Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan and others.

The Patriots success has been called luck by some detractors. They point to such meaningless distractions as Spy Gate and Deflate Gate, which mean little or nothing except to throw opponents off.

When the Patriots win another Super Bowl, it will lose its defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia to Detroit.

Now, Patricia is just what the inept Lions have needed for decades. He’s a smart coach with a rigid work schedule who demands his players do things right.

No more of this having nine players on the field in a critical defensive sequence late in a game — something this year’s Lions did.

Current Lions general manager Bob Quinn came over from the Pats a year ago and is already making inroads. His next step will likely be to draft a big, bruising running back, something sorely needed in Motown.

Will the influx of Patriots brainpower finally end the Curse of Bobby Layne? Lions fans can only hope.

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