You're not Drew Bledsoe, you're Jason Sehorn!
Seriously, we're just on opposite ends of the argument regarding Brady and won't be bridging the gap any time soon.
There is being pessimistic, and then there is drowning yourself in despair, and I think your viewpoint is the latter. So the Patriots won't improve next year, and on top of that the draft is probably going to be useless? And what is "recent draft picks"? Chad Jackson? I think the Patriots recent draft picks have been far more successful than they have been unsuccesful. That should be a bright point, not a mark against them.
As for your Yankees point, I'm not sure what comparisons can be made between the two teams other than they both won multiple championships over a short period of time. Do you mean that decisions the Yankees made that led to their 'downfall' (let's not go crazy here and act like they fell off the face of the Earth, and this is a Sox fan speaking) are similiar to decisions the Pats have made? I don't see that, as I think the two organizations are run in completely different ways, aside from the fact that comparisons are difficult when you're talking about two different sports.
I'm probably overly pessimistic but this is because I do not see a basis for predicting improvement. It's akin to my belief at the start of this season that the Dolphins were not going to be a SB contender. I didn't see a basis to make that assumption and it turned out that I was correct (although I could have been proven to be incorrect). Similarly, what would be your basis to predict improvement on Brady's part? The main problems with Brady's play were poor throws and poor decision making. Unless it's revealed that he had an injury or unless the Pats decide to hire a full time QB coach, then I don't see a basis, currently, to predict improvement of that aspect of his game. I also don't see a basis to predict improvement in the most troubling aspect of his game - his poor decision making. The reason I say this is because poor decision making is something that can be fixed once the individual is aware of it. Brady appears to be aware of the fact that he's forcing balls into receivers and yet he still continues to do this...over the course of a season now.
The Patriots offensive inconsistency and inability to adjust to defenses has also been an ongoing problem and has shown no signs of real improvement throughout the season. What do you know that suggests that this will be fixed during the offseason...particularly when one considers that a large part of the inconsistency was due to the playcalling and the play of the Oline and RBs. I don't think we are going to get new Oline players, running backs, a new Oline coach or a new offensive coordinator. Maroney regressed, instead of progressing, near the end of the season, so there's no basis to believe he's going to improve. Dillon will be a year older. So, again, I'm not seeing the basis for optimism
The Patriots D is old and SLOW. Our most realistic pick up at linebacker seems to be Fletcher who is ALSO OLD. We might lose Samuel which would leave one of our corner spots weaker than it was this year. Rodney will be a year older. Eugene seems to have left his best years behind him. I'm just not seeing where there will be much improvement with this group. Ditto with the special teams which seem to be getting worse each year despite efforts to improve it. Another big problem on defense and special teams is tackling, which also seems to be getting worse each year. If this problem, which was obvious in 2005, wasn't fixed in 2006...what has changed to suggest that it will be fixed in 2007? Nothing, in my opinion, which is why I don't expect improvement.
Our drafts in 2005 & 2006 produced Mankins, Gostkowski and Hobbs as the only consistent impact players and Mankins & Gost were the only ones good enough to be starters as a rookie. So, I'm not expecting to get any impact players from this upcoming draft. Servicable players...certainly, but not impact players who would make an instant, significant improvement to the Patriots team.
I use the Yankees as a comparison mostly because of the way the Patriots have lost the past two years - by doing unPatriot like things (i.e. turnovers/blowing big leads) and the changing composition of the Patriots team (poor tackling/dumb penalties). This is also how the Yankees started losing - by doing unYankee like things such as shoddy defense and lousy pitching.
