Patriots: Five things to know | 
Freeman
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- These are the moments when the man I believe to be the best coach in the history of professional football looks like he would rather be kicked in the scrotum.
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| Though he's not as quick as he used to be, Randy Moss can still be a deep threat. (AP) |
"So what?" Belichick responds.
Ooookaaayyy, let's try this. How good do you think this team is?
"Doesn't really matter," Belichick answers. I tell him I know you hate these kinds of questions but ...
"So don't ask them," he interrupts.
Suddenly, a smile appears on Belichick's face. Belichick knows what I'm trying to get at and enjoys the chase, enjoys tossing a verbal shot or two to my sternum, before acknowledging we have reached the point where he will now answer the questions.
"Look, the Jets don't care how good people say we are," Belichick tells me. "San Diego doesn't care. None of the teams we play this year care about that. We can't listen to people tell us how good we are. That's always dangerous. We've used that against other teams. In the past we would hear about how we weren't supposed to beat some team and it would really infuriate us. We used that, so I'm not letting anyone do the same against us.
| Community Focus | |
 One man vs. One fan | |
GimmeThePats: "I think if we beat SD in Week 2 we could ... COULD ... go 9-0 ... after that I see a creaky few games, so maybe end 13-3 or 12-4." |
"So we're not listening to people tell us that stuff. We're just going to play. The reason we've won here is because we work hard and study hard, not because we listen to what people say about us."
Guess Belichick won't read this sentence: It's going to be New England against New York in the Super Bowl.
But I digress.
Belichick's intoxicating coaching blazon pulls you in like a magnetic force-field as much as his absolutist, anti-media and curmudgeonly nature pushes you away. He remains perhaps the most unique coaching figure in all of sports with the personality of a recently Maced grizzly bear and a coaching IQ better than Vince Lombardi's or Paul Brown's.
It has become almost bromidic to say that Belichick possesses a Bunyanesque legend. What is more interesting now is this question: how long will Belichick stay with the Patriots?
The answer? I used to think for many, many years but now I'm not so sure.
| Out of Nowhere Man |
| FS Brandon Meriweather |
 Yes, it is somewhat silly to say a first-round pick is coming out of "nowhere." And I know this is something my boy Prisco would do. Or that sneaky Doyel. It's just that Meriweather was one of the best draft picks of any team last year. He seriously has the potential -- no question -- to challenge for Rookie of the Year. That's how special he is. Meriweather will probably end up playing more safety than corner but he is capable of playing both and could be a devastating special teams player. |
| '06 Rewind: PK Stephen Gostkowski Miles from Nowhere:  With enormous shoes to fill, Gostkowski posted a solid season kicking for the Patriots. He finished with a middle-of-the-pack accuracy number (76 percent), but considering the expectations and difficult New England conditions, it's safe to say the Memphis product took some of the pain out of losing Adam Vinatieri. He did convert a 52-yard field goal, which was nice. |
| Who is your Out of Nowhere Man? |
Several NFL sources with knowledge of the situation say Belichick has grown extremely irritated with the intense and mostly recent scrutiny of his personal life by some in the Boston media after Belichick's name surfaced in an extremely nasty divorce case last year. It has made him reconsider, these sources say, his long-term future in New England.
That fact, along with the Patriots adding potentially devastating weapons like Randy Moss, has led to speculation that Belichick is gearing for one final run in New England.
You would have an easier time finding working brain cells in the frontal lobe of Lindsey Lohan than getting details on Belichick's contract status. Belichick simply says he loves coaching the Patriots but ... well ... I'll let him say it.
"I like working with this organization," he said, "the players, everyone. I love coming to work and coaching this team. It will probably stay like that for a little while."
Ah, a little while?
Is that just a Belichick colloquialism? Does he mean a little, little while or a long, little while? One person's little while is another person's long while. Or is that vice versa?
However long Belichick stays, this season should be one hell of a ride for him.
This Patriots team is more talented and deep than any of the Super Bowl editions. While it is true that hellion Moss is a ticking time bomb who once simulated showing his nasty bootie after a touchdown, so far, he has completely bought into Belichick's unflappable system and been a model citizen. Moss could be yet another example of how the professional, monochromatic Patriots get troubled newcomers to digest their winning mores.
While Moss is not as quick as the days when he would send Green Bay defensive backs into psychoanalysis, the funky wide receiver still provides the Patriots a deep threat, and that in turn will allow Hall of Famer and supermodel magnet Tom Brady to do what he does better than any quarterback maybe ever, which is work underneath routes with Swiss precision.
| Fantasy Focus |
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| WR Randy Moss |
 Jamey Eisenberg's take: The Patriots traded for Moss from Oakland with the hope he can be a dominant player once again. While he probably won't be the Moss from his days in Minnesota, he now gets to play with a stud QB in Tom Brady. Moss should be considered only a No. 2 Fantasy WR because of his recent history and the fact Brady likes to spread the ball around. But if Brady and Moss hit it off in training camp, Moss could be in line for a bounce back season and a return to his place among the Fantasy wideout elite. |
| More Fantasy football news |
"I think he's doing great," Brady said of Moss. "He's in great shape. He does a lot of great things out here. He's a very, very smart football player, one of those guys who can see things out on the field and react without you really having to tell him and he's very much like a quarterback in that sense. It's been good thus far, I'd like to hit him a few more times (with deep passes) -- I think I missed him a few times -- but for the most part we're making some improvements."
Said Moss of his budding relationship with Brady: "I think that in order for us to have the chemistry on the field, we first have to build a relationship off the field. That's one thing that we're trying to do. I'm not trying to step on his toes and he's not trying to step on mine. It's just a mutual friendship and we have an understanding and we have high respect for one another. Like I said, we have to start a relationship off the field in order for it to work on the field. We're starting that."
If that chemistry comes -- and since Brady is the quarterback, it will -- watch out.
So there is a strong chance Belichick will be wearing yet another ring. How long he stays with the Patriots after that -- either a long while or a little while or long, little while -- no one knows.
Except him.
