Change machine: the Patriots keep winning , thanks to their ability to reinvent themselves like no other team can

Dan Pompei

If the Patriots' 21-game winning streak teaches us anything, it's that this team is as flexible as a campaign promise. During the streak, they have won games scoring 38 points--and scoring 9. They have prevailed while allowing 34 points--and while pitching three shutouts. They have thrown for 354 yards--and for 91. They have rushed for 172 yards--and been held to 56. Seven players have led them in receptions in different games.

"Run the ball, control the clock--they can do it" Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz says. "Five wides and zip it around--they can do it. Play man on defense--they can do it. Cover 2 every snap--they can do it. Blitz--they can do it. They have so many different ways of beating you."

The fences that provide the boundaries of their offense and defense are on wheels, not cement posts. Whereas the other 31 teams depend on certain aspects of their club prevailing for them to win, the Patriots are dependent only on the imagination of Bill Belichick and his coaching staff--and the absorption ability of their players. That's why a third Super Bowl victory in four years is only a few morphs away.

The Patriots present a different face for nearly every opponent. "When you watch the tape of them, it doesn't do you a lot of good to say, 'Well, they played the lets this way or they played Seattle this way; " Colts coach Tony Dungy says. "They may or may not play you that way depending on what you have and what they have to stop. They have a great capacity to play any type of game."

Aside from quarterback Tom Brady and defensive lineman Richard Seymour, no player is indispensable to the Patriots. This was illustrated early in the streak, when the Patriots were missing so many players they couldn't practice on a Wednesday.

Here is an incredible, little-known fact: Through the course of the 21 games, the Patriots have had a different starting lineup in every contest. Last season alone, 42 players started games, which is the most ever for a team that won its division. This year, six more players have picked up starts, including Randall Gay, an undrafted rookie. Gay now has started as many games for the defending Super Bowl champions as he did during his senior season at LSU--one. What's more, Gay played two positions in his start Sunday against the Jets--safety and cornerback. And he played pretty well, even matching up with shifty receiver Wayne Chrebet in the slot.

The autumn colors peaked in New England last weekend as the Patriots were beating the previously undefeated Jets, 13-7. The Patriots, though, should not peak until February as long as they continue to reinvent themselves in various areas of their game.

Defensive fronts

The Patriots change defensive fronts as frequently as most men change television stations. They ease from a 4-3 to a 3-4 and back again--and have even shown one-man and two-man fronts this season. It's all part of keeping offenses off-balance.

During stretches of their streak, they have been more dependent on one front or the other. Early in the streak, when nose tackle Ted Washington was injured and inactive, the Patriots used more four-man fronts. Then late last season when the team began to peak, the Patriots were humming with the 3-4. During a five-game string from mid-November to mid-December, they were as tough to run through as barbed wire, never giving up 100 yards and holding opponents to a 3.1 yards-per-carry average.

In the offseason, the Patriots lost Washington, who signed with the Raiders as a free agent. But with first-round draft pick Vince Wilfork and flee-agent pickup Keith Traylor replacing Washington, the Patriots have played more 3-4 than 4-3 this season.

Washington's ability to change games was, like the player, somewhat overblown. But the numbers say he is missed. The Patriots are allowing 4.2 yards per carry this year, compared with 3.6 a year ago. "When we played them, their run defense wasn't as solid and cohesive as it was the year before" Dungy says. "I think they were still adjusting to life without him."

That adjustment has progressed as Wilfork has become more comfortable. Nose tackle is a new world for Wilfork, who played in a one-gap system in college at Miami. On Sunday, the Patriots held Curtis Martin, who came into the game as the league's leading rusher, to 70 yards and 3.5 yards per carry.

Pressure

Mostly because of their ability to scheme sacks with unpredictable blitz packages, the Patriots were a pretty effective pass-rushing team last year. This year, the Patriots have become an outstanding pass-rushing team that is on pace for 51 sacks, 10 more than it had a year ago.

A good portion of the pressure this year has come from blitzing safety Rodney Harrison, who has three sacks. "We broke down who they were bringing the most, and they were bringing the strong safety as much as anybody," Miami coach Dave Wannstedt says. "You always have to know where Harrison is all the time."

Just when an opponent becomes zoned in on Harrison, chances are he'll drift back into coverage, like he did most of the time against the Jets. "Each week it's going to change" outside linebacker Mike Vrabel says. "Some weeks we're going to be more aggressive, some weeks we're not going to be aggressive. That's how we play defense."

Passing game

For streaks within the streak, the Patriots have been carried by Brady. During three games last November, 80 percent of the Patriots' first downs came by the pass, not including penalties.

The quarterback has the complete confidence of Belichick and coordinator Charlie Weis, in part because he typically spends 12 hours a day at the office during the week. Whereas many quarterbacks don't see what's developing on the field, Brady, in the estimation of Belichick, can see eight or nine things at a time. He knows what every player on the field is doing, which explains why he doesn't make many critical mistakes.

Defenses have had to focus more safety attention on the running game this year, and Brady has been the beneficiary. After averaging 6.88 yards per attempt during the 15 games of the streak last season, he's averaging 8.08 yards per attempt this year.

Tight end Daniel Graham has become more involved in the offense, catching the third most passes on the team and drawing safety help from receivers. "Any time a team has an athletic tight end like him who can catch passes and get up the field and runs good routes, that keeps the defense on their heels a little because you always have to be aware of where a guy like that is," Jets linebacker Victor Hobson says.

Protection

Through the 21 games, the Patriots have allowed more than two sacks in a game only four times, though it isn't because they have the modern day Seven Blocks of Granite.

Their accomplishment has required some adjustments because the team lost arguably its best blocker, guard Damien Woody, in the first game of the playoffs last season. He was replaced last season by Russ Hochstein, who became a Super Bowl punch line for "journalist" Warren Sapp, and this season by Stephen Neal, who didn't play college football and never played a full NFL game before this year.

They probably could lose anyone on their line and not see a spike in sacks. It helps that Brady is decisive and smart with the ball, but it goes beyond that.

"What they do as well as anybody in the league is they don't put their guys on the offensive line in bad situations," Schwartz says. "They protect their offensive linemen. If they're in no-back, the quarterback throws the ball before anybody could possibly get to him."

Running game

For the meat of the streak last season, 15 games, the Patriots' running game changed appearance like a cuttlefish. Through a string of three games in October, scatback Kevin Faulk was the main ballcarrier as the Patriots tried to spread defenses. In late November, Belichick put Antowain Smith on the inactive list for a game at Indianapolis even though Smith was healthy. Belichick preferred Mike Cloud, a reserve whose cutting ability is enhanced on the kind of artificial turf the teams were playing on that day.

When the weather and the season got serious, though, it was back to Smith. With Smith carrying the load, the Patriots rushed for more than 100 yards in four of their last five games, and their average per rush improved.

A funny thing happened after the Super Bowl. The Patriots gave Smith a ring and a handshake and wished him well. Their new back, Corey Dillon, would reshape and stabilize their running game because he could do everything Smith could do better, and he could do some of the things Faulk could do.

"Dillon is a powerful runner, a big, strong runner," Jets coach Herm Edwards says. "He can break the long run for them. He can make the hard yards when they have to take time off the clock and pound you. They can play a lot of different ways with him."

Against the Jets, Dillon had a 44-yard run, which was longer than any run by a Patriot last season. Just as important, he was able to run three straight times late in the fourth quarter for a first down, which enabled the Patriots to keep the ball with less than 2 minutes to go. "When you can run out the clock like that and make a few first downs when you've got to run it and everybody in the stadium knows you're going to run the ball, that's really critical," Belichick says.

After only six games, Dillon already has rushed for 5 yards fewer than Smith rushed for all last season.

The Patriots also tweaked their running game for the Jets by using all-purpose man Dan Klecko extensively at fullback. And after Klecko was injured, the team called on Seymour to play the position on the run that put the game away. Seymour led Dillon to the hole on third-and-2 with 2 minutes remaining, and his block of two Jets helped Dillon gain 4 yards. Seymour had not practiced at fullback since last January before getting three reps at the position the Friday before the game.

Even though the Patriots hadn't shown much of the big fullback look this year, the Jets knew to expect anything. "Whatever you think they're not going to do is pretty much what they're going to do," Hobson says. "Nothing they do is surprising."

That would include continuing to manufacture victories like the machine they have become.

Jets' solid showing bodes well for their future

So the Jets lost a tough game at New England, 13-7. That's no reason to believe they won't be a factor in the AFC East race--and perhaps beyond.

Like the Patriots, the Jets don't make many mistakes. That starts with quarterback Chad Pennington, who has completed 69 percent of his passes this season. "Chad is a high-percentage thrower," Jets coach Herin Edwards says. "He's going to take what you give him. He's not going to force a lot of balls. He understands sometimes a 3-yard throw is another way to move the chains. He's very, very good at play-action and very, very smart."

Pennington isn't shy about checking down to his running backs. In fact, the Jets' leading receiver is fullback Jerald Sowell. Their second-leading receiver is running back Curtis Martin.

The Jets came into their game against the Patriots as the least penalized team in the league and were tied for the lead in fewest giveaways with four.

As long as the Jets continue to avoid mistakes, the December 26 rematch against the Patriots at the Meadowlands should be pretty interesting--and meaningful.--D.P.

Fast start, fast finish

Last Sunday's game between the Patriots and the Jets marked only the second time since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger that teams with records of 5-0 or better played each other. On October 28, 1973, coach Bud Grant's 6-0 Vikings defeated coach Chuck Knox's 6-0 Rams, 10-9, at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn. Both teams went on to win their divisions and advance to the playoffs, where the Rams lost in the divisional round and the Vikings lost in the Super Bowl.

With the win, the Patriots not only extended their league-record winning streak to 21 games, they improved to 6-0 for the first time in club history. Of the 34 teams since the merger to begin a season 6-0, all but two made the playoffs, 17 reached the Super Bowl and 10 won it.

Still, it will take three more wins for the Patriots to crack the list of the 10 best starts since 1970:

Year    Team        Start    Final record        Postseason result

1972    Dolphins    14-0         14-0              Won Super Bowl
1998    Broncos     13-0         14-2              Won Super Bowl
1985    Bears       12-0         15-1              Won Super Bowl
1984    Dolphins    11-0         14-2             Lost Super Bowl
1991    Redskins    11-0         14-2              Won Super Bowl
1975    Vikings     10-0         12-2         Lost NFC divisional game
1990    Giants      10-0         13-3              Won Super Bowl
1990    49ers       10-0         14-2        Lost NFC championship game
1973    Vikings      9-0         12-2             Lost Super Bowl
2003    Chiefs       9-0         13-3         Lost AFC divisional game

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