New England Patriots

While the offense stands pat, a rebuilt defense looks to regain that Super Bowl swagger

By Paul Zimmerman

Team Page | Schedule | Depth chart | 2002 Stats | Predicted finish: 2nd in AFC East

"It was," says new Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, "the most inspirational thing I've ever been around."

Harrison was close to signing with Oakland before the Pats' philosophy -- "no b.s." -- won him over. David Bergman

His team, the 1998 Chargers, finished 5-11, last in the AFC West. The offense committed 51 turnovers. No other team was close. Yet the San Diego defense finished No. 1 in the NFL.

"You'd see guys crying on the plane home," Harrison says. "So many turnovers, so much frustration. But our defense had this thing going, and it just snowballed. Guys working, working, coming in at all hours, lifting weights, studying.

"The offense would throw an interception," Harrison says. "Boom, we stop them, three and out. We're on the bench, we don't even get our helmets off, and our offense gives them the ball back again. Clap hands, let's go. We stop them again, three and out. What a feeling! That's what I came here for, to get the feeling back."

Defense sank New England last year and kept the defending Super Bowl champ out of the playoffs. The base defense didn't have the speed to keep up with the fast teams, and when the Pats put a speed unit on the field, it got muscled. Seven enemy ballcarriers rushed for more than 100 yards against the Patriots. One of them, the Dolphins' Ricky Williams, did it twice.

So coach Bill Belichick sat down with his vice president of player personnel, Scott Pioli. They drew up a list of the kind of players they wanted: hitters, tough guys, people who could run. They went the big-money route for ex-Bear Rosevelt Colvin, one of the plums of the free-agent market: a linebacker in the base unit and a devastating edge rusher on the nickel. Best of all, he's only 25. A day later they picked up Harrison, who'd been cut by the Chargers after nine seasons, four of which ended with his teammates voting him their defensive player of the year.

"The club figured that, at 30, I couldn't run anymore," Harrison says. "I'd suffered a groin pull in the first game last year. The muscle was 30 percent off the bone. The doctors told me I'd miss eight weeks. I missed two. I guess the Patriots feel I can run well enough."

Harrison was visiting the Raiders' complex in March when Pioli reached his agent, Steve Feldman. Don't sign anything, Pioli told Feldman. Come see us first.

Harrison was in Boston the next day. "The first thing Coach Belichick told me was, 'I like the way you warm up, the intensity of it,'" he says. "I'm thinking, Damn, this guy really knows football. So we sat there and talked, the coach, Scott Pioli and me, and they told me, 'You give us a chance to win,' and that's what I needed to hear. No b.s., no wining and dining, just straight football."

Colvin, who had serious offers from five other teams, essentially told the same story. "I sat in their office, and Scott Pioli was excited, and Coach Belichick was excited, and after a while, so was I. The coach talked about the great linebackers he had on the Giants, Pepper Johnson and Carl Banks and Lawrence Taylor, and all the plans he had for me and how I'd fit into their defense. Some of the other teams I'd talked to wanted to take me out for dinner and show me a good time, but you can keep all that stuff."

"Bill and I have a rule," Pioli says. "If a guy needs the sizzle, he's not for us."

Colvin will be a solid outside rusher in the nickel package. Harrison will play right safety in Belichick's left-right alignment which means he'll be the free safety most of the time, expected to cover more ground.

Four of New England's first five draft choices this year were defensive players. One interesting choice was fourth-rounder Dan Klecko, son of Joe Klecko, the great leader of the Jets' Sack Exchange of the 1980s. The younger Klecko is an undersized nosetackle at 5'11", 283, but an exotic specimen as an outside rusher, where the Pats have been experimenting with him. "Great motor," Belichick says of Klecko, who had 2 1/2 sacks in his first preseason game. "You want him on the field somewhere. We just haven't figured out where."

The offense has basically the same people as last season. The defense had to change. It already has, for the better.

Enemy Lines: An opposing scout's view

"Their defense was abysmal last year. Now they've got old guys and unproven players. Richard Seymour is pretty good, but who else is there up front who really excites you? Ty Warren, the rookie?.... I like their linebackers, though. If they can get a decent year out of Willie McGinest, they're set. He's a hybrid type of player who has to be managed; he has to be used in just the right situations.... They cut right corner Otis Smith, so their second-round draft choice [Eugene Wilson] really needs to come on in a hurry. Ty Law is still a player, and their safeties will make it dangerous going over the middle, provided Rodney Harrison can still run and keep from getting hurt.... That's a lot of ifs. There are almost as many on offense. I've been a Tom Brady fan ever since he brought them back from 10 points down against San Diego in their Super Bowl year. Last year he broke down at times, but he wasn't getting much help.... Their receivers are small. Last year there was no threat of a running game. Having right guard Joe Andruzzi playing on a bad knee really hurt them, and we still don't know if he's going to be all the way back. If he is, they've got a chance to run the ball."

Under the Gun

Last year Antowain Smith played like an average NFL back, and New England had no ground game to take the pressure off Tom Brady. The Pats did not bring in a big-name back in the off-season, hoping that Smith's fire, which burned hot two years ago, would return. But coach Bill Belichick hasn't been effusive in his praise of Smith.

Issue date: September 1, 2003