Will Bill Belichick be the recipient of more Gatorade showers in 2005? AP

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Bill Belichick started pushing the rock back up the hill on Friday. And as is his custom, whether or not it gets heavier all the time, or the climb ever steeper, he ain't saying.

What? You expected anything resembling full disclosure from the man who perfected the non-injury report injury report? The New England Patriots went back to work on Friday -- at least the newest of them -- and their taciturn head coach got busy explaining to the players who showed up for this weekend's two-day, rookie-only minicamp just how long ago early February was.

Less than three months after the Patriots' third Super Bowl win in four years, if there's a scintilla of complacency in Belichick or the rest of the New England organization, it's as hard to recognize as a perfectly timed blitz. In the span of a 30-minute media briefing Friday morning, Belichick made the following observations about the unofficial start of his team's 2005 season, in his own hedging style:

"Well, we're going. ... Obviously it's the first step in a marathon process though. ... We're not out there climbing any mountains today. We're trying to get one foot in front of the other without falling down. ... Every year is a new year. There's always new challenges. A lot of what you did last year is outdated. ... We don't play anybody for a while. ... We've got a lot to accomplish.''

Yep, it's football season in New England, all right. Belichick, the guy who has gone 34-4 the past two seasons and won the shiny trophy both times, somehow made his team sound as if it's in the throes of a rebuilding program. Every coach poor-mouths. Belichick's spiel is typically below the poverty level.

Later, after he had laid out his plans for his rookies this weekend, I quizzed Belichick on his team's many offseason topics, and started out by asking him if he ever sits and ponders just how big the target on the Patriots' backs has grown since their memorable 2001 started their run of dominance. His answer probably won't surprise you.

"It's been that way for a while now,'' Belichick said, sporting the gray sweatshirt look that has become his trademark. "I'm not really worried about it. I figure everybody we play wants to beat us, but I figured they wanted to do that five years ago. It's probably the same for all 32 teams at this time of year. We've all got the same amount of time and the same amount of games. It's what you do with that opportunity and where you can get to.''

It's what the Patriots always do with their "opportunities'' that has made them the NFL's gold standard this decade. But if New England builds on its Super Bowl success story in 2005, the latest chapter in that ever-thickening tome will come on the heels of perhaps its most challenging offseason yet. From losing both offensive coordinator Charlie Weis to Notre Dame, and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel to Cleveland, to Ted Bruschi's dramatic battle to overcome the effects of a mid-February stroke, to the departure of key veterans such as Ty Law, Joe Andruzzi and David Patten, New England has been in anything but "stand pat'' mode since beating Philadelphia by three points in Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville.

"They're all challenging, every offseason,'' Belichick said. "There's always a to-do list for the offseason, and it's always long and comprehensive. I've never gone into an offseason saying, 'Well, we've got everything set here. See you in July. We're done.' ''