Can they return to the playoffs? The bigger question is: Can two of their best players, Terry Glenn and Willie McGinest, stay healthy?

New England's fortunes rise and fall with Glenn, who has yet to recapture his rookie form.   John Biever

Toward the end of the '98 season the Patriots began to look like a fife-and-drum corps. Almost everybody on the roster was bruised, bandaged or broken. Even though 16 starters, including quarterback Drew Bledsoe, tight end Ben Coates and linebackers Ted Johnson and Chris Slade, missed a total of 58 games due to injury, New England somehow limped into the playoffs. Perhaps the most damaging -- and least surprising -- injuries were suffered by two of the team's biggest impact players, wideout Terry Glenn and defensive end Willie McGinest. Glenn and McGinest missed 13 games combined in '98 after sitting out 12 in '97. Therefore all prognostications for the '99 Patriots come equipped with a disclaimer about the health of Glenn and McGinest, two players who bring new meaning to the term make-or-break season.

The mercurial Glenn, entering his fourth season, understands that around New England he has been labeled everything from fragile to cowardly. After a '97 season in which he missed more than half of New England's snaps due to nagging ankle and hamstring injuries, Glenn's '98 season ended abruptly when he fractured his right ankle in the 14th game. (He had benched himself for four other games with various hamstring and ankle ailments.) Still, Glenn's potential can't be ignored. The Patriots are 23-11 with Glenn in the lineup and 7-7 without him. The team averages 25.7 points per game when he plays, only 17.5 points when he doesn't. The Pats were 7-1 last season when Glenn caught at least three passes in a game; they were 2-6 when he didn't.

Glenn admits that it seems like forever since his '96 rookie season, when he caught 90 balls for 1,132 yards and helped New England reach the Super Bowl. He believes his workload that year took its toll on a body not yet mature enough to handle the pounding. He also blames himself for lax conditioning in recent off-seasons. "Missing as many games as I have the last couple of years, I consider myself only a part-Patriot," he says. "I want to change the picture people have been painting of me. I feel like I've let my teammates down. How many years can you let slip by when you can't play?"

Glenn claims to have worked out more rigorously this summer, and he says that this is the first time that he didn't dread going to training camp. The 5'11", 185-pound receiver's injuries have clearly been a distraction to his teammates in recent seasons, so they're hoping he will fulfill his pledge to resume distracting opponents. "His speed and his explosiveness can change a game by forcing defenses to roll their coverages in his direction," Bledsoe says. "He makes it easier for us to throw the ball or run it."

Similarly, when McGinest is on the field, he helps the defense by demanding attention as the team's primary outside pass-rushing threat. He had 11 sacks in '95 and 91-2 in '96 but only 51-2 over the last two seasons combined. With McGinest slowed by a groin injury in '98, the Patriots ranked 23rd in the NFL in sacks, and, like Glenn, McGinest began to hear whispers that he's a malingerer. "It has nothing to do with testing my heart," McGinest says. "I know what I can do when I'm healthy, and I'm planning on getting back to creating chaos."

McGinest spent much of the off-season with Alex McKechnie, a physical therapist who specializes in groin and abdominal injuries. McGinest has vowed to play all 16 games this season, and he is talking about "a monster year" that would include at least 15 sacks. The Patriots would settle for 15 healthy games. "You only have to look at the numbers to see how important it is to have the guys you count on playing," coach Pete Carroll says. "When Terry is on the field it affects the defensive signal-caller, and Willie is a dynamic force on the edge who changes the offensive mind-set."

Carroll isn't likely to use a female pronoun to describe any of his hobbled players as previous coach Bill Parcells once did in referring to Glenn, but some Patriots may think he should. Despite playoff appearances in his first two seasons in New England, the easygoing Carroll lacks the respect of some of his players, many of whom actually long for Parcells's draconian discipline and have expressed concern over losing the last three meetings against Parcells and his Jets. Coincidentally, New England opens against the Jets at the Meadowlands in a game that could set the tone for what is a crucial season for Carroll.

"I feel like I'm at a crossroads before every season," Carroll says. "I do mercenary work, fighting wars of paramount significance, and I always feel the utmost urgency to win. How can I feel more?"

-- Tim Crothers

Fast Facts

1998 RECORD: 9-7 (4th in AFC East)
     NFL rank (rush/pass/total): offense 27/5/11; defense 7/25/20

1999 SCHEDULE STRENGTH (rank): 6
     Opponents' 1998 winning percentage: .529; Games against playoff teams: 9

Player to Watch

Strong safety Lawyer Milloy is regarded as an enforcer in the menacing tradition of Ronnie Lott and Steve Atwater. Coach Pete Carroll was so impressed by Milloy's '98 season -- the 6-foot, 208-pounder led the team with 120 tackles, intercepted a career-high six passes and earned a Pro Bowl invitation -- that two days before training camp Carroll cut seven-year free safety Willie Clay and anointed Milloy the leader of the team's defensive backfield. While insisting that he isn't out to hurt anybody, Milloy acknowledges that he is in the business of justice. "I'm a hitter," Milloy says, "and if somebody invades my territory, it's my duty to let him know about it. Nine out of 10 times I'm going to take it to the other guy before he takes it to me."

Other Info

1999 Team Schedule
Team Depth Chart