The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 69

69 The Patriots This as a bit of mystery THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1995 dition Oil By Ron Borges GLOBE STAFF I ll ill I I Day, Pate Opponent Where Time TV. (, Sept. 3 Cleveland Foxboro Stadium 1 p.m. Ch: 7llv, Sept. 10 Miami Foxboro Stadium 1 p.m.

Ch. 7j Sept. 17 San Francisco Candlestick Park 4 p.m. Ch. 7 Sept.

24 Bye week -H Oct. 1 Atlanta Georgia Dome 1 p.m. Ch. 7 Oct. 8 Denver Foxboro Stadium 8 p.m.

Oct. 15 Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium 1 p.m. Ch.7'' Oct. 23 Buffalo Foxboro Stadium 9 p.m. Ch.

5 Oct. 29 Carolina Foxboro Stadium 1 p.m. Ch. 7' -1 Nov. 5 NY Jets Giants Stadium 1 p.m.

Ch. 7 Nov. 12 Miami Joe Robbie Stadium 1 p.m. Ch. 7 Nov.

19 Indianapolis Foxboro Stadium 1 p.m. Ch. 7 Nov. 26 Buffalo Rich Stadium 1 p.m. Ch.

7 Dec. 3 New Orleans Foxboro Stadium 1 p.m. Ch. 25 Dec. 10 NY Jets Foxboro Stadium 1 p.m.

Ch. Sat, Dec. 16 Pittsburgh Three Rivers Stadium 12:30 p.m. Ch. 7 Dec.

23 Indianapolis Hoosier Dome 8 p.m. ESPN that i. Only the San Diego Chargers will play a tougher schedule than the Patriots in '95. You also have to go pretty far down the list before you come to the next AFC East team. All of which bodes tough for New England.

s1" Opp. Opp. Opp. Team '94 pet. '94 ret.

Teem '94 pet. '94 rec 1. San Diego .543 139-117 16. St. Louis .504 2.

New England .533 128-112 17. Miami .500 128-128 3. Green Bay .525 126-114 18. Denver .496 119-121 4. Minnesota .523 134-122 19.

S. Francisco .496 111-113 5. Cincinnati .522 117-107 20. Buffalo .492 118-122 6. New Orleans .522 117-107 21.

Oakland .492 126-130 7. NY Giants .520 133-123 22. Pittsburgh .487 109-115 8. Atlanta .518 116-108 23. Philadelphia .481 123-133 9.

Detroit .517 124-116 24. Seattle .479 115-125 10. Houston .513 115-109 25. Chicago .469 105-119 i 11. Kansas City .512 131-125 26.

Cleveland .469 105-119 12. Washington .508 122-118 27. NY Jets .469 105-119 13. Arizona .504 121-119 28. Carolina .465 119-137 14.

Dallas .504 121-119 29. Tampa Bay .457 107-117 .15. Indianapolis .504 113-111 30 Jacksonville .453 116-140 1 Jf I i GLOBE STAFF PHOTO JIM DAVIS The Patriots' offense will get a much-appreciated spark from former Giants' running back and return specialist David Meggett franchise's future, and everyone from Kennebunkport, Maine, to Kensington, knows it. He has been so productive so fast that he even convinced the sometimes hardheaded Parcells to change his viewpoint on offense. The only concern is that if Bledsoe again has to throw 691 times, as he did last season, can he survive? The answer is probably no, which is why New England has tried to add an uptempo running game to help him.

If it works, no one will stop him for long. So the only real concern here is what the future might hold if Bledsoe suffers the kind of injury that seems inevitable if you pass as often as he does for a living. RUNNING BACK When camp opened, this was a strange situation, but it appears to have sorted itself out. New England signed Dave Meggett and his arrival announced a change in philosophy toward a more spread offense utilizing smaller, quicker backs than the 20-mule teams Parcells once preferred. New England has added a trapping game based on quick, shifty running and guards pulling to lead them.

With Leroy Thompson and his 65 receptions gone to Kansas City, fullback Kevin Turner's 52 receptions now in Philadelphia and last year's starter, Marion Butts, in the unemployment line, the load falls on Meggett and third-round draft choice Curtis Martin, who opens the season as the starting running back alongside fullback Sam Gash. Martin showed what he could do in the first and last exhibition games, rushing for 92 yards against the Raiders in a half. Meggett was asked to do little all summer, but when called upon, he had a 74-yard kick return, a 36-yard pass reception and several plays on which he turned third downs into first downs, which is why he's RECEIVERS If Bledsoe is throwing it, it seems most anyone can catch it. Still, nearly half of his 400 completions last year have disappeared in the offseason with the departures of Turner, Thompson and Michael Timpson (74 catches). Young Vincent Brisby (58 catches, 15.6-yard average) may be on the verge of stardom, and Ben Coates (96 catches, an NFL tight end record, for 1,171 yards, with nearly half for first downs) is already there.

Parcells had hoped Ray Crittenden or Kevin Lee, a second-round draft choice a year ago who missed the season with a broken jaw, would replace Timpson, but he finally settled on Canadian League expatriate Will Moore. Moore had 120 catches for 1,913 yards in just over two seasons with Calgary and comes highly recommended by Doug Flutie, who threw to him in Canada. If Moore has a problem, it's his lack of size. Can he take an NFL battering at the line of scrimmage and still get into his patterns? He'll have to because it's up to him, Brisby and Meggett to get free enough downfield to open holes for Coates, who is sure to draw double coverage. 4 OFFENSIVE LINE This has become a solid unit with depth.

Anchored by three-time Pro Bowl selection Bruce Armstrong at left tackle, it is big and getting bigger. The signing of 300-pound ex-Miami ft- Lm-'' jj f. GLOBE STAFF PHOTO JIM DAVIS end that streak Sunday if his sore ankle doesn't improve. If Harlow isn't ready, Max Lane steps in. DEFENSIVE LINE Not a starter survived from a year ago, and there still is no game-breaker here, but in New England's two-gap style, size and the ability to hold your ground are paramount.

This the Patriots can now do. Defensive ends Mike Pitts and Mike Jones have been replaced by Troy Barnett (293 pounds) and Tim Roberts (318 pounds, plus a still-hard-to-fathom one-year, $1 million contract), and nose tackle Tim Goad's spot is being plugged by 315-pound Reggie White. That's a total tonnage increase of nearly 25 pounds per man, which was one of Parcells' aims this summer. Not one (7- A -at, i 1 OXBOROUGII-If everything goes the way the prognostieators say it should this season -which it seldom does, or they'd have no need to prognosticate for a living because they'd be in Vegas cashing betting slips this should be the best year for the Patriots since 1776. They are young, they are fast, they are talented, they are hungry and, at least until Sunday night, they are undefeatad.

What more could a coach want? If you're Bill Parcells, a lot. You want a defensive lineman who can reach the quarterback in such a way that an entire offense must always be concerned with him, the kind who can dominate a game like Cortez Kennedy used to do in Seattle and Reggie White still does -although not as frequently as he used to in Green Bay. And you want a wide receiver like Jerry Rice or Michael Irvin, a proven game-breaker who can turn any short pass into a touchdown and is so feared that entire defenses have to work their plan around dealing with him. And you want a proven running back instead of a rookie running back, one with yardage behind hini as well as ahead of him. And you want a veteran inside linebacker so you could bring second-round draft choice Ted Johnson along slowly, and you want two good knees underneath the heart of your defense, team captain Vincent Brown, instead of the one and perhaps a half he's starting with this year.

And, like Earl Weaver, you want more of what the old Orioles manager used to call "the deep depth" instead of the youthful kind you have, the kind of which Parcells said this week, "To quote Marv Levy, depth is great until you have to play it." In other words, like every NFL coach, you want a lot of things if you're Bill Parcells, but the season is about to begin and what you want is not what you have. That being the case, the question becomes: Is what you have good enough to win the AFC East over a reconstructed Miami team? Is it enough to win the AFC championship from Pittsburgh or Cleveland or the Raiders, as some predictors have you doing? Is it even good enough to survive a season-opening three-week gantlet of the Browns, Dolphins and 49ers? Nobody knows the answers, and nobody knows that better than Parcells. That's why they play the games. QUARTERBACK With the best young quarterback in the game, Drew Bledsoe, this is the most solid position on the team. A year ago, Bledsoe, at 22, became the youngest quarterback in history to go to the Pro Bowl.

And if he can continue his 1994 pace of 284.7 passing yards a game, he will have thrown for 10,000 yards in just 40 games, a remarkable feat topped only by Dan Marino, the Miami quarterback with whom he is often compared. With a new seven-year deal in his pocket worth more than $42 million, Bledsoe is the RON BORGES Second in AFC East. The Patriots should be in the thick of the AFC East race but when things thin out the Dolphins will still have too much experience for a team with an untested defense. New England a good draft or a free agency signing away from the NFL's elite but with Drew Bledsoe's arm it's no longer a long-distance call. IMfCHAIMAOOEM 10-6.

A very tough schedule makes for a very tough time of duplicating last year's mark. But the Patriots will be the AFC's best by season's end. f7 WILL MCDONOUGH Second in AFC East. But they'll win their very first playoff game under Bill Parcells by beating the Raiders in a wild-card game before bowing out in the semifina)70und in Pittsburgh. while the defense Is in the capable hands of up-and-comers like linebacker Chris Slade, who will be in rush to get to the quarterback.

Slade and Willie McGinest may be nearly ready to explode on NFL offenses. Slade is coming into his- own as a third-year pass rusher who now has size to go with his speed. He is being counted on to become the 1 disruptive pass rusher New England has not had since Andre Tippeti' retired. McGinest is bigger, just fast and lacks only experience. pv SECONDARY This is one of the1 highest-paid secondaries in football, yet during the draft, Parcells kept saying he needed to improve his' coverage.

So why do Maurice Hurst, Ricky Reynolds and Myron Guyton earn $5.1 million among them? Good question. Hurst is as good a cover'1 man as there is in the AFC and has become an improved tackier since' Parcells' staff pushed him into it. Reynolds got off to a shaky start a' year ago but came on late in the season and mans the other although questions and fears remain about him. Guyton didn't make many plays at safety last year and hasn't made many this summer, That doesn't make him a bad but it does make him an expensive journeyman. At strong safety, Terry Ray replaces heady Harlon Barnett, who went to Minnesota as a free agent.

Ray is the team's best special teams player and a smart young safety, but he disappears from time to time, overcome by his own enthusiasm. As yet, he is nowhere-' near the reliable player Barnett was, which could lead to early problems against throwing teams like Miami and San Francisco. of these guys has proven a thing in the NFL, however, except an ability to eat, which makes this all the more of a mystery as the season opens. This is not a group that will strike fear into the heart of offensive line coaches at the moment, but it may make them scratch their heads. Who are these guys? Only time will tell.

Quite obviously, this is an untested group that could be the key to the success or failure of the Patriots this season. pV LINEBACKERS Disaster struck here early when Todd Collins, a starting inside linebacker the past two seasons, retired and days later new starter Andre Bowden broke his leg. Brown, the anchor of the defense, then had to undergo arthroscopic surgery for a degenerative knee condition that kept him out for the first three exhibition games. Thankfully for the Patriots, Brown is back and showed no ill effects in last week's final exhibition game. But the knee was not designed to play football, so such problems are always a concern, especially once a player reaches 30.

Beside him will be Johnson and last year's Mr. Irrelevant, Marty Moore, the last drafted player. Johnson showed strength, agility and aggression but he's still a rookie in the middle of a blinding thunderstorm at times. Ultimately, Brown and Johnson must maintain the middle and stop the inside running game that has killed the Patriots in the past. The outside linebacking combination of Chris Dolphin center Jeff Dellenbach as a free agent had the double-barreled effect of shoring up what has been a massive hole for years in New England while also weakening its chief AFC East rival.

Parcells has said in the past the center position "was holding me hostage," but no longer. Guards Bob Kratch, Todd Rueci and William Roberts provide push, depth, speed, agility and size in the middle. That agility will be in evidence as the Patriots move to a more nimble-footed running game featuring sweeps, traps and the draw play behind blocks on the move from Rucci and Kratch. Right tackle Pat Harlow gave up only four sacks last season and has not missed a start in 63 games, but he's likely to JIM GREENIOGE Third in AFC East, behind Dolphins and Colts. With the second toughest schedule in the NFL, you can't help but wonder if the Patriots have the depth required for a positive response in case of serious injuries.

A 9-7 record and first-round loser in the playoffs looks on the mark. i BOB RYAN Our lads will win nine games and finish a tough second in the tumultuous AFC East, which will challenge the NFC East as the primo division. They will again go out on the first round, and when it's over the Tuna will patiently explain how the team got better, but so did everyone else. There will be a massive public outcry to procure a "big-time" wide receiver during the ensuing offseason, but the real problem areas will still be on defense. i RON WILL MICHAEL BOB JIM BORGES MCDONOUGH MADDEN RYAN GREENIDGE AFC Miami: Shula has loaded Miami: Best Miami: One last Miami: The Miami: Only concern EAST his gun for one talent in gasp from the weekly Dan is whether defense last Super Bowl.

conference. old geezers. Don Hugfest. can get it done. I AFC Pittsburgh: A soft Pittsburgh: Has Cleveland: Sad Pittsburgh: Defense Cleveland: QB questionable, CENTRAL schedule gives them Cleveland's champ in "uber alles." but you gotta i a bye into the playoffs number.

sad division. like the defense. AFC Oakland: The Prodigal San Diego: Best Denver. Somebody Oakland: QB or San Diego: A good 1 WEST Sons return to of a fairly has to win not QB is draft and a the Bay area. weak group.

this division. the question. healthy Humphries. i NFC Dallas: These Cowboys Dallas: Not Dallas: One Dallas: It's Dallas: Most EAST are still very fast as good as before, last roundup Coach Switzer and talent wins on the draw. but good enough.

for the 'Pokes. don't forget it. out finally. NFC Detroit: If Fontes gives Detroit: If Lions Detroit: Lions Chicago: Dave Detroit: Banking on CENTRAL the ball to Sanders can keep Sanders much stronger Wannstedt keeps Scott Mitchell to I If not, trouble. on his feet.

than division. stepping up. do something. NFC San Francisco: Lost some, San Francisco: Best San Francisco: But San Francisco: Keep San Francisco: Coordinators WEST but they still have team in it's not getting the Chardonnay change, but system i Yjung, Rice and Co. the league.

'any easier. on ice. is still the same. AFC Pittsburgh: Last year's loss Miami: Too much New England: They Miami: They San Diego: They CHAMPION to Chargers spurs for rest. finish with typical spent for it and get best Steelers on to big game.

Parcells flourish. they'll get it. of Browns. NFC Detroit: Tired of old San Francisco: Still San Francisco: Niners Dallas: With Dallas: This time CHAMPION names, let's give too much for stomp Eagles epic NFC title Cowboys conquer it to Lions. rest of league.

along the way. game OT win. the 49ers. SUPER Detroit: Simba rules. San Francisco: Somehow San Francisco: But it's Miami: Marino Dallas: Chargers BOWL Kids are smiling.

they find way for last time as gets MVP no match for CHAMPION Lions are Kings. to dojit again. AFC begins to rise. of the game. Aikman, Snith..