Belichick’s clarity amid the gridiron fray will rule the day Patriot games BY CHIP YOUNG

Well, I have to admit that the New England Patriots cost me a bundle when they beat the Indianapolis Colts, 24-14, in the American Football Conference Championship game.

No, I didn’t bet on the Colts. Pul-eeze. It’s just that I thought it was up to me to buy drinks afterward for all the screaming knuckleheads that bloviate weekly about the NFL on Fox, CBS, and ESPN, and about 90 percent of the major football and magazine reporters in the U.S. of A. I figured it might been a good way for them to wash the taste of Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning’s manhood out of their mouths after they spent a week sucking on it like a little kid with a Sugar Daddy. This, of course, was before Manning got neutered in the snow of Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium. Our blades up north do a very nice, quick surgical job, don’t they, you legions of blathering studio has-been airheads and wannabe-athlete typewriter jockeys?

Oooh, a bit nasty that. But tough Ty Law. Manning, who hadn’t won a playoff game in his career coming into the postseason, was being deified for his "perfect" passing rating (approximately 158), and lack of interceptions, while the Colts blew out Denver and Kansas City in their previous playoff games, respectively scoring 41 and 38 points. Well, by the time the NFL’s goody two shoes was done being worked over by a real defense, he slouched back to the dressing room, having thrown four interceptions (three to Mr. Law). Manning had a laudable passing rate of 35.

Funny how quickly our announcers found something other than the second coming of a combined Joe Montana-Johnny Unitas to talk about. In fact, Ty so dominated All-Pro receiver Marvin Harrison that he got more return yards on his ITs — 26 — than Harrison did on his catches — 19 — and he was hit and made to fumble one, to boot. (Note: Hotshot Manning has an All-Pro receiver in Harrison and an All-Pro running back in Edgerrin James. Tom Brady, who has a crew of unknown soldiers catching his passes, doesn’t know who his main running back will be from week to week, since Kevin Faulk and Antowain Smith regularly share duties. Tell me which QB gets more out of his talent? Thought so. Enjoy the Super Bowl on TV, Mr. Co-MVP.)

Peyton got put in his place by a Patriots defense that embodies the pervasive team ethic in Foxboro. The message of one for all, and all for one, has not been lost on the fans or their fellow pros. Although the Pats have been doing it all year — and continue to do so — one of the most positive things about the team is how they were introduced in the pre-game to the 2001 Super Bowl as a team, not as individual starting players. It was a small thing, but one that people immediately noticed, and they delighted in the sentiment.

The Pats talk the team talk, and walk the team walk. Copping an eyeful of that attitude may have propelled another "no stars" team to Houston in form of the Carolina Panthers. If you think Tom Brady gets short-shrifted by the yammerers in the sports media, how would you like to be Jake Delhomme, the Panthers’ QB?

Oh, of course, the Super Bowl hype is in full swing, and the media is sobering up long enough to crank out daily fantasies that the Disney studios would regard as too sappy. By now, enough media types have ventured down to southern Louisiana to visit Delhomme’s hometown of Breaux Bridge. If you hadn’t already had a bellyful of Southern cooking reading about the Packers’ star QB Brett Favre and his dad’s recent death, down yonder in little Kiln, Mississippi, you should have your fill with a second course of Delhomme gumbo. A benchwarmer for six years with the New Orleans "Aints," he found new life with Carolina. After being thrown into the game at the half with a 17-0 deficit against Jacksonville in the Panthers’ opener, he has been a steadying force on the team, pulling out a 24-23 win. Like a guy who wears number 12 on New England, he just seems to win.

If Delhomme isn’t a familiar name on the Panthers, despite his success, don’t expect to recognize anyone else, either. Defensive end Julius Peppers might stand out, but that could be for his nice handle or a suspension for failing a drug test last year, rather than his play on the field. But he is the real deal, and the Pats’ right tackle, Tom Ashworth, will have his hands full. (Speaking of no-names — Tom Ashworth? How about Matt Light, Russ Hochstein, Dan Koppen, and Joe Andruzzi? Along with Ashworth, that’s the New England offensive line. Know how many times Brady was sacked by the Colts? Zero. Don’t worry about their names, just keep that stat in mind.)

In the secondary, Panthers’ rookie Ricky Manning has lit up the postseason, getting a critical interception in Carolina’s upset win over St. Louis, and three against the woeful Donovan McNabb in Philly in the NFC title game. No disrespect, but he’s no Ty Law, and don’t expect Brady to be afraid to get at him even with the recent press clippings stuffed in Manning’s jock. Safety Mike Minter is solid, and their most usual blitz threat. But all in all, the Carolina defense is just like the Patriots — they come to play and knock you down anytime they can, with or without the ball.

On the offense, Delhomme hands off to two good runners, Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster. Davis is ostensibly the starter, but since he pulled a muscle against St. Louis, Foster has opened at least these eyes, and his quick moves and refusal to go down scare me more than Davis, who is no slouch. (You see, ya just can’t get any respect playing in an area where college basketball is more important than the NFL.) But the real horror show of the Panthers is Steve Smith, who took a crossing route 61 yards into the end zone in the second overtime against St. Louis, on sheer drag strip speed, for the Carolina win. This left the Rams’ glamour boy defensive back, Jason Sehorn, munching artificial turf, not even laying a hand on Smith as he tore past. Smith is a wild child, which isn’t a bad thing for a receiver, and Law or Pats’ safety Rodney Harrison will no doubt have a chat with him involving an early de-cleating tackle to calm him down.

This kind of physical game is the Patriots’ bread and butter. It is the kind of sideline-to-sideline ferocious hitting that won them the 2001 Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams, and got them here this weekend. Yet, the same goes for the Panthers. They like to — and do — come at you, a la the Patriots. Ask the Eagles players, a couple of who opted out of their normal pass routes for fear of being blowed up good, it certainly appeared.

That was one of the story lines heard from the Pats’ after they kicked the Colts’ asses in the snow for the AFC title. They said they wanted to "bloody a few noses," and they did. And trust me, any hard shot — be it a forearm to the nose or helmet to the chest — hurts much more when you are freezing cold. Ask the Colts’ wide receivers, who took some of the Pats’ best, and were no doubt washing down Percocets with the beers they were crying in after their loss at Gillette Stadium.

But beating up the Colts was only part of the story for New England. It was a new defensive scheme, installed by head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, which played Patriot games with Peyton Manning’s head. And as has been noted by Belichick, incredible credit goes to the players, especially the veterans who quickly become mentors to younger teammates, for being able to assimilate and execute new strategies with only a week’s preparation. As the Pats’ defensive players and outside experts have mentioned on many occasions leading up to the game, they feel sorry for Delhomme — with Bill and Romeo having two weeks to cook up something he’ll be force-fed in full view of the nation at Reliant Stadium.

Outside of sports and journalism, over time I have had the opportunity to work with a few people who I regard as incredibly intelligent, almost to the genius level. "Genius," in sports lingo, unfortunately has no correlation. It means you were lucky enough to win a few games in prime time. It’s usually bestowed by a fawning airhead like Jim Nantz, Greg Gumbel, or any of the self-absorbed clowns on ESPN. To a person, the intellect in the people I encountered manifested itself in being able to simplify the most complex of problems, finding equally clear and concise solutions, no matter how mind-boggling the challenge. Where you felt you were looking for an uncluttered view in a kaleidoscope, they had a vision of something as clear as a red dot on a sheet of plain white paper. That’s Bill Belichick’s magic, and why, doubtless, he sees things on film that others don’t.

While enough armchair quarterbacks may have picked up on how the Patriots were jamming the Colts’ receivers at the line and punishing them anywhere they went — or that New England was blitzing less than normal against Indianapolis — the real key to success was far less obvious: Belichick and Crennel wanted to keep Manning moving, so he couldn’t drift to the back of the pocket to set his feet and throw, as he did while picking apart Denver and Kansas City. Post facto, after the New England players and Belichick revealed their game plan in locker room interviews, it was so obvious you felt stupid for not picking up on it while staring at the game on TV for three hours.

Sure, the Pats were lucky enough to sack Manning a few times anyway, but most of all they kept him moving, which led to the four defensive picks, especially the one he flipped over the head of Edgerrin James while being chased out of the pocket, grabbed by Law just in bounds behind him. Did they scare Manning? No. Did the secondary cover well? Definitely. Did they make him constantly move around after he dropped back? Yes, and even standing upright, it was giving Manning happy feet that gave the Patriots the win.

Expect something that simple out of a tsunami of Xs and Os, and more film viewed than by an Oscar voter, once Belichick and Crennel have boiled the Panthers’ offense down to its essence. Steve Smith and the rest of the Carolina receivers know they are going to be tested and toasted all day long by N.E.’s linebackers and defensive secondary. The offensive line has to be expecting Crennel’s grab bag of blitzes simply because the Pats are capable of bringing owner Bob Kraft from the outside at some point. This is since they use everyone on the field to go after the quarterback during most games. But look long, look hard, and look twice, and a couple two-t’ree times more for something so subtle that it tips the balance the Patriots way. Because it will be there.

All in all, the Patriots have a defense that can contain Carolina’s less-than-dazzling offense, and might even embarrass Jake Delhomme enough that he’ll be damn glad he spends the off-season in Breaux Bridge, not Raleigh. And Tom Terrific and his no-accounts on offense can usually put as many points as necessary on the board to win, given the time and space, which they should get. Even if the Panthers come out hitting and thirsting for blood — which they will — they have met their match and then some in that category. Bring it on, Rodney, Ty, and Tedy Bruschi.

It says here 24-10, Patriots. And give the credit to the guy over there in the hooded sweatshirt. It is all so simple.