Belichick Has a Sore Subject

By Sam Farmer

Feb. 1, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Want to get under Coach Bill Belichick’s skin this week?

Refer to the New England Patriots as the NFL’s defending champion.

“We are not defending anything,” Belichick said Monday. “This year we started the season with the same record as everyone else. We were trying to get to the same point as everybody else was, and that’s it. That flag would fly above our stadium as champions last year if we had gone 0-16 this year. It would fly above Tampa. It would fly above the Ravens from 2000. It would fly above the Giants from ’86 and ’90.

“Whether we win all our games or lose them all, it doesn’t make any difference. Those flags are still flying. It’s not about last year. This is about what we do this year. We’re not defending anything.”

No wonder people call Belichick a defensive guru.

The Patriots practiced for two hours Monday at Bartram Trail High School. Belichick wasn’t pleased with the facilities, even though the NFL donated more than $250,000 to improve the field, put in a new drainage system and new grass.

“We were kind of out there on an ice rink today,” Belichick said. “It’s slick. We’re not even going full speed and guys are falling all over the place.”

The weather has been unseasonably cool in the Jacksonville area, and there was steady rain Saturday.

Linebacker Mike Vrabel caught a pass in the Super Bowl a year ago and looked perfectly at ease doing so. Apparently, looks were deceiving.

“I was scared to death,” he said. “The thing for me, going in there and playing offense, was that you were only going to get two or three snaps in a game if you were lucky. So the only live reps I see were during the game. You don’t go live goal-line [offense] during the week during the season. So when you get out there, it never looks like it looks during practice.”

Any of those goal-line reps this week?

“We haven’t put the package in,” he said. “We won’t do that until later on in the week. But, obviously, when you do it for 18 straight weeks, I would imagine I’m going to be out there.”

The quote of the day was uttered by Patriot running back Corey Dillon, who evidently doesn’t suffer from self-esteem problems. He was asked whether he thought the negative perception of him in Cincinnati had been unfair.

“No, because people are going to view me how they want to,” he said. “The way I look at it, people didn’t think Jesus was Jesus. So who am I? That’s the kind of approach I take, and people are going to think what they want to think.”

Linebacker Ted Johnson sat out practice because of a leg injury. “His leg is a little tight,” Belichick said.

No further information about the injury was available. The first official Super Bowl injury report will be issued Wednesday.

Associated Press contributed to this report.