01:00 AM EST on Friday, November 21, 2003

"I love Bill Belichick to death, and I love Romeo Crennel to death."

-- Keyshawn Johnson, in an interview on the NFL Total Access show, aired Tuesday on the NFL Network

Love is often blind, but, hopefully, Belichick, Crennel and Patriots director of player personnel Scott Pioli can see that the extremely talented, much-too-talkative, and too-often-troublesome Keyshawn would be the death of team harmony and unity if he came to New England.

Johnson would be a far better fit, personality-wise, with the Red Sox than he would be with the Patriots.

In Boston's baseball clubhouse, Keyshawn's ego-driven excesses and eccentricities would be dismissed as simply "Keyshawn being Keyshawn." Just like, you know, "Manny being Manny."

Except that, despite Manny's impressive annual array of batting statistics, the Red Sox can't give him away. Not when some other team would have to pick up his

$20-million salary, anyway. Manny's just not worth the aggravation.

And now the defending, but seriously struggling, Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers are paying Keyshawn to stay away.

His first choice might be to play for Bill Parcells in Dallas in 2004. Has he forgotten that it was Parcells who traded him to Tampa from the Jets for a pair of first-round picks? And can you imagine Keyshawn and Terry Glenn on the same team?

Johnson has also made it sound like he certainly wouldn't mind playing for Belichick in New England.

"Those are guys that I've played (for) and, as a person, they know me inside and out," said Johnson, "guys that I spent the bulk of my young, up-and-coming career with. So they understood exactly how I was and exactly what they were getting."

What exactly needs to be understood about Johnson is that he believes the playbook, the team, and, indeed, the world should revolve around him. Because in his mind, the playbook, the team, and, indeed, the world all would be much better if they did.

That's because he's the best. Just ask him. And, because he's the best, he knows what best. It's a simple philosophy, really: what's good for Keyshawn is good for the team.

It was after his rookie year with the Jets, who'd made him the first pick in the entire 1996 draft, that Johnson came out with a book entitled: "Just Throw Me The Damn Ball!" His rookie year, for crying out loud. And already he was convinced he was better than Don Hutson, Raymond Berry, and Jerry Rice, put together.

A baseball team can survive, and sometimes even thrive, with that kind of thinking from its superstars. Hello, Pedro?

But not a football team.

The Patriots are like the 53 musketeers. All for one, one for all. None of this "25 guys, 25 cabs" foolishness made famous by Red Sox teams of earlier days.

You don't see Tom Brady, Tedy Bruschi, or Troy Brown putting themselves above the team, the way Manny, Pedro, and, because of his reluctance to assume a high-profile, leadership role, Nomar, do with the Red Sox.

This Patriots team has proven that the sum of the whole can, indeed, be much greater than that of the individual parts.

As teammates, they pick each other up, they don't tear one another down. Beset by injuries that would have devastated teams of lesser talent and, much more importantly, lesser character, these Patriots have pulled together and pulled away from the pack in the AFC East.

They're 8-2 -- the best start in franchise history -- because everybody knows his role and has played it exceptionally well. These Pats talk about each other, rather than about themselves. If someone gets a sack, he credits the coverage in the secondary. If somebody picks off a pass, he gives credit to the pass rush. If Brady completes a long pass, he praises his offensive line for giving him time, and the guy who made the catch.

As good as the Patriots are as players, they are better as teammates.

That attitude starts at the top. Earlier this week, Belichick was asked about being a leading candidate for NFL coach of the year honors.

"I don't really care about that," he said. "I hope the teams wins. I want the team to do well. From my experience in the NFL, when your team does well, people get recognition. Some people are going to get it, and some people don't get it. That's not really a driving force for me. The driving force for me is team success, team goals, and that's really what our team is all about. Whatever comes after that is great, but the most important thing is for the team to win, and that's what we're all working towards. We know we all have to give up some of the individuality in order to be part of a successful team."

The team is not what Keyshawn is all about. Keyshawn is all about Keyshawn.

Oh, sure, he plays hard between the white lines -- not only making difficult catches, but also throwing bruising blocks downfield. But don't doubt for a moment that his team's record is as important to him as his own stats.

Keyshawn didn't want to play for Al Groh in New York. He made it obvious early on this year that he couldn't stand another season with Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay. But he expects Belichick to welcome him with open arms?

Belichick and the Patriots have had to deal with talented, but troubled, wide receivers before.

Terry Glenn could have helped New England win the Super Bowl two years ago. Instead, the Pats won it without him. Glenn was suspended by the league for the first four games of that season because of a substance-abuse problem, then later was suspended twice by Belichick, who kept him inactive throughout the playoffs.

Football isn't like baseball, where teams are more willing to put up with a player's bad behavior if the guy puts up good numbers.

Just last week, the Cleveland Browns dumped their best wide receiver, Kevin Johnson, because they felt he was disrupting the team more than he was contributing to it.

Despite his absence, and that of leading rusher William Green, another problem child, the Browns routed the Cardinals, 44-6 Sunday in Cleveland.

"It certainly galvanized the team," Browns coach Butch Davis said of his decision to place Johnson on waivers, "from the standpoint that everybody pulled together and put the team first. It was more about the team. It was more about the Cleveland Browns than anything. It wasn't about egos. It wasn't about anybody doing anything other than what it was going to take to get the Browns to win a football game."

It's not about egos in New England, either. It's about winning. The Bucs won the Super Bowl last year, and Johnson was a key contributor. This year, with Tampa Bay faltering at 4-6, Johnson let his ego get the better of him.

He'll undoubtedly make some team better next season, but the Patriots are better off without him.