While the backfield is a clear area of need, the Super Bowl champions won't have many other holes to fill this offseason.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, February 29, 2004

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

When you win the final 15 games of your season and have gone 22-2 the past 24 times the scoreboard's been switched on, finding fault isn't easy.

Y'know, if it ain't broke . . .

But whether the New England Patriots need it or not, the free-agent season opens this Wednesday, and the Pats will play along at home because it's the thing to do. They certainly won't be as active this season as they were a year ago, when they added Tyrone Poole, Rodney Harrison and Rosevelt Colvin in the first fortnight after business opened, but they do have needs (pssssttt, wanna buy a punter?).

The Patriots will be safely under the $80.5-million salary cap by Tuesday night without a major bloodletting. The reason they were more than an estimated $2 million over the cap is that a number of players reached incentives during the 2003 season (bonuses for finishing in the top five in total defense, making the Pro Bowl, etc).

Those incentives -- which fell into the "unlikely to be earned" category before last season, are now classified as "likely to be earned" and are counted into the 2004 cap projections. The team just has to work with a few agents to change the wording in contracts so that the incentives are again "unlikely to be earned." Unless something unforeseen happens, no major players will be released and there won't be any major restructures.

With that hurdle cleared, they can then dip themselves into the pool of available talent.

First off, they've got to take care of that backfield. If the season started today, their ground attack would consist of quarterback draws and handoffs to fullback Fred McCrary.

So what happens with Kevin Faulk, who is an unrestricted free agent? The little running back no doubt wants to see if he can parlay his being a key component on two Super Bowl teams into an expanded role and paycheck somewhere else.

Fond of him as head coach Bill Belichick is, the Patriots sure aren't going to break the bank for Faulk. He proved last season that he's better at carrying the load than most imagined, but when crunch time came late in the season, the carries went to Antowain Smith, not Faulk. He's a souped-up third-down back, but he's still a third-down back. That's no slight -- his value is such that anyone can come up with a handful of games Faulk had a hand in winning -- but it is reality.

Faulk says he wants to stay (don't they all these days) but he's entitled to see what's out there. Meanwhile, the Pats are entitled to look for an upgrade.

Start with Charlie Garner. The Oakland running back is versatile enough to be split out in a spread formation (as Faulk and even Smith sometimes were), or he can be lined up in the backfield and banged between the tackles.

At 190 pounds, Garner's not a workhorse like Smith, but he can be an every-down back because he can carry on first and second downs and catch the ball on third down, and you can give him upward of 30 touches (though probably not for 16 weeks). Downside? He's 32 and has been in the league 10 seasons. Also, his asking price needs to be reasonable, since the Pats will probably use a high draft pick on a back. All things considered, Garner's potential in this offense is intriguing.

The other running-back prospects out there that cause even a mild northward twitch of the eyebrows are the Eagles' Duce Staley and Cincinnati's Corey Dillon, who is not a free agent but could probably be had in a trade.

Guard appeared to be an area of need, but the team re-signed Russ Hochstein (who was a restricted free agent) to a three-year deal, so it appears they'll head into the season with Joe Andruzzi and Hochstein as their starters. It wouldn't hurt a bit for them to re-sign Mike Compton. Compton (get ready for this) says he wants to remain with the team even though his deal is up. He's 33 and coming off a foot fracture and surgery, but he's been pretty darn durable otherwise and can be the swing guard and backup center.

Other than that, the Pats can leave the tackle and center positions alone and work on depth in the draft. And they can also hit their knees every night and thank whomever they pray to that Tom Brady makes decisions so quickly he negates the pass rush on his own and makes the big-ticket lineman something they don't have to pursue.

The Patriots are still in the market for a lanky citizen at wide receiver. The free-agent crew here, to put it nicely, stinks. Why bother with someone like Tai Streets when the draft is loaded with long, tall talent like Oklahoma State's Rashaun Woods, the kind of guy who may be there when the Patriots second-round draft picks roll through?

As for punter, the Pats need an upgrade from Ken Walter. While most NFL punters would fit the bill, the team would be wise to take a look at a guy like Tom Tupa or Chris Gardocki. Gardocki, most recently with Cleveland, annually averages 42 yards a punt and a 35 net. Sounds good, no?

Now, just 50 days until the draft.