01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 27, 2004

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- Already worn your Three Games to Glory II DVD down to a nub? A good place to find unwatched copies of the Super Bowl showdown between the Patriots and Panthers is on the shelves of the men who played in the game.

With the Panthers on the Patriots immediate horizon tomorrow night, yesterday seemed like a good day for a little Super Bowl rehash.

But of the 10 players surveyed, only Kevin Faulk and Richard Seymour have watched the game for enjoyment. Christian Fauria watched it this week as the teams prepared to play the third game of the preseason in Carolina.

As for the others?

"I've never seen any of either one of them," left tackle Matt Light said.

"Tyler (Vrabel) has watched the video and I've seen some, but not in it's entirety," linebacker Mike Vrabel said. "I got a lot going on. That's a lot of time for me to sit. I could watch golf for that long, but no I haven't watched it."

"It's still in the wrapper," defensive end Ty Warren said. "It was a fun deal but I can't explain why I didn't watch it. I've seen it there on the table a couple times, but I just haven't put it in."

"I've seen highlights on TV, but I haven't sat down and watched either of them actually," kicker Adam Vinatieri said. "Maybe in 15 years when my kids start talking to me, I'll tell them to sit down and I'll show them a few things when I'm old, fat and gray."

"Haven't watched it. I know the outcome," quarterback Tom Brady said with a smirk.

Rodney Harrison's reason for averting his eyes was the most interesting.

"For me, it was a wonderful experience and something you always dreamt about, never thinking it was going to come true," he said. "After it was all over and done with I wanted to leave it like that and I want to stay focused and not become complacent. My goal is to go back."

It's a little ironic that all these players who actually played in the game haven't watched the game for entertainment purposes, yet buttoned-down head coach Bill Belichick has.

How often?

"It has been a few times, when the kids are watching it or whatever," he said. "(I'm) just kind of hoping that the end turns out well.

Does Vinatieri hit the kick every time?

"He has," Belichick smiled. "It's the same when he hits it against Tennessee."

Belichick admitted that the time for enjoying Super Bowl XXXVIII are over, though. Now it's a teaching tool.

"When I see it now, I see it from more of an evaluation and technical standpoint as I watch it this week."

Speaking of the technical side, why, Belichick was asked, did the lid blow off in the fourth quarter with two tremendous defenses going belly-up.

"As dumb as I am, I could figure that out after the game," he said. "That was a game where there was a lot of energy expended in the game, on the day of the game leading up to it and then within the game itself. I think that both defenses were a little less than full throttle there at the end. And that is not uncommon. I think we saw a similar thing in another game a couple of years before that (the end of Super Bowl XXXVI). It is a long day, it is a long game, and defensively, when you run out of gas as a team and you don't get it back, you are probably going to see the other team move the ball."

Tomorrow night, in a game Carolinians are billing as a Super Bowl rematch, the two teams who waged the most riveting Super Bowl ever get it on again. Practice-style.

Ironically, the Patriots will probably wind up watching this game against those Panthers more than they ever watched the one that wowed the rest of the world.