01:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 24, 2004

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- Through two games, Patriots All-Pro defensive end Richard Seymour has made seven tackles (two unassisted), and that's led to press box murmuring about a possible decline in play.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick attempted to put the hammer to that notion by saying, "I think Richard's played well. He's played like Richard plays."

The chances to stand out, Belichick said, really haven't been there yet.

"When the opportunity comes, you count on players to make the plays, and if they're there to be made you want them to make them," Belichick pointed out. "Not everybody gets the same opportunities every week. Sometimes that changes. Sometimes the press reports, 'This guy had a great game, he had four tackles.' In all honesty, those plays may have come to him and he was where he should have been. The next game he doesn't have any tackles and it's, 'Where was he?' "

Meanwhile, Seymour -- who's normally extremely accommodating -- hasn't been at his locker during media access on either of the last two days. And one teammate, when asked whether he could comment on Seymour in general, begged off by saying, "I don't comment on other people. Ask him. I know he's got a lot of things going on right now and I'm not commenting."

Last April, Seymour's father died violently in an apparent murder-suicide in South Carolina. Meanwhile, the two-time Pro Bowl player has two years remaining on his rookie contract after this season. This year, his salary is $960,000. He's slated to pull down just $1.12 million in salary in 2005 and 2006.

"Richard's our best lineman and he's playing well and his production will come," Belichick said. "And if it doesn't, everyone else needs to get it."

The more the merrier

Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who was made available to the media along with defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel yesterday, was asked about the rotating-offensive-lineman strategy the Pats have employed so far.

"Every team goes to a game with seven or eight offensive linemen," he explained. "You have a backup inside guy and a backup outside guy. You'd say you'd like to settle in to just five guys, but having a swing tackle who gets a lot of reps and is ready to play and having a swing inside guy who's (the same way) bodes well for when a guy does go down and you don't have the same luxury to rotate guys in and out. Injuries happen, but -- knock on wood -- if somebody went down there's not a panic or crisis situation. You have guys that have been playing right from the start who are ready to play."

Squib kicks

Weis said there's a limited number of things opponents will do to the Patriots in terms of changing schemes this season. "This isn't a really tricky league like everyone thinks it is. We're a game-plan team. Everyone knows that. Going into games, we try to take their personnel and their scheme and try to attack it, and I think that will be standard throughout the season. Each team has their own personality (and plays to it). . . . Weis is looking forward to being able to deploy both Kevin Faulk and Corey Dillon in the Pats' backfield once Faulk comes back healthy. "His style of running is so much different from Corey's it presents a big dynamic for a team to get ready for because it's such a great change of pace. You don't have to count on Kevin just on third down. If you put him in on first and second down and Corey in on first and second down it poses some problems schematically in terms of, 'What do you want to take away?' " . . . Rodney Harrison was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after his seven-tackle, two-sack performance in Arizona.