After starting its season with a somewhat strange schedule, New England is actually happy to return to the weekly grind.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 28, 2004

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots have indeed begun the defense of their Super Bowl title, even if it might not seem that way.

While most teams in the National Football League knocked heads on Sunday, the Patriots were scattered around the country enjoying their bye weekend. Yesterday, the players returned to Foxboro and, after three weeks of a start-and-stop schedule, everyone is looking forward to settling into the rhythm of a season.

Yesterday, the players attended meetings, watched film and lounged around the Gillette Stadium locker room before being dismissed in the mid-afternoon. Today, they'll take their normal day off and then return tomorrow for the stretch of preparations for this Sunday's game at Buffalo. It will be the first of 14 straight weeks of uninterrupted football, just the way the players like it.

"We're anxious to get back to a normal schedule," said safety Rodney Harrison. "I'm just ready to play. To me, I could play tomorrow. It doesn't matter. Guys are excited to come back. You enjoy home and you want to be at home but there's nothing like being here in the locker room and getting ready to go out and kick some butt."

Star lineman Richard Seymour echoed Harrison's words and emphasized that there's no turning back now as the Patriots face a test every week.

"It's like we can start the regular season now, with a regular rhythm," Seymour said. "Week in and week out we'll know what to expect. We'll get in a good routine now."

The Pats, or at least their coaching staff, are big on routine. They point to that single-minded focus as the chief reason they've won 17 consecutive games, including the first two of this season. But with a season-opening win over Indianapolis coming on a Thursday night and the second game coming in 100-degree heat in Arizona, followed by a bye week, there hasn't been anything routine for the Patriots so far this season.

"Where we would normally be or not normally be, I am not really worried about that," Belichick said last week. "I am just trying to get the team moving forward in as positive a direction as much as we possibly can in the extra time we have to work with."

The Pats resume their season with a very favorable schedule. They'll travel to Buffalo this Sunday for a game against a hard-luck Bills team that's lost two games by identical 13-10 scores. Then the Pats return to Foxboro for a rare stretch of four straight home games.

The players say they're both excited to get back to work and also looking forward to the challenge of playing a Buffalo team that is always tough to handle in Orchard Park, N.Y. Last year, the Pats were thumped, 31-0, in a season-opening loss that was even uglier than the final score. The game is the Pats' first division test of the season and the challenge of facing old friend Drew Bledsoe fires up some players even more.

Buffalo, which also enjoyed a bye over the weekend, is reeling after losing to Jacksonville on a last-minute TD and then falling short against Oakland.

"It all brings a little bit of a twist to it," Harrison said of the divisional test against Bledsoe and the Bills. "They're going to play well. They'll be jacked up and excited. They'll be ready for this game. It'll be a tough game for us, but if you want to be a good team you have to go up there and win on the road to win your division.

"They're just a couple of plays away from being 2-0. You can't look at their record. Just like yesterday -- who'd have thought Houston would beat Kansas City (24-21)? It doesn't matter what your record is. You have to show up each and every Sunday. You have to be prepared. They can kick your butt out there if you take anyone for granted."

"It's business as usual," said linebacker Roman Phifer. "Buffalo is in our division and it's always a big challenge to play them. They're capable of being a good team. We're not taking anything for granted."