01:00 AM EDT on Friday, October 15, 2004

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- Little about the Patriots is underrated anymore, but the nuances of a Bill Belichick news conference are still largely underappreciated.

There are days when Belichick is so deadpan he'd make straight-faced comedian Stephen Wright check the coach for a pulse, but regardless of delivery, there is usually some heft to what the coach has to say when he's allowed to roam with game-related thoughts.

Like yesterday. Belichick was asked about the work of Vince Wilfork so far. It's a well-explored topic, but this time it was spoken about in relation to Wilfork's game-to-game production.

Belichick's answer helped give insight into what he considers important from a defensive lineman.

"Production, to me, isn't based on how many tackles a guy has because how many tackles he has is dependent upon: A) what plays they run, and, B) where the runner ends up going sometimes," Belichick explained.

"It's not like we're a big gap-shooting, penetrating team. Everybody kind of is responsible for an area, and wherever the ball enters, that's where the play needs to be made."

Because Wilfork is a massive man, it's logical to wonder if he can fill the wide shoes of Ted Washington as a defensive lineman and command double-teaming in order to move him off the line of scrimmage.

"You don't see many of them get moved," said Belichick. "You don't see Ted Washington eight yards downfield. You're probably not going to see Vince eight yards downfield, either. When you're blocking players like that, the Tim Bowens of the world or the Larry Chesters, or guys like that, you're not going to move those guys 10 yards off the ball.

"You have to try to just create a blocking angle, or some type of position, where he can't make the tackle so that the runner can enter the line of scrimmage cleanly. Again, anytime you're dealing with big guys like that, that's usually the way it's going to go. It's not about getting movement and driving them way off the ball. It's just not going to happen.

"The fact of the matter is, any good defensive player isn't going to get driven off the ball very often. They could double-team me, and they're not going to drive me off the ball. If worse comes to worst, I can just hit the ground. You're not going to move me back. I won't get anywhere, but at least I won't get driven off the line of scrimmage.

"So, if any defensive player will play low and play with leverage, and in a worst-case scenario if he's getting pushed, get on the ground and at least hold the line of scrimmage there, hold that point. You can eliminate movement with that."

Injury update

The Patriots added rookie receiver P.K. Sam to the injured list yesterday with a groin injury. He's questionable. Tyrone Poole is also back on the list and is listed as questionable. Wide receiver Michael Jennings, cut during training camp and released from the practice squad, is staying in the area and working out at a local gym so there's a chance he's still on the team's radar screen.

Extra points

While Bethel Johnson seemed to plead ignorance about why he was inactive last Sunday, Belichick said yesterday, "I have a hard time understanding how he could say that. That is all I have to say." . . . Even though the Seahawks are 30th in the league in third-down conversions (25.9 percent), Belichick explained that by saying, "In some of those games, and a number of those plays, it's situational. They were ahead, 34-0, against San Francisco, and they're running a fullback dive on third-and-ten. OK, it's not all in the numbers. It's in trying to stop them. That's still the hard part. Against a lot of teams they don't get to a lot of third downs. I don't know what their total number of third downs is, but I would say, in relative terms on a per-game basis, I would guess that it's probably a little bit lower than what the league average is because they pick up a lot of [first downs] on first and second down. They don't even get to third down."