01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 31, 2004

FOXBORO -- The pervading belief is that the New England Patriots' defense will snack on burgers late this afternoon. Roethlisbergers.

Through the first third of this NFL season, Big Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers quarterback, has been one of the NFL's biggest surprises. He's completing 69 percent of his passes for the 5-1 Steelers and has thrown seven touchdowns and four interceptions. His passer rating is 100.1.

But the assumption is that he hasn't yet tried to fathom the intricacies of the Patriots' defensive schemes or gone against a crew of players so versatile, disciplined and intuitive. He's good and maybe one day he'll be great. But today, he may be exposed.

Or maybe not. For all the harassment the Patriots have given the Drew Bledsoes and Peyton Mannings of the world, they don't normally win by knockout against young quarterbacks. Decisions? Yes. Knockouts? No.

For instance, the last quarterback to beat the Patriots, Washington's Patrick Ramsey, was in his eighth career start when the Redskins beat New England, 20-17, last September. The two guys who've come as close as anyone since were Danny Kanell -- who had made two NFL starts since 1998 and was out of football for two years before almost leading the Broncos to a Monday night win last year -- and Jake Delhomme, who was at the tail end of his first season as a starter.

In fact, the Patriots have faced 10 inexperienced quarterbacks (players with fewer than 16 starts or, in Kanell's case, an extenuating circumstance) since the beginning of 2002, and only three times have they really beaten up that player.

Earlier this season, they made a mess of Arizona's Josh McCown (13 for 29, 160 yards, five sacks and two interceptions), last year they baffled Dallas' Quincy Carter (20 for 36 for 210 yards with three picks and a sack) and in 2002 they handled the Lions' Joey Harrington (22 for 44 for 210 yards with three picks).

For every McCown, however, there are two games where young quarterbacks played valiantly and in some cases won.

In 2002, the Patriots lost to the Chargers and the Jets, led by Drew Brees and Chad Pennington, respectively. LaDainian Tomlinson had a little to do with the Chargers' 21-14 win (he had 217 yards), but Brees had a terrific day going 10 of 18 for 104 yards and a score while outplaying Tom Brady, who had two red zone picks. Pennington came to Foxboro at the tail end of his rookie year and went 23 for 33 for 285 yards and three TDs in a 30-17 Jets win.

"Roethlisberger kind of reminds me of Drew Bledsoe with the size and arm strength," said Patriots cornerback Ty Law. "That's kinda scary."

Law refrained from acting as if the Patriots' defense would beat up on Roethlisberger simply because he's a rookie.

"We see any young quarterback as an opponent, not fresh meat," he said. "But until he figures out what we're doing, we'll do what we do. I don't think we'll take advantage of him, but we're trying to use things we've picked up to take advantage of things."

Of course, Roethlisberger is on the other side of this equation -- the 10th overall pick from Miami of Ohio -- pledging not to be the guy who screws this game up.

It's a tough spot, Pennington told the New York media last week as his Jets prepared to play New England. Despite his sublime performance the first time he faced the Pats, last December he was horrible, throwing five picks.

"When you prepare for New England, you study, you watch film, but you understand that what you see is probably not what you're going to get," he explained. "You trust your preparation but at the same time you trust the rules within your offense and realize that sometimes they're going to make plays."

With a lot of younger quarterbacks, the game plan against the Patriots is to keep them out of bad situations. Don't ask them to do too much. Stay away from second-and-long. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick acknowledged last week that when Brady was starting his first few games in 2001, that was the mind-set they used. Don't put him in bad spots and ask him to do things before he's ready to.

And don't worry about how things look.

"Sometimes things aren't going to look very pretty; it's not going to be very smooth," said Pennington. "That's the way it is when you play them."

The worst thing, Pennington said, is overthinking it.

"You get all worried about what they're doing and you forget what the heck you're supposed to do," he said. "Sometimes you think it's all complicated, then you go back and look at the film and say, '(Darn), it's simple.' "