01:00 AM EST on Monday, November 29, 2004

BY TOM E. CURRAN and KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writers

FOXBORO -- Two days before the Patriots played the Bills on a Sunday night two weeks ago, it snowed a few inches in Foxboro and the field at Gillette Stadium was left uncovered. That set the stage for it to be chewed up pretty well.

Between then and yesterday, no repair work appeared to have been done and -- even though the field was covered until 90 minutes before the start of yesterday's game -- the middle of the field was ugly before kickoff. It got worse after that and at least one Raven felt something was afoot.

The field "was soupy," complained Ravens kicker Matt Stover. Patriots head coach "Bill Belichick has done that to me before. The NFL shouldn't let that happen. Not with all the money . . . That's ridiculous."

Whether the Patriots or Mother Nature are to blame for the field conditions yesterday, there was unanimity in declaring the field as bad as anything the players have trod upon.

"You look around the locker room at the end of the game and it does feel like you are in high school and you are playing on that old dirt field that I think every team in our school used to use," said quarterback Tom Brady. "The soccer team, the baseball team -- everybody was on the football field. That's the way it is out there now. The field gets beat up and it gets torn up and it gets muddy. It gets sloppy out there."

Said Patriots center Dan Koppen, "That was the worst I've seen it. But that's the weather. Our field gets ripped up in the middle and you just have to deal with it."

Ravens coach Brian Billick wouldn't bite when asked what impact the field had on his team's sloppy showing.

"I wouldn't blame it on that," he said. "We can't use that as a justification, (the Patriots) seemed to do OK with it."

Thanks in no small part to their being accustomed to it.

"We practice when it's freezing, snowing, when its raining," said Rodney Harrison. "These guys seem to embrace it. Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel are out there with no sleeves on. Guys are out there with shorts on. These guys are crazy."

Light injured

The Patriots may have suffered a significant loss when left tackle Matt Light was helped off the field with an injured left foot in the fourth quarter. Light was replaced by right tackle Brandon Gorin and Russ Hochstein came in to play right tackle for Gorin.

Belichick had little to add on Light's injury after the game. Light was the only player who suffered an obvious injury that could keep him out. Both Kevin Faulk and David Patten left the game briefly with dings but returned. Meanwhile, corner Asante Samuel sat out yesterday with his injured shoulder and linebacker Roman Phifer's calf kept him sidelined as well. With Samuel out, the Patriots started Eugene Wilson at corner along with Randall Gay. Rookie Dexter Reid and Rodney Harri son were the safeties. Linebacker Don Davis also logged a number of plays at safety.

Dillon piling up the yards

After gaining 123 yards yesterday, Corey Dillon is up to 1,121 yards this season in just his 10th game. He becomes the first Patriot to reach 1,000 yards in 10 games. Yesterday was the sixth time he's gone over 100 yards this year. In two other games, he gained more than 90.

"He ran great, as he has done all year," said Brady. "It's getting to the point where it doesn't surprise me anymore. It is like, the more you give it to him, the better he seems to do."

The Ravens came in expecting Dillon to be a handful.

"We can't keep letting him get outside," said linebacker Ray Lewis, who rolled up 12 tackles. "We knew he was a bounce runner. We want to make them play in the box."

Said defensive end Terrell Suggs, "He just got to the outside a little bit. We knew he'd go out there and we couldn't contain him. He did his thing."

Cavanaugh impressed

Former Patriots quarterback Matt Cavanaugh is in his sixth season as the offensive coordinator with the Ravens and came away impressed with a Patriots defense that limited his team to 124 total yards. Without leading rusher Jamal Lewis in the lineup, the Ravens were limited to just 77 rushing yards. That placed a lot of pressure on second-year quarterback Kyle Boller , who failed to attack the slew of backup players in New England's secondary.

"We're not built to come out (with three or four wide receivers) and take advantage of some of those mismatches," said Cavanaugh. "I don't know if having a couple of backup corners in there and a converted linebacker (Don Davis) playing safety was a big deal to them. They play very conservative and keep the ball in front of them. They weren't going to allow us to get behind them. A couple of times we tried it and didn't get anything out of it. They made us go the long road, and until we turned the ball over, it was a relatively close game."

"Old school football"

The heavy rains and wind led to horrid field conditions but the Ravens weren't pinning their troubles on the mud slick that dominated the middle of the field.

"I think you like it because it reminds you of your childhood, but you don't like it because your footing isn't as good," said Ray Lewis. "Anytime you play a game like this you have to be appreciative because we fought with the defending Super Bowl champs, and for where we are right now, I'm excited about getting back to work and putting this one behind us."

Safety Ed Reed, who like Lewis attended the University of Miami and occasionally played in tropical downpours said "it just rained a little harder on our side. It was old-school football."

Squib kicks

With a 22-yard completion to Daniel Graham in the first quarter, Brady moved to third in career completions for the Patriots with his 1,131st . . . Brady had a 23-yard touchdown pass to David Patten in the third quarter wiped out by an offensive pass interference call on Patten. In real time, it looked like the right call, but replay showed that the defender slowed down as Patten extended his arms forward and there was little if any contact made. . . . Punter Josh Miller had a poor day, averaging 32.1 yards on eight punts. Only one of them could be called good, a third-quarter boot that was downed at the Ravens' 3 . . . The team released wide receiver Kevin Kasper and added cornerback Omare Lowe who saw action in the fourth quarter . . . Brady played peacemaker in a skirmish between tight end Daniel Graham and Suggs. "Probably a good thing he did," smiled Graham.