01:00 AM EST on Sunday, November 20, 2005

FOXBORO -- Dante Scarnecchia sat alone in the stands at Reliant Stadium. It was a sunny Tuesday morning in Houston on Jan. 27, 2004. He wore a brown leather coat and a severe look on his chiseled thin face.

His dark eyes looked occasionally at the human carnival unfolding on the field below him -- media day at Super Bowl XXXVIII. The swarming horde of reporters speaking to players positioned on raised platforms was anathema to him.

As a hard and fast rule, Scarnecchia doesn't like hype. This was hype on steroids. Adding to his disgust was one of the storylines being pursued that day.

The Carolina Panthers -- the Patriots opponent in that Super Bowl -- had one of the best defensive lines in football. Their players all came from fine pedigrees. The Patriots offensive line -- a group coached by Scarnecchia -- was a collection of strays taken in by the team and turned into a competent unit.

The Patiots offensive line had one first-rounder. Left guard Damien Woody. Woody wouldn't be playing in this Super Bowl, though. His season ended with a leg injury in the AFC Divisional Playoff against Tennessee. In Woody's place was Russ Hochstein, a corn-fed kid from Nebraska with a flat-top and a likable disposition.

On this day, Hochstein was an unlikely hot topic. His NFL career started in Tampa when he was selected in the fifth round of the 2001 draft. The Bucs released him in October 2002. He never appeared in a game for the Bucs, but that didn't stop his former Tampa teammate -- defensive lineman Warren Sapp -- from rendering his opinion on Hochstein's play. The cartoonish Sapp, already aware his relevancy was on the decline, pulled an attention grab the week before with comments made on the ESPN program Pardon the Interruption.

"I think this defensive line of Carolina will dominate the front five of New England," Sapp yapped to the two hosts. "I don't even think it's a fair matchup. I've seen Russ Hochstein block, and he couldn't block either of you two fellas."

By luck or design, Sapp was working as a "commentator" for the NFL Network on media day. All the Patriots knew of his comments and a couple of them -- Tedy Bruschi and Tom Brady -- took mild verbal swipes at Sapp as he grinned and sweated and worked the crowd.

Scarnecchia was well past enraged about the whole thing. This Sapp business was an affront to one of his men, Hochstein. And it was a full-blown nuisance, the kind of thing that distracts a player when he's on the verge of the biggest workday of his life. The media was trying to milk it -- it was an easy story. But he wasn't going to make it easy for any of them. Scarnecchia refused to make eye contact with the few reporters who did recognize and approach him. His answers were curt.

Finally, when asked why his five underappreciated linemen were so effective, he replied, "I'll let you guys evaluate that. That's my answer. I have nothing more to say about it. These are the guys we've got. They're good guys. They work hard. Hopefully on Sunday, we'll go out and give our best performance because I think we'll have to for us to hang in there with (Carolina's front four)."

Five days later, the Patriots won the Super Bowl 32-29. Carolina never sacked Brady (neither did the Colts or Titans in the Pats previous playoff games), and Pats running back Antowain Smith ran for 100 yards on them. Sapp was right. It wasn't a fair matchup. The Panthers were outclassed.

In the middle with Hochstein

Once again, the Patriots offensive line is in disrepair and Hochstein is -- literally -- in the middle of it. The team lost stalwart center Dan Koppen last week for the rest of the season. Hochstein will take over in Koppen's place. That move alone wouldn't be as grave a concern if the Patriots didn't already have rookies Logan Mankins and Nick Kaczur playing at left guard and tackle respectively. Add in the talented but still-developing Stephen Neal at right guard and right tackle Brandon Gorin, who's just back from injury and a marginal starter.

Dante Scarnecchia's work orders this week are tall. Make sure this line keeps the New Orleans Saints off Tom Brady. Make sure they run block for Corey Dillon or Patrick Pass or Heath Evans -- whoever's getting the ball today. No excuses. No complaining. Don't fail.

By 1 p.m. today, when the preparation ends and the playing begins, nobody will be wondering whiether Scarnecchia did his job.

"You can't beat Dante to work," head coach Bill Belichick marveled Friday when asked about Scarnecchia, 57. "There's no way. Four in the morning? He's here. When I would get mad at the rookies and make them come in (early for being late), Dante was always money in the bank. No matter what time we brought (the rookies) in, he was here. It wasn't like the whole staff had to show up at 5:30 in the morning. He was here. He'd make sure they were here, and he'd put them to work."

What exactly is he doing at such an hour?

"Drawing up stuff for the offensive line, helping them get prepared," Belichick explained. "Studying the things that we're going to be working on that day. He's on top of it. He's an early-morning guy. He's very disciplined in what he does. I mean that positively. I wish I were more like that."

In bookstores now is a tome about Belichick called The Education of a Coach, by David Halberstam. In it, one gets a view of Belichick's father, Steve, a behind-the-scenes "football man" who was one of the most highly respected scouts and coaches while at Navy. Steve Belichick was gruff. Steve Belichick worked extremely hard. Steve Belichick didn't countenance foolishness and didn't court attention. There are at least surface similarities between Steve Belichick and Dante Scarnecchia.

The wily veteran 'Scar'

How valued as a coach is the man they call "Scar?"

This is his 22nd season coaching in New England. He's been an assistant to Ron Meyer, Ray Berry, Dick McPherson, Rod Rust, Bill Parcells, Pete Carroll and now Belichick.

"He's been here forever," said injured tackle Matt Light (another complicated bit of business for Scarnecchia to work around). "He's in here about 24 hours a day. He helps us prepare every day like it was his first day on the job, and he never wears down. He wears a lot of badges and has a lot of responsibility and he does very well with that pressure. He's what you need in a coach."

The Patriots believe strongly in the power of coaching on the offensive line. Give them smart, hard-working men who can handle many assignments and give great effort. Let the other teams take the blue-chip athletes who may or may not have the precise temperament for so selfless a position. New England -- Scarnecchia in particular -- will tilt that equation in its favor.

Since the 2000 season, the Patriots have started 18 players on their offensive line. From 2001 to this week, 61 offensive-line combinations have been used. The Patriots weathered using a rookie left tackle (Light) all year when they won their first Super Bowl. They also survived the loss fo Light at halftime of that Super Bowl when journeyman Grant Williams stepped in and closed it out. The Patriots have won three Super Bowls with three different right tackles (Tom Ashworth, Brandon Gorin, Greg Randall).

The constant has been Scarnecchia.

"His patience is exceptional," Hochstein said. "He wants guys to get better. He wants to make better players and prepare them well. He should get a lot of credit and he deserves a lot. (Except) he doesn't want to talk to anybody about it, and that's the way he wants us to be."

The less that's said about the offensive line, Scarnecchia believes, the better. And when someone does happen to chirp? Well, ask Warren Sapp how it worked out for him when he scoffed at Hochstein and -- by extension -- Scarnecchia. He's been pretty quiet since on matters Patriot, hasn't he?