Tomorrow night is Troy Brown Night at Gillette Stadium.

If the Patriots play the way he did during his 15-year career in New England, the Jets don’t stand a chance.

Brown’s chances of playing 15 years in the NFL didn’t look too good when, late in the summer of 1994, he was cut by Bill Parcells. But he was brought back two months later, and the rest is Patriots history.

An eighth-round draft choice out of Marshall in 1993, the little guy — he’s barely 5-foot-10 — from the small town of Blackville, S.C., wound up playing 192 games for the Patriots, which puts him fourth on the all-time list, behind Mosi Tatupu, Julius Adams, and career leader Bruce Armstrong (212).

No one is ahead of Brown, however, on the Pats’ lists of all-time leading receivers (his 537 catches are 23 more than runner-up Stanley Morgan), or all-time leading punt returners (he had 246 for 2,570 yards, and 3 touchdowns — all team highs).

He topped the team in receptions for three straight seasons, from 2000 through 2002, setting what was then a club record with 101 in 2001. He was New England’s leading punt returner eight times. He led the entire NFL in 2001, when he averaged 14.2 yards on 29 returns and scored two touchdowns. In the AFC championship game that season, he scored the Pats’ first touchdown in a 24-17 upset of the Steelers in Pittsburgh by taking a punt 55 yards to the end zone.

That runback was just the beginning of what would be a terrific afternoon for Brown, who not only caught 8 passes that day for 121 yards (then the highest single-game receiving total in the team’s postseason history), but also picked up a blocked field-goal attempt and returned it 11 yards before lateraling the ball to Antwan Harris, who ran 49 yards for a touchdown.

A week later, when the Pats stunned St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans and won their first NFL championship, Brown had a game-high 6 receptions, for a team-high 89 yards — including a 23-yarder with 21 seconds remaining on the drive that set up Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning, last-second field goal.

Those certainly were memorable games, as was the time he caught 16 passes against the Chiefs in 2002. But, if there is one game among all those Brown played for the Patriots that never should be forgotten, it’s the one he played in St. Louis, against the Rams, in 2004.

That was when, in addition to playing wide receiver, he also played defensive back. That was the day that epitomized Brown’s career as a Patriot.

“I just want to play football,” he said that day. “Whenever I can be on the field, any chance I have, I want to be out there. I just like playing ball.”

That’s why Patriots fans came to love Troy Brown.

The Pats went into St. Louis to face the Rams’ potent passing attack with both starting cornerbacks — Ty Law and Tyrone Poole — out with injuries. When Asante Samuel went to the sidelines after hurting his shoulder making a tackle on the first play of the game, Brown was pressed into service as a defensive back.

“As soon as [Samuel] went down,” Brown said, “I started stretching.”

The Rams certainly had receivers who could stretch a secondary, with the likes of Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt. Mike Martz, the offensive mastermind who designed the wide-open attack that came to be known as the “The Greatest Show on Turf,” was the head coach, and the strong-armed Marc Bulger was at quarterback.

“I was a little nervous,” Brown admitted, “to have to come in against the Rams, of all teams. Their speed can be intimidating.”

With Brown playing both ways, the game went the Patriots’ way — a resounding 40-22 victory, highlighted by a touchdown pass Brown caught, not from quarterback Tom Brady, but from Vinatieri, when the Pats faked a field goal on their first possession of the second half.

After making sure an official saw he had come inside the numbers on the field, Brown drifted back toward the sideline and hoped the Rams wouldn’t notice him.

“I don’t think the [St. Louis] coaches saw me either,” Brown said. “If the coaches do, they start screaming and jumping up and down.”

It was Vinatieri’s job to see if Brown was uncovered, in which case he called for a direct snap from center and lobbed a pass toward the end zone.

“Troy kind of hid on the outside,” Vinatieri said, “and we snapped the ball before they noticed him, and I just threw it out there. I knew if I got it anywhere close, he’s got such good hands that he’d catch it.”

Afterwards, Brown’s teammates marveled at what he’d done.

“I couldn’t play wide receiver,” said veteran strong safety Rodney Harrison. “For Troy to make plays on offense, then come back in on defense and play the slot receiver man-to-man, that shows how versatile he is.”

He showed that versatility — along with his willingness to do whatever he could for the team — time after time. Twice that season, he had both an interception and a reception in the same game — the first time against the Bills, when he picked off his former quarterback, Drew Bledsoe.

“He did everything we asked him to do,” Brady said. “He’s just the ultimate football player.”

That he was.

And that’s why, on Troy Brown Night at Gillette Stadium, if his former teammates play the way he did, the Jets don’t stand a chance.

jdonalds@projo.com