Patriot Gains

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

That warning might come in handy for any NFL team thick-skulled enough to ignore the fast-closing New England Patriots in its rearview mirror. With two weeks left in the regular season, as the playoff picture comes into focus, it’s the Patriots who stand out as the most dangerous team.

Just ask the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who in the last two weeks lost to New England by a combined 63-7.

“I think some things are turning around,” said Patriot quarterback Tom Brady, whose 9-5 team alternated victories and losses for the first nine games of the season.

New England has clinched a playoff berth as AFC East champion and will play host to a first-round game. The next two weeks will determine whether the Patriots will be seeded third or fourth. Most likely, they will play host to either Jacksonville or Pittsburgh. San Diego is also in the mix, although the Chargers need some help to make it.

The most intriguing scenario has the Patriots beating Jacksonville in Foxborough, then playing a second-round game at Indianapolis, a team they’ve owned in recent years. The Colts had lost six in a row to New England before beating the Patriots, 40-21, Nov. 7.

The Patriots are a very different team now, though. They’re running the ball more effectively. They’re better on third down since the return of receiver David Givens and running back Kevin Faulk. And, most notably, they’re finally comfortable with their reshuffled secondary.

It was the constant rotation in the defensive backfield that hampered the team for most of the season. For instance, the Patriots have had six starters at strong safety, a position that was rock solid until Rodney Harrison went down with a knee injury in Week 3. He was replaced by a cast of no-names -- Guss Scott, James Sanders, Arturo Freeman, Randall Gay and Michael Stone -- that seemed to change by the week.

Now starting at the position is Artrell Hawkins, a well-traveled cornerback who had never played safety before this season. He has started three of the last four weeks, sitting out once because of an injury, and appears to have won the confidence of teammates and coaches. With the way the Patriots are now going after quarterbacks, it’s obvious that they’re not as concerned about giving extra help to their secondary. And it’s that kind of aggressive defensive scheming that has given opponents such fits over the last four seasons.

Just look at the way the Chargers beat Indianapolis last Sunday. They went after Peyton Manning rather than sitting back and letting him pick them apart. As a result, they sacked him four times, intercepted two of his passes and watched a third slip through their hands.

The Patriots aren’t quite back to the form that enabled them to win three of the last four Super Bowls. Brady thinks the offense has the potential to put up 35 points a game, and it’s not there yet. But while other playoff teams are coasting across the regular-season finish line, the Patriots apparently plan to keep their starters on the field in order to fine-tune their attack.

“We’re 9-5 and no one is happy about that,” Brady said. “It’s frustrating because sometimes we don’t perform the way I think we’re capable. You wish it could be better. I wish it would be better. That’s what we’re working toward.”

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The folks at STATS LLC have come up with an interesting tidbit on Pittsburgh’s Jerome Bettis: He has burned Cleveland for eight touchdowns, the most of any active player against the Browns. Corey Dillon, Priest Holmes and Jamal Lewis have each scored seven against them.

But the Browns, who play host to the Steelers on Saturday, shouldn’t feel so bad -- Bettis has scored 17 against the Bengals.

Apparently, if he can get into Ohio, he can get in the end zone.

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The Jaguars have won 10 games, eight more than the Texans. But Jacksonville players can’t be breathing easy entering Saturday’s game at Houston.

The Texans have beaten Jacksonville four times in seven meetings and had a 14-7 lead against the Jaguars in the fourth quarter of a Week 9 game before losing, 21-14.

And, in the last three games, Houston has given up only 68.3 yards rushing.

To reach the playoffs for the first time since 1999, the Jaguars, who finish at home against Tennessee, have to win one of their final two games.

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He has putted the football with an end-zone marker. He has performed CPR on the ball. He has dropped to a knee and playfully proposed to a cheerleader. He has even celebrated by standing there and not celebrating.

But Chad Johnson’s latest touchdown-dance possibility is his strangest yet.

The Cincinnati receiver joked this week that, should he score Saturday against Buffalo, he’ll work a deer into his touchdown dance -- a deer, he said, that he accidentally hit with his car.

“He’s bandaged up, but he’s going to come out,” Johnson laughingly told reporters this week. “Don’t laugh. Y’all think I’m playing. Trust me, I’ve got Rudolph. His nose is red.

“On the highway I hit a deer. I kept him. He’s at home in the garage. I’m going to use him for the celebration this weekend. He’s a prop. They might suspend me for the last game, but I think this one is worth it. ... He’s limping, but he’s alive. He’s all right. This is going to be the greatest celebration of all time. I actually use an animal.”

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My 6-year-old son, Thomas, was disappointed to see a picture in Monday’s paper of his favorite player, Peyton Manning, walking off the field dejected and alone during Sunday’s loss to the Chargers.

“Dad,” he asked me when I returned home from Indianapolis, “doesn’t Peyton know it’s only a game?”

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Familiar pattern

Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer’s favorite target, Chad Johnson, has had more passes thrown his way since the start of last season than any other wide receiver in the league:

*--* Player No. Chad Johnson 304 Muhsin Muhammad 286 Chris Chambers 285 Laveranues Coles 283 Torry Holt 280

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Source: STATS LLC