Patriots on cutting edge

The Patriots have one exhibition game remaining. One more game to decide who will go along for the ride as they try for their third Super Bowl championship in four years.

New England plays its final exhibition contest Thursday night at Gillette Stadium against Jacksonville, although tomorrow the roster must be trimmed to 65 players.

"We've got to do something with a small number of players," coach Bill Belichick said yesterday. "I'd say less than five, either by releasing them or putting them on some type of list. We're not in any big rush."

As for how things are going overall, Belichick said, "We have four days [to prepare for Jacksonville]. I feel like we're on a treadmill going at a pretty good pace."

The team is coming off Saturday night's 20-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers in a rematch of last season's Super Bowl, but the Patriots' starters played three periods and left leading, 17-10, before the backups gave up 10 fourth-quarter points.

That followed a 31-3 loss at Cincinnati, in which the Patriots struggled in most phases of the game. They had taken a 24-6 win over Philadelphia in the exhibition opener.

Belichick said the offensive line has been one of the more consistent units in the exhibition season, and that tight end Benjamin Watson, one of the team's first-round draft picks, has done "OK." He said Watson will give the offense some variety if he continues to progress.

Yet, as many of the players did Saturday night following the game, Belichick yesterday bemoaned the rash of Patriots penalties (15, including 12 in the first half), and he voiced displeasure with some of his team's execution. But he also said he was pleased with the effort in what was a physical game.

Belichick said players will continue to be evaluated (the roster must be trimmed again to 53 three days after the Jacksonville game) in preparation for the season-opener against the Indianapolis Colts Sept. 9.

The Patriots also will be deciding who will make the eight-man practice squad. "It's not just the final cut, but you continue to evaluate players who could potentially be on your roster [from the practice squad]," said Belichick.

Among those who sat out Saturday night's game was cornerback Ty Law, who the team said has a leg injury. Belichick gave no update on Law's status yesterday.

The coach did say that despite the injury, Law wanted to play, but the coach opted against it. "I didn't think it would have been good for him to go," said Belichick.

"We're just trying to get things installed and do it at a pace where everyone understands what we're doing, and, hopefully [they] can execute those things," Belichick said. "And we want to try to work on the things we're not doing as [well] and some things that we think we're OK at."

With the starters likely to see limited action in the last exhibition game, quarterback Tom Brady knew it was important to get things accomplished in the third exhibition.

"I think that the first offense put a lot into [it] knowing we were going to be out there," he said. "And I'll tell you, when you're out there for three quarters and you haven't played all summer, you're tired. You're looking up going, `God, it feels as if we've played three games.'

"But that's part of it, conditioning yourself. I know at the end of the year, when you're getting in that groove of playing, those games go by quickly."