Opening night festivities are the main distraction

FOXBOROUGH -- The Patriots are 24-3 at Gillette Stadium and enter the 2005 season with a 20-game home win streak.

Their last loss in Foxborough was to the New York Jets, 30-17, Dec. 22, 2002. New England has posted two consecutive unbeaten home seasons.

For the second straight season, the Patriots' championship banner will be unfurled before the opener. Patriots players said while a symbol of achievement, the ceremony and pregame concerts must be ignored.

''It'll be a little bit of a circus," said tackle Matt Light. ''But we're not showing up [tonight] to watch the festivities."

Coach Bill Belichick echoed those sentiments.

''We're coming to play the Raiders," he said. ''That's what we're here for. We're not here for the concert. We're not here for fireworks."

The NFL's pregame festivities at Gillette Stadium include live performances by Santana, Green Day, and Trisha Yearwood.

The Patriots' Deion Branch and Oakland's Jerry Porter, two of the top offensive weapons in tonight's game, didn't play in the exhibition season. But don't think the opposing coaches are not prepared for their presence.

''With a veteran team and a team that has had great success, there is enough tape on Deion to get ready to play him," Oakland coach Norv Turner said. ''I have been in situations -- particularly in Dallas -- where we had two players hold out and not practice until Monday or Wednesday before the game and go in and play at a high level and have success. We did the same thing for those guys that we had done the year before with them.

''New England has had such great success on both sides of the ball. They're not going to dramatically change what they are doing with Deion Branch."

Maybe not, but Belichick says the difficulty of preparing for a season opener is made worse by not having recent game film to dissect, and worse yet, what you see on preseason film is often a ruse.

''You know in preseason they probably run a couple of things out there they have no intention of running against us, just to make us work on them," Belichick said. ''That's part of it. That's opening day."

Belichick laughed when talking about Redskins coach Joe Gibbs using that tactic.

''In preseason, I don't think he ever put a guy in motion, and they would line up in a two-back set," Belichick said. ''When I was with the Giants and we played them, I don't think they ever ran a play without motion. I don't know if they had one.

''And they never ran a play with two backs in the backfield, but that was their whole preseason. [Watching the Redskins' preseason film] was a waste of time."

Veteran mentality

Ellis Hobbs could very well be the first player to run with the football this NFL season.

The rookie cornerback from Iowa State is the Patriots' first-team kick returner, and had returns of 53 and 43 yards while averaging almost 27 yards a return in the exhibition season.

Hobbs says he is excited, not nervous.

''Let's go," he said. ''Hey, they pay me, too. If I go out there acting like a rookie, I'm going to be treated like a rookie.

''I have to go out there with the mentality that it's a moment in time they've entrusted in me, not as a rookie, but as a player in the National Football League. I'm representing the New England Patriots when I'm holding the ball, whenever I get a chance to, so when I go out there all I'm thinking about is not letting my team down."

Rush chairman

Everyone knows Oakland added receiver Randy Moss this offseason, but perhaps as big an addition to the Raiders' offense is running back LaMont Jordan. Mired on the bench behind Curtis Martin for four years in New York, Jordan has a career average of 4.9 yards per carry and is a solid receiver. With Turner believing that establishing a running game is key to forcing the Patriots defense's hand, inside linebackers Chad Brown and Monty Beisel should be tested in their New England debuts. ''If you can run the football, you don't see quite as many looks [on defense]," Turner said . . . In a swap of rookies, New England signed linebacker Andre Torrey to its practice squad and released safety Raymond Ventrone. Both players signed as undrafted free agents the week after this year's draft and were waived on the final roster cutdown Saturday.