These guys are only motivated not to look back

FOXBOROUGH - Each year Bill Belichick attaches a catchphrase to the season, a simple reminder of what the Patriots need to do to reach their ultimate goal of a Super Bowl title. The mantra for the 2008 season is "finish."

That's what the Patriots didn't do last season - finish off the greatest season in pro football history. They went 16-0 during the regular season, an NFL first, and won twice more to reach Super Bowl XLII before the New York Giants made history and ended it at the same time, upsetting New England, 17-14.

No player who was on that team and watched Plaxico Burress haul in the winning touchdown will ever forget that game, and the "finish" motto no doubt is a derivative of that. However, the idea that the Patriots will be mega-motivated this season to erase that memory seems a bit off base.

If you ask safety Rodney Harrison, the Patriots are finished with last season.

"This is 2008. I'm not going back there," said Harrison succinctly.

Sure, the Patriots learned a bitter lesson against the Giants, but how can they really be any more motivated than they were last season, when they were coming off a heartrending defeat to the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game?

Motivation is nice; execution when it counts is better.

"The thing is, when people talk about the motivation and things, we don't use that kind of motivation," said cornerback Ellis Hobbs, who was in coverage on Burress's fateful 13-yard TD reception with 35 seconds left. "We motivate each other. We motivate ourselves in our play, in the team, and within yourself.

"We don't need a season. We don't need a game. We don't need bulletin-board material, all those things. We just go out there to play and play to win. Bill is always telling us if you want all the hype behind you, if you want the limelight, just go out and win and it takes care of itself, so we don't need all that other hype behind it."

Besides, the Patriots already staged a revenge tour last season and look where it got them. New England had something besides the Indianapolis loss stoking the fires. They were dealing with the fallout from the "Spygate" saga and the sullying of their reputation.

They responded by rampaging through nearly every opponent in the first 10 games, but by the end of the season, as former Patriots wide receiver Donte' Stallworth admitted, they weren't peaking - they were plateauing. Eventually, taking every team's best shot each week took its toll, and the Patriots were unable to finish the job.

"Every season has an emotional and physical draining sense to it, but that season in particular," said Hobbs. "All the speculations, all the accusations, and how we came about in doing everything week after week. Not only were we doing it at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, everything was primetime. Those night games start to take a toll on you, so when that final bell rung, it was like you could finally pass out and nobody was going to touch you and tell you to get up, so yeah it was exhausting."

Belichick has taken care during training camp and the exhibition season to rest veterans during games and practices, and to stress to the team that a great start means nothing if the end result is incomplete.

"Finish" has particular meaning for the Patriots defense, which has surrendered long, late-game touchdown drives that ended the last two postseasons. The Indianapolis loss, which stemmed from a seven-play, 80-yard drive that gave the Colts a 38-34 lead with a minute left, inspired last season's mantra of "60 minutes."

"Finish" is really just a fresher way of getting across that same message.

"I mean, finish the season, finish your plays, finish drives," said nose tackle Vince Wilfork. "A lot of times we didn't do that last year, and it got us in trouble. That's the goal. That's the goal for us this year, to finish each and every play, every game, 60 minutes a ballgame, so that's going to be another goal of ours, and hopefully, we can get that one turned around."

But Wilfork and the rest of the Patriots aren't looking back at Super Bowl XLII. Nothing they do, not even a 19-0 season and a fourth Super Bowl title this decade, is going to change the outcome of that game.

"In that situation you have to live with that. You have to chalk that one up and let it go," said Wilfork. "Like I said, that was last year. Yeah, it hurt to lose that game, but it's a new season. I mean everybody is starting at the bottom. There are 32 teams out there, including us. Everybody is fighting to get to one point, and it starts now."