MICHAEL HOLLEY

Teeming with key intangibles

1/29/2002

h, they are out there. By the thousands. These people are out there, and if you haven't heard from them already, they'll be in touch before the start of Super Bowl XXXVI.

These are the people who visualize the Patriots and Rams on a split-screen and have the Rams winning by 20. They are convinced that Olympic sprinter Maurice Greene rests on Sundays and leases his swift spirit to Torry Holt. They tap you on your head, compliment your dimples, and tell you that your cute little Patriots should really play with kids their own age.

The attitude is often mistaken for a lack of respect - the most overused phrase in sports - but it's not that at all. It is more a lack of understanding. You can't take it personally, because it goes beyond the Patriots, what they did to the Steelers, and what they are capable of doing to the Rams. It is a lack of understanding about how teams win and what exactly makes an athlete a winner.

As sports fans, we should all take refresher courses on this subject at least once a year. We seem to forget what it takes until a team like the Patriots crashes into the Super Bowl.

In the spring, Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli started to drop a few hints about what they wanted and what they thought a winner was. They kept talking about solid players who were solid citizens. They spoke of wanting players who played with passion, and they were candid with their feelings on certain statistics:

Overrated.

So instead of drafting Michigan receiver David Terrell, a kid who would eventually call himself a Hall of Famer in Week 4 (he had six catches at the time), they chose Georgia defensive lineman Richard Seymour, a kid who would eventually arrive in training camp on time simply because his father told him that was the right thing to do.

The first time Seymour got a tour of CMGI Field, he didn't talk about sack records and tackles for losses. He commented on the foundation of the new stadium. He said he knew about foundations because his father is a builder. Seymour would help his father lay bricks for hours, and then he would work out with weights.

Seymour was not a popular pick because he was not a flashy pick. He didn't have a lot of sacks in college. And when Belichick talked in the spring of the lineman's ability to collapse the pocket by himself, there were yawns.

Where would this team be without Seymour?

Where would the Steelers be if they had special-teamer Larry Izzo, the first free agent the Patriots signed in the offseason?

After giving up 14 special-teams points on Sunday, the Steelers whined about the better team not winning the game. They openly spoke of their inferior special teams and how they cost them a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

They still don't understand why they're not in New Orleans. They still don't understand that truly great teams don't segregate themselves among offense, defense, and special teams.

Before the game, I thought the Steelers were better than the Patriots. Please, sign me up for that refresher course.

The Patriots are in position to play the Rams because they have refused to sell themselves out, just because other teams have done it. Belichick may know that Terry Glenn was blessed with talent that many of his receivers don't have. But Glenn isn't as hungry as Troy Brown and David Patten, and he displayed a tepid interest in the game.

So he sat for most of the year.

New England has one more game left because the team has a collective disdain for massive egos. It doesn't bother defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel that his boss gets all the credit for being a defensive genius. It doesn't bother the offensive linemen when their quarterbacks get all the praise, even on days like Sunday when they made the Steelers' blitz a nonfactor.

These are the things that help teams win. If you have the psychology of a winner and no team speed, winning is going to be hard. If you have tremendous team speed and are clueless, winning is impossible.

As the jubilant Patriots walked off Heinz Field Sunday, they looked around the stadium, searching for skeptics. Assistant coach Pepper Johnson walked past a Steelers equipment room and playfully shouted at the workers: ''Pack that stuff up. Pack it up! Send it to the warehouse. You won't be needing it anymore this season.''

It is late January and the Patriots' equipment staff still is in business. The team in red, white, and blue isn't nearly as exciting as the Rams. But excitement alone doesn't always take you to the Super Bowl. And it certainly doesn't win it for you.

Michael Holley is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is holley@globe.com.