For the football-starved fans of New England, the only number that matters was revealed this week: 19.
No, not the perfect 19-0 the Patriots nearly attained last year. This 19 is all about looking forward, as in the welcome news that counting today there's now just 19 shopping days left before the 2008 campaign kicks off with the start of training camp.
The club finally announced the official opening date this week, with practices beginning on Thursday, July 24. Now that we know when the workouts start, we can naturally leap ahead to looking at the real games.
There are a few interesting, and conflicting, numbers of importance there as well for any attempt to read the tea leaves and predict the fortunes of the Pats in the upcoming season.
On the plus side, the Pats get to face the easiest schedule in the league this year, at least based on last year's numbers. Their 2008 opponents were a combined 99-157 last season, a woeful .387 winning percentage, and only four teams on their slate had winning records last year.
That doesn't mean those teams will be bad again though, as the NFL's parity allows for quick turnarounds. Since the league went to eight divisions in 2002, nine teams have gone from last place to winning a division the following year.
That's not likely to happen in the AFC East, where the Pats have dominated the competition since Bill Belichick took over. Other than his first year in New England, Belichick's Pats have never gone worse than 4-2 against their AFC East rivals, including a 6-0 mark last year when New England won by a combined score of 229-76.
There is a downside to the numbers game though. In recent years, Super Bowl losers have lost more than just a shot at a title. More often than not, that defeat has sent the team into a tailspin, with six of the last seven Bowl losers failing to make the postseason the following year.
Even the team that did reach the playoffs - Seattle in 2006 - slipped from a 13-3 record down to 9-7. Overall, the vanquished from the Bowl went from an average of 12.4 wins in their almost-super seasons to a lowly 6.7 the next year.
The physical strain of playing into February and the mental drain of coming so close to a truly historic accomplishment could have a hangover effect. But barring a catastrophic injury to Tom Brady, the Patriots would appear too talented, and too focused with Belichick and the veterans setting the tone, to fall into that trend. If anything, the Pats might be more driven than ever this season.
"I don't think you can ever put it behind you," said offensive guard Stephen Neal this spring of the Super Bowl loss. "But you can always use this to motivate you."
Center Dan Koppen agreed. "Obviously it's a tough loss to have, but we were in a similar situation last year," he said. "Losing in the AFC Championship Game (to the Colts the previous year) was not fun either. It's one of those things that you've just got to rebound from it and come back and start from square one. We're going to start fresh this year and see what happens."
To get an idea what might happen, here's look at what this year's opponents have done to retool in the offseason to try to put a halt to New England's ongoing NFL record 19-game regular-season win streak.
Each of the three other clubs in the AFC East will get two more cracks at the Pats. Buffalo, coming off a 7-9 season, finished second in the division last year, but New England obliterated the Bills 38-7 and 56-10. Buffalo wins over the Pats are nearly extinct with New England winning the last nine meetings and 14 of the last 15.
The Bills bulked up their defense with the additions of defensive tackle Marcus Stroud, linebacker Kawika Mitchell and first-round pick Leodis McKelvin at corner, and they'll have middle linebacker Paul Posluszny back after missing the last 13 games of the season with a broken forearm suffered against the Pats.
That isn't likely enough to stop the Pats' potent attack, and an offense with an unsettled QB situation and star running back Marshawn Lynch dealing with the fallout from a hit-and-run incident this offseason isn't likely to match New England's production.
The Jets are always a threat with the animosity between the franchises ratcheting up the rivalry in recent years, though the Pats have won 10 of the last 11 meetings. New York is trying to turn the tides after a 4-12 season, spending freely this offseason to upgrade both sides of the ball.
Alan Faneca and former Patriot Damien Woody have been added to the offensive line, though Woody will be asked to make the difficult transition to tackle, and fullback Tony Richardson will also try to open holes. But the Jets still have QB issues of their own with unproven Kellen Clemens and weak-armed Chad Pennington battling for the starting spot.
The defense will be better with nose tackle Kris Jenkins and outside linebackers Calvin Pace and Vernon Gholston, the sixth overall pick, added, but the Jets still have a long way to go and time could be running short on Eric Mangini's tenure in the Meadowlands.
Miami has nowhere to go but up from last year's dismal 1-15 campaign, and a solid draft that yielded top pick Jake Long at tackle, defensive end Phillip Merling and QB Chad Henne is a good start for the rebuilding project. But losing the veteran presence of linebacker Zach Thomas and the uncertain future of all-pro defensive end Jason Taylor make an immediate turnaround unlikely.
The biggest addition this offseason was off the field, with Bill Parcells taking over football operations. Expect a gradual rise to respectability and the Dolphins could pose a legitimate threat in a few years, but not this season.
Outside the division, the Pats play the clubs of both the AFC West and NFC West. That leads to some tough travel with a pair of back-to-back West Coast trips, but neither division is exactly loaded.
AFC West champion San Diego will be the toughest test, as the Chargers are still stocked with talent on both sides of the ball and will be out for revenge for last year's AFC title game loss. They'll also get the Pats on the back end of one of those West Coast swings in Week 6 after New England plays at San Francisco.
NFC West champ Seattle (10-6 last year) is another big obstacle, with the Seahawks ready to make a run in Mike Holmgren's final year and New England heading out there for the first time since 1993. The rest of the West doesn't look as scary, with Kansas City (4-12), Denver (7-9), St. Louis (3-13) and Arizona (8-8) coming to Foxboro and the Pats also going to Oakland (4-12) and San Francisco (5-11).
The remaining two games will be difficult, with the annual showdown against Peyton Manning and the Colts again taking place in Indy in Week 9 and Pittsburgh coming back to Foxboro in Week 13.
Those two games, as well as the showdowns with Seattle and San Diego, will make another 16-0 season tough to accomplish. And the parity-driven NFL always creates its share of upset possibilities. Still, the combination of the talent New England possesses and the favorable schedule ahead makes it unlikely that this Pats club will fall prey to the Super Bowl loser jinx.
That's comforting news. But the best news of all is that the speculation can end, and the observation of real live football can begin again, in just 19 short days.
(Douglas Flynn covers the Patriots for the Daily News. He can be reached at 508-626-4405 or dflynn@cnc.com.)
