“This is a team that believes a lot in itself, even if other people don’t.”-Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick after his team’s 31-28 win against the Falcons.

If you are going to follow the 2005 New England Patriots for the rest of this season, a good bit of amnesia might help.

You will need to erase the last two years of near perfection from your memory. Forget all of the big plays that the defense typically makes late in the fourth quarter. Forget all of the run-stuffing that you have come to expect.

While you’re at it, wipe away the notion of Tom Brady ending the game with a clean uniform. And most of all, erase the memories of easy victories, domination and first-round byes.

In their place, try to remember that success in the NFL is somewhat a battle of attrition. And be mindful that with all of the injuries these Patriots have suffered, a lot of rookies and second-year players are being getting a baptism by fire. Just how bad is it? Center Dan Koppen, in just his third season, is the dean of the offensive line as presently constituted and two rookies are protecting The Franchise’s blind side.

It’s hard to keep in perspective that the current secondary is an even more hodge-podge outfit than the one we saw last year. When you are leaning on rookies Guss Scott and James Sanders to make plays, all you can really do is close your eyes and hope for the best.

I’m afraid that games like the 31-28 victory over the Falcons on Sunday are going to be the norm for the Pats this season. It’s just about a guarantee that they’ll give you everything that they got. Some days it will be good enough. Other times, they’ll look woefully overmatched as they did against the Chargers.

Perhaps 10-6 or 9-7 will have to be the revised expectation for this season. Don’t worry. That should still be good enough to win the AFC East.

Of course, the flip side of turning the Patriots trainer’s area into an NFL-style M*A*S*H unit is that when Matt Light, Kevin Faulk and the like do return, the Patriots will have some instant, serious depth at the presently weak areas of the squad.

If the Patriots can go into Mile High and beat the Broncos this coming Sunday, the team will somehow head into the bye week at 4-2 and in position to right the ship as the weather turns cold. A famous philosopher (Chris Mortensen) once said that to draw conclusions before November is a foolish practice.

Yet despite all that has changed from a year ago, one fact remains self-evident and comforting. Namely, when a game needs to be won on a last-second drive or field goal, you can take anybody else in the 86-year history of the NFL (including Mr. Montana and Jerry Rice); I’ll take Tom Brady and Adam Vinatieri every time.

Brady and Vinatieri – like Big Papi and Larry Bird – live for that last shot, at bat or kick. As a fan, it’s a joy to watch such a performance time after time. Such displays are the ones that will stick in our heads for the rest of our lives and will be immortalized on all of those over-priced DVDs that we dutifully buy.

The 2005 chameleon Patriots should be grateful for one cold, hard football fact: The more things change from year to year, some things just won’t.

Just look up T. Brady and A. Vinatieri in your NFL book of truths and you’ll see what I mean.