Pioli, the team's 42-year-old vice president of player personnel, who along with coach Bill Belichick built this amazing juggernaut that is closing in on its fourth Super Bowl title in the last 7 years, stayed in Foxborough, Mass., for a couple of extra days to begin planning for One for the Thumb.

"I spent Sunday with the

college scouts going through the Senior Bowl, and then spent all day Monday with the pro scouts preparing for free agency,'' Pioli said. "The last three times we were fortunate enough to be here, Bill and I spent the whole flight [to the Super Bowl site] planning for free agency and the draft.

"Right now, we're 6 weeks behind everybody else. Getting [to the Super Bowl] is fabulous, but we're 6 weeks behind. We've been taking it one game at a time. But there's planning that has to go on [for next season]. I guarantee you, Bill and I will be talking about a lot of these things on the way home [Sunday night]."

Dynasties aren't supposed to be possible anymore in this era of free agency and the salary cap. But somehow - OK, because Pioli and Belichick are just smarter than everybody else in the NFL - the Patriots keep winning and winning and winning.

They're not just on the verge of capturing another Super Bowl. They're on the verge of doing it in historic fashion. If/when they beat the Giants, they'll become just the second team in NFL history to win every game, and the first to go 19-0.

And if you're waiting for them to crash and burn after next week's duck-boat parade down the Charles River, forget it. While age and expiring contracts will present some offseason challenges, it's nothing Pioli and Belichick can't handle. Especially when you consider they have the seventh pick in the April draft, thanks to last year's Draft Day trade with San Francisco.

"They're not going anywhere,'' said a personnel man for another AFC team. "They're a well-oiled machine. They've got some guys getting a little long in the tooth and some others who will be free agents. But most of them are interchangeable parts.

"The guys they need to keep, they'll keep. The others, they'll replace and keep right on rolling. Having that high No. 1 will help. They'll trade down and turn it

into multiple picks. And as well as they draft, those guys will step right in and replace the guys who leave.''

Armed with considerable salary space, the Patriots were major offseason players last year. Traded for Randy Moss. Traded for Wes Welker, who was a restricted free agent, and gave him a new deal. Signed free-agent linebacker Adalius Thomas to big bucks. Signed free-agent wide receiver Donté Stallworth. All paid huge dividends.

"We approached the last offseason the [same] way we do every offseason,'' Paoli insisted. "The thought process before every off-season is, you're going to do some things, you're going to try to bring in players to improve your football team. Sometimes you're going to have the opportunity to [get them], sometimes you're not.

"There have been times in the past when we've been just as aggressive as we were last year.

We've chased after players and not gotten them. But we don't publicize who we're chasing after. So, you all don't know how many times we run into a parked car. Fortunately, for whatever reason, a lot of the players we went after last year chose to be here, wanted to be here.''

The Patriots won't be major players in free agency this offseason. For starters, the free-agent market already looks like something the cat dragged in, and it's going to look a lot worse by the start of the free-agency signing period on Feb. 29 after teams get done re-signing their own players and putting the franchise tag on the ones they can't.

Second, the Patriots don't have the abundance of cap space they had last year. According to a league executive, the Patriots are only $5.5 million under the projected '08 cap. Tennessee is No. 1 with $36 million in cap room. The Eagles are 15th with $12.9 million in cap space.

The Patriots have four starters who will be unrestricted free agents next month - Moss,

cornerback Asante Samuel and linebackers Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau. Three key subs - backup wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, nickel corner Randall Gay and backup safety Eugene Wilson - also have expiring contracts.

You also likely can add Stallworth to that list. He's due a hefty roster bonus on which the Patriots are expected to pass, which will allow him to become a free agent again.

The Patriots probably won't be able to keep Samuel, a Pro Bowler who had six interceptions. They put the franchise tag on him last February, but already have agreed not to do it again.

It's hard to believe the Patriots won't re-sign Moss, who caught an NFL-record 23 touchdown passes. He made it clear this week that he wants to stay in New England.

"Since the day I got here, I've been living the dream,'' he said.

Seau and Bruschi, the Patriots' two starting inside linebackers, both are at the tail end of their careers. Seau is 39, Bruschi 34. Another defensive starter, safety Rodney Harrison, is 35.

But when you draft as well as the Patriots, there seldom is a shortage of able replacements.

"There are so many variables right now,'' Pioli said when asked whether he feels the Patriots are well-positioned to make another Super Bowl run in '08. "There are going to be things that happen that we'd better be prepared to react to. Because we already know there are a couple of contracts [we have to make decisions on].

"Things are going to change

every year. Some players may choose not to play. There may be injuries that happen. Guys get old. We've lost a lot of players. We've lost a lot of coaches. We've lost a lot of scouts. But that's the way it is. You can either sit there and worry about it, or suck it up and be prepared to do something about it when it happens." *

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