E-Mail This Article to a Friend Breaking down the Patriots’ 2005-’06 schedule BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

The Red Sox sit atop the AL East and are baseball’s hottest team; the Celtics are preparing for the NFL draft; and the NHL seems poised to return this fall. So what do our minds turn to in late June?

Well, other than the Red Sox sitting atop the AL East ... That’s right: NFL training camp, particularly as it pertains to your world champion New England Patriots. Before you know it, summer will be over, cooler weather will return, and the burly helmeted ones will take to the turf to engage in another season of pro football.

The bull’s-eye is once again stenciled on each Patriot player’s back, and everybody will be gunning for the champs as the upcoming season unfolds. Which teams will get to tackle the Patriots in person this season, and what are the possibilities for another title for the Flying Elvises?

An early glance begins now.

Week 1 (9/8, 9 p.m.): After four pre-season tilts, the season begins in earnest on the Thursday after Labor Day with a prime-time affair against the Raiders (5-11 in 2004). Certainly there’s no love lost between these two teams (or the Raiders and any other team, for that matter), and though they haven’t played since 2002, there should be plenty of fireworks, literally and figuratively, in the air. The Pats will unfurl their latest championship banner, and all the hoopla associated with the NFL season opener guarantees a gala atmosphere — one that the champs should have little trouble getting pumped-up for.

Week 2 (9/18, 1 p.m.): The Panthers fell flat (7-9) the year after facing the Pats in the Super Bowl, but they did win six of their final eight after a 1-7 start and narrowly missed the playoffs. This will be the first regular-season meeting since Supe 38, and the Carolinians will undoubtedly be raucous and bloodthirsty for revenge in this grudge match. The Panthers should be much improved this season, so expect a tough defensive struggle for Tom Brady and the lads, especially if Carolina has emerged from the pre-season unscathed injury-wise.

Week 3 (9/25, 4:15): If you thought the locals were raucous and bloodthirsty in week two, imagine what the Steelers faithful will be like for this dandy rematch of last January’s AFC title game. Pittsburgh entered last year’s post-season at 15-1, and after it survived an OT playoff battle with the Jets, the Pats came to town and manhandled the Black & Gold, exacting some revenge after the Steelers ended New England’s NFL-record 21-game win streak during an October match-up. The Steelers should be potent and loaded this season despite losing wide-out Plaxico Burress to free agency. This game will not only likely be one of the season’s best contests, but probably a precursor to yet another post-season rematch as well.

Week 4 (10/2, 1 p.m.): Back at Gillette after two bruising road games, the Pats will face the mercurial offense offered up by the Chargers, at 12-4 the defending 2004 AFC West champs. Pats back-up Doug Flutie, should he make the roster out of camp, could provide some insight into breaking down the Bolts’ lightning-quick strike capabilities, but otherwise it’ll be up to Bill Belichick and his defensive gurus to slow down Drew Brees and LaDainian Tomlinson.

Week 5 (10/9, 1 p.m.): Right back on the road for New England in week five. The team heads indoors for the first time in the 2005 campaign to meet another explosive offense in the Falcons’ Michael Vick and a squad that got all the way to the conference championship game last season (after an 11-5 regular-season). Again, Flutie could prove valuable, at least in practice, mirroring the moves of the elusive Vick. Shut him down, and the rest should come fairly easily for New England, although the Georgia Dome will be loud and the Pats won’t have played on phony turf since winning at St. Louis 11 months prior.

Week 6 (10/16, 4:15 p.m.): Hey, who made up this schedule, the Marquis de Sade? For the fourth week in a row, the Pats will meet a 2004 playoff team, and on the road again, no less. New England has plenty of nice memories from its last visit to Denver (a scintillating 30-26 MNF win in 2003), but otherwise its history at Mile High is subpar (1-12 since 1968). For the Broncs, who grabbed the wild card last fall with 10-6 mark, this game will be the team’s fourth home game in five starts, so they’ll be well-rested and eager to put a hurtin’ on the champs.

Week 7 (10/30, 8:30 p.m.): The kids’ll be out trick-or-treatin’ while you’re home watching a Sunday-night prime-time battle against the Bills (9-7 last year after winning six of seven down the stretch). It’ll be a good-news/bad-news deal for the Pats: they’ll be hosting after a bye week, but they won’t have QB Drew Bledsoe to toss around. Still, this will be the fifth-straight game of the young season in which the Patriots will play a team with a 2004 winning record, and one hopes they won’t be looking ahead to ...

Week 8 (11/7, 9 p.m.): Clear your calendar for a much-anticipated Monday-night match-up between the Colts and the Pats — the teams’ fifth meeting in two and a half seasons (all won by NE, including two straight playoff encounters). League MVP Peyton Manning will be out to end his long streak of futility in Foxborough (he’s 0-7) and prove once and for all that Belichick is absolutely, positively, not in his head.

Survive the first half of the season, and the Pats’ remaining schedule is relatively tame. For the breakdown of that half of the ledger, tune in Friday.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com