Pats set for tonight’s preseason opener

FOXBOROUGH ? The New England Patriots will play their first pre-season game tonight at Gillette Stadium amid possible drenching thunderstorms and swirling questions about whether they?ll be able to put last February?s Super Bowl loss behind them.
The Baltimore Ravens, whom the Patriots narrowly defeated en route to a perfect regular season in 2007, provide the opposition.
The game comes on a day when the entire competitive balance of the AFC East may have shifted. Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre was traded to the AFC East rival New York Jets in the early morning hours Thursday, and to make room for him, the Jets released Chad Pennington.
Today, there were reports out of Miami that the Dolphins ? who still need a front-line quarterback ? may be interested in Pennington, who has given the Patriots trouble over the years.
Last year, the Patriots won the AFC East handily, as there was no other team in the division with a winning record.
The Patriots play the Jets in Week 2 ? at the Meadowlands.
It is expected that the starters for the Patriots ? including quarterback Tom Brady ? will see limited action tonight as coach Bill Belichick will use the opportunity of the game to look at some younger players who are fighting for jobs.
This will be the first time the Patriots have been on the field, in game conditions, since the New York Giants? stunning 17-14 upset over the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Patriots had been working toward the first perfect season since the 1972-73 Dolphins, and were heavy favorites in the game. But it all unraveled in the last minute of the game ? first with an improbably third-down completion in which Eli Manning found tight end David Tyree ? and Tyree braced the ball on his helmet as he was tackled; and then when Manning found wide receiver Plaxico Burriss in the end zone with 35 seconds to go.
This is the first of two home pre-season games for the Pats, the other being Friday, Aug. 22, against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots open the season at home on Sunday, Sept. 7, against the Kansas City Chiefs.