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Nobody, absolutely nobody, has caught as many passes in a Patriots uniform as Troy Brown. But he still may not be in uniform Sunday for the Super Bowl game against the Giants

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Troy Brown smiled at the dumb questions asked during the Super Bowl Media Day circus Tuesday. He had to correct the wrong ones.

What's it like, he was asked, to be playing in his fourth Super Bowl? He and Tom Brady and Richard Seymour and Kevin Faulk and some of the other Patriots have had so much success.

"Five," Brown said softly, making eye contact with someone too young or too new to football. "I've been on five Super Bowl teams."

He won't forget the Super Bowl wins over the St. Louis Rams, Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles. He won't ignore the loss to the Green Bay Packers, either. He was inactive that day in 1997 in New Orleans, sidelined with an injury.

"It wasn't that long ago," said Brown. "Not to me. I still feel the sting. You see yourself so close to winning. Then you let a guy take the kickoff back and break open the game."

Curtis Martin had scored on an 18-yard run in the fourth quarter. Green Bay still had the lead but the score had narrowed to 28-21. Then Desmond Howard returned the kickoff 99 yards for another Packers touchdown and the Green Bay fans began their celebration.

Troy Brown turns 37 in July. Injured most of the season, he's healthy but unsure if Coach Bill Belichick will tell him to suit up Sunday for the Super Bowl against the New York Giants. It may be Brown's last chance to wear his Patriots uniform with the No. 80 on its back.

"It's a numbers thing," said Brown, mindful that Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth and Jabar Gaffney are the go-to receivers who fly downfield in the Patriots' offense. "I look at the positives. Millions of people would kill to have my seat."

Wherever that might be.

He has caught more passes than any other Patriots receiver. He has played 15 seasons for the same team.

Steve Grogan, the former quarterback and fan favorite, played one more year.

Now Brown is older than any of his teammates except linebacker Junior Seau. Older than most of his coaches, too. He looks around, he says, and his coaches seem like teenagers and yeah, Brown sometimes wonders how things turned upside- down so quickly.

Brown already had seven seasons under his belt with the Patriots when Tom Brady first walked into the locker room. "I was like, who is this skinny little kid? He's thin like a pencil. Nobody had any idea who he was.

"I knew we had Drew Bledsoe, so (Brady) must be the backup quarterback or something. Some guy they were giving a shot. He wasn't a very flashy guy. The girls didn't think he was as cute as he is now that he's winning and rich."

Brown noticed something else then. Brady was always in the weight room, working hard.

A kid, not yet a teenager, stood in front of Brown, a microphone in his hand and a television camera over his shoulder.

Did Brown know he and Brady shared the same initials and that somehow, that was a reason for the Patriots' success? Brown sized up the kid for a few seconds. You forgot Tedy Bruschi, Brown said, correcting again.

Brown and Bruschi are the only players left from the Bill Parcells era. Bruschi was a rookie in 1996, arriving three years after Brown.

More than Bruschi, Brown appreciates the turnaround from Patsies (2-14 the year before he was drafted) to Perfect Patriots. In 2001 he caught eight passes for 121 yards in the AFC championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown. He recovered a blocked field goal, ran 11 yards and lateraled to Antwan Harris, who went 49 yards for another touchdown.

One week later in the Super Bowl against St. Louis, Brown caught the pass that set up Adam Vinatieri's 48-yard winning field goal. It wasn't only that Brown caught the pass from Brady. With 21 seconds left he was able to get out of bounds.

"That game was unbelievable. It showed what a little unity...