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Patriots open training camp at Gillette today

 Less than six months after their shocking loss to the Giants in the Arizona desert, the Patriots get back to the business of football for real this morning at Gillette Stadium when the 2008 training camp officially opens.

There’s an 18-1 record and a Super Bowl XLII loss in the rearview mirror, but don’t expect too much reflection on last season’s missed opportunity.

“In life, you don’t reflect too much on what happened in the past,” quarterback Tom Brady said at last month’s minicamp. “You try to learn from it and build on it.”

“We came up short last year, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to get back there and try to win,” said nose tackle Vince Wilfork. “We’re all starting on the same playing field. We’re all starting 0-0 and we just have to climb the ladder.”

On the offensive side of the football, they’ll be climbing that ladder with many of the same faces as last year’s record-setting unit. Brady (50 TD passes last season, a league record) is joined again by wide receivers Wes Welker (112 receptions last year, a franchise record) and Randy Moss (23 TD catches last year, another league record).

“He adds so much to this offense,” Brady said of Moss, who signed a three-year contract in the offseason. “It was a great way to start his Patriots career last year.”

On defense, the biggest change is in the secondary, where defensive backs Asante Samuel and Randall Gay departed via free agency, and Willie Andrews was cut after a pair of offseason arrests. In addition, cornerback Ellis Hobbs remains a question mark because of offseason surgery.

There are a few other defensive changes — outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin was released, and inside linebacker Junior Seau may still retire. The Patriots did add linebacker Victor Hobson from the Jets, and used a first-round pick on Jerod Mayo.

“This is a new team and there are new challenges,” Brady said. “You come out here the first day and it’s not like this is the 2007 team revisited. There are new players, and there’s a new element to what we’re going to face.

We don’t pick up where we left off last year. We’re starting where everybody else is starting.”