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FOXBORO - Don't think for a minute that the Patriots haven't taken steps to leave the past behind.

Some of them are more symbolic than others.

For instance, when starting left offensive guard Logan Mankins showed up at the Patriots' training camp last week with a clean-shaven face and closely cropped locks on his head, a lot of people would have had no idea who he was if not for the big No. 70 on his chest. The mountain man image was gone, and in its place was an individual with the look of a fresh-faced rookie.

He didn't say as much, but it's not out of the realm of possibility to think that a change of appearance might be part of the process of leaving bad memories behind.

"(The offseason) was tough. We know we didn't play up to our potential," Mankins said of Super Bowl XLII, the last game in which he played, in which the Patriots' quest for a 19-0 season was spoiled by the New York Giants in the form of a 17-14 loss. "We didn't have our best game. That had a lot to do with why we lost." There have been media reports that the Patriots haven't done the usual film review of the loss to the Giants that they would have done as a matter of course for any other game, but that's not the case - and it wasn't as painful as one might be led to believe.

"Not so much," said the native of frontier-like Catheys Valley, Calif. "We watched the film, we critiqued it and we tried to learn from it. And we have a lot of pride in what we do. We're just trying to get better now and learn from that game."

It was not the happiest moment for Mankins, or the other members of an offensive line that had kept Tom Brady safe from harm for 18 previous games. The line surrendered five sacks of Brady in the game and countless other hits, totally disrupting an offense that had laid waste to the rest of the NFL over the course of the season.

Naturally, that leads to second-guessing in the minds of fans and the media over whether the Patriots should have made more adjustments in their offense once it was clear the Giants were going to be rushing everyone but the ticket-takers on every play.

But Mankins said he doubted that any adjustments would have made much of a difference.

"You know, you get into the groove of the game and throwing the ball was working," he said. "They just had a lot of good rush guys - they had (Michael) Strahan, (Justin) Tuck and Osi (Umenyora) - and they played great that day. The first game, they didn't give us that much trouble. But in that game, I can tell you from going against them, they played a lot better in that second game than they did the first game (on Dec. 29, the regular-season finale). They played harder and their moves were working that day."

There has been a re-emphasis of sorts on the rushing game thus far in the Patriots' 2008 training camp, and that's music to the ears of the offensive linemen, Mankins said.

"We like to run block. It makes the game go faster. You get to wear them down, they get tired, they have to chase the ball."

Still, he said, there are benefits to being able to strike quickly as the Patriots offense did frequently last season.

"We prefer to run it, but if the pass is working, we don't mind seeing those 60-yard plays to (Randy) Moss," Mankins said. "We're scoring faster then." The offensive line has been challenged somewhat over the first week of camp because its numbers have been down. Guard Stephen Neal, the starter on the other side of the line, remains out while he recuperates from offseason knee surgery, and right-side tackle Nick Kaczur was activated off the physically-unable-to perform list this past weekend.

Mankins, who earned his first career Pro Bowl berth last season, said there isn't reason for concern just yet.

"We have a pretty deep offensive line, a lot of guys who have been here for a few years and know the system," he said. "And they're interchangeable, so we should be all right."

One of those individuals is reserve tackle Wesley Britt, who played in 10 games last year and started one.

"You have to prepare every game as if you're going to play or start because you never know what's going to happen," said the 6-foot-8, 320-pound veteran of two NFL seasons. "I have to prepare for several positions because I can play tight end and both tackles, and special teams and stuff. You can't get caught up in the trap of thinking that you're going to be inactive, and prepare like you're going to play every game."

Still, experience is the guiding factor for the Patriots' offensive line, especially from center to the left. In Matt Light, Mankins and Dan Koppen, the Patriots have a threesome who almost seem to operate as one entity on the field.

"It feels really good," Mankins said. "Me and Matt are pretty much in sync with what's going on, and it's the same thing with me and Koppen. It makes it nice knowing that I don't have to tell them every time what we're doing or they don't have to tell me what's going on."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/sports.