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SEATTLE - Last week, during his weekly meeting with the media, Patriots' quarterback Matt Cassel said that the best advice he got from his former Southern Cal teammate, Lofa Tatupu, was to wear layered clothing in the cold weather.

There are two sides to every story, however.

"I told Matt his rookie year, when he was going over there to make sure he bought a jacket and to buy some pants, buddy," said Tatupu, the former King Philip Regional High School standout and Seattle Seahawks' linebacker. "All those California guys ... all they do is wear shorts and T-shirts around."

Tatupu, who contributed a team-high eight tackles for the Seahawks in their 24-21 loss to the Patriots on Sunday, was raised in Wrentham, played at KP for his father (former Patriots' fan favorite Mosi) and started his collegiate career at the University of Maine before heading on to Pete Carroll's juggernaut at USC.

"It was funny, because when I came over to SC, I didn't bring any of my cold gear," Tatupu said. "I'd see everybody around wearing pants and sweatshirts and it's like 60 degrees out, and I'm saying, 'this is nice!' Not like back in Massachusetts." Tatupu said he has watched his former teammate's success from afar, and he said that while Cassel's success may be somewhat surprising, his attitude and desire to succeed doesn't surprise him in the slightest.

"He definitely has that attitude about him that he's a fighter and a competitor, but I can't lie and say that this hasn't surprised me," Tatupu said, "A guy who hadn't had a start since high school, and to be doing what he's doing, to be doing that is pretty special. He had what, two 400-yard games in a row? There are first-round picks that haven't done that. I'm pleasantly surprised and I'm happy for him."

Tatupu said that when he at Cassel were at Southern Cal, he learned quickly that Cassel was willing to do anything to help the team win - even if it means trying to play another position instead of spending all his time as a backup quarterback.

"Matt is a team-first kind of guy," he said. "And that was evident when we were playing at SC. He wasn't getting any playing time, so he picked up baseball also. He said, 'I'm not going to just quit on my dreams, I'm going to make it somewhere or other.'

"Matt's a very athletic kid," he continued, "and he went to the coaches and said, 'put me at some other position that you think I could play.' So the coaches tried him at tight end, and the next week we see him in there with some new big pads, wrestling with our D-ends in some of our one-on-one drills. I couldn't believe it, but that's just the kind of guy he is. He just wants to contribute anyway he can."

Cassel completed 26 of 44 passes for 268 yards and a touchdown against his former teammate's team Sunday.

Quick kicks

The inactive players for the Patriots were WR Kelley Washington, LB Vince Redd, LB Pierre Woods, T Wesley Britt, G Billy Yates, TE David Thomas, DT Ty Warren, QB Matt Gutierrez as the third quarterback. The Seahawks' inactives were K Brandon Coutu, S C.J. Wallace, LB Leroy Hill, T Na'Shan Goddard, T Walter Jones, DT Red Bryant, DE Brandon Miller and QB Matt Hasselbeck, who's struggling with back problems, was listed as the third quarterback ...

Randy Moss caught three passes for 56 yards, giving him a career total of 13,034 yards and making him the 11th NFL player to go over the 13,000-yard mark. He needs just 55 more yards to pass former Seahawk Steve Largent for 10th place on the all-time list ... Cassel brought his season total for passing to 3,052 yards, becoming the seventh Patriot quarterback to go over the 3,000-yard mark ... the victory was Bill Belichick's 150th as an NFL head coach ...

The win was the 14th straight regular-season win for the Patriots over a NFC team, and the ninth in a row over the NFC West ... The Patriots have now won nine straight December games ... Wes Welker now has 208 catches as a Patriot, becoming the 15th player in franchise history to go over 200 ... The injury losses were Tedy Bruschi (knee), Vince Wilfork (shoulder), James Sanders (ribs), while Mike Vrabel left the field for a few plays with a sore knee, but returned ... The Patriots are now 2-5 when losing the coin toss.