FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) – When Bill Belichick calls, you answer even if you don’t know it’s him on the other end.

Veteran tight end Marcus Pollard was doing lawn work this spring at his home when the New England Patriots coach placed a call looking for some depth in his passing game.

“I was outside working in the yard,” Pollard recalled Thursday outside Gillette Stadium. “The phone rang, I came in and there was no ID, I’m like, Who is this?’ I usually wouldn’t even answer the phone. I tried to play like I was asleep.”

The 36-year-old is entering his 14th NFL season, his first 10 spent with the Indianapolis Colts, New England’s fiercest rival in the AFC.

“I still have to go out and work and do my job and compete and I will do that. It just made my decision easier,” Pollard said.

Now he’ll be trying to help Tom Brady, Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi get by his former team and into another Super Bowl.

“If you could have said to me, six, eight, seven or five years ago, that I’d be a Patriot, I would have said probably not,” Pollard said. “But now that I’m here, I’m excited about my opportunity and being in the locker room with guys like Rodney, Tom and Tedy and those guys. I’m just looking forward to getting out on the field with them and seeing what we can do.”

Pollard has caught 40 touchdown passes in his career, including a career-high eight in 2001 with the Colts. Pollard left for Detroit in 2005 and played there in 2006 as well. He played last season in Seattle.

“He brings a high level of experience,” Belichick said Thursday. “The most recent experience has been at Detroit and Seattle, in Mike Martz’s offense and then (Mike) Holmgren’s offense in Seattle, the West Coast offense.”

If Pollard makes the team, he figures to compete with Ben Watson, David Thomas and Stephen Spach for playing time at tight end.

“He’s very professional,” Belichick added. “I think as we all know, he’s a very experienced guy, very good in the passing game and has done a lot of different things offensively in his career. I don’t think there’s anything we’re doing he hasn’t done before. It’s just a question of adapting to the different terminology and nomenclature and a little bit of refinement here and there.”

Pollard believes that, even at 36, he is ready to compete for another season.

“There’s still a lot left in me. There’s still a lot of competitiveness. When I’m done, I’ll be done. I still enjoy getting up in the morning and not being a couch potato,” Pollard said.

Belichick says reaching out to a player like Pollard is not unusual for him.

“If we’re interested in a player, I usually talk to him,” Belichick said. “It doesn’t mean every player I talk to we sign here, but I would say most of them we sign, I talk to them relatively early in the process to establish a relationship and tell them what we expect of them.”

Pollard reflected that, for him, getting a call from Belichick is like the president of the United States calling.

“That’s very flattering,” Belichick said with a laugh and a smile.

AP-ES-07-31-08 2004EDT