In an age when a turf toe injury can reduce a contender for the Super Bowl to a contender for the top pick in the draft, the Patriots are 10-2 because they are deeper than Dante’s Inferno.

Whenever a Patriots player is injured, coach Bill Belichick does not throw himself on the floor and threaten to hold his breath until he turns bluer than New England’s home jerseys.

He shrugs.

The Patriots have started 42 players and haven’t had the same offensive lineup in consecutive games this season. Players who have started for the team have missed 70 games because of injuries.

The Patriots beat the Texans in overtime in Week 13 with help from three catches by Dedric Ward, their eighth choice at the receiver position this season. Ward, signed three days before the game, had to wear No. 17 because no number in the 80s was available.

How have the Patriots overcome attrition better than every other team? By counting on it.

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Belichick prepares his reserves as well as anyone. Nobody rots away as a special teams player on the Patriots. Every player gets at least one-third of the practice reps, and almost every player has a role on offense or defense. Belichick likes to have three players ready to play every two positions. For instance, at the start of the season Rosevelt Colvin, Mike Vrabel and Willie McGinest were playing outside linebacker. When Colvin was knocked out for the year, the Patriots hardly were devastated.

The Patriots know how to get a player prepared quickly. The day receiver J.J. Stokes signed with the team, he met with coaches and studied his new playbook for 13 1/2 hours. He took the playbook with him all week wherever he went and studied it whenever he had free time. On the plane ride to Houston, coaches started teaching Stokes about sight adjustments. By game time, he was ready to play two positions, “X” and “F,” in the Patriots’ terminology — and he made a 31-yard reception.

Patriots players also are “cross-trained,” so they learn more than one position. Rookie Eugene Wilson began as a cornerback, the position he played in college, but he also learned how to play safety. He has started the last 10 games at free safety. “We’ve tried to build the depth all the way through the system,” Belichick says. “The preparation comes earlier rather than the week a crisis hits.”

The preparation starts with the player acquisition process implemented by vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli. The Patriots’ scouting staff has a clear vision of what Belichick and the coaching staff are looking for, and Pioli has done as fine a job as anyone in the NFL of evaluating his team’s abilities and acquiring players who fit the system.

Six rookies have started for the Patriots this season. Selecting players who are NFL-ready has not been a point of emphasis for the Patriots, but selecting players who are smart, dependable and low- maintenance has been. Players with those qualities generally acclimate to the NFL quickly.

Patriots rookies are required to spend extra time in meetings and on the practice field from the start of minicamp through the regular season. “Some rookies come along quicker than others,” Belichick says. “That’s not necessarily their fault at times. It’s a reflection of what kind of environment they’re in, what kind of transition they have to make from wherever they were to the NFL.”

In the draft and free-agent market, the Patriots don’t turn up their facemasks at players who lack certain dimensions. The Patriots are the anti-Redskins. Instead of dumping Franklins on players with bloated reputations, the Patriots look for one or two qualities that can help them from a player who is flying beneath the radar. Defensive tackle Ted Washington can’t rush the passer and rookie Dan Klecko can’t stop the run, but Washington is outstanding on first and second downs, and Klecko can replace him in nickel situations.

The team’s salary cap is about as evenly distributed as any. Only one player, cornerback Ty Law, has a salary among the top five in the league at his position. The Patriots could have kept safety Lawyer Milloy instead of cutting him the week before the season began. But that would have meant paying him more than he was worth and letting go of three others who have started games for the team. Milloy’s release largely was interpreted as a mistake by New England, but refusing to overpay players such as Milloy and defensive tackle Chad Eaton has given the team cap space to keep the bottom of its roster strong.

The Patriots spread the ball the way they spread the cash — nine players caught passes in the Houston game — so they aren’t overly dependent on anyone, and that actually might make them more dangerous. “There’s a lot to be said for being able to spread the production around,” Belichick says. “If it’s one or two who are giving it to you, and they can give it to you consistently, you can still have a chance to thrive. But if you ever get shut down there, the big question mark is if you can get it from somebody else. Sometimes, that’s not too certain.”

What is certain is the Patriots are a team of many layers.

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