IN THROES OF ‘D’-FEAT PATS NEED A QUICK FIX

The Patriots defense just surrendered 42 points to a quarterback who was supposed to be one of their softies on the schedule.

Only Alex Smith proved to be no layup. The Chiefs quarterback put on a clinic at the expense of Matt Patricia’s defense. Big plays, long drives, it was all on display Thursday night during the Patriots’ 4227 upset loss as the Chiefs had their way on offense.

Everyone’s heard the narrative by now. It was the most points scored on the Patriots and the most yards yielded (537) during the Bill Belichick era.

How worrisome is this development?

“You don’t panic,” NFL Network analyst and former Patriots fullback Heath Evans told the Herald Friday, “but you better rectify the mistakes and issues that were exposed that caused those big plays.”

Before the season started, Smith wasn’t really on the radar as far as opposing quarterbacks most capable of exploiting the Patriots. He is decent, but never considered among the the league’s elite, so it was easy to look past him.

That’s why what he was able to do was so alarming, considering the slate of quarterbacks and offenses the Patriots are due to face in coming weeks.

Look who’s on deck. Can’t you just see Drew Brees of the Saints, the Pats’ Week 2 opponent, licking his chops after watching that debacle? Brees won’t be alone. There’s also Carolina’s

Cam Newton (Week 4), Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston (Week 5), Atlanta’s Matt Ryan (Week 7), the LA Chargers’ Philip Rivers (Week 8), Oakland’s Derek Carr (Week 11), and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger (Week 15).

Talk about opening up a can of worms . . . . Smith was 28-of-35 for 368 yards with four touchdown passes. He had a near-perfect 148.6 passer rating.

The Patriots couldn’t stop the pass, but nor could they stuff the running game. Rookie Kareem Hunt had 17 carries for 148 yards and a touchdown. It was the most yards from scrimmage in a debut in NFL history.

And naturally, many of the above teams have running games to complement their aerial attacks. The Saints (Adrian Peterson, Mark Ingram), Falcons (DeVonta Freeman), Chargers (Melvin Gordon), Raiders (Marshawn Lynch) and Steelers (Le’Veon Bell) have formidable backs.

To make Smith’s pyrotechnics worse, he hinted postgame that the Chiefs had a good diagnosis going in.

Said Smith: “I think we knew there were potentially some opportunities that may present themselves — not just how they played us but how they played everybody.”

That stuck the knife in a little deeper.

The defensive backfield, with two elite corners in Stephon Gilmore and Malcolm Butler, was exposed on big plays. The front seven couldn’t make plays.

Add in Dont’a Hightower’s knee injury and it’s potentially lingering effects and the situation doesn’t look rosy for a defense that last year allowed the fewest points in the NFL.

In years past, the Patriots often had an offense that could cover up for a defense that surrendered a ton of points. It didn’t happen Thursday night, because the unit is still a work in progress. Tom Brady & Co. are adjusting for the loss of Julian Edelman, and also working in new players.

Eventually the offense will get on track.

The defense? How does a unit that just won the Super Bowl, one that basically shut down Ryan in the second half, and was the stingiest in the league last year, get roasted by Smith seven months later?

There were execution and communication issues. There was also a lack of intensity, according to both the coaches and players. It’s hard to believe the latter would be a problem on opening night, but apparently, that was among the issues. All of the above are fixable.

“They generated pressure at times with a threeman rush but it was very inconsistent,” Evans said of the Pats. “And, in the run game, they couldn’t set the edge. Those run plays were giving them fits. There must have been eight times when there was no edge set whatsoever. We saw a little bit of that in the Super Bowl in the first half. So, they’ve got to get some soundness in their play rectified.”

The bigger issue? Talent. They just aren’t good enough right now in their front seven either due to injuries (Hightower, Shea McClellin, Derek Rivers), retirement (Rob Ninkovich), acquisitions not working out (Kony Ealy), or some of the newcomers not being up to speed with the system.

Their linebacking corps is incredibly thin, with Hightower now playing the edge. They played four safeties a lot of times Thursday night, with safety Jordan Richards assuming a hybrid linebacker-type role.

Perhaps Ninkovich will be coaxed out of retirement. And maybe some of the new players, Cassius Marsh for example, will get better as they spend more time in the defense. Or, maybe, the Patriots will add more players via trade.

But right now, the problems aren’t going away with the flip of a switch. As Evans said, there’s no need to fall off the ledge, but it’s going to take some time before this unit figures it out and rival quarterbacks and running backs stop feasting on them.

Even the ones you don’t expect.

“I know that coaching staff and how they work,” Evans said of the Pats. “You got Drew Brees coming up, and they’ve got a real power run game this year. So it’s going to be interesting to see how it looks next week.”

And in the coming weeks as Belichick and defensive coordinator Patricia try to avoid getting embarrassed again.

A telling film study

By now, most have seen the NFL Films documentaries “Do Your Job Part 2: Bill Belichick and the 2016 Patriots” and “America’s Game: 2016 Patriots.” Both were excellent in their own way, going behind-thescenes to bring viewers

revealing moments and tales from the Pats’ latest Super Bowl season.

There were so many great takeaways in each, as the former focuses on the coaching staff and all the depth of detail that goes into the game plan, while the latter was a lighter take on the season through the eyes of Edelman, Hightower and LeGarrette Blount.

But here’s our favorite line from the documentaries. Edelman made you laugh out loud a bunch of times with his commentary, especially with what he said during one segment that showed Brady making a block downfield to help spring a runner.

“He lives for that block,” Edelman said. “I don’t know why. I’m like, ‘Bro, get down and get out of the way. Stop with the skiing and stop with the blocking. I don’t want to talk about it again. No more waterfalls, just distribute the football.’ ”

Deal pushes Kearse

Most people look at the deal sending defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson to the Seahawks for wideout Jermaine Kearse, a 2018 second-round pick, and a swap of seventhround draft choices as a win for Seattle.

Kearse didn’t have the best numbers. In six seasons with the Seahawks, he caught 153 passes for 2,109 yards and 11 touchdowns. But Pats fans will remember that crazy, tumbling acrobatic catch he made that nearly won Super Bowl XLIX for the Seahawks. The catch put the Seahawks in position to go ahead in the final minute, but Butler’s interception of Russell Wilson near the goal line sealed the 28-24 win for the Patriots.

Kearse isn’t angry about going from a first-place team, to one that’s in the gutter. He appreciates any opportunity.

“I got a chip on my shoulder, and I’m still hungry out there and I got a lot of things that I want to prove,” he told New York media upon his arrival last week. “We’ve got a young receiving corps and a lot of guys that want to do the same.”

Moss: Familiar Ring

Former Patriots wideout Randy Moss will be inducted into the Vikings’ Ring of Honor during halftime of the team’s season opener tomorrow night against the Saints.

Moss becomes eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018. Only five wide receivers have been inducted on the first ballot, and none since Jerry Rice in 2010.

The former Patriots receiver, who caught a record 23 TD passes from Brady during the 2007 season, told the Pioneer Press he wasn’t concerned with any perceived bias against wide receivers, or whether he gets in on the first year of his eligibility.

“There’s a lot of different avenues we could go down with the Hall of Fame,” Moss said. “The voting, the criteria, all that stuff. All I know is I just played the game to the best of my ability. I put my mark, I put my stamp, I put my family’s name on the game of football and the National Football League. You can’t get any higher.

“Wherever people hold me at or wherever they put me, that’s up to them. But I know deep down in my heart, when it’s all said and done, I know where I stand. I stand up there with the greats. First ballot or not, I understand what it is, man.

“It’s a political war, and I was one of those guys who didn’t play (politics), nor do I intend to play into politics. I know what I stood for. I know what the game is. I gave my all to the game, 14 years through the ups and downs, I still gave my commitment to the National Football League. Like it or not.”

Moss said his was also looking forward to seeing Peterson against his former team. He said the game is a chance for Peterson to make a statement.

“Now he gets to show them that, ‘No, you shouldn’t have drafted (Dalvin) Cook, you should have given me my money,’ ” Moss said. “I think there are a lot of big things that are going to happen that night.”

Fitz directs the hits

Interesting nugget via azcentral.com suggests Cardinals veteran wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald would rather get hit high, than low in the knees, and is willing to pay a player’s fine to make that happen.

On Wednesday, Lions safety Glover Quin told reporters Fitzgerald tells defensive backs his preference on how he wants to be tackled.

“You ask anybody, he’ll tell you like, ‘Hey man, don’t take my knees out like that. I would rather you hit me up here than hit me down here.’

“Now, as a DB, you’re going to take the lower hit because this hit right here (up high) is going to give you a fine. But he’ll tell you like, ‘Hey, I’ll pay your fine for you.’ ”

When asked about it, however, Fitzgerald, declined to provide his side of the story.