Patriots opener wasn’t what we expected, but don’t panic

COMMENTARY

A 16-0 season is out of play for the Patriots. An 0-16 season is not. Just how we expected it to be, one banner raising and one sinking loss into the new season. Think they can make up that half-game in the standings on the Jets?

Oh, I’m kidding. Stop grumbling. If you can’t snicker at gallows humor after that rare stinker of a performance, I don’t know what to tell you. You know the Patriots are going to be fine, right, even if Bill Belichick has to fix some flaws we didn’t know they had?

If anyone can handle an increased degree of difficulty during the pursuit of a ninth straight AFC East title, a seventh straight AFC Championship game appearance, and a third Super Bowl victory in four years, I’m pretty sure it’s Mr. No Days Off.

The 16-0 thing was a wish by the irrational and a hot-take by the uninspired. I had them at 13-3. I might amend that to 12-4, since I was among those who brashly believed Tom Brady and the defending champions would steamroll the bland if talented Chiefs. They went 12-4 every season from 2012-15. It is a superb record. And I’m still going with 13-3.

Yeah, Thursday night was ugly. The pregame reminiscences of how last season ended were fulfilling and amusing. (C’mon, Goodell. Put on a clown shirt. Show some self-deprecation if you’re capable.) And the Patriots, even while leaving some points on the field early, looked like a version of what we expected in building a 17-7 lead.

Then it turned — or more accurately, sped up on them. Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill each hit the turbo button, the Patriots defense looked as slow and disjointed as it did in the pre-miracle first half of Super Bowl LI, and we’re left wondering the morning after which of their flaws revealed Thursday night are cause for legitimate alarm rather than something that can be quickly remedied.

Belichick and his staff are surely doing their jobs deciphering what is reparable and what must change, and they probably already know that it’s a little bit of both.

The lack of cohesion — whether it was Brady missing new weapon Brandin Cooks by the tiniest but important margins on a couple of throws, or the lack of communication in the Devin McCourty-led defensive backfield on Hill’s touchdown — will be fixed. This team is obsessed with precision, and they will find it.

Probably most troubling to me is the lack of depth in a couple of spots so early in the season. Some of it is unavoidable. The Next Man Up concept in football is generally treated as something laudable, and attrition is a compelling if cruel way for a team to demonstrate its resilience and malleability. No one does Next Man Up better than the Patriots.

But injuries are the most frustrating thing about being an NFL fan. The Chiefs should be reveling in their win today, but how can they with the news that inspirational star safety Eric Berry is done for the season with a torn Achilles’ tendon?

There comes a tipping point where injuries cannot be overcome. The Patriots are nowhere near that right now; this is still a remarkably talented and diverse roster despite Thursday’s collective dry-heave. But it would be helpful if they weren’t on their fourth punt returner before the second game of the season.

At least there is some injury news worthy of a collective exhale in Foxborough. Dont’a Hightower, the essential and unfortunately often-injured linebacker, left the game with a knee injury and did not return. The Patriots are comparatively thin on the front seven. The Kony Ealy flop really hurts them, as does the Derek Rivers injury, because they were supposed to replace the competent Chris Long and/or Jabaal Sheard, not to mention Rob Ninkovich.

Losing Hightower, a two-time Super Bowl hero who is as bright as he is talented, would have been darned close to devastating. But reports are that he has a slight MCL sprain and may even play in Week 2. And you thought there were no blessings to take from Thursday’s game.

The defense is the bigger concern right now than the offense. Brady (16 of 36!) looked 40 years old at times (does it seem like he’s gotten slower?), missing targets that sometimes looked to be his fault rather than the receiver’s. Down to three healthy receivers late, the offense too often fell into that frustrating heave-it-up mode that occasionally showed up against the Ravens or Broncos in the playoffs through the years. I almost expected to see Austin Collie’s name on the stat sheet.

But there were good things. Cooks had 88 receiving yards, including a 54-yard reception, and also drew a couple of helpful penalties. When he and Brady are on the same wavelength, look out. Mike Gillislee is on a 48-touchdown pace. Gronk survived his return appearance from back surgery in one piece.

They miss Julian Edelman. Of course they do. I think they miss Martellus Bennett a little, too. But this is a loaded offense, and had they converted a couple of fourth-and-1s, it might have been a different game. Or at least a less troubling one.

Those troubles will be eased in the coming weeks, provided the ghoulish injury gods are currently satisfied with their harvest. This isn’t going to be 2009, where effort was an issue. By all accounts, the Patriots players were furious after the game. A ticked-off Patriots team is usually a joy to watch.

You remember. The Patriots have lost their opening game three times since 2001 — that season, again in 2003, and in 2014. They did not go 0-16 in any of those seasons. They did, however, win the Super Bowl in all of them. Nothing ended Thursday night. It just began a heck of a lot differently that we expected.