Last modified: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 12:25 AM EST Randy Moss might have to break the NFL's touchdown reception record to make up for the holes the Patriots have on defense. (Staff photo by KEITH NORDSTROM) FARINELLA: Moss can't fill Patriots' defensive holes BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF So, Randy Moss is back. A three-year, $27 million contract with up to $15 million in guaranteed money got that job done Monday, and now, a lot of people believe that all is right with the world. I'd have to agree, things look better for the Patriots today than they did when it was being reported over the weekend that Moss was looking elsewhere and trying to bring his old buddy Daunte Culpepper along for the ride. But there are a few other things to be remembered here. First, Moss doesn't play linebacker. He can't stuff the run in the middle and he can't rush the passer from the edge. Second, you won't be putting Moss out in coverage on an opposing team's best wide receiver any time soon. About the only time you'll find Moss in pass coverage is when the other side needs to throw a Hail Mary - and given how the Patriots' secondary is presently constituted, they won't need to do that very often. And third, aside from the rare occasions when he's called upon to block downfield for someone else, you won't find Randy Moss hanging back to pick up a blitz or to stop the likes of Michael Strahan or Osi Umenyiora from turning Tom Brady into a stain on the artificial turf. Of course you won't. Those aren't his jobs. Problem is, the Patriots don't have anyone to do those jobs - or at least not up to the standards expected of a team that's been to four Super Bowls since 2001 and won three. At least this far into free agency, the Patriots' participation of it has been a matter of subtraction rather than addition. Pass-rushing outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin was released, presumably with his injury history at the forefront of the Patriots' thinking as well as his potential salary cap cost. And the defensive backfield has lost Asante Samuel (free-agency signing by Philadelphia), Randall Gay (New Orleans) and Eugene Wilson (set free by the Patriots). So far - and it's still relatively early in the free-agency game - Bill Belichick hasn't addressed a very important component of the coaching philosophy that runs through the Parcells-Belichick Coaching Tree: Offense puts fans in the seats, but defense wins championships. Right now, there has to be a great deal of concern over whether these Patriots will be able to stop anyone from scoring on them. If you want to relive the dread you felt on the last Giants' possession of Super Bowl XLII on every single enemy possession next season, then this is the team for you. The defensive line is still in good shape, although it's fair to be a little worried that Richard Seymour's best days may be behind him, especially in light of how long it took for him to recover from a botched knee surgery, and it's also curious that Ty Warren's numbers went so far down in the season after his contract numbers went so far up. In the linebacking corps, questions abound. Adalius Thomas, the biggest splash in free agency on the defensive side of the ball last year, finally played the sort of game everyone expected of him in the Super Bowl - at the end of a 19-game ride that can only be termed "disappointing" because it took so long to reach that point. It was Belichick's bright idea at the start of the season to move Thomas inside instead of utilizing him where he has been most effective, as a pass-rusher. It took Colvin's late-season injury to get Thomas back where he's best, and he should stay there this year. Thomas was given a big contract last year in part because he's versatile, but no matter how many positions you can play, it doesn't make sense to play someone away from his strengths. As for the secondary, as it stands right now, the best cornerback on the roster is recovering from shoulder and groin injuries - and after that, the Patriots may as well stage their own version of the "American Idol" tryouts. If Ellis Hobbs was every bit as hurt as advertised after the Super Bowl, it certainly would explain most of his defensive lapses over the latter part of the season. Hobbs seems to have trouble staying healthy, but the pressure's on him now that Samuel has escaped to the Eagles for the big dollars he wanted. Samuel's departure, like Deion Branch's before him, indicates a fundamental flaw in the Patriots' approach to building and maintaining a "family." Apparently, more and more members of that "family" are finding that it's no longer enough to settle for the satisfaction of contending for a championship, and asserting that they also want to conduct negotiations as if "fair market value" is blasphemy. Members of the "In Bill We Trust" brigade will point out that most of the free agents who left the Patriots have not equaled their successes here. That may be so in most cases, but Adam Vinatieri is wearing another championship ring while Stephen Gostkowski never got off the pine in Super Bowl XLII at a time when confidence in his ability to kick a 49-yard field goal indoors might have gone a long way toward dismissing the Giants. And in the cases of players like Branch and David Givens, circumstances after their departures dictated the courses of their careers. One cannot say that they wouldn't have been injured here, or that they would have avoided the misfortune that befell them elsewhere. In other words, it's impossible to credit Belichick for accurately predicting immediate failures by departed free agents. He's made some tough calls and most of them made sense, but much of what happened to those players after the fact has been the luck of the draw. Even Ty Law, as supposedly old and slow as he was when Belichick released him, still made more interceptions in his next season with the Jets than he ever did in a single season as a Patriot. Yet right now, Law would be better than anything the Patriots have left in their cornerback stable, older and slower as he is. It's doubtful they will find the answer in 30-year-old Jason Webster, an eighth-year veteran who played in all of one game for the Bills last year, who was reportedly signed Tuesday. Finally, let's not forget how the Patriots' offensive line was exposed in the Super Bowl to be nowhere near as good as advertised despite the presence of three Pro Bowl selections. Speed rushers have always posed a problem for Matt Light, and Nick Kaczur often impersonated a turnstile on the right side. Teams have also figured out that constant and unrelenting pressure on Brady is the best way to slow down the Patriots' offense. The Giants may have proven them vulnerable to a team that has a high level of strength and speed along its defensive front and at the outside linebacker slots, and is willing to commit to all-out blitzing. That carries a lot of risk to it, of course. Brady, Moss and Wes Welker are still as dangerous as they come. But unless the running backs and tight ends contribute, and the offensive line stands its ground, things can grind to a halt. The Giants proved that. Then, it becomes a matter of finding people who can make the defensive stop when it's most needed - and right now, admittedly a long time before it really matters, those are in short supply. It's excessive to claim right now that the sky is falling, before free agency has hit its stride and long before the draft. But it's just as wrong to establish the Patriots as the favorites to return to yet another Super Bowl, as the bookmakers and many national pundits have, seemingly on reputation alone. I won't rain on this week's parade. It's certainly good to have Randy Moss and his amazing pass-catching talents - which I had seen on TV, but never fully appreciated until I had a chance to see them in person over the course of a full season - back in the fold. That's a start. There's a lot more to be done before Belichick and the boys reach the finish line. MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com