FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Last January’s crushing playoff loss to the Jets put the Patriots in panic mode.
Gang Green’s bitter rival won’t admit it, but Bill Belichick’s frantic — and, in many cases, uncharacteristic — moves since that epic 28-21 Jets triumph on the road in the divisional round seven months ago look downright desperate coming from a team with New England’s recent pedigree.
Not only did The Hoodie bring in a pair of proven locker-room headaches in Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco, but Belichick also lavished a shocking $5 million on aging ex-Jet Shaun Ellis and drafted a huge character concern in quarterback Ryan Mallett. Belichick continues to parade in washed-up veterans for tryouts and is even tinkering with a change in defensive schemes. Does this sound like the behavior of a 14-2 team?
Actually, it sounds like the actions of a franchise and a coach that are just 2-3 in the playoffs (with back-to-back one-and-done exits) since being fined $750,000 and docked draft picks in 2007 for allegedly rampant videotaping of opponents’ defensive signals.
“We’re trying to always add as many good players as we can to the team,” Belichick muttered in his trademark monotone recently. “It has nothing to do with any team other than our own. We’re always looking for competition at every position.”
The Patriots still have Tom Brady, a one-man competitive advantage coming off one of the most glittering statistical seasons of any quarterback in NFL history (36 touchdowns and 3,900 passing yards against just four interceptions).
But coach Rex Ryan’s defense got in Brady’s head that frigid day at Gillette Stadium, with five sacks and an interception. Even Brady admitted this week the 28-21 playoff loss to the Jets still haunts him.
“I’ll never get over that,” Brady told the media. “That’s as painful a loss as we’ve ever had here as a team.”
Belichick apparently felt it the most, considering how he has so dramatically gone against type in the meantime.
The coach — who didn’t think twice about jettisoning perennial Pro Bowl defensive lineman Richard Seymour or Randy Moss in recent years at the mere hint of declining skills or locker-room trouble —has loaded up on graybeards and notorious troublemakers this offseason.
The Redskins couldn’t wait to get rid of Haynesworth, despite paying him more than $40 million in guaranteed money, and the Bengals had the same feelings about Ochocinco after last year’s 4-12 misery.
Yet Belichick eagerly stepped in, seemingly confident the vaunted “Patriot Way” — which the statistics say worked a lot better in the playoffs before New England was caught cheating — could keep them straight.
In Belichick’s defense, the loss to the Jets might not be his sole motivation. Cracks showed during the Patriots’ sparkling regular season as New England somehow lost just two games despite ranking 25th in the NFL in total defense with a unit hampered all year by inexperience and injuries.
Former Rutgers standout Devin McCourty made the Pro Bowl and was a strong candidate for Defensive Rookie of the Year, but Belichick realized the Patriots needed an injection of depth on that side of the ball.
Belichick also no doubt realizes Brady isn’t getting any younger (he is in his 12th NFL season), which explained the drafting of Mallett despite rampant concerns about his character.
Whatever pushed Belichick this offseason, the reversal of course has been striking. There is even talk the Patriots will switch to a 4-3 defense from Belichick’s beloved 3-4. Better to stop the Jets’ “Ground and Pound” with?
“Nothing we’ve done has been with the Jets in mind, I promise you,” veteran receiver Deion Branch said this week.
The evidence begs to differ.
bhubbuch@nypost.com