New Orleans Saints strong safety Malcolm Jenkins (27) breaks up a pass to New England Patriots tight end Jonnu Smith, left, during the first half of Sunday's loss to the Saints at Gillette Stadium. (AP photo)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – This just isn’t the greatest week for the New England Patriots to have to endure the hype of the Biggest Regular Season Game in Patriots History.

As it’s being called by some, of course.

The Patriots are now in a position that sometimes they were in at times in previous seasons, a tough opponent coming to Gillette following a tough loss. Who can ever forget “We’re on to Cincinnati” ?

Of course, this is waaaay different, given all the history and drama. It will be up to the leadership of this team to make sure the hype doesn’t get in the way of the issues and tasks at hand.

“We’re not good enough to get lost ahead of us,” Patriots captain Devin McCourty said, “so we better focus in on what we need to do and watch them from an X’s and O’s standpoint. Watch them as an offense, defense, special teams and lock in on that. We can’t worry about anything else.”

Bill Belichick won’t, that’s for sure, no matter how the pressure is from the outside to do otherwise.

“Well, I mean, I’m not going to go back and rehash all that,” Belichick said Monday when asked about Brady’s March 2020 departure after six Super Bowl championships. “We’ve talked about that, and really the focus is on the game here, and look, I have so much respect and appreciation for Tom and everything he did here and for me and our team, and we’re just getting ready to compete against Tampa this week, and we’re gong to keep our focus on that.”

Good luck with that. But here’s where the focus on the Patriots should be:

Scoring enough points to win. That was always the focus during the Brady Era, and it has to be the focus now.

The Saints didn’t dominate them offensively. But this New England offense is not that is built for rookie QB Mac Jones to throw the ball 51 times as he did on Sunday, only to get taken by the wrist and pulled away from the fray after the game inexplicably by Belichck, who then escorted him off the field.

Jones was pummeled, as the Patriots increased the chances of him getting pressured with two tackles not playing well on the offensive line. Isiah Wynn has not had a good start so far at left tackle and the team clearly misses the injured Trent Brown at right tackle.

“I think Mac’s handled everything well,” Belichick said Monday. “He’s seen a lot. He’s seen pressure. He’s seen max pressure, max coverage. We’ve been in all different tuype formations… empty play actions, drawbacks, third down.

“Unfortunately, we were in too many third and longs (on Sunday), and he’s seen a lot and I think he’s dealt with it all pretty well, but you know, like any young player, there’s a lot of room for improvement, and we need to improve jut overal as a total football team but certainly offensively.”

Ah, telling words. Belichick on Sunday menioned “We have to move the ball better” but then was quick to add improvement was needed in other areas. But it was clear that his main concern seemed to be the fact the Patriots simply aren’t getting into the end zone enough.

They’ve brought in a lot of players, many of them at a big dollar cost. They’re not paying Jonnu Smith to look as bad as he did in catching the ball – or actually not catching it and handing the defense a pick six. Or for Hunter Henry to have five catches that no one remembers and then take off early on a key snap.

As Henry said, “We all had a tough game.”

Too many new players in too short a time? That’s life in the NFL.

“I wouldn’t say that’s our issue,” McCourty said. “We’ve just got to play better in our situations. It’s stuff we go over every week. We’ve got to start getting that done.”

It’s a long season, but the Patriots are staring 1-3 right in the face as a Tampa team led by Brady that will be eager to right the Buccaneer ship after getting beat by Matthew Stafford and the L.A. Rams despite Brady throwing for 432 yards. The Patriots are facing a tough defensive front that can eat teams for lunch if the protection breaks down. It might not be pretty.

After Sunday night – is there life after Sunday night? – New England has the Texans and Jets in two of the next three games.

It’s a different week. It will be all Brady all the time all over the media, even here. The questions will be asked.

But remember, for a lot of these players, the Brady issue isn’t theirs. A lot of new faces. The Patriots may be able to use it to their advantage, close the circle, hunker down, let all the attention be on the soap opera rather than their woes, which include poor special teams play as well as not scoring points.

“I’ve been here 10 years,” Brandon Bolden said. “We’ve done this before.”

What reverses it? “Hard work and determination to not do it again,” he said.

This, though, is different. The Brady-Belichick noise will be at an all-time high all week

“Tom’s a great player,” Belichick said Monday. “Nothing surprises me what he does.”

But what Belichick doesn’t want is Brady giving him a 1-3 surprise.