Even before the trade of defensive line stalwart Richard Seymour, the Patriots defense had questions. The secondary has several new cast members and the linebacking corps looks thin, and even Bill Belichick seems to admit that this all could take a while.

"Well, that’s some different players," Belichick told reporters this week when asked about the defensive changes. "You’re asking how they’re going to play? I don’t know, I can’t tell you that. We’ve been a multiple defense since I’ve been here, we’ll continue to be that. We’ll try to put the players out there that we feel are the best for the situation or the game plan or the team we’re playing, and that will be a weekly decision that will be modified during the course of the game as situations and personnel change.

"Some of that’s dictated by the offense, so if they put four receivers out there then I’m sure we’ll have a different group than if they put three tight ends out there," Belichick added. "Those things are all out of our control. Those are offensive personnel substitutions and we’ll match them up as best we can. You know, a lot of things like that we just have to react to. The players are going to play. I think they’ll all work hard, they’ll prepare well and hopefully we’ll play well. That’s our goal. I’m sure you’ll let us know how that goes."

Belichick is a confident man, of course, and he has every right to be. He is the most accomplished coach of his era. He is among the greatest of all time. He is a brilliant evaluator and a consummate strategist, and he is a tremendous instructor. None of those points are particularly arguable. The biggest question this season, assuming the health of cover-model quarterback Tom Brady, is whether the Patriots have the talent on defense to play the kind of defense their coach wants to play,

Belichick has said it before and he’ll say it again: with regard to defense, the only statistic that ultimately matters is points allowed. Last season, the Patriots ranked eighth in the league in average points against, fifth in the AFC. In 2007, they ranked a respective fourth and third. The year before, the Pats finished second in the league and second in the conference, offering convincing evidence that they have indeed been trending in the wrong direction.

Have they been a bad defense, the way that the Detroit Lions are bad? No, no, no. Of course not. But the Patriots have not been a dominating defense either, slipping closer toward mediocrity as Brady has been introduced to his mortality. The last two times the Patriots won the Super Bowl, they ranked either first (2003) or second (2004) in the league in points allowed during the regular season. They were not merely a good defensive team in those seasons. They were an elite one.

Whether this team can return to that level is obviously unclear at this point, and some of us might be far more pessimistic were it not for one simple fact: with Belichick, most anything is possible. Before this run as head coach of the Patriots, Belichick was long regarded as a defensive mastermind. Critics of Bill Parcells will remind you that the Big Tuna has never won a Super Bowl without Belichick. Belichick does not see Pierre Woods or Myron Pryor so much as he sees an 11-man unit, and he has proven deft at disguising the weaknesses of one player by maximizing the strengths of another.

Undoubtedly, that is part of the reason he was willing to sacrifice Seymour for a first-round draft pick in 2011, seemingly creating a hole on a defensive line that seemed to be the only airtight portion of the 2009 New England defense.

"What we’re going to have to do is we’re going to have to play good team defense," Belichick said when asked how the club might replace Seymour. "Whichever 11 players are out there on any given play, in any given situation, then those players are going to have to play that defensive play well. That’s what good team defense is. Which players those are and what situations those will come up in will vary quite a bit from game to game, and even within a game. But that’s the bottom line: we need to play good team defense. I think that’s what we’re all committed to doing here – players, coaches, everybody that’s involved.’’

Since the end of last season, almost all of the major departures in Foxborough have taken place on the defensive side of the ball. When you get right down to it, the offense really hasn’t lost anyone so much as that unit has added Fred Taylor, Chris Baker and Joey Galloway, among others. Again, assuming Brady’s health, the offense is a known commodity. The Patriots will score. The question is whether the Patriots can stop anybody when it truly matters, and the answer to that question will house their chances for a fourth Super Bowl title in the golden era of team history that coincides with Belichick’s tenure.

A word of advice? Be patient. This all could take a while. Perhaps the best news for the Patriots this season is that they will face only two of the league’s top offenses from 2008 during the first eight weeks of the season: the Falcons (10th) and the Jets (ninth), the latter of which now has a rookie quarterback. And while every team has changed personnel -- the Bills, for example, will bring Terrell Owens to town on Monday night behind a revamped offensive line -- the better offensive teams (at least on paper) are not due to meet the Pats until Week 9.

What all of that means, in short, is that while the offense will be facing the potentially challenging defenses of the Jets, Falcons, Ravens, Titans, Buccaneers and Dolphins in the first eight weeks, the defense will have time to catch up.

"There’s a change every year on your team. That’s part of the National Football League,’’ Belichick said. "It’s part of every football team, really, and so we always deal with that. I think we have a lot of good leaders on our team and especially on the defensive side of the ball. … Each team has its own chemistry, its own dynamics, and I think ours is very good. It’s different, but I think that our players, especially some of the players that have not only been here longer but have a significant role on our team, have done a excellent job with their ability to lead and set a positive example for our football team, regardless of what side of the ball they’ve been on. No doubt about it. It’s different, but I think it’s good.’’

As usual, time will tell. But Belichick will be the first to tell you that the goals in New England are different than in most other places. Here, people are no longer interested in making the playoffs so much as they interested in bringing home the Lombardi Trophy.

And as everyone knows, you can’t spell Lombardi without the D.