New England cornerback Ellis Hobbs says he is not quite up to speed yet, but feels his left shoulder has healed following offseason surgery for a torn labrum.

The Providence Journal/ / Bob Breidenbach

TAMPA, Fla. –– It wasn’t supposed to be that bad.

Not with Ellis Hobbs returning to the right cornerback position, bringing help to an undermanned Patriots’ secondary.

The Patriots knew that defensive stopper Rodney Harrison and returning starting defensive back James Sanders weren’t going to play Sunday night against Tampa Bay. They didn’t play in the Pats’ first preseason game against Baltimore either.

But against Baltimore, the Patriots secondary played well without them. Against Tampa Bay Sunday night, the Buccaneers first- and second-team offenses had their way against the Pats’ secondary.

What makes it more disturbing is the fact that Tampa Bay’s starting quarterback, Jeff Garcia, didn’t play. Backups Brian Griese (9-for-10, 44 yards) and Luke McCown (7-for-10, 79 yards, 1 TD) were efficient. They combined to throw 16-for-20 for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Hobbs returning to the secondary was supposed to help contain the Buccaneers’ quarterbacks. But he couldn’t do it all himself, and the Pats were more short-handed in the secondary Sunday night than they were against Baltimore, even with the addition of former All-Pro John Lynch, who made a brief appearance.

This time defensive backs Jason Webster, Jonathan Wilhite, and Lewis Sanders also sat out of the game, and starting safety Brandon Meriweather went down with an apparent leg injury early in the first quarter and did not return.

All that figured in a 27-10 Tampa Bay rout. The Pats’ secondary got lit up on both passing and running plays. The Bucs accumulated a whopping 170 yards on the ground. Several of those yards were grinded out past the line of scrimmage as a result of missed tackles by the secondary.

Of course, they aren’t the only ones to blame for the loss. The offense was nonexistent. The linebackers were blocked well, and so was the defensive line. All-in-all, it was an off-day for the Patriots, who had several more starters sit out of the game on both sides of the ball and not just the ones mentioned above, including All-Pro quarterback Tom Brady.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick had one simple message for his players after the game — they needed to improve individually and as a collective unit if they want to come close to matching last season’s success.

“We have a lot of work to do based on [Sunday night], really in all three phases of the game,” Belichick said. “I did not think we played as well and competitively as we are capable of playing. A lot of little things, but those little things add up to big things. We just really need to do a better job. We see another good team this week in Philadelphia. I hope we can get a little bit better performance than that.”

Belichick’s players, including Hobbs, echoed his statement after the game.

“What we need to do is really focus back on the details,” Hobbs said. “That allows us to win football games throughout the preseason and throughout the regular season. That’s how we function as a team, by paying attention to the details. [Sunday] you saw what happens when we don’t pay attention to details. We missed tackles. We missed assignments. Guys weren’t getting on the blocks on special teams. Whatever it is…We have to get back to the basics.”

Patriots running back Sammy Morris said: “rookie or not, no one is really executing to the level that we expect for ourselves. We have to go back to work and see what we need to correct, rookies, veterans and anyone in between.”

Hobbs took a lot of criticism last season because teams threw the ball a lot to his side of the field instead of to All-Pro cornerback Asante Samuel. The more throws to his side resulted in more plays being made on his side of the field.

He also played a large portion of the season with a groin injury, and he revealed after Super Bowl XLII that he had played that game with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Hobbs said that he spent the offseason recuperating and that he is not yet back to full strength.

“I think it’s like anybody that gets their first reps, you kind of have to get into a groove,” Hobbs said of his first preseason outing Sunday night. “I don’t care if you are a 15-year vet or a rookie; everybody has to kind of get into that groove. I did a good job of just playing the game, but all of us, including me, have to work on all the little things. Bill emphasizes that so much where as making tackles, getting to the ball, or whatever man, that’s all of us out there.”

Even though there were some plays that he could have made better Sunday night, Hobbs said that he feels like his game is moving in a positive direction.

“As far as making tackles, making sure everything was OK with the legs, the shoulders, it always takes those initial hits, especially with those kickoff returns where you know you want to get hit at least once or twice to let yourself know that everything is OK,” said Hobbs, who recorded four tackles and returned two kickoffs for a combined 32 yards. “In the defenses that we played tonight, it allowed me to know that [I am able to] break on balls as far as making the tackles and getting in good position to try to make the tackles.”

The bottom line, Hobbs said after the game, is that the Patriots need to improve in all three phases of the game in order to reach their goal this season — Super Bowl XLIII.

roblee@projo.com