There’s a lot of yappin’ going on over the radio airwaves about what’s wrong with them Super Bowl champion Patriots.

Here’s the answer – a lot.

They’re 3-3 and lucky to have opened the season against the Steelers and Jets, and then lucky to have beaten the Chiefs.

It could be a lot worse.

Perhaps it’s time for some of the players to return to earth. The Super Bowl was nine months ago. The banquet circuit is over. The accolades should be as well. What have you done for me lately, baby?

Talk about too much, too soon. Stop by Shaw’s on Main Street in Bangor and look at the stack of Tom Brady books destined for the rock-bottom remainders rack. The store will likely be giving the books away free with the trail mix samples back by the meat market.

Check out Brady’s smile in the picture on the dust cover. There hasn’t been a man smiling like that since Dustin Hoffman walked out of Mrs. Robinson’s room in “The Graduate.”

Check out Brady in commercials. He eats steak and cheese on a bagel.

Check him out high-fivin’ Goofy at Disney World.

Check him out on the cover of Sports Illustrated. “Aw, shucks” smile. Shirtless. The magazine cover refers to him as The Natural. As the new prince of the NFL.

Didn’t anyone ever tell Brady about the SI curse? Didn’t they tell him about Nomar? About how Nomar Garciaparra posed on SI and then the 2001 season hit him right in the teeth?

Didn’t anyone tell him that Bill Buckner must have posed for SI once? That SI must have taken a cover photo of the Titanic before her maiden voyage? That they must have snapped a shutter on the Hindenburg before it left Germany for Lakehurst, N.J.?

Check out Tom Brady on the TV talk shows. The off-season was a blur, he says. Wined and dined to the nines.

Check out Tom Brady against the Steelers. He throws the ball 43 times with three touchdowns. Check him out against the Jets. He throws the ball 35 times with two touchdowns. Oh yeah – and an interception. Then it’s the Chiefs. Fifty-four times he throws it. Fifty-four. Four touchdowns, though. And another interception.

But that’s already the old Tom Brady. In the last three games, the new Tom Brady has thrown seven interceptions. That’s right, seven.

Too much, too soon.

SI called him the prince.

Check out Drew Bledsoe smiling at a press conference. It isn’t that “aw, shucks” deal. It’s real enough. He’s in Buffalo to sign a contract. He has a signing-a-new-contract smile on his face.

Maybe the king is in Buffalo now. Maybe the king was in New England once, but he’s gone. Maybe it’s the king who’s smiling now. Maybe he’s happy to be in Buffalo.

Maybe that’s what’s wrong with the Patriots. Maybe it’s not Tom Brady. Not all of it anyway.

People are yappin’, saying it’s Brady’s fault.

Other people are yappin’, saying it’s the defense’s fault. They say the defense is on the field too long. They say the defense is tired.

Here’s some advice for the defense. Stop the opposition from going 10 yards in three downs and then get off the field. That way you won’t be on the field so long. That way you won’t be so tired.

That way we’ll stop yappin’.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net.