FOXBORO — After an electric preseason spent shaming defensive backs — and the promise of a contract year looming — the numbers for wide receiver Randy Moss through three games are surprising.

Last season through three games, Moss had 26 catches for 281 yards, including two games where he finished with 100-plus yards. This season, Moss has nine catches for 139 yards, including two catches for 42 yards last Sunday against the Bills.

Why the dramatic difference? While Moss remains an easy target for critics, the issue lies in the amount of times he’s been targeted by his quarterback. With more potential targets in the passing game — particularly at tight end — Moss’ stats were bound to take a dip as well. Through three games in 2009, Moss was targeted 39 times by Tom Brady and caught 26 passes. In 2010, he’s been targeted 21 times and caught nine.

Brady says that in a continuing effort to keep the offense at peak operating efficiency, the numbers of pass-catchers will fluctuate from time to time, and Moss is no different.

“If you want one guy to catch all the balls, you can do that. You just put him in a position on every play to catch the ball,” Brady said when asked about Moss’ stats. “Then everyone else will say, ‘Everyone else stinks except this one guy.’ We’re trying to be efficient as an offense.”

But even though some of Moss’ numbers aren’t where they have been in years’ past, other numbers do match up with his previous production. He does have three touchdowns, tied for the team lead, and the yards per catch are still close to his career numbers — 15.4 this season, compared to 15.6 for his career.

His teammates say his impact on the New England offense is not easily quantified with statistics. Moss still demands attention at all times — especially as a deep threat — and as a result, the rest of the receiving corps has benefited.

“He takes away double coverage,” said rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski, “which no one really sees in the stats.”

“There have been other great receivers that I’ve played with — Wes [Welker], Troy [Brown], Deion [Branch] and [David Givens],” Brady said. “All those guys could play and everyone has different strengths, [but] Randy has a really unique strength in his ability to catch the ball 60 yards down the field. Not a lot of guys can do that.

“I think that’s really a threat for a defense, because no defense wants to give up a touchdown on one play. They want to make you drive it, and eventually they think they’re going to make a play to stop you, force a turnover or something like that. But, on one play — a guy running through the defense — you can’t stop that.”

With Moss not getting the catches, it appears the balls have gone to Brandon Tate (who didn’t catch a single pass as a rookie, but who now has seven receptions through three games) and the rookie tight ends. Through three games last season, the Patriots’ tight ends had 14 catches. This season, they have 18 catches through three games, including a 101-yard effort against the Jets by Hernandez. In addition, the rookie combination at tight end has been shifted all over the field in a way New England couldn’t do in the past.

“They’re getting more people involved, and any time you’re getting those kind of people involved with [touches] the way they are, it makes it more difficult,” said Miami coach Tony Sparano. “You can’t take every one of them away during the course of the game — it’s just hard to do that. And I think that they’re doing a good job of spreading it around. Obviously Tom (Brady) has a lot of confidence in his group out there right now, because he’s getting the ball to all of them and (you know) they’re all contributing that way.”

When it comes to getting the ball into the end zone, Moss remains without peer. He’s tied for the team lead and tied for third in the league in touchdowns, and the receiver recently caught his 150th career touchdown pass, becoming just the second player in NFL history to reach that milestone.

And in the end, as Bill Belichick has reminded the media on several occasions, how many times you reach the end zone is the only offensive stat that really matters.

“He’s a dynamic player in the passing game,” Brady said of Moss. “The thing about Randy is you could fall asleep on him for one play and it’s a touchdown. I think that’s the dangerous part for other teams — you think you got him, you think you got him — and next thing you know, he’s celebrating in the end zone.

“He’s a big target. He’s a really smart player. He has great hands. He has a great feel. We do certain things with Randy that no one else on the team really does.”