FOXBORO — Tommy Kelly, the new face on the interior of the Patriots defensive front, knows exactly what’s coming in the wake of Vince Wilfork’s season-ending Achilles tear.

Shoot, he practically filled out a job application to become the offensive coordinator for the Bengals, Saints and the Patriots’ other remaining opponents for 2013. But don’t think Kelly isn’t salivating at the opportunity to rip up those impending game plans.

“I’m sure they’re going to try to run the ball more,” Kelly said. “I mean, we’re lighter up front now. Take Vince out, I mean, I’d try to run the ball more. That’s being smart, but I think we’re more than capable of handling the job. It’s going to be a lot harder without V, but we’ve got to get the job done. It’s as simple as that.

“If you’re any type of competitor, who wants someone to look at you, to me, to make me look like a little stepbrother? Without the big brother and you’re going to try me like that? I just told Joe (Vellano), ‘Don’t try to be like V. Be the best Joe Vellano you can be, and you’ll be fine.’ ”

Kelly is nothing if not a realist. He’s also got plenty of pride and will take it personally when the Bengals undoubtedly hit them with a dose of BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Giovani Bernard.

After all, that’s just good football. If the Bengals don’t try to exploit a fallen All-Pro, they’re wrong. And if the Patriots don’t take it upon themselves to stop the run up the middle, they better get used to seeing it a whole lot more often.

“Like coach says, it ain’t about (the opponents),” Kelly said. “It’s about us. You do your job, and you’ll be fine.”

The Patriots have the league’s 14th-ranked run defense. And Kelly has seen offenses use different strategies, too, as the Pats commonly rotate defensive tackles, and Kelly has had his share of reps with Vellano even before Wilfork’s injury.

After all, Wilfork played 78.9 percent of the defensive snaps before going down, and there were 46 snaps before Sunday when the Pats lined up without him. Kelly certainly knew what to expect during those occasions.

“Yeah, they’re always going to try to run against a lighter front, but there are plenty of teams that play with light guys, 290-, 300-pound D-tackles, and they get the job done,” Kelly said. “And I know Joe can play, and I know Chris (Jones) can play. I know (practice squad members) A.J. (Francis) can play and Marcus (Forston) can play, so they’ll be fine. It’ll just be a little harder. They might run it more.

“They passed it more when V was in there. It’s just a little change, but I think we’ve got more than enough with our linebackers and how they come down and hit, support the run. We’ve got good tackling DBs. It’s just going to have to be more of a group effort.”

Kelly really appreciates the help on the back end. He knows he’ll get the brunt of the interior double teams now, but relishes the chance to play in front of Jerod Mayo, Dont’a Hightower and Brandon Spikes, and those linebackers crash the line with tenacity.

There appeared a heightened effort to get Hightower and Spikes over the middle of the line to reinforce the run defense against the Falcons. Kelly is all about that continuing because the line’s new interior ambassador believes they’ve got the equipment to stop the run.

“(The linebackers) come down and they put their nose in there,” Kelly said. “I love it. When you’ve got linebackers that come down and hit, you don’t mind taking on a double team because you know they’re coming. They’re going to get that (double team) up off me sooner or later. When you’ve got guys that want to run around and play in space out there, it works the other way. You’ve got to hold blocks a lot longer. So I love playing with our linebackers”