Randy Moss hangs his head after a Pittsburgh interception in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game.

Journal photo / Mary Murphy

FOXBORO -- Logan Mankins summed it up best: "You can't beat Pop Warner teams doing that."

"Doing that" includes committing five straight second-half turnovers, dropping passes, converting just one of 13 third-down chances on offense, allowing the Pittsburgh Steelers to make good on 8 of 16 third-down opportunities and exhibiting uncharacteristically poor play on special teams.

"Doing that" leads to a 33-10 loss in a key AFC game.

"Doing that" likely means the Patriots have to run the table on their remaining four games to qualify for the playoffs.

"That's the story of the game: We didn't take advantage of our opportunities, and that goes all the way across the board," Bill Belichick said.

New England had beaten the Steelers in six of the seven prior meetings between the teams, but Pittsburgh came into Gillette Stadium with the top defense in the NFL, a you-know-what's-coming-and-we'll-beat-you-with-it-anyway scheme conceived years ago and only refined now by veteran players who know just how to do what's expected of them.

For the most part, the Patriots' offense held its own against the Steelers' defense in the first half, making the most of a Mike Vrabel interception of Ben Roethlisberger deep in Pittsburgh territory on the fourth play of the game and converting it into the first points of the day.

And as it turned out, the Patriots' only touchdown of the day.

New England moved the ball fairly well in the opening 30 minutes, gaining 186 yards and looking like it could be the first team this season to eclipse 300 yards of offense against Pittsburgh.

The first sign that it might be a long night for the Pats, however, came at the end of the first half. After a 14-yard run by Sammy Morris, New England had first and goal from the nine. On three straight plays, Matt Cassel (19 for 39, 169 yards, five sacks, two interceptions) looked for Randy Moss under the crossbar in the end zone -- on first down, the ball was behind the receiver; on second down Moss found himself open and dropped the ball; on third down Cassel nearly had his pass intercepted by Ike Taylor.

Making things worse, Stephen Gostkowski missed his 27-yard field goal attempt, sending the teams into the locker room tied 10-10.

"Bill [Belichick] says time and again, 'Do your job,'" said Moss, who also dropped a pass earlier in the first half. "I always say as a wide receiver, your job is to get open, catch the ball and score touchdowns. I didn't really have a good game. I put a lot of blame on myself because I think this team really looks to me to do my job week in and week out. The balls were there, they just weren't caught. This is something that will probably bother me until next Sunday."

New England got the ball at the start of the second half, and couldn't take advantage of a defensive pass interference call that got the offense to midfield; Pittsburgh embarked on a 14-play drive that resulted in a chip-shot field goal for kicker Jeff Reed and gave the Steelers the lead for good, 13-10.

The Steelers' ensuing kickoff was fielded by Matthew Slater, and the rookie completely muffed the ball. It was recovered by Pittsburgh just eight yards from the end zone, and two plays later Hines Ward crossed the goal line.

That was the start of the ugliness for New England -- on consecutive drives, linebacker James Harrison won the battle of Pro Bowlers with Matt Light, shedding the left tackle and strip-sacking Cassel; both times the Steelers recovered the ball.

Mankins said there was nothing fancy the Steelers did on those plays.

"Just block him. We block them or they beat us, and they beat us," he said.

"As a quarterback, you have to go out and take care of the ball," Cassel said. "That is your number-one priority."

Cassel was then intercepted on back-to-back possessions, the first time off a tip by Troy Polamalu, and the second when linebacker Lawrence Timmons stepped in front of a pass intended for Kevin Faulk. Timmons got to the 1-yard line before being taken down by Benjamin Watson.

Asked how frustrating it is for his team to turn the ball over five times, Mankins said, "You don't even know. That's killer. That's the worst thing in football, is turnovers."

With the Jets losing, New England had a chance to move into a tie with New York atop the AFC East, but now the team that always takes things one game at a time has a four-game season to get to the playoffs.

"That's what's in front of us now," Tedy Bruschi said. "Four games left. I say that, but I hope we all look at it as one game at a time. I think we're good at that. To put ourselves in the [postseason] picture we have to win a game, not two or three or four, but win a game."

Doing that means they won't be suffering through an offseason that starts in January.

smanza@projo.com