Welker

FOXBORO — While it was never announced during the game on Sunday that New England’s Wes Welker had suffered a concussion from the vicious — and questionable — hit the Steelers’ Ryan Clark laid on him at the end of the third quarter, it seems safe to say that the receiver did have one from the way he walked off the field.

Yesterday Logan Mankins was asked about Clark’s hit, which drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty because he left his feet and launched himself into a defenseless receiver, and whether it was dirty.

“A little bit, but that’s football,” Mankins said. “I do things I probably shouldn’t to people [on the field] too.”

Welker also absorbed a major blow from Channing Crowder during the Patriots’ previous game, in Miami.

Head coach Bill Belichick wouldn’t comment on whether or not the hit was legal, but was concerned about Welker taking hits in back-to-back weeks, though he acknowledged that that is a part of football.

One thing no one would question, however, is Welker’s toughness.

“He’s a little firecracker,” Mankins said when asked if Welker is pound-for-pound the toughest player on the team. “I saw him today and told him that (hit) had to hurt; he said he didn’t feel a thing.”

Multiple mistakes made

Matthew Slater seemed to shoulder the brunt of the blame for New England’s loss after his muffed kickoff that led to a Steelers’ touchdown and was the first of five straight turnovers for the Patriots.

Belichick said the rookie needs to know that it was a mistake, and he wasn’t the only one.

“We all make mistakes. We all make mistakes in every game,” the coach said. “You have to learn from them and move on. That’s football and that’s life; that goes for everybody. Everybody had mistakes in that game — players, coaches, everybody who played in it.”

The same could be said to cornerback Deltha O’Neal, Belichick said, if he’s having a crisis of confidence after being targeted by the Steelers.

smanza@projo.com