The Bruins submitted one of those statement victories, toppling the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. Against the Islanders Friday afternoon, the Bruins' explosive offense (The Bruins? Explosive offense?) netted five third-period goals.

The Celtics, saying thanks but no thanks to a championship hangover, showed the 76ers Friday night that the fight for first in the Eastern Conference is over, finished. Ray Allen is hitting nothing but net. An older, wiser Rajon Rondo is turning the Big Three into a Big Four.

Up at Chestnut Hill, a redshirt freshman named Dominique Davis passed Boston College to victory over Maryland and into the ACC title game next week in Tampa. Good heavens, the Eagles even got a touchdown on a fake field goal attempt by holder Billy Flutie, Doug's nephew.

And when you pick up the morning paper and read about a Flutie touchdown in a Boston College victory, you know things are going swell around here.

But then along came the Patriots late yesterday afternoon at Gillette Stadium to bring us all back down to the cold, freezing earth.

For those of you who watched the Pats submit a shockingly bad effort in their 33-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers , it was hard not to be reminded that THESE Patriots are not THOSE Patriots.

THOSE Patriots - and we're talking the last five years here - were so good that when they lost it was bigger news than when they won.

As for THESE Patriots, the reality is that the deadly combination of age, injuries and inexperience have created a new world order in which victory no longer is a given. The old Patriots could play poorly and still find a way win. If the new Patriots make mistakes, they pay dearly.

And so it was yesterday. Randy Moss missed a couple of easy catches. Stephen Gostkowski went wide right on a 27-yard field goal attempt. Matthew Slater muffed a kickoff, giving the Steelers a first-and-10 at the New England 8, and two plays later Pittsburgh was in the end zone again.

After battling the Steelers to a 10-10 standoff at halftime, the Pats were croaked in the second half, thanks to five turnovers.

The good news? You could have delivered a heart-shaped box of chocolate-covered excuses to the New England locker room, and nobody would have taken a piece.

Take, for instance, the weather. People kept asking Pats players if it played a role in their bow-wow performance. ``The weather's the weather,'' said Matt Cassel, who came up 231 yards shy of his third straight 400-yard passing game. ``You have to be able to play with whatever's out there. They had to deal with it too.''

Running back Sammy Morris, asked if the third quarter was the worst the Pats had played this season, said, ``I just know we didn't play well enough in any regard and the scoreboard reflected that.''

But we've saved the best for the worst: Randy Moss. It would be impossible for any media member, any ticket holder or any talk-show caller to speak with more clarity about Moss' performance yesterday than the man himself.

``Speaking for myself, I feel very disappointed in my play,'' he said. ``Bill (Belichick) says time and time again, `Do your job.' And I always say that as a wide receiver your job is get open and catch the ball and score touchdowns. . . .

``There's nothing to say. The dropped balls, I really didn't have a good game, man. I put a lot of the blame on myself.''

So there is that: These 2008 Pats make no excuses.

But there is this: The Pats gave up 30 unanswered points yesterday, the first time that's happened since the 2003 season opener, a 31-0 loss to Buffalo.

We all know how that season ended.

These days, it's the Bruins, Celtics and the BC Eagles who are giving us the happy endings.

- sbuckley@bostonherald.com