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FOXBORO - It could almost be the 11th Commandment.

"Thou shalt not turn the ball over to your opponent."

The Patriots were reminded in the worst possible way that violating that commandment can have dire consequences during Sunday's 33-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium.

A miserable set of circumstances in the third quarter, involving three lost fumbles by the Patriots on consecutive possessions, has put their hopes of returning to the playoffs for the sixth straight year in jeopardy.

"It's always frustrating when you turn the ball over and when you finish the game with a loss," said running back Kevin Faulk, one of the few Patriots who could claim to have played in "Patriot-esque" fashion, after the five-turnover performance knocked them down to 7-5 - still a game behind the New York Jets (who lost to Denver, 34-17) in the AFC East, a full game back of Indianapolis (8-4) and Baltimore (8-4) in the wild-card race, and clinging to playoff hopes by their fingernails aside the similarly challenged 7-5 Miami Dolphins. And it's all because nothing went right for the Patriots in the third quarter and on into the fourth.

After the Steelers took a 13-10 lead on a 25-yard field goal by Jeff Reed with 5:39 left in the quarter, the dam burst for the Patriots.

On the ensuing kickoff, rookie returner Matthew Slater dropped the ball, kicked it to his right while beginning his chase for it and was knocked off the recovery by the Steelers' Keyaron Fox for a Pittsburgh first down at the Patriots' 8.

Two plays later, Ben Roethlisberger (17-33, 179 yards, two TD, one interception) found Hines Ward at the near-right pylon from 11 yards out for a 20-10 lead with 5:04 left.

"It felt good to have those opportunities and to have the ball bounce our way," Roethlisberger said.

On the first play of the subsequent Patriot possession, Matt Cassel had the ball stripped out of his grasp by James Harrison while in the process of making a 6-yard sack, with LaMarr Woodley recovering on the New England 26. Five plays later, Reed converted a 20-yarder for a 23-10 lead.

The Patriots had one more turnover left in them before the end of the third quarter, another strip sack of Cassel by Harrison at the Patriots' 47, and a recovery by James Farrior to stop what had appeared to be a promising drive. Reed shanked a 40-yarder to the left to avoid damage from that turnover.

But there would be no reprieve at the 9:18 mark of the fourth quarter, when Cassel threw a ball through Benjamin Watson's hands and Troy Polamalu caught it in stride at the Steelers' 11, returning it to the 23. Six plays later, Reed hammered a 45-yarder through the driving rain and biting wind to go up 26-10.

And with 3:27 left, Steelers' linebacker Lawrence Timmons intercepted a pass intended for Faulk and returned it 89 yards before being dragged down by Watson (his specialty) at the Patriots' 1. Two plays later, Gary Russell scored with 2:44 left to further pad the Steelers' lead.

Cassel, after two straight weeks of throwing for more than 400 yards, came crashing to earth Sunday. He completed 19 of 39 passes for just 169 yards and the two interceptions (for a 39.4 passer rating) and was sacked five times for 24 yards in losses and two fumbles, Harrison blowing past Matt Light for two sacks and two forced fumbles. "Lack of execution, and they're a good defense," Cassel said. "They made some plays out there."

The game got off to a promising start when, after Mike Vrabel picked off Roethlisberger on the fourth play of the game at the Steelers' 14, Cassel threw for 12 of the yards to Wes Welker - who would later be knocked out of the game with a hit to the head two catches shy of his 16th straight game of six catches or more - and then handed to Sammy Morris for the last two with 12:01 left in the opening quarter.

Little would the Patriots know that for the first time in 24 regular-season victories, they would not win the game after scoring first.

The Steelers broke their scoring ice with 2:51 left in the opening quarter when Reed hit a 20-yarder to close an 11-play, 62-yard drive. Stephen Gostkowski matched those points with a 29-yarder with 6:48 left in the half, but the Steelers went no-huddle on their next possession and quickly marched 63 yards in nine plays, leading to Santonio Holmes' relatively easy 19-yard catch at the right near pylon in front of a befuddled Deltha O'Neil.

That tied the score at 10-10, but the Patriots had a golden opportunity to re-take the momentum after Faulk (73 rushing yards, 48 receiving) broke a 41-yard run to the Pittsburgh 26 on the second play of their half-concluding drive. A 14-yard gallop by Morris brought them to the Steelers' 9, and at that point, karma left the building.

On the first play, Cassel had Randy Moss open on a right-to-left pattern along the back of the end zone, and threw well behind him.

On the second, the two ran the same play and Moss, leaping for the ball, let it clang off his belt buckle.

On the third, basically the same with a short Cassel rollout, Steelers' safety Ike Taylor almost picked off the pass and knocked it into the air, and Moss stood transfixed, knowing he had a chance at it and double-clutched at the wrong time.

"I didn't really have a good game," said Moss, who caught four passes for 45 yards but had two potentially game-changing drops. "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. I don't want to blame it on the weather.

"The balls were there, they just weren't caught," he said. "This is something that will probably bother me until next Sunday. Hopefully this is something that we can rebound from. But, it does hurt. It's a bad taste."

To add insult to injury, the Patriots failed to take a 13-10 lead because the normally reliable Gostkowski pushed his 27-yard field goal wide right as the half ended.

"You always like to get the points when you send the field goal team out there," Patriots' coach Bill Belichick said. "That's the whole story of the game. We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities and that goes all the way across the board."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.