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FOXBORO - The Patriots have been wildly successful over the past seven seasons because they learned how to put extremes behind them after each game.

Good performances, bad performances, individual or team - all go into the wastebasket of the mind once one week's effort is concluded and the next is to begin.

But for the members of the Patriots' offensive unit, this is going to be a very long week. The next chance for redemption comes Sunday at Seattle's Qwest Field, and the minutes will feel like hours as they try to erase the bitter memories created by a poorly-played, turnover-filled 33-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Patriots surrendered three fumbles and two interceptions to create 20 Pittsburgh points. They also converted only one of 13 third-down situations, which further compounded the spiraling tailspin that began when Stephen Gostkowski missed a chip-shot 27-yard field goal at the end of the first half.

For quarterback Matt Cassel, who had thrown for more than 400 yards in his two previous games, the 19-39, 169-yard totals from Sunday's game were a cold, hard slap in the face. "I missed some throws out there and maybe we missed some catches," he said. "That's just part of the game and that's going to happen. As an offense, we have to move forward. I really think the main thing for us was those turnovers.

"Any time you go out there against a good defense, against a good team, who can manage the clock like they do and then turn over the ball, that takes away opportunities for us on offense and keeps our defense out on the field," he said. "We need to go back to the drawing board and do whatever we need to do to take care of the football."

The game was played in a cold, driving rain that had changed over from sleet and freezing rain just before game time. But football players are supposed to be able to protect the ball under any conditions, Cassel said - and thus, he took the blame for the two strip sacks by the Steelers' James Harrison that turned the ball over to Pittsburgh in the third quarter.

"As a quarterback, you have to go out and take care of the ball," Cassel said. "That is your No. 1 priority. You get strip-sacked twice and then those two turnovers on the interceptions. That is really what makes the difference."

The Patriots' failings on third down were particularly galling to running back Sammy Morris, who combined with Kevin Faulk for 118 of their 122 rushing yards.

"That's the big thing about third downs, it keeps drives going or it cuts them short," Morris said. "Especially when you go three-and-out, it cuts them short pretty abruptly. You add the turnovers and the scoreboard reflected that."

Another failing came on special teams, when rookie returner Matthew Slater bobbled the ball at his own 5-yard line following a Jeff Reed field goal to give the Steelers a 13-10 lead. Slater kicked the ball toward the Patriots' sideline, and then was bumped off his futile chase for it by Keyaron Fox, who recovered at the Patriots' 8. Two plays later, Ben Roethlisberger threw to Hines Ward from 11 yards out for a 20-10 lead, and the dominoes started falling in rapid-fire succession afterward.

"I saw the ball," Slater said. "There's no excuse. I just feel like I let the team down. You can't give up the ball inside the 10, or the 5-yard line, whatever it was. Like I said, I have to do my job. It's as simple as that. There are no excuses."

The Patriots had a chance to take the lead just before halftime, but three failed passes to Randy Moss and Gostkowski's miss may have started the wheels of failure in motion even before intermission.

"I thought the first half was fine," said guard Logan Mankins, whose mates surrendered five sacks of Cassel. "We moved the ball. We didn't score many points but we were moving the ball up and down the field, I thought. The second half was just chaos. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. It was pretty ugly. Pittsburgh is just one of those teams that they do what they do. They are good at it." The challenge for Cassel and his teammates will be to purge the mistakes and the bad memories and prepare for their next two-week tour of the American West, starting with Sunday's game (4:05 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12) against the 2-10 Seahawks.

"We have to go out as a team and get better," Cassel said. "That's what we have to do. It's not about Matt Cassel. This is about 11 guys on offense trying to get better and a team trying to get better.

"This isn't about one guy's performance or Matt Cassel and his stock rising or dropping," he said. "I could care less about that. I care about winning ball games."

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.