"We've got to coach better. Play better. Just have to do a better job." -- Bill Belichick after the Patriots' 22-21 loss to the Dolphins on Sunday.

The Patriots are just another team.

It finally can be confirmed. We were pretty sure after Monday night (and some have even thought so since the escape vs. Buffalo in Week 1) but now there is no doubt. They are the Eagles or Ravens or Jaguars, the sort of team that can maybe win 10 games but that’s it. And the idea of a deep playoff run is about as legitimate as a Derrick Burgess pass rush.

What happened? Where did it all go wrong? Three weeks ago the Patriots were 6-2 and leading the undefeated Colts by 17 points with 12 minutes to go in the game. At that point, the AFC East looked to be over and the No. 1 seed definitely was in play. At worst you were thinking 13-3. Any short list of Super Bowl contenders, at that moment, had to include the Pats.

Can I get an answer, Bill? What, exactly, turned that team into this team?

"We've got to coach better. Play better. Just have to do a better job."

Gotcha.

Remember the days when it seemed Belichick could actually get into the mind of the opposing quarterback? How many times did we see it? I can still recall Peyton Manning unable to make plays against a secondary of Hank Poteat and Troy Brown. Sure, eventually Manning and Drew Brees and the really good ones will adjust and maybe even catch up, but Chad Henne? Chad Henne? Is it possible that you are a genius only when you have guys such as Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Ty Law, Mike Vrabel and Rodney Harrison in their primes (no shame in that, either — plenty of coaches couldn’t win Super Bowls with those guys) and when you don’t you are (gulp) just another coach? Is that actually possible? Coach?

"We've got to coach better. Play better. Just have to do a better job."

A quick inquiry, if I might, about this fourth-down stuff. Just want to get this straight. It’s OK to go for it on fourth-and-2 from your own 28 with two minutes to go in the game (and up six points). But in the second quarter of Sunday’s game, with the offense putting on a clinic, you elect to punt on fourth-and-inches from your own 40. And on the very next drive? You go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Miami 6 (with a terrible play call — a handoff to Sammy Morris that Larry King probably first-guessed in the radio booth).

All week after the Indy game I heard and read people telling me that it was statistically the right call. Not only that, but Bill Belichick was the only coach in the league who paid attention to these numbers, and he was (once again) ahead of the curve. Are we sure that’s what is going on? Because it sure looks like these fourth-down calls are being made by gut instinct. There isn’t any consistency at all. Am I wrong? Walk me through the thought process, if you will. I’m ready. Coach?

"We've got to coach better. Play better. Just have to do a better job."

Look, I get that there is a better chance that Pete Carroll and Charlie Weis will co-star in a six-month dinner theatre production of “The Odd Couple” than there is of Fat Charlie coming back this season to run the offense, but raise your hand if you didn’t think of him when watching the fourth quarter of Sunday's game.

The drive before Miami’s game-winning drive was a perfect example of how this “throw the ball all the time no matter what” offense can drive you crazy. One run (Laurence Maroney) and two pass plays (including a third-down deep pass to Wes Welker, a curious call when you realize that a first down pretty much ends the game.) Time taken off the clock? Exactly one minute. Timeouts used by the Dolphins on the drive? Uh, how about zero. And where was Welker and Randy Moss on that fourth-and-1 play at the end of the first half? On the sideline. Well, how about the third-and-6 play right before? On the sideline. Who is running this offense? Is it Belichick? Is it Bill O’Brien? Tom Brady? All of the above? None of the above? Jaimee Grubbs? Rachel Uchitel? Who actually makes the calls? Can someone tell me? Tell you what, I’ll just ask the head coach and the man in charge of all personnel decisions for the franchise. How about it?

"We've got to coach better. Play better. Just have to do a better job."

At least give me this. The Patriots will A) Not trade the pick from the Raiders in 2011, and B) Use the 2011 pick from the Raiders on the best pass-rusher available.

Let’s be honest (because I have been lying so far), the No. 1 problem for this team right now is an inability to get to the quarterback. Might even be the No. 2 and No. 3 problems as well, actually. Phil Simms mentioned casually yesterday that Tully Banta-Cain was the best pass-rusher on the team. And he was right. Teams that have Tully Banta-Cain as their best pass-rushers don’t win Super Bowls. Teams that have Tully Banta-Cain as their best pass-rusher shouldn’t be allowed to watch the Super Bowl. And signing Jason Taylor in the offseason isn’t going to be the cure, either.

The Patriots need to find a young defensive end, the kind of guy that will give you 10-12 sacks a year. And that might not be possible this year, but it could be with that Raiders pick (and this quasi-surge by the Raiders is a good thing. They might be tricked into sticking with Tom Cable and Bruce Gradkowski next year.) So, do we have a deal, coach? We’ll live with a lousy pass rush for the next year-and-a-half as long as you don’t trade the pick for a pair of first-rounders in 2018. Done?

"We've got to coach better. Play better. Just have to do a better job."

We all know that Bill Belichick is going to the Hall of Fame. What he did in 2001 remains, for me, the single best coaching job I’ve ever seen in any sport. And, yes, the Patriots from 2001-05 were a dynasty. But those days are gone now. The Snow Game means nothing. Silence of the Rams means nothing. The days of Peyton Manning walking to the sideline with a look of defeat? Gone.

The Patriots are, in today’s NFL, an upper-middle-class team. No more and no less. They’ll win the AFC East and always be one of the seven or eight best teams in the league as long as Brady is on the field. But until the defense (the calling card of the HC of the NEP) is up to snuff, the days of hugfests in the Kraft family suite and Three Games to Glory DVDs are going to be only in the past.

You know that and I know that.

But does the coach?

Forget I asked. We already know the answer.