FOXBOROUGH – By all accounts, this was a horrible week in Foxborough, Massachusetts.It started last Sunday, when the New England Patriots blew a tough game in Miami. After the game, both quarterback Tom Brady and receiver Wes Welker openly challenged their teammates. Brady said that he didn’t think the Patriots fought hard enough to get through rough spots in games; and Welker suggested that every player – himself included – look at themselves in the mirror.Then, on Wednesday, the only thing you can say is that four of their teammates would have been better off looking at a clock. They were late for an 8 a.m. meeting – perhaps because they had to slosh their way through some tough winter weather – and sent home. When Adalius Thomas – one of the “Late Show” cast – complained about the punishment, coach Bill Belichick responded by telling him he didn’t need to show up at all for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers. That way, he wouldn’t have to worry about being late.And this brings us to Sunday’s game against the Panthers ? which included the sorriest half of football anyone’s seen in Foxborough for a long time. However, the Patriots regrouped during the break, and dominated the final two quarters and pulled out a 20-10 win.Good thing, too, because the Miami Dolphins also won, so they’re still a game behind the Pats in the race for the AL East title with three to go.The Patriots know they did everything they possible could to lose the game ? but Carolina simply outdid them in the Department of Ineptitude.”We’ve played better and lost,” was how Brady put it.Still, Brady and Welker both knew that if their teammates were going to follow them to the mirror, and get tougher, they’d have to do more than talk. They’d have to perform.Welker certainly did. He caught 10 passes for 105 yards and took some monstrous licks ? only to get up and keep going.”You either stay down or you get up,” Welker deadpanned afterward. “So you might as well get up. If you’re going to be a leader, and you’re going to do all this rah-rah stuff, then you have to back it up.”You can’t go in the tank. If I say something, then I’m out there doing it as well.”In the first half Sunday, nothing worked. The Patriots fumbled once, Brady threw an interception, and the team did another Belichickian maneuver and went for it on fourth down, from the Carolina 40 – and didn’t make it.”That would be enough to kill any team,” said Brady.But, said Brady, you have to keep fighting through it.”As the quarterback, and as a leader on this team, that’s the message I try to keep telling guys,” he said. “Just keep fighting through it. Make the next play better. That’s all you can do.”It almost sounded as if those words – this week, anyway – were meant for Randy Moss, who had perhaps his worst game as a Patriot. He only caught one pass – a 16-yard gainer that he fumbled away – and would appear to have run a bad, and nonchalant, route on the play that resulted in Brady’s only interception of the day.”I know he was frustrated,” Brady said. “It’s frustrating when you have those kinds of days. But like I said, you have to keep fighting through it ? and he is.”After calling out his teammates in Miami last week, Brady was sure to credit them Sunday.”I thought we showed a lot of heart out there,” he said. “We’ve been in a lot of games this year where one play was the difference between winning and losing. Today, we made the play.”Steve Krause is sports editor of The Item.