FOXBORO, Mass. -- Coaches have an adage to explain why they are always seeking celluloid verification for their assessments: The film doesn't lie.

Sometimes the numbers don't lie, either, when one puts pencil to paper and breaks out the calculator. In the case of the New England Patriots, losers in three straight outings after Sunday's 28-10 drubbing by Green Bay, the numbers suggest Tom Brady has been a markedly different player during the team's sudden spiral.

And the Patriots have become a dramatically different team, particularly on the offensive side, from the one that captured the Super Bowl in 2001.

	“	You name the things a team can do wrong in a game and we're doing them. You watch the tape and you want to cringe. I guess we have to get back to basics. ”
		— Tedy Bruschi, Patriots linebacker

In the first three games of the season, Brady completed 93 of 132 passes for 973 yards, with nine touchdowns, two interceptions and a mind-boggling passer efficiency rating of 107.9. Over the three losses, Brady is 77-for-128 for 776 yards, with five touchdown passes, seven interceptions and a rating of 67.9, or 40 points lower than in the first three games.

Last week, Brady suffered his first two-game losing streak, and suddenly the tailspin is at three contests and no one seems to have many answers for why the Pats are back to being the Patsies again.

"I think you can look and say, 'Well, there's obviously is a lot of season left,' " said Brady, who threw three interceptions against a makeshift Green Bay secondary on Sunday afternoon. "But the other teams are making plays and we aren't making plays. And not only are we not making plays, but we are giving up too many points with (offensive) mistakes and turnovers. I mean, you can't do the stuff we're doing, at least not if you're going to win."

New England errors are pandemic at this point, though, and Sunday's game offered a microcosm into the Patriots' plummet.

The Patriots were penalized 12 times for 126 yards, including three times for pass interference, and New England is averaging nine flags per game in the three-game losing skein. New England kept alive a Packers second-quarter drive when Ben Kelly was offsides on a fourth-and-two play and Green Bay culminated the series with a William Henderson touchdown catch.

New England had one turnover on a would-be screen pass that officials ruled was a lateral, and which was recovered by the Packers, who then scored on an eight-yard catch by tailback Ahman Green. There were dropped passes and botched coverages and, in general, a lack of discipline unbecoming a Bill Belichick-coached team.

Fact is, the play of the Patriots was a lot like it has been for the past several weeks, only a bit worse.

With about four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the public address man in the press box announced that New England cornerback Ty Law was out of the game because he had the wind knocked out of him. The wind was out of the Patriots' collective sails, however, long before that.

Said linebacker Tedy Bruschi: "You name the things a team can do wrong in a game and we're doing them. You watch the tape and you want to cringe. I guess we have to get back to basics."

That is precisely what Belichick suggested will occur during a bye week, as the Pats attempt to keep from going bye-bye. Belichick noted that it's time to tear everything down, and start over again, and he might begin with the offensive design with which New England has played this year.

It should be pointed out that, in six games, the Patriots have now started five different offensive line combinations. On Sunday, the starting right guard was Stephen Neal, a former NCAA wrestling champion who hadn't played football since high school before earning a spot on the 2001 practice squad. But the problems extend beyond the line, past the personnel in some cases, and seem to point to a low-tech team trying to play high-tech football.

The Patriots won a Super Bowl by running the football, keeping Brady out of harm's way and out of third-and-long situations, and playing rock-solid defense. They averaged 33 passes per game and 29.6 rushes, a balanced mix of 53 percent-47 percent. But through Sunday, the Pats are throwing the ball on 66 percent of their snaps, averaging 45.2 passes and just 23.3 runs.

While it's convenient to say that tailback Antowain Smith is slower to the hole and looks used-up at times, it's difficult to endorse that appraisal, since he so rarely gets the ball. New England abandons the run too early this year, and counts on Brady to deliver, and he hasn't in the last three games.

A year ago, when Brady replaced the injured Drew Bledsoe, the coaches made him just one of the guys. This year he is The Man, the centerpiece of an offensive facelift that now seems ill-advised.

"We are going to start all over," Belichick vowed. "We need to start all over and try to build something that is a bit better than what we have been able to put on the field. Certainly a lot better than we were able to put on the field today. So whatever we have to do to improve, we have to do it, because we can't win playing like this."

The film doesn't lie. The numbers don't lie. And Belichick is on-target with his assessment of what has to occur for the Patriots to be more than a one-year wonder. Some veterans noted that New England was only 5-5 at the halfway point of the 2001 season. But that was then, this is now, and there is no denying the ship is listing more than a little.

"We are," said offensive right tackle Kenyatta Jones, "drowning in our own (mistakes) right now. Somehow we better find the life preserver."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.