True Patriot Fervor

Quarterback Drew Bledsoe was uncharacteristically bold this week after the New England Patriots had ended a three-game losing streak with Sunday’s lackluster 13-6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

The slumping Bledsoe, who threw two interceptions to the Cowboys, has completed 48% of his passes for 752 yards and four touchdowns in his last four games, with 11 interceptions. In his first eight games, six of them Patriot victories, he completed 60.5% for 2,314 yards and 13 touchdowns, with four interceptions.

“When I’ve had setbacks I have responded and I intend to do that now,” said Bledsoe, looking forward to Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts. “I expect our offense to get hot and I expect myself to get hot down the stretch.”

In Miami, the Dolphin defense is still smarting from Sunday’s 37-34 loss to the Colts, in which Colt rookie Edgerrin James ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns. The Dolphins have given up an average of 127 yards rushing in losing three of their last four games. The Colts piled up 370 total yards, a season high for a Miami opponent, and the Dolphins tackled poorly, especially in the first half.

“We’ve never had it taken to us like that,” middle linebacker Zach Thomas said this week. “There wasn’t one player on defense that didn’t get their butt kicked at least twice. Anybody can blame it on one call, one missed tackle, one pass, but there were like 30 of them.”

CENTRAL / Losing Adds to the Pain

Nose tackle Joel Steed of the Pittsburgh Steelers, contemplating retirement because of pain in his right knee, acknowledged that some of his frustration stems from a four-game losing streak that has dropped the Steelers out of playoff contention.

“It’s one of those things where it is a downer, you think about all the stuff you could have done, should have done, would have done and that always contributes to your physical well-being,” he said.

“Your mental state always follows your physical, and if your mental state isn’t there, you’re going to have problems physically.”

In Cleveland, teammates are marveling about the durability of rookie quarterback Tim Couch, who has been sacked 49 times.

Couch, however, figures it’s his job to play through pain.

“I want to take every snap, just for the fact that it’s going to make me a better player come next year,” he said. “As many things I can see and as many blitzes as I can see during the course of a game is only going to help me for next year, and hopefully I can get off to a quick start and take the things that I’ve learned this year and put them into use.”

WEST / Laying It on the Line

Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren laid the blame on his defensive line after the Seahawks gave up 415 yards in Sunday’s 30-21 loss to the Oakland Raiders, which reduced Seattle’s AFC West lead to one game.

It was the most points and yardage given up by the Seahawks this season.

“That’s as dominating a job against our front as I hope I ever see in my lifetime,” Holmgren said Monday. “They’re getting paid a lot of money to play and they were stealing yesterday.”

In San Diego, Charger linebacker Junior Seau is itching to play after sitting out Sunday’s 23-10 victory over the Browns because of a strained stomach muscle.

“It’s like when you’re in third grade, everyone’s going out to recess and you’re stuck with detention,” said Seau, who expects to play Sunday against the Seahawks. “You’re looking out the window watching all your friends and teammates play and you kind of envy the fact that they’re running around. It’s never going to be something that I’m going to get used to.”

Seau has missed only four starts while injured in his 10-year career, and has never sat out consecutive games.

Meanwhile, quarterback Chris Miller of the Denver Broncos, still feeling the effects of a concussion he suffered 16 days earlier, went home to Eugene, Ore., on Wednesday to ponder his future.

Miller departed after getting permission from Coach Mike Shanahan, who recommended that Miller retire because of a history of concussions.

“I told him, ‘If you were my son, there’s no way that you go back into a football game this year, probably never,’ ” Shanahan said. “Any time you get hit like he did--and it wasn’t even a major hit--and to have a setback like he’s had for the last couple of weeks, to me it’s not very encouraging.”