And here they are, playing like the old-timey Patriots .

Too bad Fenway Park is being retooled for the big New Year's Day Bruins-Flyers game, or else the Pats could play Sunday's Carolina Panthers showdown at the old Kenmore Square ballyard, which was their home for six seasons back in the '60s. Now THAT would be old school.

But what should be troubling to all Patriots fans, young and old, is that the jokes about the throwback uniforms serve as a reminder that there was a time when something always seemed to be going wrong with this franchise. Put another way, there was a time when Pats fans seemed always to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. And deep down, you were left wondering if everyone who works for the Patriots was as serious about the team's prospects as you were.

Based on what we've seen the past three or four weeks, the Patriots of today are looking more like the Patriots of yesteryear.

True, the Pats, even with their garden-variety 7-5 record, are in first place in their division, and, as quarterback Tom Brady put it the other day, ``There are some teams in the league that would die for this opportunity - to be in first place with four games left.''

But think about what's been happening lately. The Pats can't win on the road, which is reminiscent of the bad old days of 1967 (3-10-1), when they won just one road game all season. And this: Pats fans, for the first time, are grumbling about some of Bill Belichick's coaching decisions, which is reminiscent of the bad old days of 1990 (1-15), when one-and-done coach Rod Rust was under fire for much of the season.

And on a snowy Wednesday morning of this week, four players were sent home after showing up late for a meeting, inspiring one of the players, Adalius Thomas, to say, ``I didn't try to be late. Cars (were) sitting in the road. It's not the `Jetsons.' I can't jump and just fly. What the heck am I supposed to do?''

We used to talk about the Pats and the Jets. Now we talk about the Pats and the Jetsons. If that's not reminiscent of the bad old days of this franchise, nothing is.

Here's a sobering thought: If you're under the age of 30, you don't truly understand what it's like for the Patriots to be viewed as a laughingstock franchise. What happened was this: Robert Kraft brought stability to the ownership situation, Bill Parcells brought stability to the coaching situation and Drew Bledsoe brought stability to the quarterback situation, after which it was no longer appropriate to dismiss this franchise with a roll of the eyes and a smirk.

Sure, there were brush fires here and there. The Pats landed a truckload of draft picks when Parcells went to the Jets, and all of them were wasted. (Where have you gone, Sedrick Shaw?) Terry Glenn kept saying, ``It's not my fault,'' when, well, it usually was. The Pete Carroll thing didn't work out.

In the end, though, Pats fans were comfortable in their belief that the franchise was in good hands.

And so it is today. The Krafts still own the team, Hall of Fame-bound coach Bill Belichick is still pacing the sideline, and Tom Brady, who one day will join Belichick in Canton, is still the quarterback.

So, yeah, everyone should relax. But . . . why has it been so uncomfortable to follow the Patriots the past couple of weeks? Fingers are being pointed. Discipline is being meted out. Coaching decisions are being debated and criticized.

And the Jetsons! Good heavens, we're talking about the Jetsons!

It's important to remember that the Patriots came close to beating the Indianapolis Colts. On the road. Doesn't that tell us they can win in Indy? In that spirit, then, it remains viable to talk about the possibility of the Patriots returning to the Super Bowl.

Um . . . right?

But they need to make a statement. They need to maul the Panthers, and then run the table leading up to the playoffs. That's not asking too much, because the Pats, throughout this decade, have been big on statement games.

Now, for the first time in a long time, we ask what the Pats are made of.

- sbuckley@bostonherald.com