We should learn more this afternoon when the 7-5 Patriots play the 5-7 Carolina Panthers, a team that even the slumping AFC East leaders should thump if properly focused. Wiseguys have the Patriots favored by two touchdowns.

Questions linger about the Patriots' state of mind, however, after coach Belichick disciplined four players -- Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas, Gary Guyton and Derrick Burgess -- for being late to an 8 a.m. meeting on Wednesday. Belichick ordered the players to return home through snow and traffic. The following day, Thomas suggested Belichick's motivational tactic was best suited for kindergarten, and that it promoted unsafe driving in slippery conditions.

"My focus is on the Carolina Panthers," said Belichick, when asked on Friday about the unrepentant Thomas. "Do you have a big story on it that I should read? I'll check it out."

Asked to chime in on keeping a locker room under control, Carolina coach John Fox said, "You have to discipline guys. I'm not likening players to children, but they are young people ... Everybody has roles and has jobs and you need to be held accountable."

After the Patriots' one-point loss in Miami last Sunday, quarterback Tom Brady, looking pained and confused, suggested the Patriots fight hard at their jobs sometimes -- but not all the time.

Certainly this seems the time to fight.

The Patriots have lost two straight for the first time in three years and three of their last four games. They have not lost three straight games since 2002, the season after their first Super Bowl championship. They finished 9-7 that season and missed the playoffs.

The Patriots of 2009 are struggling to hold off the Miami Dolphins, who trail New England by one game in the division after beating the Patriots , 22-21, last Sunday. Miami is at Jacksonville today.

Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith acknowledged the Patriots seem not to be playing to their usual standards, "but I wouldn't necessarily say they're vulnerable," he said. "That's not the way I'm looking at the game (today)."

The mental state of the Patriots was intensely analyzed this past week. So was the mind of quarterback coach Bill O'Brien, the de facto offensive coordinator, an Ivy League grad and sudden scapegoat for the Patriots' offense not scoring like it did two years ago when Brady was much nimbler and Moss looked more interested.

"Every season is different," said Patriots linebacker Tully Banta-Cain. "Each season defines a team. There is adversity in every season. That's when you get to find out what kind of character you have."

The character test for the Patriots this afternoon at Gillette Stadium seems simple enough to pass. A playoff team last season, the Panthers are 5-7.

"Records mean squat," said Fox. "(It's) whoever is the most ready to play on that day."

Here's saying the Patriots are ready ... to beat Carolina at least.

Prediction: Patriots 27, Panthers 13