FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- LAST YEAR, after showing flashes as a rookie, Stevan Ridley fumbled out of bounds against the Bills, then lost a fumble against the Broncos the next week. He didn’t touch the ball the rest of the season.

This year, after showing flashes of becoming an elite back, Stevan Ridley fumbled out of bounds against the Bills, then lost a fumble against the Broncos the next week.

And so now we wait to see whether Ridley remains on track to be the primary carrier in a Patriot attack that’s rededicated itself to running the ball this season. Or if he’s destined for another trip to the doghouse.

“It was late in the game, you’ve got to close it out, you’ve got to run the football — and I told myself before the play I had to hold on to the football,” said Ridley, who wasn’t anywhere near despondent after the game, but who didn’t look like a guy who’d just rushed for a career-best 151 yards. “Like I said, they’re getting paid to play, too.

“You can’t make any excuses. I messed up. I’m sure coach is going to have something to say about it, but like I said there’s always another day tomorrow so I’ll be back to work, and working ball security high and tight. And that’s all I can do.”

Ridley’s fumble afforded the Broncos one last gasp, giving them the ball back while facing a 31-21 deficit with 5:19 remaining in regulation. It ultimately didn’t prove costly, as Denver’s Willis McGahee returned the favor with a fumble of his own, though Ridley spent the Patriots’ final series on the sideline — without even bothering to put his helmet on. Instead, rookie Brandon Bolden was entrusted with the three carries that enabled New England to eventually kill the clock.

That may seem extreme, considering Ridley had carried the ball 28 times, and gained 5.4 yards per haul, but it’s easy to understand why Bill Belichick would have such little tolerance for runners who fumble. Since the start of the 2001 season, his Patriots are now 96-6 when they finish a game on the positive side of the turnover margin. Meanwhile, his passing attack is under the direction of a player (Tom Brady) who percentage-wise ranks as the second-least likely quarterback in NFL history to have a pass intercepted.

So, then, it stands to reason that if New England’s running backs can merely maintain possession of the ball, the Patriots have a darn good chance to win.

But the tricky thing about the Ridley situation is that while they may have a good chance to win with Bolden or Danny Woodhead, if Ridley keeps running this way the Pats offense might have the potential to become practically unbeatable.

Already New England was the only team to rank among the top quarter of the league in both run and pass offense before Monday Night Football, putting them atop the NFL in both points (33.0) and yards (439.4) per game. And what’s scary for the competition is that if teams need to start focusing a significant part of their game plan on stopping Ridley, it’s only going to create easier opportunities for Brady to find Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez and Brandon Lloyd, and the Patriots’ attack is only going to get all the more lethal.

In fact, over the past two weeks, the Bills and Broncos have both geared up to try and stop those players by adding extra defensive backs — and all the Pats have done is deliver back-to-back 200-yard rushing performances for the first time since 1978.

“We’re getting a lot of nickel defense. When they put little guys out there, we have to take advantage of it,” the quarterback said Sunday, after his team ran the ball 23 more times than he threw it (54-31), which actually tipped the scales to the running side for the season (191-185). And a big part of that is Ridley’s success through five games of his second year.

After Sunday, his 490 rushing yards ranked fourth in the NFL, while his 37 first downs were league-high and his four touchdowns were tied for the most. Those are Pro Bowl-type numbers — but according to his coach on Monday, the most important number may thus far be the two fumbles.

“There’s nothing more important than possession of the ball,” Belichick said. “We can’t afford to lose it; it’s just as simple as that.”

The coach would go no further in relation to Ridley’s playing time, so everyone will have to wait until next weekend to see if Ridley’s status as the Pats’ featured back has survived this latest bout of fumblitis or if, like last year, it’s back to the doghouse.

For the sake of their defenses, teams across football should be rooting for the latter.

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WITH RIDLEY and the running game adding another dimension, the Patriots are on pace to accumulate 7,030 yards of offense this season. In NFL history, only the 2011 Saints and 2000 Rams have surpassed 7,000 in a single season.

Another projection of note through five games is Welker, who is one catch behind Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez for the league lead, and now on track for 122 receptions and 1,548 yards. Last year Welker finished with 122 grabs and 1,569 yards.

After Sunday’s 13-catch effort, Welker appeared on Comcast SportsNet New England, and when asked how it felt to have bounced back from a three-catch season opener that caused some to wonder if he was being phased out of the Pats’ attack. ‘’Yeah, it’s kind of nice to stick it in Bill’s face once in a while,’’ he said with a wink.

Monday, Welker told reporters, “It was a joke.”

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CONSIDERING he has already begun working for a radio station on a Patriots pregame show, it comes as no surprise, but the Patriots said Monday that Kevin Faulk will retire after 13 seasons. The official announcement will come Thursday at Gillette Stadium.

Dave D’Onofrio covers the Patriots for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is ddonof13@gmail.com.