(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

FOXBOROUGH – The Patriot’s performance Sunday at Gillette Stadium mirrored the weather.

It was ugly.

The Chargers dominated from the opening possession, jumping out to a 17-0 lead and never looking back in a 40-7 win.

The only highlight for the Patriots came in the form of an ill-advised heave by Drake Maye with a 1:24 left in the first half that was caught by Pop Douglas, who split two defenders and made a diving catch.

Maye put a scare into Patriots fans on the first possession of the game when he got hit by Chargers rookie cornerback Cam Hart on a third down run. Maye went into the blue medical tent and then the locker room to be evaluated, but ended up returning after missing one series. 

Unfortunately, Maye couldn’t do enough to help the Patriots offense, which struggled to protect him as usual. He was sacked four times and only completed 12 of 22 passes for 85-yards and a touchdown. The Patriots were held to 181 yards of total offense.

“Yeah, just kind of got my bell rung on the first drive. I don’t know if any of y’all ever played and you got hit, but sometimes you get your bell rung, and you’ve got to shake back. I guess the spotter called down again and had to pass some tests,” said Maye.  “I feel good, I still feel good, and then I was good to go. Just the game, things weren’t going our way. I kind of felt like in Arizona where I couldn’t get in a rhythm offensively. Obviously the pitch was unfortunate. Just had a blitz off the edge that just happened to be a good call on their part, and then just felt like all day we were – nothing they were doing.

“We’ve just got to play cleaner football. We’ve got to help our defense out when they’re moving the ball well. Staying on the field and time of possession was pretty one-sided.”

As bad as the offense was, the defense was even worse. The Chargers did what they wanted on the ground and through the air. Known for their physical running game, Los Angeles came out throwing the ball and struck first on a Justin Herbert to Derius Davis 23-yard touchdown pass.

Los Angeles added to the lead early in the second quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker. The Chargers then capped off a nine-play, 44-yard drive with a Herbert to Ladd McConkey six-yard touchdown pass. It was the first of two touchdowns on the day for the rookie receiver who caught eight passes for 94-yards. 

Unfortunately, the Patriots mismanaged the end of the first half – a repeat offense several times this season – after scoring to cut the Chargers lead to 10. The defense failed to get a stop and the end result was another Dicker field goal, this time from 38-yards out to make it 20-7 at the break.

Poor tackling plagued the Patriots all afternoon and it was a big reason why they surrendered 40 points. Jerod Mayo defended his defensive staff and players despite the abysmal effort. 

“Look, I have nothing but confidence in the coaching staff, and we’ll get better,” he said. “That’s part of what we have to do. I have to look at the film to see some of those things you’re talking about what happened on the field. But we’ve got to get better.”

After the Patriots went three-and-out to start the second half, the Chargers essentially put the game away when Herbert connected with McConkey for the second time on a 40-yard strike down the right seam. A 41-yard field goal by Dicker and a touchdown by JK Dobbins late in the third quarter added insult to injury and turned the game into a blowout. 

It got so bad, fans started chanting “Fire Mayo” in the second half. Mayo was asked about it after the game and to his credit, admitted he could hear the chants.

“Look, you hear those things, but at the same time, they paid to sit in the seats, and we’ve got to play better. If we play better, we don’t have to hear that stuff.”

It’s the sad reality of the Patriots in 2024. The once proud franchise has become a brown paper bag franchise where the fans are calling for the head coach’s job. 

The good news is, it ends next week. If the Patriots play like they did Sunday, it will get even worse next week and quite frankly it should. This effort on national television was unacceptable.

For the first time this season, you can say with confidence that the Patriots quit.