Stephen Brashear/AP Photos 

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – It was there until it wasn’t.

Leading 10-3 in the fourth quarter, the Patriots had an opportunity to make a statement with the world watching on Wednesday night.

The highly-anticipated Super Bowl rematch was a big of a slog, but New England was in control with 15 minutes to go in front of a raucous Seattle crowd that watched the team unveil its banner postgame.

But, it all went downhill very, very quickly.

Drake Maye was picked off three times in the final quarter, including a game-ending interception in the end zone in the final 30 seconds with the Pats in field goal range to force overtime, ultimately leading to a 13-10 loss.

“It was just unacceptable,” Maye said of the final throw. “We had a chance to send it to overtime at the worst and the only thing you can do is turn the ball over and that’s what I did.”

“We want to be aggressive, just not reckless,” Mike Vrabel said. “They did a nice job and made a play. But, there’s a lot of fight in there. There’s a lot of good things. There’s going to be a few things we have to eliminate that get you beat in this league.”

The most frustrating part about it is that Maye and the offense picked up two fourth down conversions and a got themselves out of a 2nd-&-21 hole on the final drive that began with 5:45 remaining at the New England 27.

On 3rd-&-4 with 26 seconds left at the Seattle 16, Maye saw Mack Hollins in the back right corner of the end zone, but he was covered by Josh Jobe. Instead of just throwing it away, Maye let it go off his back foot and the ball floated, allowing Jobe to make a great toe-tap pick in the end zone to seal the win for the defending champs.

“We just didn’t execute the way we should’ve,” Hollins said. “I’ve got to try and break up the ball if I can.”

The first of the three interceptions came with 14:12 to go, also by Jobe on a deep ball intended for Romeo Doubs. Five plays later, the Seahawks made it a 10-10 game on a 45-yard catch and run for Jackson Smith Njigba on 4th-&-1.

The second one came from Julian Hill just moments later after Doubs had a massive drop while wide open on 2nd-&-14 that may have led to New England ending up in field goal range to potentially ice it. Maye forced a ball over the middle looking for Pop Douglas and suddenly, the ’12s’ were as loud as they’d been all night.

The defense did get a stand after Seattle drove down inside the red zone, with Jason Myers giving Seattle its first lead at 13-10 with 5:50 remaining.

“I just wasn’t locked in enough. That’s all. Video speaks for itself. And like I said, I’ll be better,” Doubs said of the drop.

Surprisingly, New England chose not to throw the ball much in the first quarter, but the defense also held serve too. On Seattle’s very first drive, a third down sack for newly signed Dre’Mont Jones ended up knocking Sam Darnold out for the rest of the game with a hip injury.

After a scoreless first, the Pats put together a 10-play, 77-yard drive that ended with rookie tight end Eli Raridon scoring his first career touchdown on his first career catch from two-yards out, making it 7-0 with 9:11 left in the half. The score was set up when AJ Brown drew a DPI call at the two-yard line on a flea flicker. That was preceded by two big third down throws by Maye to Douglas and Brown.

The Pats took that 7-0 lead into halftime, forcing Seattle to punt on four if its five drives, with the fifth simply running out the half.

The Pats opened the second half with an eight-play drive that ended with a field goal for Andy Borregales from 50-yards to make it 10-0. Unfortunately, the biggest news of the night came on the same drive, with Brown going down with an ankle injury that kept him out for the rest of the game.

Maye took blame for it postgame, with Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald reporting that Brown left the locker room with a boot on his right foot.

“I haven’t gotten a chance to see him. I know he’s dealing with what he’s dealing with,” Maye said. “I think for AJ, he’s going to fight hard to get back and whenever it is. I know he’s going to want to get back out there quick. He’s a competitor and he’s going to help this football team a lot this year.

“I threw one low to him and you know, should have hit him in the chest. So, I gotta make a better play and make a better throw for him.”

Seattle got on the board with a field goal, making it 10-3 with 3:13 left in the quarter, ultimately setting up the wild final 15 minutes.

So now, the Patriots will have 11 days to regroup and get ready for the home opener against Pittsburgh.

Can they? Sure, but without Brown and given how much stealing one in front of the world would have meant, there’s already a dangerous line that will be walked if the soul-crushing defeat starts to snowball.

“These guys are here for me. I think they’ve done a great job of supporting me and having my back, so I gotta earn their trust. I know I have their trust, but I’ve gotta keep on putting better football out there,” Maye added. “It’s Week 1, but at the same time, you can say there’s a full season ahead, but you’ve got to get this going early. We’ve got to start off on the right foot.

“I know what we had last year, but we’ve got a new season, a new team and we need to build that.”