FOXBOROUGH — If the Patriots had lost last week, then Sunday’s overtime defeat — even if played out exactly the same as it did — would have felt differently.
Then the 23-20 loss to the Seahawks would have simply been a close defeat for a team from whom little is expected.
But after upsetting a good Bengals team in Week 1, the Patriots were talking like a team with designs on being a surprise success story in a league that produces those annually. They’d played well enough, avoided dumb mistakes and appeared to have something to build off of.
But on Sunday they lost a very winnable football game.
“It’s all about the details. If we get the little things right, the big things will take care of themselves,” Jerod Mayo said. “We just didn’t take care of the little things, and we weren’t as detailed or on top of our P’s and Q’s like we should have been.”
The Patriots’ shortcomings at offensive line and receiver and limitations at quarterback were on full display, but despite all of that, they led late in the fourth quarter and had a chance to extend that edge to six and change the complexion of that game with a made field goal. But the kick was blocked, leaving the door open and the Seahawks made it painful.
A win would have fed the Patriots’ confidence, which is still in a fragile state this early in their rebuilding process. That’s even more important heading into Week 3 against Jets in New Jersey. Momentum matters more going into the Thursday Night Football because there’s no real opportunity to fix or change what a team is already doing.
A win probably would have sold a few tickets too. At every point in the game Sunday, there were noticeable splotches of empty seats around Gillette Stadium on a perfect New England early-fall afternoon. The fan base hasn’t bought in yet.
If they’d won on Sunday, the sun would have really been shining brightly. Their win over the Bengals looked even better after Cincinnati nearly upset the juggernaut Chiefs. The Jets barely beat the rebuilding Titans and the Dolphins could be without Tua Tagovailoa for an extended period of time. The breaks could be aligning for the Patriots. There are potential wins on the schedule.
But their margin for error is small. They can’t leave fruit on the tree.
If New England reverts to their projected mean and struggles for most of the year, this game will be forgotten. But right now it stings.
“It’s tough,” Davon Godchaux said. “At the end of the year, you look at that and think ‘We should have had that.’ Especially when you’re fighting for 10, 11 wins in this tough division we’re in. We need those.”
He said the key is turning things around fast.
“It’s disappointing. We have to move on. We have a short week against the Jets,” he said. “We’ll be all right, but we have to get our head out of our ass. We’ve got to be ready. The Jets aren’t the same team they used to be. They’ve got (Aaron Rodgers) now and that defense is always good. We’ve got to be ready to win.”
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
