FOXBORO – Boy, that felt familiar.

A fourth-quarter gut-punch knocking the wind out of Gillette Stadium.

One “are-you-kidding-me” moment swallowing another.

All of it so painfully, so predictably familiar.

The Patriots lost their fourth straight home opener Sunday. They served up killer mistake after killer mistake, a buffet of defeat. No one moment matched Rhamondre Stevenson’s game-sealing, fourth-quarter fumble in 2021, or Kayshon Boutte’s fourth-down foot out of bounds last year.

But the pain of this loss, this overtime twist of the knife, certainly did. The Patriots didn’t just believe they would be 2-0 for the first time in five years. They expected it.

Their win at Cincinnati felt like proof of concept for the Jerod Mayo program; lasting reason for players to buy in. Listen here, run there, keep pushing and you will win. Even as 8.5-point underdogs, something not even Bill Belichick could manage at the end.

Mayo did that. The new-era Patriots did that. And with minutes left in regulation and a roaring, rejuvenated crowd at their back Sunday, another upset sat in the palm of their eager hands. Then, they let it slip.

The fourth-quarter blocked field goal; the stuffed third-and-1 run in overtime; Mayo’s defense riding shotgun, helplessly, for every turn of Seattle’s calm, controlled Sunday drive that led to a game-winning field goal from chip-shot range.

Seahawks 23, Patriots 20.

“That one hurt,” Mayo said.

Around the big moments that broke them, cracks developed in the Patriots’ plan and adjustments. Seattle flat-out out-coached them. Mayo knew it.

“(The Seahawks) did a good job of making adjustments faster than we did,” he admitted post-game.

That started with a 56-yard touchdown pass to star receiver D.K. Metcalf late in the first quarter, a play-call made after the Patriots brought their trademark all-out blitz concepts to stall Seattle’s opening drive.

Metcalf sped straight ahead, while five Patriots defensive backs hovered at the line to gain, staring at quarterback Geno Smith in a hybrid coverage. The plan was to break on any short routes, knowing Smith would unload the ball quickly to beat the blitz. And he did — except it was deep downfield to a wide-open Metcalf, who had already blown by Kyle Dugger and Christian Gonzalez.

That touchdown spooked the Patriots out of one of their staple concepts for the rest of regulation. But in overtime, after Jonathan Jones got flagged for a questionable penalty, the Pats went back to the all-out blitz on third-and-6 at midfield. They knew a stop would force Seattle to punt the ball away in a tied game — and the Seahawks knew how they wanted to generate that stop.

Moments later, Smith backed away from the blitz, then lofted a short pass to running back Zach Charbonnet, who covered seven yards and clinched a first down.

“(The touchdown) kind of scared them out of it. They didn’t call it for the rest of the game. We knew they would get back to it,” Smith said. “That’s what they want to do in those critical situations. (Offensive coordinator Ryan) Grubb was on it, made the right call. We’re just happy that happened and allowed us to get in field goal range and (Jason Myers) kicked it in.”

Smith finished 33-of-44 for 327 yards, the seventh-highest single-game total of his career. He looked perfectly unbothered by the Patriots’ constant cycling through coverages and unleashed pressure packages.

“(He was) getting the ball out quick, able to tell where the pressure was coming from,” Pats safety Jabrill Peppers said. “We’ve got to do a better job of disguising (coverages).”

Peppers wasn’t even sure how many times they fooled Smith.

“Not often,” he said.

At least defensively, the Pats can bank on a rebound performance in the coming weeks. Offensively, it’s a whole, new, scary world out there.

Just ask Jacoby Brissett. Brissett was hit on almost 30% of his dropbacks and pressured on roughly half his passing attempts. It was a wonder he took only three sacks and could stand without help for his post-game press conference, after laboring behind the league’s leakiest offensive line.

Not to mention, Brissett had virtually no help from his wide receivers, who combined for three catches the entire game; a failure with many fathers, including offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Because even when the Pats wanted to attack deep, and protected Brissett, Seattle seemed to know what was coming and routinely kept two safeties deep.

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“Obviously whatever the tell was, they had a good tell on us when we were trying to push the ball down the field. And they did a good job,” Brissett said. “(They) had a good game plan as far as not letting us get behind them. We tried to, but we’ve got to find ways to get on top of that and continue to try to push the ball down the field and find different ways.”

To counter Seattle’s sit-back game plan, the Pats pounded away with their running game to great statistical effect.

The Pats averaged 5.1 yards per carry and racked up 185 yards. But Sunday’s loss revealed the limitations of an offense that lives with both feet on the ground. The Pats produced just four explosive plays and scored 20 points, failing to drive the field in critical situations that often decide games: the end of the first half, the end of regulation and start of overtime.

That final first-half possession was a head-scratcher, too. Backed up at their own 8-yard line, the Patriots squandered a chance to kill time and/or force Seattle to burn timeouts. Mayo’s decision to run the clock down from 1:32 left to under a minute after a short run, then pass twice – both for incompletions – felt like a half-measure in the moment.

Either commit to an aggressive approach or conservatively kill the clock. Not both.

The Pats had minimal chance of marching to a field goal anyway, facing third-and-8 inside the shadow of their own end zone. But by throwing incomplete on third down, they gifted Seattle a free clock stoppage before punting the ball away.

Turns out, the Seahawks needed all of their timeouts.

They covered 26 yards in 31 seconds, then spiked the ball and kicked a field goal before halftime; three points that should haunt the Patriots until they clinch win No. 2, however long that might take.