FOXBORO — On his third play from scrimmage Saturday, Drake Maye took a two-yard sack.

Then, he took a walk to the locker room.

A hit to the head forced Maye to miss one drive and caused Gillette Stadium to fall into a frightened murmur early in the first quarter of the Patriots’ 40-7 loss to the Chargers. But having been cleared by the NFL’s concussion protocol, Maye returned and eventually finished 12-of-22 for 117 yards and a touchdown. The rookie’s return brought a brief flicker of hope to the stadium, particularly after he heaved a 36-yard touchdown pass to DeMario Douglas before halftime.

But like most of his teammates, Maye factored into the Pats’ worst loss of the season. And in his case, the rookie authored one of his worst performances as a pro.

“Yeah, just kind of got my bell rung on the first drive,” Maye said post-game. “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 (concussion) spotter called down again and had to pass some tests. I feel good, I still feel good, and then I was good to go.

“Just the game, things weren’t going our way.”

Before he hit Douglas downfield for the Patriots’ only touchdown, Maye missed a toss to the speedy slot receiver during a disguised jet sweep that resulted in a second-quarter turnover. The play initially looked like a designed toss right to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, except Douglas, aligned in the right slot, undercut Stevenson while veering into the backfield and came within an extended reach of the lateraled football. Unfortunately for Douglas, a Chargers blitz knocked him off his intended path, so Maye’s pitch hit his fingertips and bounced away as a free ball.

Los Angeles recovered, and nine plays later staked a 17-0 lead.

“I’ve got to give him a better ball to catch. That falls back on me,” Maye said. “I think kind of (Douglas) readjusted his thing a little bit, his route or his path just because of the blitzer off the edge. But yeah, we just got to give him a chance. (I) can’t turn the ball over.”

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Maye later connected with Douglas on a free play with 1:31 left in the first half that started with Chargers edge rusher Bud Dupree jumping offside. Maye, seeing the flag as play continued, flung the ball wildly toward the goal line knowing even an interception would be negated by the penalty. Instead, Douglas adjusted to the underthrown ball and fell into the end zone for the Patriots’ fourth-longest touchdown pass of the season.

But it wasn’t enough to salvage a 33-point defeat; a game where the Pats held the ball for less than 20 minutes, while Maye posted the fewest passing yards and lowest completion percentage he has in a full start this season.

“We’ve just got to play cleaner football,” he said. “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.”