You know what they say: “You only get one chance to make a good first impression after two weeks off when you’re still getting a tentative benefit of the doubt at the tail end of a miserable season.”

They do say that, ya know.

Anyway, the Patriots' first impression on how they’ll close 2024 couldn’t have gone worse.

On the field, it was the same 60-minute stew of mental errors, physical errors, unforced errors and overmatched errors.

On the sideline, there was the same head-scratching tentativeness, likely fed by the reality that the coaches have no idea who’s going to screw up mentally, physically or both on a snap-to-snap basis.  

And after the game, there was an Alex Van Pelt pile-on that commenced with five words from Jerod Mayo, who answered, “You said it, I didn’t,” in the midst of questions second-guessing AVP’s red-zone play-calling.

Van Pelt hitting the brakes inside the 10 or on third or fourth-and-short has been driving me batcrap for at least two months.

There’s nothing I can do about it.

But for Mayo to infer that Van Pelt’s resistance to using Drake Maye’s dual-threat ability in short yardage is driving Mayo crazy as well -- and that he can’t control Van Pelt’s decision-making -- was a wild moment.

The Patriots were given all the latitude in the world to suck in 2024. They didn’t have to WIN games. Just show they were on the right track to being a smart, disciplined, improving team and that progress was being made.

Don’t get worse as the season goes. And don’t be dysfunctional.

That was dysfunctional. As was Mayo's effort to fall on the five-word grenade Monday, first saying, “It’s always my decision," before adding that Maye “obviously has a good pair of legs and does a good job running the ball. We just chose not to do it there.”

Obviously, Mayo wants to see his best player’s abilities tapped more frequently. Maye wants Van Pelt to let him run the ball, as he politely explained after the game.

So WTF is the confusion? Is Van Pelt being insubordinate? Is he flat-out refusing to have Maye sneak or be used as a dual-threat? That feels highly unlikely.

Is Mayo failing to DIRECTLY tell him, “Cut the s--- with Rhamondre into the middle of the line when everyone knows it’s coming. It hasn’t worked all year, and we’re not good enough to play ‘Tougher Than Thou"? And then saying, “Don’t blame me…” when Van Pelt doesn’t do it?

Is there a directive from GM Eliot Wolf that Maye not run the ball, and Mayo’s answer was tied to that?

Mayo said the final four weeks are about evaluation. For the players and coaches, it’s case-making time for 2025. Ideally, the final four games would be a springboard into a critical, can’t-flock-it-up offseason.

Changes are going to come. But, to me, as maddening as Van Pelt’s lack of imagination and conservatism at different junctures has been, he has been the lead developer of Maye.

He’s tried to spice up an offense that’s built behind five blocks of talc up front.

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Even if Van Pelt was about the Patriots' ninth choice to come in as offensive coordinator, he doesn’t deserve to be saddled with blame for the offense’s overall ineptitude before Wolf and the personnel department, or the position coaches who can’t get players to perform (even though offensive line coach Scott Peters is trying to get blood from a stone with the cast-offs he’s been asked to coach).

Van Pelt didn’t deserve Mayo's inference after the game. From that comment to the caught-on-camera moment of Jonathan Kraft lamenting a third-down run behind shoulda-been-benched Vederian Lowe, it’s becoming apparent Van Pelt is likely in the crosshairs.

If that’s the case, fine. If there’s an avenue for improvement, great. But crushing Van Pelt publicly is unprofessional, unbecoming and kind of unbelievable given what he was saddled with in terms of personnel.

The Patriots close the season with a trip to Buffalo on Sunday to face a Bills team that’s scored 90 points over its past two games and will RELISH the opportunity to smear the Patriots’ face in the turf. Then they have the Chargers, who lost to Tampa on Sunday and will have 10 days off after a game this Thursday night against the Broncos. They will NEED to beat New England. Then its Buffalo again in Week 18 to close the season.

Sunday’s game was the Patriots' best chance to put their best foot forward down the stretch. They failed to do by making the same mistakes they’ve been making, then put their foot in their mouths after the game.

It was a worse-than-expected start to a pivotal stretch. It makes it harder to make the case they’re headed in the right direction.