Ugh. Bleh. Yuck.

Yeah, there was a lot of conversation about who might start at quarterback for the New England Patriots at empty Gillette Stadium on Monday night.

Why bother?

Sure, it was Cam Newton, who showed he could still run the ball and deliver hits while doing it. Just ask Buffalo safety Jordan Poyer, who left the game dazed and confused after running into the CamMobile.

But really, the sharp difference between the Patriots and the Buffalo Bills, we saw in a 38-9 Buffalo thrashing last night, didn’t boil down to one player or one position.

It boiled down to overall team talent.

The Bills have a lot of it, starting with wonder kid QB Josh Allen. The Patriots, who did insert backup QB Jarrett Stidham into the game midway through the third quarter, really don’t have much.

This was an embarrassment on the national Monday Night television stage. It was made even more embarrassing by the fact Patriots coach Bill Belichick, apparently in a production meeting, said how he wasn’t leading the MVP cheers for Bills QB Josh Allen. All Allen did Monday night was carve up the Patriots secondary, completing 27 of 36 attempts for 320 yards and four TDs. Yikes.

“I said multiple times that Josh Allen is a good football player, he’s played well, and he’s having a good year,” Belichick said when pressed on the issue shortly after the game.

The obvious was also stated.

“It was obviously a good performance by Buffalo,” Belichick said. “We just weren’t able to do much in any phase of the game. They outplayed us across the board. You can see why they’re the AFC East champion this year. They deserve to be.”

There’s a lot of talk that Belichick will go on an off season blitzkrieg, grabbing players anywhere and everywhere, similar to what he did in 2007, leading to 16-0.

The difference is, he was adding to a nucleus of talent that made it to the AFC title game the previous season and was actually just a half away from going to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots team on the field Monday night is zillion halves away from any Super Bowl, or playoff game.

The nucleus ain’t there, folks. Maybe Belichick realized that when he tossed a phone while losing a replay challenge during the Bills opening second half TD drive.

The Bills traded last spring for receiver Stefon Diggs, and he lit the Patriots up for nine catches for 145 yards and three TDs. The Patriots signed Damiere Byrd, and all he did was drop a wide open woulda-shoulda-been-a-TD pass from Newton early on that pretty much set the tone for the New England night.

Diggs taunted Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson in the first half and beat him for two TDs. Believe, it, there’s no one on the Patriots receiving corps that could taunt a mouse.

What did Diggs cost the Bills last April? A first, fifth, sixth in last year’s draft, and fourth in 2021. Of course, Buffalo knew it had a quarterback in Allen who could get the receiver the ball. Oh, that Buffalo tight end you saw catch a TD pass and grab another Allen throw wide open? That’s Lee Smith, who was a Patriots fifth round pick in 2011. Insult, meet injury.

It certainly has to be rough for Newton, who was 5 of 10 for 34 yards, a 57.9 QB rating. Stidham wasn’t much better, 4 of 11 for 44 yards and a 49.1 rating.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Newton said. “It makes you mad, it makes you angry. I’ve sacrificed so much this year. It hurts when you have the outing that you had tonight.”

Every season is different. But this is a huge gap. If Buffalo isn’t squaring off against Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium in the AFC Championship Game a month from now, the season for the Bills will be a failure.

It already has been big-time for the Patriots. This isn’t about a young team getting the necessary experience. Yes, the Patriots do have a few good young players.

But there aren’t many veterans you’d want to keep. You’ll the roster turned over, but the question is whether or not for the better. Often in the NFL it takes a couple of years for the purge and cleansing.

So hold on to that phone, Bill Belichick. You’ll need it to call a few teams and agents in March, and draft picks in late April. Make good use of those minutes.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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