Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe talks with his Chargers counterpart Justin Herbert after Sunday's 6-0 L.A. win at Gillette Stadium. (AP photo)

FOXBOROUG, Mass. — Bailey Zappe couldn’t produce a win in his first start of the season for the New England Patriots, but at least he didn’t turn the ball over.

“Yeah, the biggest thing is for the quarterback position is not throw interceptions,” he said after the 6-0 loss to the Chargers. “We were able to do that today, but we weren’t able to score points.

“We’ve got to score points, and that starts with me, and that starts with, like I said, just making smarter decisions and just growing in the things that we did good today and learning from the things that we didn’t do good.

“It’s a short week, but we’ll get after it tomorrow and be ready for Thursday.”

Zappe completed 13 of 25 for 141 yards. Not bad, not great, and as he said, this was his chance and he more or less didn’t take advantage of it.

“We didn’t win, so I would technically clarify that as a missed opportunity,” he said. “Of course it’s always a learning experience no matter win or lose, there’s things you can look back on, good and bad that you can learn from and grow from. I think that’s what I’m going to use today as and just grow with it. Whatever the decision is next week (which starts today) then get ready to play the Steelers.”

Will he start on Thursday night?

“We just finished the game,” Belichick said. “I didn’t even start on Pittsburgh yet.”

Belichich said that Zappe “has worked hard all year” and that “I thought he deserved a chance to play. We made that decision last week.”

Why not sooner in the season?

“Because we gave Mac (Jones) the opportunity to work through his progression with the offense,” Belichick said. “Obviously we hadn’t had a lot of production. I thought Bailey deserved a chance to play, so he played today.”

INACTIVES

Mac Jones was not among the inactives, but defensive lineman Deatrich Wise, Jr. was, coming down with an illness that the team disclosed Sunday morning. Out were injured rookie receivers Kayshon Boutte and Demario Doubles, plus tackle Vederian Lowe, running back JaMycal Hasty, and defensive back Alex Austin.

Inactives for the Chargers were running back Isaiah Spiller, DB Ja’Sir Taylor, G/T Zach Bailey, tight end Nick Vannett, wideout Simi Fehoko, and defensive lineman Scott Matlock.

TIDS AND BITS

The Patriot defense allowed just 29 yards rushing, a measley 1.2 per carry average. It’s the fewest rushing yards they’ve allowed since holding Miami to 15 yards on Dec. 29, 2015…

Belichick isn’t gaining on Don Shula’s wins record, but he did move past him Sunday into third place for most games coaching with one franchise(424 games). He also tied George Halas for second alltime with 506 career games coached….

Sunday was the third straight game the New England defense allowed 10 points or less….

Next up: At Pittsburgh at 8:20 p.m. on Thursday Night Football.