The formula for football never changes.

You turn the ball over, you basically will lose.

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye threw three second half interceptions Wednesday night at Seattle, and the Patriots lost a 13-10 heartbreaker.

Of course the last one was the most damaging, as it looked almost like a high school play to Mack Hollins to the right side of the end zone, a ball that never should have been thrown, or if so, be a souvenir for a fan in the first couple of rows.

We’ve seen that mistake made in high school over and over.

“We lost patience, and it cost us,” Maye said. “That wasn’t how I play football, represent my game and play quarterback for the Patriots. … Only thing you can’t do is turn the ball over, and that’s what I did.

“Didn’t put enough on it to get it out, and it was just unacceptable.”

Now Maye and the Patriots get to stew over this one for the next 10 days, until Aaron Rodgers arrives in Foxborough in 10 days.

The Patriots got greedy, going for the win – not a bad idea – but they don’t want to get into a street fight with the Seahawks or a backyard game. At the end, they did just that.

It was there for the taking. Not that Sam Darnold is Dan Marino, but when he went down and Seattle turned to Drew Lock, the Patriots eyes must’ve lit up.

Instead, Lock, in the second half, lit up the Patriots, bringing the Seahawks back from 10-0 down. The type of throw that Maye made is something you might expect Lock to have done.

Nope.

Maye had Hollins, who bailed out the Patriots once A.J. Brown hurt his ankle in the third quarter. Maye was also doing things with his legs, something that Seattle took away in the Super Bowl.

But it wasn’t enough. There were other lessons, too. As Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said, “We didn’t win the football game in the second half, and that’s really when you have to win these games. In this league, it’s find a way to make some plays in the second half, in critical situations, we didn’t do that.

“We can’t turn the ball over, we have to create more turnovers. It’s a broken record. We’ve got to have a chance, we’ve got to be great in that situation. … We want to be aggressive, just not reckless.”

They were the former to get into a position for a dramatic win. They ended up being the latter for a dramatic, gut-wrenching loss.

Seattle’s Julian Love intercepts a pass intended for New England’s DeMario Douglas during Wednesday night’s season opener in Seattle. (AP photo)

And now you wonder about the recovery.

“It’s a long season, we have the utmost confidence in him, and he’s going to make a lot of plays for us,” Vrabel said of Maye, who was 23 of 33 for 178 yards. “You can’t throw three interceptions, Drake knows that.”

Yes, he does. But this was a chance for Maye to take a step forward. It seemed that as soon as Brown got hurt, Maye wasn’t the same unless Hollins was the target. Certainly not Romeo Doubs, who didn’t look good at all.

Yeah, but it’s early. Or is it?

“It hurts, it’s the beginning of the season,” Patriots Christian Gonzalez said, adding, “We’re excited. There’s a whole season in front of us.”

Yes, 16 more games. But Game One the Patriots should have won.

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