FOXBOROUGH -- The house at One Patriot Place is far from a humble abode.
In fact, with its $325 million price tag, 1.9 million square feet of space on a 17.3-acre spread, and convenient parking for 16,500, it is a rather ostentatious dwelling.
The owners like to invite guests over on certain Sundays in the fall for friendly games of football. Fans of the sport are welcome to watch.
Usually -- 21 straight times to be exact -- the fans have fun, the hosts are celebrated, and the visitors are sent home vanquished.
That was before the San Diego Chargers came to town.
Yesterday, in a veritable home invasion, the Chargers ran roughshod over New England, 41-17, in front of the 119th consecutive sellout at Gillette Stadium.
Tailback LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 134 yards on 25 carries (5.4 yards per attempt), tight end Antonio Gates had six receptions for 108 yards, and quarterback Drew Brees hardly broke a sweat in completing 19 of 24 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns, as the Chargers scored more points than any of the previous 28 opponents had on the Patriots' home field.
Only because it was a beautiful sunny day did the Chargers not track mud all over the place, as they dealt the Patriots their worst-ever loss at Gillette.
''We just have to play better, that's the bottom line," Patriots receiver Troy Brown said. ''We didn't play well at all and they played great.
''They ran the ball great on offense, they threw it great, they converted on third down . . . everything we couldn't do on offense they did on offense.
''You expect to go out there and play well. You never expect to go out there and play like we did today."
In defeat, the Patriots (2-2) continued their season-long roller coaster, as they opened the year with a victory against Oakland, lost the following week at Carolina, then beat Pittsburgh.
''Hopefully that's not a trend we continue because if you go win-loss, win-loss, you end up 8-8 and your chances of making the playoffs are not great," linebacker Rosevelt Colvin said. ''Really, we have to improve, 'cause we can't go any lower than that; 41-17 is just about as bad as it gets."
The point total topped the 38 scored by Kansas City in the second contest at Gillette, a game the Patriots won by a field goal in overtime, and is the most surrendered by the Patriots in coach Bill Belichick's five-plus seasons.
''They did a good job in every area better than we did and I think the score reflected that," said Belichick, who pondered a couple of seconds before admitting he was ''hard-pressed" to name any aspect of the game at which his team played at an acceptable level.
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