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SAN DIEGO - Matt Cassel knew there would be more days like this.

At this stage of his career as the quarterback of the New England Patriots, he's not as poised or as experienced as he may be someday down the road. He still has a lit to learn about the myriad of circumstances that can arise in a football game.

He probably also knows that other quarterbacks before him have failed in first-and-goal situations. Great ones, too.

But that didn't lessen the sting of not being able to put the ball in the end zone from 36 inches away Sunday night, at a time when a touchdown could have changed the complexion of what became a 30-10 humbling at the hands of the San Diego Chargers.

"Goal line is goal line, you know? You go down there and it's the grit and grind of the game, and they did a good job," Cassel said of the four-down stand on the opening possession of the second half that slammed the door on any hopes of a Patriot comeback. "They have some good guys up front and they were able to stop the run and cover the passes," Cassel said. " We wanted to come out and put together a good drive, which we did, we got the ball on the 1 and when we do that, we anticipate putting the ball in in that situation.

"That was definitely discouraging, but we came back out and we tried to battle," he said.

A touchdown in that circumstance could have cut the San Diego lead to 17-10 and changed momentum around for the remainder of the game. And it certainly looked as if the Patriots were destined to do it, having driven from their own 22 to the Chargers' 1. Sammy Morris' electric run after catching a short pass, first leaving linebacker Matt Wilhelm trapped in his tracks at the point of the catch and then bowling over Antonio Cromartie to get to the 1, made it seem that a touchdown would be just a formality.

But Cassel threw an incompletion on the first pass, Morris was stuffed on the second-down carry and the third-down throw went to the ground, seemingly intended for part-time tight end Mike Vrabel.

On fourth down, Cassel seemed to run through his list of checkdowns at warp speed, deciding that everyone was covered and instead opting to run - far too late, it turned out, because he was surrounded by Chargers by the time his legs started moving.

"It's a progression read," he said, "and I went through it and didn't see anyone open. I was hoping to maybe make something good happen with my legs and it didn't happen."

As if the stop for a loss of a yard and loss of possession weren't bad enough, the Chargers needed only four plays to cover the 98 yards between them and the goal, taking a 24-3 lead on Antonio Gates' 1-yard TD catch.

"You go from them having a chance to cut it to seven to your being up 21, just like that, in a five-play stand," Chargers' quarterback Philip Rivers said. "That was a huge change of events."

The quick turnaround had Cassel wondering afterward if the Patriots were short on commitment and intensity as the deficit grew.

"I don't think we played well collectively today," he said. "They played a great game, they came out with great intensity, and we've got to do a better job of matching that intensity early and playing better all around." Cassel finished with 203 yards on 22 completions in 38 attempts, being sacked four times and throwing an interception. Five of those completions and 62 of the yards came on the Patriots' last possession, which was met by token resistance from the Chargers' defense.

Returning home from a week-long California odyssey that resulted in a split of two games, Cassel said the only thing the Patriots can do is learn from what they see in the films and apply it to the game plan against the Denver Broncos a week from Monday at Gillette Stadium.

"We just try to execute the offense as best we can, move the ball and put points on the board," he said. "We're upset about the loss, but we're going to move on, we're going to get better this week and we're going to continue to work hard."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.