Pats cornerback Ellis Hobbs was surprised by the fans’ reaction to his team’s loss.

Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

FOXBORO — Ellis Hobbs agrees that the New England Patriots played poorly, particularly defensively, against the Miami Dolphins.

But as he heard boos rain down on him and his teammates, as he saw the fans flood the exits early in the second half of the Pats’ loss on Sunday, he took it all in.

He was surprised that the New England fans were so fickle. It’s not as if the Patriots are the St. Louis Rams or Detroit Lions. The Pats loss on Sunday was the first time they had lost a regular-season game since Dec. 10, 2006, a span of 21 games.

“Does it hurt? It doesn’t hurt,” Hobbs said of fans’ reactions, “[But] it amazes me how people react. It’s a testament to how spoiled they are, where expectations are that high that we’re not allowed a bad game.”

Hobbs doesn’t say that for sympathy, but he does point out that everyone has a bad day at the office, or has missed a deadline or has forgotten to fix lunch for a child before school.

Showing just how much he has changed and matured in his three-plus years in Foxboro, Hobbs spoke passionately, acknowledging that paying fans have a right to speak their mind, and it’s all just a part of the deal as a professional athlete.

“I don’t block (the booing) out. I accept it. I remember. I use it,” Hobbs said. “I use it as a thing of, ‘remember this when you are successful,’ and that’s how you keep it all in perspective.

“Because, as soon as they’re booing at you, they’re ready to pat you (on the back) again. As soon [as the team is winning], now you’re the best in the world.”

The anonymity of being one of 60,000 in the stands leads people to readily voice their frustrations, he added.

“As a fan, you have the luxury of keeping a wall between you and the players, to where it’s almost as if you’re in the crowd and you feel invisible so you can say — you can do — whatever you want and not get in trouble for it unless you’re just outrageous,” he said. “There’s no rules regulating what you say. You paid your money, you feel like you’re owed that.

“But like I said, we can’t really argue about that because we get paid for this job. We didn’t have to do this job. We chose to do this job. We get paid for it. You have to take the good with the bad. That’s one of the bad things about the game.”

The fourth-year cornerback set a single-game franchise record on Sunday with 237 kickoff return yards against the Dolphins, giving the New England offense excellent field position to start drives for much of the afternoon. After the loss, he said he wished his efforts had contributed to a win so he could have savored them for just a little while.

Regrouping from such lopsided losses isn’t something the Pats have had to do very often over the last couple of years. But the difficulties, Hobbs said, can serve to strengthen the players.

“This is when you find out what type of player you are. This is when you find out what type of man you are as far as this game goes,” he said, “because when adversity hits and things aren’t going your way, who’s really in your corner? Everybody wants to jump off the bandwagon, [asking] ‘can they really do it,’ it’s not going to happen because they’re missing key parts’ or whatever. This is when you find out who you really are.”

Hobbs is a football player, but only in the locker room and between the lines. Outside of that, he is a new husband with new responsibilities and a baby on the way.

And in the end, they are what matters most to him.

“You learn, you grow, you mature and you see things for what they are,” he said. “You understand that this is the game. This is how it’s played. It is what it is.”

smanza@projo.com