Booing your own team is stupid under any circumstances, which is why the dumbest people out there are the quickest to boo. It accomplishes nothing, and the meathead logic used to justify it proves that only stupid people boo their own team:
"I pay the salary of the players with my own money so I have a right to communicate my displeasure with them."
This argument is so ******ed it makes my blood boil. First of all, the amount of entertainment time the average drunken moron at Gillette has gotten for free, especially from a team like the Pats, far outweighs the amount you spend on a ticket. You don't "pay the players salaries" you play an insignificant role in a system that is mutually beneficial to both the players and the viewing audience. The players get paid huge salaries because they are uniquely talented athletes who have the ability to perform for a very high number of people with great physical risk.
The jealous venom towards these athletes under the guise of "we own them" is downright pathetic. You see it in almost every thread on this board, "pro athletes making millions of dollars shouldn't be doing x, y and z" and "I don't feel sorry for millionaire athletes who get paid to play a game." Fans expect players to sacrifice everything for them because they sit their fat asses on the couch every Sunday and soak in the commercials, therefore they own them. If this makes me an elitist I don't really care since it's the truth, but the average fan is just dumb and bitter and it came out in the worst way this Sunday.
What does booing accomplish, other than making you look like a complete asshole? Do the players not know they are losing? Do they think the fans are happy they are losing? Is booing going to make them feel pressured into performing better? Can you name me an ownership group that sold a franchise or improved it because the fans booed a lot? These are questions that the average fan doesn't bother to think about because, well, they are just stupid. The OP hit the nail on the head; the fans on Sunday represented part of the mosaic that is this incredibly successful franchise, and they let everyone down by being spoiled mob-mentality idiots. And the fact that other fanbases are just as pathetic doesn't excuse it. It's embarrassing.