FOXBOROUGH - A day after getting out-coached and out-schemed in a 23-20 overtime loss to Seattle, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo remained relatively upbeat about his football team.
"I'm not into, you know, a good loss or anything like that. That's not what I'm saying. But there were a lot of good things," said Mayo on Monday afternoon. "I thought we were still able to run the ball, control the line of scrimmage. Even when we were down, I felt like we were in control of the game."
Then how did they lose? Bedard and I sliced and diced it up Sunday night in our respective columns, but the coaching checkmark that was decidedly in the Pats' favor after week one shifted to the opposite sideline in week two.
There was a blocked punt - did former special teams coordinator Cam Achord sneak back on the sidelines for this one? - that odd 3rd and 1 play call in overtime that still had players scratching their heads over it Monday and a number of coverage breakdowns that saw this vaunted defense surrender 327 passing yards, the most in the league here in Week 2.
You could also quibble with the decision to take the ball to start OT - left tackle Vederian Lowe was hurt on their final offensive play in the 4th quarter - and punting after that failed 3rd and 1 despite controlling the line of scrimmage.
"So I wouldn't change anything, but at the same time, to your point, you have to go back and evaluate, you know, just that whole operation," said Mayo when asked about those two choices.
What is evident, and what some may have glossed over after an opening-day win, is that this roster is nowhere close to being where it needs to be. Thus, the swing and miss on Chuks Okorafor — don't expect him back — placed the Pats offensive line in a precarious position dating back to the early days of training camp. With a passing game that couldn't find explosives if they were sitting in a field on TNT now further hampered by the unrelenting pressure Jacoby Brissett is facing, a level of frustration is already rearing its head.
No team has gotten fewer receptions from its wideouts through two weeks than the Pats (Atlanta is behind them but plays game #2 tonight). Pop Douglas declined to speak to reporters after the game and offered a succinct summary today when asked if he had been adequately allowed to show his talents.
"Last year," he said. "Not yet this year."
Douglas believes in his position group, saying they must "Keep doing what we're doing," but this is another early challenge for Mayo. He can't allow a division between offense and defense, which was prevalent in that locker room a year ago and helped turn a subpar season into one that cost a whole bunch of folks jobs. I'm not saying that's what's happening here, but this is one that needs to be nipped in the bud.
"All of those guys in that locker room want to play football; all those guys in the locker room want to help this team win," said Mayo. "And if they're not frustrated, that's an even bigger problem.
"I mean, every single week, someone's gonna be frustrated. Every single week, you're gonna have to put more on one side of the ball or more on one individual than the other, just based on matchups alone. If you're not frustrated, that, to me, just says a lot."
Winning tends to quell that noise. It certainly did after Cincinnati. But on a short week, it won't be easy to cobble together a plan that limits the heat on Brissett but allows the pass catchers to get more involved. Can't imagine Alex Van Pelt will get a lot of sleep leading up to Thursday's night game in Jersey against the Jets. Would imagine what he might have gotten will go out the window if he has to work around a third starting left tackle in three weeks. Lowe's status is unknown, and with Okorafor long gone, rookie Caedan Wallace is next in line.
"We'll have to see," said Mayo. "He's had some good snaps for us. That's what it's all about. Next-man-up mentality. I know that sounds very cliche or corny, but that's the world we live in. This is the roster that we have, and we're going to have to make do with it."
That final sentence was a waving of the caution flag by the first-year coach. The roster isn't good enough - he's hinted at it since the day he got hired. Mayo's been around long enough to know what can work and what can't and that there aren't enough band-aids to patch up what ails them, barring someone like Wallace making a giant in-season leap. If Mayo and the Pats can't eliminate the mistakes that occurred on the field and the sideline Sunday, they're doomed to repeat them. And no one likes an error repeater.
"It's a true loss if we don't learn anything from it," declared Mayo. "We're going to use this as a teaching experience. So, we talked about it at the beginning of the season, what success looks like for me, and that's just getting better each and every week, not only (for) the players, but also the coaches and myself."