Four games into a season is the first barometer for an NFL team, especially a new regime like we have in New England.
Even Jerod Mayo pointed it out in his opening statement after the Patriots' 30-13 loss to the 49ers on Sunday, which dropped them to 1-3.
"I told the guys it is a long season. It is a long season," Mayo said. "And we're wrapping up the first quarter of the season. I don't think any of us are happy where we are."
Give Mayo points for honesty, although what alternative did he have?
The NFL moves pretty fast. After Week 1 and a victory over the Bengals, Mayo and his coaches received universal praise - which they definitely deserved. Robert Kraft was strutting around. Mayo held his first post-victory Zoom like he was playing a night at the Tropicana. I didn't really care. Winning in the NFL is hard, and the Patriots played nearly perfectly to win on the road in the opener. Smell the flowers.
But as we pointed out at the time, opening games are funky, especially when you take on Joe Burrow and the notoriously slow-starting Bengals. The Patriots had a new head coach, and three new coordinators. Future opponents had no idea what to expect from Mayo and his (at the time) merry band of coaches. That would change in the coming weeks, as teams had more film and tendencies to dissect and use against the Patriots.
Welcome to life in the NFL with top-line roles, Mayo, Alex Van Pelt and DeMarcus Covington.
Since leading the Seahawks 20-17 in the fourth quarter of Week 2, the Patriots have now been outscored 60-16.
Woof.
Look, things have not exactly gone well for the Patriots in recent weeks. They lost Ja'Whaun Bentley for the year, started their fourth left tackle in as many games (when they didn't have one to start the year), and watched captains David Andrews and Kyle Dugger go out early against the 49ers. For a roster that was already challenged, especially without Christian Barmore and Matthew Judon, losing a war of attrition is not helping.
But no one cares. San Francisco with their injury woes certainly didn't. The Dolphins won't next week.
Every team is dealing with something. It's up to the coaches to help their players out: maximize their strengths, cover up their weaknesses, to at least help them be competitive and have a chance.
And the last two weeks, that has not happened for New England. The offense isn't remotely successful enough — 47% percent of their plays on Sunday went for 1 yard or less. The line is still giving up over 46% pressure per dropback - not sustainable for any quarterback. And now Mayo is increasingly sniping at Van Pelt.
"Schematically, we have to do a better job of getting the ball out of our hand right now," Mayo said. "And then secondly, I would say the offensive line just has to do a better job holding up in protection. We're trying to find different ways to do it. ... We have to coach better. We have to play better and execute.”
Whoa ... schematically we have to do a better job ...
That's a missile at the broadside of SS Van Pelt.
Too bad Mayo didn't do the same to the defense, which allowed pass plays of 53, 34, 38 and 32 yards, and Brock Purdy to average nearly 20 yards per completion.
Nope, Mayo put that on the players.
"Poor execution," he said. "They did a good job as well timing up those shots and we just have to do a better job.”
So that's not great ... and that's not even the worse part.
Mayo, who basically made it his mantra to respect the players and make them comfortable, is starting to get the on-field reputation as a soft coach - and his game coaching is tighter than a drum, which is permeating his team, especially on the road.
The Patriots had 10 days since the Thursday night debacle (against a Jets team that scored nine points at home against the Broncos today by the way), which gave the coaches additional time to reassess, reset and get their stuff straight.
What were the two big points of emphasis coming of the Jets game? Rhamondre Stevenson's fumbling issues, and the horrible pass rush discipline against Geno Smith and Aaron Rodgers.
Guess what happened against the 49ers?
On San Fran's first drive, Keion White blew three edges on three straight third downs that allowed Brock Purdy to make like Doug Flutie and stay on the field for 8 minutes.
On the first play after that drive, Stevenson fumbled for the fourth straight game and lost it for the second straight game (let's also point out what a crapshow of a playcall that was by Van Pelt, who decided to pull Sidy Sow, who hasn't played in weeks. He missed his block, shockingly, and Stevenson barely had time to even secure the ball).
Twelve minutes into the game and the Patriots coaches already showed they couldn't clean up their own house with additional time.
As Bill Parcells used to say, "You're either coaching it, or allowing it to happen."
Guess which path Mayo has been taking (which starts to get players looking at head coaches wondering if they're watching the same games they are)?
Stevenson sat for all of three plays before he was right back out there. White kept playing because, well, he's freaking good and is the only impact player left in the front seven.
But, yes, let's all just keep talking about Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye. That will solve what's wrong with this team, absolutely.
Then there was Mayo's approach to the game. The Patriots take the opening kickoff and march into 49ers territory before stalling at the 41. Facing a 4th and 3, Mayo decided to take another fake snap/delay of game penalty (can we stop with that Mickey Mouse crap, you look like amateurs) and then punt the ball.
Way to signal to the 49ers that you're just there to keep it close. What kind of message does that send to your team? Mayo should have told his team before this game that they were going to punch San Fran, which perhaps entered in a little fog after their Rams collapse (the 49ers were not hitting on all cylinders in this game), in the mouth and grab an early lead, which they failed to do against the Jets. That's how this team needs to play. They should be grabbing an early lead at all costs in every game - trick offensive plays, fake punts, weird crap on defense. They need to be shooting their shot in the first quarter.
This wasn't waving a white flag, but it was playing right into the Patriots' narrow margin for competing against some of these teams, and dramatically decreasing their chances of doing so.
After Brissett threw a pick-six when he had Pop Douglas and Ja'Lynn Polk open, the Patriots trailed 13-0 and faced a 4th and a long 1 at the San Fran 20. After calling a timeout, Van Pelt went into the jumbo formation and called a run up the middle - behind Nick Leverett (who had replaced Andrews), a rookie right guard in Layden Robinson who struggled mightily in this one, and Sow who was knocking off a lot of rust.
Mayo should have been telling Van Pelt, "Run your best stuff right here, go for broke."
Instead, the Patriots broke. The 49ers had two touchdowns called back on the ensuing drive before George Kittle made like Billy Madison playing dodgeball with second graders and pummeled three Patriots on yet another busted play in the secondary to lead 20-0. Game over.
We could also point out how having Jahlani Tavai as the deep LB in Tampa 2 for a couple of huge gains was another coaching misstep. Or how Van Pelt left Demontrey Jacobs singled up to get soundly beaten on Brissett's pick-six by Leonard Floyd and Nick Bosa's strip-sack that finished off the game, never mind the max-protect shot play that wasn't blocked right and gave up another sack despite eight people blocking.
Oh, and I almost forgot: with the Niners leading 20-0 and set to get the ball to start the second half, Purdy fumbled at his own 8-yard line with 1:30 left in the first half ... and Mayo didn't call timeout.
This was not a coaching masterpiece in any area except special teams (you go, Jeremy Springer).
"Look, obviously a disappointing game," Mayo said. "I thought we had a good week of practice. I thought the guys had a lot of energy all week. I'm not going to say anything about the travel. I thought the guys were prepared and ready to go. We didn't hit some of the targets that we talked about. Defensively, keeping the quarterback in the pocket continues to be an issue. Offensively, we don't have a team that can lose the turnover battle and expect to win a football game. We have to do a better job with the turnovers. We have to do a better job with the negative plays and overall, we just have to be good."
That would includes the coaches and the head coach as well, and they are more responsible than the players. Their job is to make due with what they have, and maximize it. That has not happened during 60-16, not even close.
Now the wounded Dolphins come to town, themselves on a short week after playing Monday night. There are still some winnable games coming up, and they can get back to making progress.
But it has to start now. A win against Miami can turn the tide. Another loss could send this season into a tailspin.
It's on the coaches, starting with Mayo, to figure it out.
