I don't think any of us had visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads. We knew this Patriots team wasn't playoff-bound long before they opened training camp. This was always a transitional year, especially after removing the longest-tenured NFL coach and his 50 years of institutional knowledge for an assistant with limited experience (and that was as a position coach, no less).
Yet here we are on December 16th, watching the Pats fumble through their worst season since, well, the last one. They have lost four straight, including an embarrassing performance in the desert on Sunday - after a bye week! - to fall to 3-11 on the season. There's been no bump after being freed from the so-called shackles of Bill Belichick. Nope. This edition is even more aimless than that, and the 2023-24 version should have a book written about it. That's how bad it was behind the scenes. So what, exactly, is happening at One Patriot Place this fall?
Ownership got their team back. How, pray tell, is that working out for them? Sure, they get to debrief with Jerod Mayo after every game. What exactly does that accomplish? It certainly hasn't impacted their hand-picked successor's performance. Mayo is the same guy he was when he ascended to the throne - a living, breathing error repeater, be it with planning, in-game decisions, and, of course, his weekly bit of media malpractice.
Sunday's misstep - "You said that, I didn't" - was incredibly damning because it was a direct shot at offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. As I wrote in the aftermath of the game, there's no question Mayo was distancing himself from the 54-year-old assistant. Instead of going down with the ship, this captain stepped on underlings to get to the lifeboat.
That meant the morning-after press conference was time to walk it back, but Mayo's words did little to dispel my preconceived notion going in.
"I know there's a lot of chatter about the question last night, you know, 'you said that.' I didn't mean anything by that," Mayo said Monday morning. "It was more of a defensive response, and ultimately, I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question because, ultimately, all of those decisions are mine. So just wanted to get that out there."
Defensive? About what, exactly?
"Yeah, it was just more β I didn't mean anything by it. I just was like, you know, 'you said it' because I didn't want to go down that whole rabbit hole of trying to explain all those things," Mayo added. "And like I just said, I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question, saying that all of those critical situations are on me."
The "on me" quotes are Mayo's default answer to extinguish any fire he started. For instance, I asked him a follow-up question about whether or not he has the power to override Van Pelt's play call down by the goal line and tell him to let Drake Maye sneak it?
"100% on me."
Never mind, that doesn't answer the question asked (What's 100% on you? Not overriding the call? Making the call? It's only three words, but still a salad). But that exact response has happened so often now that it's hard to take those admissions of guilt (if you will) to heart.
The first-year head coach has operated as if he's above the criticism, perhaps knowing he is because he's Robert Kraft's choice. Thus far, all my reporting leads me to believe that "Thunder" is unlikely to admit his mistake and pull the plug after one season on Mayo, even if there's zero proof that he's growing on the job and better than he was a week, month, or half-year since he started. Or, at least, that's how the head coach conducts his business - as if he's already gotten assurances that Robert will do a better job of supporting Mayo in year two, and the likes of Van Pelt, wide receiver coach Tyler Hughes, and assorted defensive assistants (Jerry Montgomery, for instance) will be offered up as sacrificial lambs. That his guy, DeMarcus Covington, has been far worse coordinating his side of the ball than Van Pelt is another sign of poor leadership. A coach protecting his own while throwing GM Eliot Wolf's hire to the Wolves. 'Look at what he did.' Sorry, Jerod, I haven't fallen for it, and I'm not about to now. You're suspect. The whole damn organization is, and it's only getting worse. Welcome to the new era of Patriots football, which looks much like it did in the early 90s, pre-Parcells. That's not a place the Krafts thought they'd be, but if they don't see what they've become, prepare for it to continue.