FOXBOROUGH - I didn't agree with a fair amount of what Bill Belichick did over his final five seasons in New England, but we've had that conversation too many to count. I've also not been a big fan of Belichick's foray into the media, but he did have some interesting insights during his most recent appearance on the "Let's Go" podcast with Jim Gray.
The topic of playing or resting players came up during Jim Harbaugh's guest spot on the show, and Harbaugh scoffed at the idea of "playing the backups."
"What are we going to do," said the Chargers head coach, "dress 25 guys for the game?"
Belichick nodded in agreement and offered his assessment.
"That's what some people, I think, have a hard time with: 'Well, don't play your starters.' I mean, you can only have seven inactive guys," Belichick explained. "Who are they? And it's tough to go to your team and say, 'Well, we're not going to play you guys over here, but the rest of you get out there. We don't really care about you. If you get hurt, that doesn't matter, but these six or seven guys we're going to protect.'
"You can't say that to the team," he continued. "That doesn't resonate well at all, nor should it. So, I always had a hard time with that one. Now, if a guy was fighting an injury and everybody understood that the guy was fighting an injury, okay, that's one thing. But to just say, 'Well, you guys are important, but you other guys aren't, we don't care what happens to you. Get out there and play.' That's not a message I could ever send to the team. Even though there were people in the organization that wanted me to send that, I just couldn't do it."
This, of course, has become a timely and relevant question in Foxborough this week. The Pats are 3-13 and currently own the top pick in the NFL Draft. A win would likely push them down a bit (they're assured of being in the top 5). You know where I stand on this issue (I wrote about it Monday). It sounds like Jerod Mayo, while leaving himself some wiggle room, wants to approach this as Harbaugh (and Belichick) would.
"I've never been a part of a team, as a player or as a coach, going into a game not wanting to win," said Mayo. "It's not going to change today. So that's that's my message to the team."
That was a general overview from Mayo, but the specific question about Drake Maye soon followed. The rookie quarterback got "his bell rung" in Saturday's loss, and there are many outside the organization, and surely a few within, who would like his season to be over and avoid a catastrophic injury that could impede his progress heading into next year.
"Drake is our starting quarterback," said Mayo. "If he's healthy and ready to go, as we go to this week of practice, he'll play."
Mayo didn't say how much, but if he's trying to win, the 22-year-old should start and finish Sunday's game against the Bills, barring a blowout. Shortly after the head coach spoke, the quarterback did, proclaiming himself healthy and ready to go. (****UPDATE - Maye was listed as limited participant on Wednesday's injury report with a right hand injury***)
"I'm preparing like I'm the starter - like I'm gonna be the starter," he said. "So, I'm looking forward to being out there, and I think I'm ready to go out there and win and compete. In a close game, I want to be out there. Getting experiences in these close games, you can't replicate that in practice. I'm looking forward to getting more chances with these guys and end off on a good note."
Maye has 11 starts under his belt but missed the final three quarters of the win over the Jets because of a concussion (although he insisted he didn't have one).
Fellow rookie Joe Milton will likely be elevated to the backup role and, depending on circumstances, play some. Milton smiled when I asked if the coaches had told him he might play.
"Nah, I haven't," he said. "Just been seeing it on social media. Other than that, just preparing as I do every other week. If my name gets called, it gets called."