Jerod Mayo is trying to do an honorable thing but he’s missing the bigger picture.
On Wednesday, the first-year Patriots coach sure sounded like he planned to start rookie quarterback Drake Maye in the Patriots’ game against the Bills on Sunday even though Buffalo is expected to rest and limit a large percentage of its regulars. If he sticks to his word — not always a guarantee with Mayo’s public statements about who is and isn’t starting — he’s going to play his franchise quarterback in a game where winning could cost New England a very valuable first-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
With a healthy dose of self-righteousness, Mayo said he’s “never been a part of a team, as a player or a coach, where we haven’t gone out there and tried to win the game.”
First of all, that’s not accurate. He was part of the 2014 Patriots, who didn’t care about winning on Dec. 28 against the Bills when Tom Brady watched the entire second half and Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski didn’t play at all.
New England put its health for the upcoming playoffs ahead of a meaningless game against the Bills. Buffalo won 17-9 in a game so insignificant Mayo seems to have forgotten it happened. Mayo was on injured reserve, but he was a captain on that team. Thirty-five days later the Patriots beat Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
But even if that wasn’t true, it shouldn’t matter. Mayo has also never been part of a team that’s 3-13 heading into the final week of the season either. Pretending this game is meaningful could lead to more meaningless games.
The difference between picking first and fourth or fifth this year is huge. There are just two quarterbacks in this draft who are clear first-round talents — Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders. There are several teams who badly need a quarterback. Historically those teams will trade a lot to move up. The Patriots need a lot. That kind of haul could drastically speed up a rebuild. It would be negligent to ignore that.
There’s a big difference between not trying to win and trying to lose.
It would be obviously wrong to throw interceptions on purpose or intentionally miss tackles. But the Patriots do those things without trying. When the ball is kicked off just after 1 p.m., whichever Patriots and Bills players are on the field should be playing to win. But Maye shouldn’t be among them.
He should be the emergency quarterback. Nothing good comes from having Maye active. While the Patriots winning would be an unfortunate result, Maye suffering a significant injury would be catastrophic. They should start Joe Milton and have Jacoby Brissett back him up. Give Maye a hat and a headset.
Even if Christian Gonzalez is cleared to come out of concussion protocol, there’s no reason to risk him sustaining another one. Anybody who is battling any kind of an injury — Kyle Dugger etc. — is worth being careful with.
If a Bills win or loss impacted the AFC Playoff picture in any way, — if a Buffalo loss meant another team would make the playoffs — there would be an argument for approaching the game with some sense of urgency. Even then it would be a shaky argument for the Patriots to willingly weaken their own future to help another team’s present. But there would at least be honor in that.
But the Bills are locked into the No. 2 overall seed. Like Mayo’s forgotten 2014 Patriots, they’re looking ahead to the playoffs and protecting their health. There is no real difference between doing that and the Patriots sitting players. Both would smartly be trying to improve their future. What’s acceptable for a good team should be just as acceptable for a bad one.
It’s not too late. Point to Maye’s hand injury and sit him down.
The NFL clearly doesn’t care. If the league didn’t want teams to make decisions with their draft position in mind, they’d institute a lottery.
This game means nothing to anybody. There are plenty of available seats on the secondary market for under $50.
Sitting Maye and other starters against the Bills IS about trying to win. It’s about trying to win games that actually do matter next year instead of a meaningless one on Sunday.
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
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