FOXBOROUGH – What did they expect?
Heading into Saturday’s Patriots game, it’s a fair question for Patriots ownership. After all, when a team struggles, problems historically start at the top. When Tom Brady left town and the Patriots failed to put together a winning record in three of four seasons, Bill Belichick was blamed. He was the head coach and general manager. Change was needed.
That brings us to Saturday’s disaster.
Watching the Los Angeles Chargers, and their new head coach Jim Harbaugh run circles around the Patriots and their new head coach Jerod Mayo felt like the type of loss that results in heads rolling.
Considering Robert Kraft and Jonathan Kraft looked dejected in Arizona when likely talking about Alex Van Pelt, it has felt like the scapegoat will be the veteran offensive coordinator. It doesn’t seem fair to only blame Van Pelt, who’s working with one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL and no elite pass-catching weapons.
That’s not to say that Van Pelt should be safe. After the Patriots 40-7 blowout loss, no one should be.
If Van Pelt gets fired, the Patriots should also fire defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington. He’s done less with more. The Patriots don’t have an elite roster but have more NFL-caliber starters on defense than on offense. On Saturday, they became the first Patriots team to have allowed two 40-point games in one season since 2005. That was the only time it happened in the Belichick era.
This season, Mayo hasn’t exactly looked ready for his job. Considering he was never a defensive coordinator (although he split some of the duties with Steve Belichick), it’s not a complete surprise that this first-time head coach looks green. He’s tripped over himself at the podium. In-game adjustments have been slow. His team hasn’t always looked improved.
Is it Mayo’s fault that he wasn’t ready for this?
It’s on Patriots ownership.
As Saturday’s game wore on, “Fire Mayo” broke out three times. The first chant started with 11:06 on the clock in the fourth quarter after another Patriots punt. The second came at 4:35 of the fourth quarter following a Patriots turnover on downs that led to a Chargers field goal.
When the clock hit zero, the chant broke out once more. As players went on the field to shake hands, the Gillette Stadium crowd let everyone know how they felt with two simple words.
“Fire Mayo!”
Although it feels like the Patriots are going to blame their offensive coordinator, the truth is the blame comes to Kraft himself.
The Patriots owner made two head coaching hires before last year bringing in Pete Carroll and Belichick. That’s a great trackrecord. After hiring Mayo, Kraft said he went with his gut. The owner was so sure of the hire that he put a succession plan in Mayo’s contract. That led to an icy relationship between Belichick and Mayo in 2023. At the time, Belichick signed a recent extension that would’ve kept him in New England through the 2024 season.
Had everything worked out, Belichick would’ve remained in Foxborough, broken the NFL wins record, and rode off into the sunset. After that, Mayo would’ve taken over and the Patriots could reset. Maybe he’d get one or two more years to develop.
Instead, the fast-forward button was hit and the succession plan got moved up to 2024. Kraft opted to go with his gut instead of holding a legitimate coaching search. Considering he’s the owner of the Patriots; he has the right to do that. However, bypassing a legitimate search made it so Kraft wasn’t necessarily hiring the best candidate.
Had he done that, it would’ve been interesting to see how Mayo would’ve stacked up against the likes of Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson. What would Mayo have said when asked about the type of offense he wanted to run? Would he have had a name for an offensive coordinator?
Mayo landed on Van Pelt after interviewing 11 candidates and offering the job to Nick Caley. He hired candidate No. 12 in Van Pelt. It certainly didn’t feel like Mayo had a very good plan when it came to putting together his staff – other than hiring Covington as his defensive coordinator. Mayo also offered his special teams coordinator job to Marquice Williams, who opted to stay in Atlanta.
Watching the Patriots fumble their way through the coaching staff hiring process was the first sign that things weren’t going well in New England. As this season has played out, it’s clear the Patriots don’t have an elite never mind an above-average coaching staff. The team has been routinely embarrassed this season. Mayo clearly needs more help.
As players point out, problems have been everywhere.
“Everybody plays a part in it. It’s not just Jerod Mayo. That’s above my pay grade,” Davon Godchaux said. “Everybody plays a part – players, coaches, front office. Everybody.”
That includes ownership. They’re the ones that hired Eliot Wolf, after conducting what felt like a sham front-office hiring process after the 2024 NFL Draft. That’s not to say Wolf wasn’t qualified but his first season, other than staying put and drafting Drake Maye, is off to a bad start. He whiffed in the second round with Ja’Lynn Polk. He was reminded of that on Saturday by watching Ladd McConkey total more receiving yards than all Patriots rookie pass catchers have combined this season. His inability to find quality offensive line help has put the Patriots in a tough position where they’re starting two below-average tackles.
With one game left, it remains to be seen which head will roll.
Mayo deserves blame for the way his team has looked ill-prepared. Van Pelt deserves blame for an offensive that looks woefully inefficient. Covington deserves blame for the way the defense has regressed. Wolf deserves blame for the Patriots missing on veteran free agents and draft picks. Kraft deserves blame for putting those in charge in the driver’s seat.
Things look bad in New England right now. This once-dynastic franchise looks like a joke. Problems, like most, start at the top. It’s now up to ownership to correct course. They could fire everyone and hold a legitimate search for a coach. They could bring in new coordinators and a better support system for Mayo. That’s if they can convince a coordinator to come to work for a head coach who might be on the hot seat in 2025. They could also bring everyone back and hope that a better roster leads to better results.
That doesn’t seem likely at this point. On Saturday, one Patriots player said he hopes changes are made in New England.
“I mean, I hope so. If changes aren’t made then what are we doing?” Keion White said. “The NFL is a production-based business so if we’re not doing anything to change our production, which is loss, what are we doing?”
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