Does anyone think there is a chance Mayo is one and done?

[Force Zero Boomer]

Maybe a little bit of a weird idea, but what about if Kevin Stefanski is fired in Cleveland... bringing in Stefanski to NE to replace Mayo but keeping Van Pelt?

Stefanski and Van Pelt were pretty solid together in Cleveland, especially last year. The decision to dump AVP was an ownership problem. AVP's one issue is playcalling, which Stefanski would handle. Stefanski could also likely bring in a solid DC, and they would also most likely be happy to work with Wolf at least for a time.

If Stefanski was open to coming in as an assistant HC and playcaller, while Mayo is kept, maybe that works. If Mayo is still awful next year, Stefanski would be a good interim HC.

I like it. Although AVP is already being lined up as the fall guy, there's still time and the means to walk that back, but Eliot "Bad Groceries" Wolf will have to get the axe, along with Covington. Kraft might go for it. He saves face, Mayo goes back into a role he excelled at when at Optum (i.e., he was capable of nothing, nothing was expected of him, so he did nothing other than say stupid ****). They can even turn his mic off on the sideline and he might never know.

 

[Love The Drake]

Realistically speaking it makes sense to try to absorb that Cleveland staff further if they are fired. That crew was good in 2023 with Joe Flacco. Now picture building up the same thing but without the gargantuan fully guaranteed deal to Deshaun Watson hanging as an albatross over your cap picture, plus adding Drake Maye. It aligns with the roster building vision Wolf has.

From earlier today:

If I can get Stefanski, Callahan and Jim Schwartz.
It’s an upgrade over what we have now.
It’s hard to say who is to blame on offense the coaches or the players.
Having a bad o line limits a lot of what you want to run and what you want to run successfully. When the Oline is dominating any coordinator can look like a genius.
Any QB can look great, however when the O line is in shambles the opposite is true.
So what Kraft needs to decide how much of the offense woes are on talent as opposed to coaching.
Every WR regressing aside from Boutte, needs to be under a microscope.
Now on defense it’s hard to blame the players when then 70 to 90 percent of them have not changed.

Covington was an awful hire, and it’s enough in my opinion to get a coach and or GM fired. Van Pelt if a new HC would retain him
I could be talked into it l.

 

[Bobby T]

We went from a coach who would account for each blade of grass on the field to a coach who didn’t realize the wind changed directions mid game.

I saw a 30 second clip of Bill explaining three things he learned from Parcells about playing in the rain and in the back of my mind I was thinking about Mayo and the wind against Tennessee. Depressing.

 

[The Gr8est]

Maybe a little bit of a weird idea, but what about if Kevin Stefanski is fired in Cleveland... bringing in Stefanski to NE to replace Mayo but keeping Van Pelt?

Stefanski and Van Pelt were pretty solid together in Cleveland, especially last year. The decision to dump AVP was an ownership problem. AVP's one issue is playcalling, which Stefanski would handle. Stefanski could also likely bring in a solid DC, and they would also most likely be happy to work with Wolf at least for a time.

If Stefanski was open to coming in as an assistant HC and playcaller, while Mayo is kept, maybe that works. If Mayo is still awful next year, Stefanski would be a good interim HC.

I don’t like any solution that keeps Mayo.

That would just be a half step that delays the inevitable.

There was no good reason to hire Mayo, and even less reason to keep him.

 

[DarrylS]

Tuned into sportstalk radio this AM and Bertram was telling his listeners when they go to the game on Sunday to chant "Fire Mayo" repeated, speaks volumes how now the "Flagship of the Patriots" has gone down the crapper..
Too bad he didn't stay on vacation for a couple of more years.
I went back to Pandora.. as usual.

 

[Love The Drake]

 

[fresnostatealum]

The part that’s bothered me the most is how carefree Mayo has walked around this last month as if he knows he’s bulletproof. He doesn’t have the demeanor of a coach who thinks his job is on the line, and that’s really irritating.

 

[NCPATSFAN1971]

I go back to 1980 which was my first cognizant year of Patriots fandom.

First of all, I will ALWAYS watch the games (as long as there isn't something pulling me away/higher priority/family, etc) and follow the team. That will never change. However, my emotional investment will change.

From 1980 all the way to 2023 it was the same. Certainly years like 1982, 1990, 1992, etc are killers. I was young and still watched. Rudderless operations like 1988, 1999 and 2023 weigh on the soul but you hang in there because of hope.

For me there has to be hope to warrant my emotional investment. If there isn't hope for the future and the product on the field sucks then my emotional investment is low.

This past year was in purgatory....top draft pick...$120m in cap space...stable ownership...seemingly solid QB prospect with high upside..Krafts are still solid owners (as opposed to Victor Kiam). It's all set up for success....but horrible leadership, personnel decisions, and a crap product on the field chewed into that hope in a major way.

I guess i'm emotionally invested still because there is hope. Still posting here, watching the games, reading articles, etc...

However, if they bring back Mayo it'll go down. No question.

"First of all, I will ALWAYS watch the games (as long as there isn't something pulling me away/higher priority/family, etc) and follow the team. That will never change. However, my emotional investment will change."

I've been a solid Pat's Fan since the early 70's and was a season ticket holder back when we traveled to the dust bowl parking lot and sat on those "High School Aluminum Seats" in Foxboro when the team totally sucked. I've also had numerous other occasions throughout the years when I had serious doubts as to whether the team would ever be any good again. But throughout it all, I always had hope that the team would get better. Then of course we experienced the highs of the BB/TB period of outstanding success for which I'll always be grateful.

I suppose I've been somewhat spoiled given the experience of seeing what a great team can look like for so long. I also feel that for me, my emotional downturn for the Patriots began with Post Covid Cam skipping passes off the ground and knowing that if we got behind there was no chance of winning. Then came the Mac Jones Hope/and Disappointment along with the Matt Patricia experiment etc. which all combined was nothing but a series of WTF?

We have a serious problem with our GM and Coaching Staff that does not appear to be able to self correct. Changes need to be made. This team has found new ways to be bad and as a team in many ways has become "Hopeless" and very difficult to watch.

During this coming Sunday's Game against Buffalo will be the first time in over 50 Years that I'll be hoping that the Patriots lose. The last two times we had the Number 1 Pick we drafted Jim Plunkett and Drew Bledsoe which gave a lot of us a renewed hope for the Patriots. The thought of having the same GM and Coaching Staff offers no realistic hope other than a miracle happening for this team to seriously improve next year.

 

[lancerman]

100% agree with Breer. Getting rid of Mayo doesn't fix the team if you are just going to zero in on a former player who learned under an old OC and not address the root problem. And the root problem is that we don't have a modern NFL organization, we have Bill Belichick's power structure that worked when you had a genius in his prime at the top of the game calling all the shots and holding the cards close to his vest. We don't have that guy, and frankly that guy stopped being that guy awhile ago.

Quick moves to get a fast result WILL NOT fix the true problems here. Mayo SHOULD be gone imo. But if you are just going to get rid of him and keep everyone else or have minimal org changes, it won't matter. We have a broken organization that is not run like a modern team and needs real infrastructure. You'll get a tiny bump for getting rid of Mayo and then you'll be mediocre with all the problems that hurt the GOAT HC and will hurt anyone going forward. And in 3-5 years we'll be wondering why we aren't competitive.

 

[Force Zero Boomer]

I don’t like any solution that keeps Mayo.

That would just be a half step that delays the inevitable.

There was no good reason to hire Mayo, and even less reason to keep him.

True, but Ross is trying to operate within the bounds we've been given: Mayo is staying. Kraft's pride will not allow his departure. These moves would essentially make Mayo irrelevant, though nominally still assistant HC. Why irrelevant? Because he's simply not capable of doing the job. He can't figure out which plays to challenge, or when to take timeouts, or when he should argue with the refs, or when he should sit players or not, or how to make tactical changes at halftime, when to go for 2, when a FG is impossible, etc. That vacuum will be there, but now someone with actual HC'ing skills will be positioned to fill it. And he certainly will not be able to reason well enough on the fly to challenge any of Stefanski's decisions. He is a total zero as a coach and "leader of men", and therefore lacks agency. Everything that happens during the game will continue to fly before his eyes like snowflakes, and if things go wrong it will be everyone else's fault, and if things go well he will try to take credit, but everyone will know the true score, except Mayo and dementia-addled Bob Kraft.

It's a brilliant plan.

 

[Steve102]

I came to post this. I think Breer does a nice job breaking it down.

 

[Love The Drake]

I think you hire a football Czar, a GM to build the program how they see fit.
Mayo should get to interview after he is fired.

 

[The Gr8est]

The part that’s bothered me the most is how carefree Mayo has walked around this last month as if he knows he’s bulletproof. He doesn’t have the demeanor of a coach who thinks his job is on the line, and that’s really irritating.

Certainly Mayo often referenced next year, as if it was given that he’d be here, at least he did early on the season.

 

[Love The Drake]

Certainly Mayo often referenced next year, as if it was given that he’d be here, at least he did early on the season.

But the heat has been on the Krafts since then.
I think they need to realize that they are at a crossroads.
You have a Vrabel and a handful of offensive masterminds out there.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I came to post this. I think Breer does a nice job breaking it down.

It's the freaking truth.

 

[gobesmug]

"First of all, I will ALWAYS watch the games (as long as there isn't something pulling me away/higher priority/family, etc) and follow the team. That will never change. However, my emotional investment will change."

I've been a solid Pat's Fan since the early 70's and was a season ticket holder back when we traveled to the dust bowl parking lot and sat on those "High School Aluminum Seats" in Foxboro when the team totally sucked. I've also had numerous other occasions throughout the years when I had serious doubts as to whether the team would ever be any good again. But throughout it all, I always had hope that the team would get better. Then of course we experienced the highs of the BB/TB period of outstanding success for which I'll always be grateful.

I suppose I've been somewhat spoiled given the experience of seeing what a great team can look like for so long. I also feel that for me, my emotional downturn for the Patriots began with Post Covid Cam skipping passes off the ground and knowing that if we got behind there was no chance of winning. Then came the Mac Jones Hope/and Disappointment along with the Matt Patricia experiment etc. which all combined was nothing but a series of WTF?

We have a serious problem with our GM and Coaching Staff that does not appear to be able to self correct. Changes need to be made. This team has found new ways to be bad and as a team in many ways has become "Hopeless" and very difficult to watch.

During this coming Sunday's Game against Buffalo will be the first time in over 50 Years that I'll be hoping that the Patriots lose. The last two times we had the Number 1 Pick we drafted Jim Plunkett and Drew Bledsoe which gave a lot of us a renewed hope for the Patriots. The thought of having the same GM and Coaching Staff offers no realistic hope other than a miracle happening for this team to seriously improve next year.

Agreed that the coaching needs to change but I find the attacks against Wolf to be unfounded.

He resigned key players, didn't overspend on overrated vets in a weak FA class just to make a splash.

He did the smart thing and drafted the right guy at #3, other GMs might have been cute and traded back.

He had a trade in place with the Bills to move up for Legette but was screwed over. His problem there was inexperience. Seems like he was banking on that trade up and didn't have a good plan in place when that fell through.

Polk was terrible pick. Caledon Wallace too early but not looking good. Layden Robinson shows promise. Baker is not working out. Who knows how Milton is looking but he maybe a serviceable back up QB that will save cap space for other positions for a couple seasons.

Nothing stands out as egregious, not like he chose Mayo and is super committed to him. Wasn't there reports that during training camp that Wolf was having doubts about Mayo being the HC?

 

[Steve102]

I go back to 1980 which was my first cognizant year of Patriots fandom.

First of all, I will ALWAYS watch the games (as long as there isn't something pulling me away/higher priority/family, etc) and follow the team. That will never change. However, my emotional investment will change.

From 1980 all the way to 2023 it was the same. Certainly years like 1982, 1990, 1992, etc are killers. I was young and still watched. Rudderless operations like 1988, 1999 and 2023 weigh on the soul but you hang in there because of hope.

For me there has to be hope to warrant my emotional investment. If there isn't hope for the future and the product on the field sucks then my emotional investment is low.

This past year was in purgatory....top draft pick...$120m in cap space...stable ownership...seemingly solid QB prospect with high upside..Krafts are still solid owners (as opposed to Victor Kiam). It's all set up for success....but horrible leadership, personnel decisions, and a crap product on the field chewed into that hope in a major way.

I guess i'm emotionally invested still because there is hope. Still posting here, watching the games, reading articles, etc...

However, if they bring back Mayo it'll go down. No question.

I'm kinda on this program. I go back to the Plunkett/Grogan days, which is to say I remember them trading Plunkett and drafting Grogan. I am grateful that they repaid my emotional and financial commitment with 6 Lombardis, but I am not so sure that level of investment is warranted by me going forward. The Krafts need to pay attention to how the Red Sox have alienated a big swath of the fan base, because they could be headed down the very same road. I have many other interests that I could allow to take up my prime Sunday time in the fall.

 

[Love The Drake]

Alex Van Pelt says Drake Maye will start in Week 18, intends for him to play whole game

On Thursday, New England Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt told the media before practice that rookie quarterback Drake Maye will start in Week 18, and that he intends for him to play whole game.

www.audacy.com

Kiss the 1 goodbye

Parting gift FU

 

[Ross12]

I came to post this. I think Breer does a nice job breaking it down.

I think what's key here is that weeks ago Breer was a "Mayo is definitely safe" guy. Now he says it all needs to be burned to the ground. Is this really JUST HIS OPINION or does he know something?

 

[Steve102]

I think what's key here is that weeks ago Breer was a "Mayo is definitely safe" guy. Now he says it all needs to be burned to the ground. Is this really JUST HIS OPINION or does he know something?

I think it's all clicks related. They know talking about hot seat-itis gets clicks. No one wants to hear them say he's safe and the Krafts aren't going to blow it up. The opposite draws eyeballs.