This same time last year...

[farn]

He had me at ‘Young Thundercat’. But I liked him as a player and I really didn’t think it’d unravel as it did - despite the signs.

 

[JohnJH]

It still boggles my mind that Jerod Mayo was actually hired as an NFL head coach. I’ve never seen worse leadership. Thank goodness Kraft saw how horrible of a mistake that was and fired him immediately after the 2024 season ended. I’m extremely thankful that Vrabel is now the Patriots Head Coach.

I was actually surprised (which I'm rarely surprised by anything), that Kraft admitted his mistake (which I knew Mayo as HC was a mistake and said so on here when he was named HC), by getting rid of him after just one season. It's not something I thought that Kraft was going to do. Then, hopefully righting the ship by getting Vrabel.

 

[denverpatsfan]

I happily ignored all the negative nannies here last summer and early fall. I was hopefull that it would work out for Mayo and the team. Barmore and Judon being "out" really impacted the defense. Those draft picks were brutal. His leadership was even worse. Looking forward not backward.

 

[Real fan 02]

TBF, I don't think there was either true stupidity on Kraft's part or malice on Mayo's.

I think it was a case where Kraft had a sincere belief that he would (or at least could) be a good head coach, and simply failed to think through all of the consequences of his plans when they started to go pear-shaped.

On the flip side, I think Mayo simply was in over his head, and thought that he had a mulligan when he hadn't quite earned one.

According to Curran when he did his NBC Boston segment podcast with Phil Perry around the time mayo was announced as HC he mentioned Bill was on board with mayo eventually being his successor.

the thinking was mayo would continue to grow and spread his wings under Bill. The problem was 2022 happening then 2023.. so the plan was accelerated..

Also internally within the organization glaser and others it was alot of internal strife. So when ownership did decide to part ways the contractual language was already in place for Mayo. That had a large part to do with it. The press conference was probably one of the oddest I've ever seen for a new HC.

I honestly believe Mayo knows football and could possibly become a good HC one day.. however so many factors led into 2024 just being a disaster for him.

 

[Pape]

I honestly believe Mayo knows football and could possibly become a good HC one day.. however so many factors led into 2024 just being a disaster for him.

Huge difference between knowing football and coaching football... any sport, really, not just football

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

According to Curran when he did his NBC Boston segment podcast with Phil Perry around the time mayo was announced as HC he mentioned Bill was on board with mayo eventually being his successor.

the thinking was mayo would continue to grow and spread his wings under Bill. The problem was 2022 happening then 2023.. so the plan was accelerated..

Also internally within the organization glaser and others it was alot of internal strife. So when ownership did decide to part ways the contractual language was already in place for Mayo. That had a large part to do with it. The press conference was probably one of the oddest I've ever seen for a new HC.

I honestly believe Mayo knows football and could possibly become a good HC one day.. however so many factors led into 2024 just being a disaster for him.

This is all correct except Mayo will not be a good head coach one day. Mayo is not HC material. Glaser and others made the situation worse, that is why she is gone. Kraft did reverse course quickly, but it is amazing he got into the Mayo dilemma to start with. It was obvious at the first press conference that Mayo was in way over his head.

 

[State]

Marrone as line coach and McDaniels as OC alone are huge upgrades from last year.

Bingo!

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Agree. Mayo was just a laughable disaster from start to finish. His head coaching career in the nfl will forever go down as a punchline of running jokes about coaching ineptitude

For those of us old enough to remember, it was Kotite-esque. I got to see it up close in Philly where his teams performed worse almost single year. He took over a playoff team and led it to 10,11,8,7 wins then to Jetes to 3 and 1 win seasons. It was watching, " WTF are you doing?" every Sunday.

 

[Real fan 02]

This is all correct except Mayo will not be a good head coach one day. Mayo is not HC material. Glaser and others made the situation worse, that is why she is gone. Kraft did reverse course quickly, but it is amazing he got into the Mayo dilemma to start with. It was obvious at the first press conference that Mayo was in way over his head.

Good points. Admittedly I overlooked those things blindly.. as i had the thinking that Mayo's learned and played for BB.. he has the Patriots DNA in him. He and Stephen coached the defense together. Those were the things I was harping on. However once training camp started it felt like it was the wolf and AVP show... mayo seemed like a conflicted man.. being told he has the final say.. but However seemingly been guided into roster decisions. That right there is where the problems began, and post Bengals the season just spiraled out of control.

 

[Real fan 02]

Huge difference between knowing football and coaching football... any sport, really, not just football

I say this with just an overall thinking that.. if he can't learn from his last experience and coaching is his goal then he'll never succeed. If so chooses to pursue coaching again he should be better prepared to take a role on say someone like Todd Bowles or Tomlin staff. I thought i heard somewhere he was allegedly offered a job on Tomlin staff.. he should take it. Another thing of note is there is no way mayo didn't know he was getting axed... everyone has a phone these day.. I'm sure he, someone on the team, a player saw the sheftcer report the morning of the bills game.. his body language post game told us his knew something.

Redirect Notice

 

[Pape]

. He and Stephen coached the defense together.

that was never really confirmed, was it? It looked like Steve was running the defense... he was calling the defense that year, that we do know for certain... what we don't know was who was responsible for the game planning... and based off of last year, with Covington responsible for the defense, I would hazard a guess it was not Mayo crafting the defensive game plans... Mayo seemingly just spent the season saying "looks good to me"...

 

[Patsfan1645]

Huge difference between knowing football and coaching football... any sport, really, not just football

100% this..........When I was teaching martial arts and we were working with other instructors from other schools I never cared much to see what they could do. I wanted to see their students workout. Then I had a better idea if they could impart some knowledge to our students or if it would be a waste of time. Have seen some very talented athletes over the years that tried to coach and they were horrible at it.

 

[Real fan 02]

that was never really confirmed, was it? It looked like Steve was running the defense... he was calling the defense that year, that we do know for certain... what we don't know was who was responsible for the game planning... and based off of last year, with Covington responsible for the defense, I would hazard a guess it was not Mayo crafting the defensive game plans... Mayo seemingly just spent the season saying "looks good to me"...

Report: Steve Belichick is Patriots defensive play-caller

The Patriots defense is off to a historic start, having allowed only 40 points in their first eight games. And they’ve done it without a defensive coordinator. As has been Bill Belichick’s custom recently (as in last season with then-linebackers coach-now-Dolphins coach Brian Flores), there’s no...

www.nbcsportsboston.com

 

[Real fan 02]

that was never really confirmed, was it? It looked like Steve was running the defense... he was calling the defense that year, that we do know for certain... what we don't know was who was responsible for the game planning... and based off of last year, with Covington responsible for the defense, I would hazard a guess it was not Mayo crafting the defensive game plans... Mayo seemingly just spent the season saying "looks good to me"...

Sent you a piece on it. Goes back to 2019 Mayo's first season Callahan reported. Let me know what you think?

 

[Pape]

Sent you a piece on it. Goes back to 2019 Mayo's first season Callahan reported. Let me know what you think?

Will do

edit - says and doesn't say just what i remembered... steve called the plays in the regular season, makes no mention of the game plans

 

[Real fan 02]

Will do

edit - says and doesn't say just what i remembered... steve called the plays in the regular season, makes no mention of the game plans

Ok, tried to find the commentary piece from Curran and or Callahan on the end of 2022-23 season article that mentioned about mayo running the meetings, and how Stephen wasn't really a vocal guy. So the players gravitated more to mayo.

Of course BB was setting the game plans and tweaking things.. as Stephen was charged with play calling. Pretty much BB was Jipetto on the defense.

 

[Wozzy]

This time last year my optimism had been pretty beaten down by this point. I knew under no condition was their offensive line going to be good… Wolf screwed up the team build. And poor line play means poor team almost by default.

This year is the polar opposite, not that injuries couldn’t completely derail this season, but if they stay healthy “talent” won’t be the reason they failed. I’m far more confident this season.

 

[XLIX]

My thoughts now are as my thoughts were then:

I know Kraft promised Mayo the HC job after BB but they should have EACH realized he wasn’t ready and agreed it would benefit them BOTH for him to stay below the HC, probably in a DC role.

 

[Real fan 02]

My thoughts now are as my thoughts were then:

I know Kraft promised Mayo the HC job after BB but they should have EACH realized he wasn’t ready and agreed it would benefit them BOTH for him to stay below the HC, probably in a DC role.

Mayo should have taken the opportunities he had outside the organization.. Browns, Falcons, Panthers..

 

[Real fan 02]

I happily ignored all the negative nannies here last summer and early fall. I was hopefull that it would work out for Mayo and the team. Barmore and Judon being "out" really impacted the defense. Those draft picks were brutal. His leadership was even worse. Looking forward not backward.

Me too. Admittedly even when it was unraveling I was still trying find some positives.. what really lost me was the Jags game.. 17x in a row and you can't call a play to stop it