PostGame Thread 2024 OFFICIAL PostGame Thread: Week 13 - Patriots lose to Colts 25-24

[mike_usagisan]

He does not seem to make ANY decisions, at all... he defers playcalling on both sides to his OC and DC, and he defers in-game management to the booth (whether that is Evan Rothstein himself or someone else up there telling Evan what to tell Jerod). He won't call a timeout, challenge, go for 2, or do any kind of HC decision making without being told to do it.

So, essentially Mayo does nothing. Which I think is pretty obvious from watching the games. We never see him do anything.

Pretty much all head coaches do most of the following throughout the game:
- Takes notes or writes things down
- Has a playsheet and/or a tablet from which he reviews what just happened/is going on in-game to make adjustments
- Talks to the refs to gauge things
- Yells at the refs for bad calls or things he doesn't agree with
- Talks to his bench/pulls players together to plan something or even just rally the troops
- Speaks with his QB after drives

I have never seen Mayo do any of these things. All I have seen him do is wander aimlessly and fidget with his headset as if he is pretending to use it.

Right, so I guess if the complaints are about the playcalling, we need to hold the coordinators accountable. As for Mayo, I guess we need to judge him on the coaching during practices? Like the false starts seems like a thing that should be coached out of them. But it doesn't seem to be getting a whole lot better.

 

[turkeyneck]

Well after watching yesterday I am now firmly in the AVP needs to go as well category. I had been leaning this way for a couple weeks but now its solidified. I mean come on, is he even watching the game or does he have the entire game just scripted. Gibson had the hot hand and yet at the end when we needed to score we went back to Rham..wtf? Gibson was carving up the defense yesterday with a speed that Rham doesn't have. Rham carried 18 times for 73 yards (4.1 avg) and Gibson carried 7 for 62 (8.9 avg). That's the guy we are supposed to be throwing the ball to but we don't and yet he was ripping it up on the ground. We continue to try to run up the middle on first down the majority of the time, it never changes and that was the strength of the Colts D. I guess one size does fit all? I also recall on a 3rd and less than a yard instead of letting our big QB do a sneak and pick up the first we pitch it back to Rham to do the same play that rarely works on first downs. I see people saying that AVP called a decent ( as in serviceable) game and at times I agree but we remain very predictable and rarely adjust. I would like to see more variety in the play calling, some RPO, throw the ball to Gibson more (please show AVP some videos of James White) especially when Rham is getting stuffed at the line and stop trying to have him run wide as he isn't fast enough and we don't have the line to create positive yardage. I just don't think AVP play calling is good beyond a basic level.

I'd keep AVP as QB coach if he'd take the demotion but he is not the right guy to be calling plays in the heat of action. The higher the pressure the more he reverts to the most simplistic.

 

[Ross12]

Right, so I guess if the complaints are about the playcalling, we need to hold the coordinators accountable. As for Mayo, I guess we need to judge him on the coaching during practices? Like the false starts seems like a thing that should be coached out of them. But it doesn't seem to be getting a whole lot better.

He's already told us "there's nothing he can do for them".

 

[Ross12]

I'd keep AVP as QB coach if he'd take the demotion but he is not the right guy to be calling plays in the heat of action. The higher the pressure the more he reverts to the most simplistic.

To give AVP the slight benefit of the doubt, he's green as a playcaller and is used to having a Kevin Stefanski both A) calling the plays and B) making the big decisions.

Now he is being tasked with both playcalling AND making decisions. If they had given him a HC who wasn't a playcaller but was at least competent enough to say "Hey Alex, let's be conservative and drain clock here" or "Hey Alex, let's push it here" and give him some direction, it would probably make his life a lot easier by giving him less to worry about. Too much on his plate all at once.

 

[mike_usagisan]

He's already told us "there's nothing he can do for them".

He said there's nothing he can do once they're on the field. But that begs the question, "What are you doing to emphasize it in practice? And if they're not getting it in practice, what are you doing wrong?"

 

[Ross12]

He said there's nothing he can do once they're on the field. But that begs the question, "What are you doing to emphasize it in practice? And if they're not getting it in practice, what are you doing wrong?"

In an interview last week he said he would normally deal with this by bench the players who are committing the penalties, but he doesn't have anyone else to put on the field who is capable, so he's not going to.

So the conclusion that can be drawn here is that he's not really doing anything about it.

 

[Force Zero Boomer]

Right, so I guess if the complaints are about the playcalling, we need to hold the coordinators accountable. As for Mayo, I guess we need to judge him on the coaching during practices? Like the false starts seems like a thing that should be coached out of them. But it doesn't seem to be getting a whole lot better.

He just stands around at practice too. How do I know? If he was doing it in practice, he'd be doing it during the game.

 

[mike_usagisan]

In an interview last week he said he would normally deal with this by bench the players who are committing the penalties, but he doesn't have anyone else to put on the field who is capable, so he's not going to.

So the conclusion that can be drawn here is that he's not really doing anything about it.

Yeah, that's fair, though benching shouldn't be the only option (if that's what Mayo was saying). They wanted a player's coach and got one. But when actual hardass coaching is called for, I assume they don't have anyone to do it.

 

[Ross12]

Yeah, that's fair. They wanted a player's coach and got one. But when actual hardass coaching is called for, I assume they don't have anyone to do it.

IMO, they wanted a players' coach and just got a player pretending to be a coach.

 

[jdlboot14]

I was screaming for Mayo to use one of their last 2 timeouts when Colts had their last 3rd down in the red zone. That's a place where you have to take a moment to put your best stuff out there, because the duration of the drive and momentum were all with the Colts.
Sure you want to save 1 for a last ditch offensive possession, but if you stop them from scoring, you don't need it.

 

[mike_usagisan]

IMO, they wanted a players' coach and just got a player pretending to be a coach.

Let me ask this, purely as a hypothetical, if AVP were more experienced and better at calling plays, and Covington were better at reacting to what's happening and adjusting the defense, would it matter that Mayo is useless?

 

[jdlboot14]

There's a fine line with changing staff for a rookie QB - we saw it go the worst possible way with Mac, so I think AVP deserves another year (with maybe a couple different position coaches)
But on Defense - that side should get some overhaul. If Mayo stays - and we all know he will - we need a seasoned disciplinarian DC.
Offense has improved during the season, but Defense has increasingly stunk during the year.

 

[condon84]

With the game on the line, our defense gave up a 19 play game winning drive to the worst play caller in the league.

 

[Thelonious]

There's a fine line with changing staff for a rookie QB - we saw it go the worst possible way with Mac, so I think AVP deserves another year (with maybe a couple different position coaches)
But on Defense - that side should get some overhaul. If Mayo stays - and we all know he will - we need a seasoned disciplinarian DC.
Offense has improved during the season, but Defense has increasingly stunk during the year.

When I was kid, I could afford a car, but I could nor afford to keep it in proper repair. If an exhaust pipe sprung a leak, I would paint a little muffler cement around the hole, then wrap a cut-up tin can around the pipe and secure it with a couple of hose or pipe clamps. Keeping Mayo around with a few patchwork helpers would be the same sort of half-arsed fix. Get it over with: replace him.

 

[sb1]

With the game on the line, our defense gave up a 19 play game winning drive to the worst play caller in the league.

With the Colts going 3/3 on fourth down including the TD.

 

[Thelonious]

He's already told us "there's nothing he can do for them".

He had a point there for a change.

 

[Ross12]

Let me ask this, purely as a hypothetical, if AVP were more experienced and better at calling plays, and Covington were better at reacting to what's happening and adjusting the defense, would it matter that Mayo is useless?

Yes, because Mayo still has a role to play and he is not fulfilling it. You simply can't just be a "CEO Coach" in the NFL. If AVP and Covington were both experienced and competent, it would definitely produce more wins, but it wouldn't ever produce more than a ~.500 team without the HC doing his job too. That is how the one-score games are won and lost.

You can point to this game being a one-score game, but it was against one of the worst teams in the league. Their "one-score losses" have been against the lowly Colts, Titans, the Snoop Huntley-led Dolphins, the Rams who are very hot-and-cold right now, and the Seahawks all the way back in week 2.

They lost to the freakin' Jaguars by 16 points and the Jets the first time by 21 points. They lost to the Texans, 49ers and Tua-led Dolphins by an average of 19 points and only because most of those teams let their feet off the gas.

So they are basically just barely managing one-score losses against the worst teams in the league, losing big instead to some of them, and occasionally barely managing a one-score win against some of them (the 16 point Bears win being the one exception), and then being utterly trounced by the actual good teams.

But I guess if you ask Mayo, "if you get rid of all the losses by more than one score, they have been in all the games til the end" right?

 

[condon84]

With the Colts going 3/3 on fourth down including the TD.

They also had a catch that should have been challenged and most likely overturned had it beeen reviewed.

And the funniest part on top of the worst player caller is that Richardson is historically the most inaccurate QB we have ever seen the past 20 years

 

[mgteich]

Their D will still terrible outside of Gonzo.

absolute nonsense

 

[Real fan 02]

Kyed beat me to it... if they didn't allow that last drive it also wouldn't be a conversation.

Also an NFL record 68 yard kick in New England in the cold? Cmon man. It's not like you're in the thinner Denver air and you have Sebastian Janikowski in his prime as your kicker not Slye.

I go back to the last offensive series. The offense is the side of the ball that has gotten better.. the defense can't be trusted.. the 3 and out on offense was deflating that's really where the game was lost.