Bedard: There was second guessing about Mayo over summer and him getting a second year isn't guaranteed

[Force Zero Boomer]

He finally started Maye! . The one positive I can take of things so far.

It’s true, BUT… every coach should want to play his best players. I suspect he wanted to start Maye game 1, but got overruled by the development argument and once the OL’s problems manifested there was probably a desire to protect Drake.

 

[PancakeBlockPaul]

This means that Mayo is not setting direction which means that he is not setup to lead the team in an effective way. Young coaches are often too willing to make compromises to get the job only to look bad because they didn't put themselves in a situation to be successful. Wolf is seeming more like Grier every day.

You can't put yourself in a situation to be successful. Technically not taking a job you aren't qualified to do may count, but it's mainly the people that did your hiring that is responsible for putting you in a position to succeed or suck. You have no control over what they have in their plans or have in place already (players mainly or lack of). I think he was dealt a ****ty hand and is a huge **** sandwich they're all going to have to take a bite. Well except BK, he will be exonerated by his new documentary, due out on Netflix, 2 years after Mayo leaves.

 

[skinnydog]

The immediate problem is the locker room, Mayo's statements to the media, and the failure to correct truly horrible defensive scheming and game plans. Those are the responsibility of Mayo.

Equally immediate is the lack of talent on this team. No real help for the defense in free agency, trading Judson, no help in the draft and then injuries and then Peppers. A lot of that is on Wolf. Mediocre coaching staff around Mayo and while Maye looks extremely promising no one else the brought in does. I don’t know if Mayo will cut it as a head coach, but he’s got a poor supporting cast.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Schefter weighing in and saying the noise around Mayo already is a really bad sign for him.

 

[Ross12]

Schefter weighing in and saying the noise around Mayo already is a really bad sign for him.

Schefter is literally a direct line to Kraft

 

[Ian]

I think Wolf knows what he’s doing, and he and Alonzo Highsmith have both consistently done well everywhere they’ve been and they’re both solid. I think from a roster building standpoint - especially building a nucleus and a group for the future, I believe both should stay and I hope Kraft doesn’t do anything there. I think if Maye plays well, they’ll have a better shot attracting free agents after getting spurned by the top tier guys this offseason.

But Mayo needs to get a handle on this and stop creating new problems by airing things out publicly. I get being transparent, but he’s taking things to the nth degree and guys are prideful and as we’ve seen, they’re not going to just take it, nor will they just bury the hatchet. If it continues to be dysfunctional for ridiculous reasons, I could see Kraft moving on from him rather than prolonging it.

Losing games is one thing. But unnecessarily creating problems to solve that also contributes to losing is just unwise and it creates stupid drama that gets in the way of both winning and establishing a championship mindset.

They’ve got injuries, but they’re not bad enough to be getting blown out every week. Not that I want to have this discussion, but we’ve seen Belichick win with worse. I feel like there’s more to it with how things have gone.

If you want to say guys are playing soft, you say it behind closed doors. If a guy isn’t performing, you keep it in house. For a guy who claims to know so much about the younger generation, I don’t feel like this is the right way to go. But what do I know.

 

[mgteich]

I think Wolf knows what he’s doing, and he and Alonzo Highsmith have both consistently done well everywhere they’ve been and they’re both solid. I think from a roster building standpoint - especially building a nucleus and a group for the future, I believe both should stay and I hope Kraft doesn’t do anything there. I think if Maye plays well, they’ll have a better shot attracting free agents after getting spurned by the top tier guys this offseason.

But Mayo needs to get a handle on this and stop creating new problems by airing things out publicly. I get being transparent, but he’s taking things to the nth degree and guys are prideful and as we’ve seen, they’re not going to just take it, nor will they just bury the hatchet. If it continues to be dysfunctional for ridiculous reasons, I could see Kraft moving on from him rather than prolonging it.

Losing games is one thing. But unnecessarily creating problems to solve that also contributes to losing is just unwise and it creates stupid drama that gets in the way of both winning and establishing a championship mindset.

They’ve got injuries, but they’re not bad enough to be getting blown out every week. Not that I want to have this discussion, but we’ve seen Belichick win with worse. I feel like there’s more to it with how things have gone.

If you want to say guys are playing soft, you say it behind closed doors. If a guy isn’t performing, you keep it in house. For a guy who claims to know so much about the younger generation, I don’t feel like this is the right way to go. But what do I know.

Fair enough.

I had forgotten about Highsmith. Wolf has a pretty good team of 25 or so. Kraft should be giving Wolf 2-3 years to work the plan that he worked out, surely with the approval of the Kraft's. If Kraft really wants to interfere a bit, he could suggest that we might trade for a LB or NT in the next week. However, it is a bit silly to think that Wolf hasn't thought of that.
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THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HOUSE
Who's in charge? Where is the discipline?

Does Mayo have anything to say about the Offense? If not AVP and McAdoo have to put the house in order, reduce penalties and get everyone on the same page.

With regard to the Defense, Covington needs help. No team should be able to run 17 times in a row and succeed against us. There are many approaches. Covington doesn't seem at all ready? Why are we running a 10-year old base Defense instead of a 5-6 DB base? What influence does Mayo have on the Defense. If he can't help the Defense, he truly is a figurehead, and a poor one at that.
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BOTTOM LINE
After this week in England, I feel much as I did after the game in Germany. The die is cast. Changes need to be made. he only question is when.

 

[mgteich]

I floated the idea of bringing in Saleh to help out on the Defense. That opportunity is now gone; he's been hired by GB.

 

[Ross12]

Some of the team reporters were saying that the locker room today didn’t “feel right” and there were a lot of bad vibes. Guys still chirping/*****ing, no sign of any changes.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Some of the team reporters were saying that the locker room today didn’t “feel right” and there were a lot of bad vibes. Guys still chirping/*****ing, no sign of any changes.

People talk, lets see how they play Sunday.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

If you have a shot getting Ben Johnson as your HC can you pass on that?

Does having Ben Johnson as HC and Mike Vrabel as DC an option ?

 

[Thelonious]

We are presently - mutatis mutandis, as my old professor would have put it - at the same point in the arc of Mayo's tenure as we were with respect to Bill's tenure prior to his last year. The difference in length of tenure, oddly but genuinely in my mind, does not matter. Many, myself included, felt at the end of Bill's second-to-last year (or before) that Bill was a failed GM and a failing HC, and that he had to go. The commentariat nearly to man, and many fans, disagreed. They defended Bill, asserting that he remained as capable a team leader at that point as he had been through the glory years. Whether the commentators felt this way (or expressed this view, however they may genuinely have felt) had to do with their dependence on a copacetic relationship with the owners or the team's other bigwigs - their sources - I do not know, but I have my suspicions.

Recently, many commentators - led by that company man ass-kisser Bert Breer - have been assuring us that Jerod has what it takes to turn this around. Even Phil Perry, the commentator whom I probably most respect, is speaking dismissively of the prospect that the team might part ways with Mayo at season's end, and is dropping implications, at least, that doing so would be a precipitious and unwise thing to do. Only pontificating bombthrower Greg Bedard is speaking clearly for the opposite view. (I'll confess to feeling a little squeamish about agreeing with him, but oh well.)

I think those who hold such views are in denial. It seems to me obvious that Mayo is not up to the job. The head coach who rose to his position on the presumption that he would be a masterful builder of culture and leader of men presides over the worst team in the league, a team characterized by toxic and counterproductive relationships, by sloppy play, by endless confused and contradictory statements on every aspect of the team's goals, by empty threats and unfulfilled promises, and by regression over time in all these areas. The team's only bright spot is the drafting and perhaps the development of Drake Maye, and Mayo has had nothing to do with either.

Reticence in acknowledging a similarly adverse set of facts with respect to Bill's being granted his final year resulted in a wasted, even damaging year, a year's setback in the rebuilding of a team desperately in need of a rebuild. Indulging similar weak-kneed denial in the case of Mayo will simlarly result in yet another such wasted year. This hire - these hires - did not work. One ought not be surpised at this, frankly, given the sloppy, unprofessional, and irresponsibly whimsical "hiring proicess" that preceded the hires. Those who "urge patience" are not urging patience at all: they are urging irrespsonsible timidty in acknowledging these facts.

It is time to cut losses. Enough of the happy talk. Enough of this damned "collaboration."

 

[sportnik]

I think it can work, but Mayo's not delegating. Wolf is delegating the offense to AVP around Mayo. And Mayo has to be the public face of it.

The offense is actually improving & the QB appears to be getting decent coaching. The defense on the other hand is getting worse every week & was a complete embarssement against JAX. Mayo is supposed to be a defensive coach. But apparently he either doesn't have a clue how to coach the D or he feels it's beneath him to get his hands dirty with actual coaching. Either way, the guy brings nothing to the table & there isn't a single reason to think anything is going to improve until he's fired.

 

[KCSVEN]

The offense is actually improving & the QB appears to be getting decent coaching. The defense on the other hand is getting worse every week & was a complete embarssement against JAX. Mayo is supposed to be a defensive coach. But apparently he either doesn't have a clue how to coach the D or he feels it's beneath him to get his hands dirty with actual coaching. Either way, the guy brings nothing to the table & there isn't a single reason to think anything is going to improve until he's fired.

It's so hard to tell on coaches without talent

2 of the top 3 run defenders were Bentley and Barmore with Peppers not far down the list. The best pass rusher last year was Barmore, 49 pressures, 34 hurries, 5 batted balls. He had 8.5 sacks and Wise was next at 4.5. They cannot get to the QB at all without blitzing.

The talent has been drained from last year due to injury and the Peppers thing, but Barmore was the one star level player that made difference making plays in the front 7. For BB to say he had the same guys and were 6th in run defense is an absolute joke, he had 3 of the better run defenders playing.

As to the locker room vibe mentioned, they are losing bad, I'm sure most teams losing bad have a bad vibe in the locker room, that's all overstated IMO.

Greatest coach of all-time had a terrible record last year, Why? Lack of SKILL AND TALENT.

Problem with Mayo is he has no track record and people like to obsess about non-football stuff which is generally overblown. Add to that he likes to be more open than BB ever was and people can't wait to destroy him for whatever he says.

The offense is actually starting to play half decently since they got a QB but are limited by Line and receiver AKA SKILL AND TALENT.
I watched the defensive tape a bit this week, they don't have guys that can fill the Bentley position or the Barmore position so have to play guys where they are not suited. Again: SKILL AND TALENT.

I have no idea if Covington or Mayo are bad coaches or not and agree early returns are not good. I do know first year coaches almost always struggle badly, Texans an outlier. They lack TALENT AND SKILL and until they have some not sure I can definitively judge the coaching.

Look at Kyle Shanahan 2017 and 2018 record. Everyone here would have fired him.

 

[Triumph]

Krafts decisions:

1 Allowed Brady to leave and win a Super Bowl.
2 Adopted Mac Jones like the son he never had. Never wanted too.
3 Protected Mac Jones from being let go in lieu of Baker Mayfield. Kraft saw a winner in Corky.
4 Had a gut feeling about a former player and NE coach as the next great NFL HC. So, he promises him the job. Kraft saw something in him too.
5 Fired the GOAT HC Bill Belichick.

At the next NFL owners meeting who would listen to what Kraft has to offer? This old fart is one of our leaders and front men?

 

[50-yard-line]

They've hit rock bottom.

For all the details/excuses of it - new coaching, new offense, injuries all over the defense, rookies everywhere (this team is thick with first and second year players) - the bottom line for Mayo this year is controlling the culture as they get through the lumps. At that, he is failing miserably.

Between his own remarks and the constant chirping by the players, the Patriot Way is starting to look more like the Real Housewives of New England.

They're becoming worse than just a bad team - that was expected through what has to be a multi-year rebuild. They're becoming a bad joke.

 

[grux]

Adam Schefter on Jerod Mayo today:“There is a big acclimation occurring for a lot of coaches who step in and don’t realize all of the responsibilities that come along with it.”“I would guess that the #Patriots and Jerod Mayo are realizing, ‘Wow, this is larger than we realized.’”

 

[Froob]

Because he proved incapable.
The best argument anyone has to defend Wolf is he couldn’t pursuade any players to sign here. Meaning he couldn’t do his job.

What specific players should he have signed?

 

[archstanton543]

It is time to cut losses. Enough of the happy talk. Enough of this damned "collaboration."

Everything in life is a collaboration. No man is an island and all that.

 

[lancerman]

Schefter weighing in and saying the noise around Mayo already is a really bad sign for him.

Usually when it's this public, it is a bad sign. It means Kraft and people in the building aren't invested in shielding him. Same thing happened with Bill last year. Once the discourse about job security and how much buy in they have becomes public without a serious full court press to counter it, it's usually the front office saying "you are on your own, fix this yourself or we move on".