Draft worst case has emerged for Pats at 4

[Triumph]

This is such a silly take. Football teams are supposed to win.

There's no way that Milton wasn't balling out.

If the Pats had the # 1 pick, that likely means that they would be trading down. The Chargers walked away with 3 good players last draft so just stand pat at 4th draft position and get what this club needs to move ahead.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

You spelled smaht wrong.

 

[Lansdowne]

It was more a case of Buffalo wanting to lose more than the Pats. Mayo went with his 3rd string QB and several other backups. That seems likely they were trying to lose. Milton just happened to have an excellent game.

Agreed, Buffalo absolutely wanted to lose more. They stood nothing to gain from winning since they were the 2 seed regardless of outcome. They stood everything to gain from losing to prevent the Pats from picking first overall. You could even see McDermott smiling toward the end of the game. He outcoached Mayo in “defeat”.

The difference was McDermott saw Trubisky was doing well so he benched him and had White play the 4th quarter. Mayo could’ve done the same and benched Milton for Brissett. He stuck with the hot hand instead.

I think Kraft firing his hand-picked guy an hour after the game instead of a day after says everything about what transpired not just that season but that day as well. Kraft’s Israel travel buddy was no longer wearing his blue square pin, despite knowing how important that was to Kraft. There were no more discussions to be had because they were already had before the game.

Mayo should’ve been fired weeks beforehand. The Panthers fired Frank Reich after only 11 games. The Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett after only 12 games. The Jaguars fired Urban Meyer after only 13 games. There are plenty of other coaches, rookie and experienced, who were fired before the end of their only season with their team, and it was clear Mayo was in over his head and should’ve been let go. I think Kraft was too worried about the optics of letting go of his hand-picked Belichick successor before the end of the season, and that’s his fault for failing to act sooner. If Mayo knew he was going to be back he would’ve thrown the game to get that 1st overall pick. That second half was a good opportunity to sit Milton and Boutte, who had shown enough at that point of the game to rest and be preserved for the next season. The Bills were playing prevent defense all day and begging the Pats to move the chains on them.

What’s done is done. I’m happy to put my trust in Vrabel to make the most of it.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Mayo should’ve been fired weeks beforehand. The Panthers fired Frank Reich after only 11 games. The Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett after only 12 games. The Jaguars fired Urban Meyer after only 13 games.

Reich was fired after going 1-10. Hackett was actually fired after 15 games. Meyer was fired for being a jackass.

If Mayo knew he was going to be back he would’ve thrown the game to get that 1st overall pick. That second half was a good opportunity to sit Milton and Boutte, who had shown enough at that point of the game to rest and be preserved for the next season. The Bills were playing prevent defense all day and begging the Pats to move the chains on them.

Kraft admitted that he had screwed up by hiring a "one-team guy," and that's part of the reason he was reluctant to can him even when it became clear he wasn't getting the guy he thought he was getting.

OTOH, remember that Mayo was there when Belichick refused to tank (e.g., give Stidham a chance to start) after being eliminated with two weeks to go in 2020, so I don't know that he would've tanked if he had known he was coming back.

 

[Ring 6]

Here's an even bigger joke that you, the OP and all the other pearl-clutching draft dweebs can chew on: the mistaken belief that picking No. 1 -- especially in THIS draft -- amounts to more than a crap shoot, regardless of who we'd end up with.

The value of 1 would have been the bounty we could have gotten from trading down.

We literally would have ended up with the most resources any team has ever had in an off season.
But it didn’t happen so crying about it is pointless.

 

[Ring 6]

Reich was fired after going 1-10. Hackett was actually fired after 15 games. Meyer was fired for being a jackass.


Kraft admitted that he had screwed up by hiring a "one-team guy," and that's part of the reason he was reluctant to can him even when it became clear he wasn't getting the guy he thought he was getting.

OTOH, remember that Mayo was there when Belichick refused to tank (e.g., give Stidham a chance to start) after being eliminated with two weeks to go in 2020, so I don't know that he would've tanked if he had known he was coming back.

Mayo wasn’t fired for winning the last game. He was fired for being the worst HC in the NFL by quite a margin.
Kraft is very good at listening to criticism and then saying what people are criticizing him for is the mistake he made, as if it absolves him.
There is not another human being on this planet that would have chosen Mayo as the HC especially considering him initially made the decision before Mayo ever held a whistle at any level.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Mayo wasn’t fired for winning the last game. He was fired for being the worst HC in the NFL by quite a margin.
Kraft is very good at listening to criticism and then saying what people are criticizing him for is the mistake he made, as if it absolves him.
There is not another human being on this planet that would have chosen Mayo as the HC especially considering him initially made the decision before Mayo ever held a whistle at any level.

We don't disagree on the first point.

On the "not hiring Mayo" point, I believe there were two reasons Kraft put that clause in place. First, Mayo's football IQ, as a player, was unusually high; his teammates were calling him Jerod Belichick as a rookie. Second, he was, IIRC, drawing an unusual amount of interest from other teams despite his inexperience. I agree in retrospect that he shouldn't have done it, but I do get why he thought it would work, especially if the intended succession plan (with BB mentoring Mayo) had happened as planned.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

Mayo wasn’t fired for winning the last game. He was fired for being the worst HC in the NFL by quite a margin.
Kraft is very good at listening to criticism and then saying what people are criticizing him for is the mistake he made, as if it absolves him.
There is not another human being on this planet that would have chosen Mayo as the HC especially considering him initially made the decision before Mayo ever held a whistle at any level.

Crazy we hired someone who had to “learn on the job”. Yeah I get it, rookie head coaches will learn things but he took it to another level. He is years away and I mean years from being a potential coach candidate. If ever

 

[Ring 6]

We don't disagree on the first point.

On the "not hiring Mayo" point, I believe there were two reasons Kraft put that clause in place. First, Mayo's football IQ, as a player, was unusually high; his teammates were calling him Jerod Belichick as a rookie. Second, he was, IIRC, drawing an unusual amount of interest from other teams despite his inexperience. I agree in retrospect that he shouldn't have done it, but I do get why he thought it would work, especially if the intended succession plan (with BB mentoring Mayo) had happened as planned.

Well he said he decided in the Israel trip that mayo would replace BB. He had never coached a day in his life as of then.
He was drawing Rooney rule interviews. Just because someone wants to interview your employee doesn’t excuse you from pathetically and horribly misevaluating that they aren’t ready.

 

[Huckleberry1]

One more aholeish example of the inconsiderate self-indulgent disregard for others the OP routinely manifests when he gets tired of holding his breath and once again reaches tantrum level. At that point, it becomes screw everybody else at Pats Fans, I NEED TO WHINE!!!!

Undoubtedly I will get some negative feedback for saying what at least half the board is thinking but WTH, some things need to be said out loud. I can already hear the 'just block him' BS, but why is it those of us who consider what we do here have to accommodate the guy that ****s on the rug? How the hell is that right?

For the record, tone doesn't come through in type, I wrote this in disgust not anger. Picture some old dude sighing in disgust and that's pretty close to the mindset. I don't really get angry these days, not that I ever really did all that much back when either.

Well said. Pretty much sums up the situation.

 

[BelizePats]

We don't disagree on the first point.

On the "not hiring Mayo" point, I believe there were two reasons Kraft put that clause in place. First, Mayo's football IQ, as a player, was unusually high; his teammates were calling him Jerod Belichick as a rookie. Second, he was, IIRC, drawing an unusual amount of interest from other teams despite his inexperience. I agree in retrospect that he shouldn't have done it, but I do get why he thought it would work, especially if the intended succession plan (with BB mentoring Mayo) had happened as planned.

This Mayo hire was akin to Belichick making Patricia the OC. There was no possible way either move was going to work and both decisions should be heavily critized.

 

[XLIX]

This Mayo hire was akin to Belichick making Patricia the OC. There was no possible way either move was going to work and both decisions should be heavily critized.

It all stems back to a promise made several years ago.

In a perfect world, Kraft and Mayo would have had a sit down after the Belichick firing, mutually agreed that despite the famous (infamous?) promise that Mayo would succeed Belichick, he just wasn't remotely ready to be a HC, and it would be in everyone's best interest to have him stay on as LB coach with a path to DC.

 

[TheRainMaker]

It all stems back to a promise made several years ago.

In a perfect world, Kraft and Mayo would have had a sit down after the Belichick firing, mutually agreed that despite the famous (infamous?) promise that Mayo would succeed Belichick, he just wasn't remotely ready to be a HC, and it would be in everyone's best interest to have him stay on as LB coach with a path to DC.

I think Mayo would've been cool with it....just as long as Bob paid him his speculated $10M buyout clause. Had Vrabel been fired a year prior, Mayo never gets that successor clause.

We don't disagree on the first point.

On the "not hiring Mayo" point, I believe there were two reasons Kraft put that clause in place. First, Mayo's football IQ, as a player, was unusually high; his teammates were calling him Jerod Belichick as a rookie. Second, he was, IIRC, drawing an unusual amount of interest from other teams despite his inexperience. I agree in retrospect that he shouldn't have done it, but I do get why he thought it would work, especially if the intended succession plan (with BB mentoring Mayo) had happened as planned.

It was fake "Rooney Rule" demand. Nobody was going to hire him as he coaching the most criticized units on the the team since his arrival - LB's. However, I don't put all the blame on him as they just didn't have any talent. In addition, he never showed an glimpses that he could game plan against top QB's during Bill's last years as the defense was getting constantly shredded by the better teams.

He also seemed to have a hard time showing his IQ during his playing days as he was constantly a step slow reacting to plays, but was an expert at tackling guys 10+ yards downfield after the damage had already been done.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

Patricia's offense scored more Points than O'Brien's did(128 more), and BOB was an experienced OC.

They sucked, but best in the last 3 years.

Jus' Sayin'

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

This Mayo hire was akin to Belichick making Patricia the OC. There was no possible way either move was going to work and both decisions should be heavily critized.

Patricia the OC had better stats than Bill O'Brien or AVP.

 

[p8ryts]

Patricia the OC had better stats than Bill O'Brien or AVP.

Patricia was handicapped with Mac Jones as the QB. He was so smart he's on his 3rd team. How could we all be so wrong.

 

[Grogan14]

Patricia was handicapped with Mac Jones as the QB. He was so smart he's on his 3rd team. How could we all be so wrong.

It proves that without the talent not even the most experienced coaches can succeed (BB and Patricia). Its a mistake to think brilliant schemes can overcome lack of talent

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Patricia was handicapped with Mac Jones as the QB. He was so smart he's on his 3rd team. How could we all be so wrong..

I think we knew Mac was a dink and dunker. It was Mac's emotional issues that sunk him - hard for us to know about mental makeup. Fake crying over an ankle sprain, cheap shots on other players, turtling in the pocket, Mac is scared to death when under pressure.

Patricia is a bit odd too, but the narrative of him as a terrible offensive coordinator is way overblown. Patricia picked Parker in a trade and tried to get Mac to connect on jump balls and outs with Parker and others, and that was never going to work. I understand why Patricia was trying to change the approach (we found out later that an approach change was necessary), but Mac and Parker were the completely wrong duo and Patricia should have known that. Having said that, Patricia was better than BOB or AVP. We have not had a good OC in years.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

...

Mayo should’ve been fired weeks beforehand. The Panthers fired Frank Reich after only 11 games. The Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett after only 12 games. The Jaguars fired Urban Meyer after only 13 games. There are plenty of other coaches, rookie and experienced, who were fired before the end of their only season with their team, and it was clear Mayo was in over his head and should’ve been let go. I think Kraft was too worried about the optics of letting go of his hand-picked Belichick successor before the end of the season, and that’s his fault for failing to act sooner. If Mayo knew he was going to be back he would’ve thrown the game to get that 1st overall pick. That second half was a good opportunity to sit Milton and Boutte, who had shown enough at that point of the game to rest and be preserved for the next season. The Bills were playing prevent defense all day and begging the Pats to move the chains on ...

Mayo was the Fall Guy to cover up some institutional failures. He was a dead man walking after the draft and I said so on this forum in May.

Mayo was not given the tools to work with. The Patriots were in desperate need of OL and WR help but Kraft and Wolf did not deliver. Picking third or fourth in each round, the Patriots, or any team, should be able to significantly strengthen their team. But not the Patriots. And their FA activity was equally pathetic. Mayo did not have the gravitas to stand up and say, "NO Bob we are not going to do that." BB did and hopefully Vrabel does also

So I don't blame Mayo; I would like to see him at a well run team.

 

[TommyD4207]

Mayo should’ve been fired weeks beforehand.

They had every right to fire him after butchering the Colts game. Agreed.