Hugepatsfan
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2024
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I agree the team will be worse. That doesn't necessarily have to reflect in the record. They were 4-13 last year, but 8 games were by one score. Ball bounces differently in a couple of games and they could have been 6, 7, 8 wins. That's not to say the team was actually better than their record, just highlighting how fine the line can be between win and loss.There's no way the Pats win more games this season than in 2023 with Barmore gone, Judon possibly traded and an arguably worse roster than last season with a worse coaching staff. That 4 win season would've dropped to at least 3 had Rodgers played.
The difference between Bill and Mayo is that Bill had expectations to get the team back to the playoffs in 2000. The team massively regressed which was why the pressure was on in 2001. Mayo just needs to look competent and will exceed expectations if he pulls at least 5 wins out of his ass. If he does worse than Bill in 2023, media and fans will also want him gone.
This is a 2-4 win roster.
There's no way anyone should expect Mayo to be as good of a head coach or defensive strategist as BB. AVP isn't as accomplished as an OC as O'Brien, even if a scheme change was warranted. Brissett might be better "vibes" than Mac Jones but he sucks as a starter. OL still horrendous, arguably worse without Trent Brown. WRs have some encouraging developmental guys but not sure that translates to a ton of on-field improvement right away. Defense probably a bit better if it's Judon/Gonzo in and Barmore out but overall it's pretty static on that unit. All that with a tougher schedule.
Hard for me to not think we're worse this year as a team. But when you're talking about such few wins, there's just such variability. We'll probably be the underdogs in every game we play. On paper, we should probably go 0-17, but we all know that's unrealistic. We'll steal some games vs. teams better than us on paper, but there's no exact science of if that's 2 games, 3 games, 4 games or 5 games.












