MORSE: 15 Observations as Patriots Lose by Winning

The Patriots lose by winning the game against the Bills. Immediately after the game Robert Kraft fired Jerod Mayo. Alex Van Pelt has also been relieved of his duties as Offensive Coordinator. By winning the game the Patriots moved from having the #1 selection in the draft and dropping to the 4^th Overall selection.

I have a lot of respect for the players and coaches to prepare to win the game, The coaches did it right by inserting Joe Milton into the game after just one series with Drake Maye at QB. However, they played their starting Offensive Line late into the 2^nd Quarter, giving Milton a clean pocket and time to go through his progressions.
Milton was outstanding in this game against the backup Bills defense. This was a better judge of how far Milton has progressed because he was going against players that are legitimate NFL players and not players that were never going to make an NFL roster. Milton was an outstanding 22 of 29 on the day for 241 yards, a passing TD and a rushing TD. His lone mistake was a fumbled handoff to Antonio Gibson. I felt that fumble was on Gibson and not Milton. His arm strength was very evident, especially on his TD pass to Kayshon Boutte on the run and throwing across his body.
Jerod Mayo’s inexperience as a Head Coach cost the Patriots at least three games. I thought the owners would give him another year. Mayo’s press conferences didn’t help his case. He made too many mistakes and had to backtrack from those statements. Ultimately, the fans’ reactions, chanting to fire May, not showing up to the game and so many season ticket holders selling their tickets to Bills fans contributed to the Kraft’s making the call so soon after the game. Adam Schefter stated before the game that his sources inside the building told him that Mayo was likely to get fired. The Patriots press release came out so quickly. I suspect they had it written before the game started making Mayo a lame duck.
Jahlani Tavai was benched for the 1^st quarter. I wonder if that was a result of his comments about the fans needing to know their place?
Alex Van Pelt was the victim of the owner’s ire when they were seen questioning the play calling during the games when they were highlighted in the broadcast. I thought Van Pelt, TC McCartney and Ben McAdoo did a great job with the development of Drake Mayer and Joe Milton. Maye, who only had two years of college experience and came into the season with a tremendous amount of flaws and mechanics, made tremendous progress over the season and even started much earlier than anticipated. We found out today of the progress that “Bazooka” Joe Mlton has made. We knew he had a strong arm, but that he had trouble with touch passes. I have to give them credit for that. Milton’s strong play today was the main reason the Patriots won.
Christian Elliss elevated his play today to show that he is more than a Special Teams player with his 13 tackles.
Marcellus Dial had a good game with 5 tackles and a pass breakup.
Mikey Battle signed off the Practice Squad on Saturday had two pass breakups in his first game.
The Patriots used this game as an evaluation tool and Caeden Wallace flunked the audition. He was inserted into the lineup midway through the 2^nd Quarter at Right Tackle, his natural position. He had an ineligible man downfield penalty, and 2 Holding calls on him.
Kayshon Boutte has made good progress over the season after a mediocre rookie season. He had 7 catches on 7 targets for 117 yards and TD. He is the 1^st Patriots Wide Receiver to have a 100-yard game in the last 15 games.
The Patriots won a game when they lost the turnover battle.
The Bills played to lose this game by going for it on 4^th down when they should have punted and refused a penalty that would have taken the Pats out of Field Goal range. They even inserted their 2es QB who was just elevated to the roster. The Bills screwed the Patriots again by tanking and moving their division rival out of the 1^st pick and down to the 4^th.
Milton started this game on fire completing his 1^st 11 passes in a row, his 1^st incompletion was after a scramble where he avoided an unblocked pass rusher coming in clean and threw the ball away.
Mayo was a very likable guy, open to the media and a player’s coach. However, he never made his players accountable for their actions. He stated last week that he was going to start Antonio Gibson and started Rhamondre Stevenson despite leading the league in fumbles. He was handed a pile of crap talent and no offensive line. The Defense let him down. Add in his inexperience and you had a recipe for disaster.
I will give the players credit for not quitting on Jerod Mayo and defending him till the end. They played hard for him in this final game and were true professionals trying to win, despite knowing that winning would hurt the team’s future.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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