Joshua Linnehan
The Post-Bill Belichick era was underway this past Sunday as the New England Patriots faced off against the Cincinnati Bengals in “the jungle”. To many football fans and even Patriots fans’ surprise, they pulled off arguably the biggest upset of the day with a 16-10 victory.
No one was happier to start the 2024 season with a 1-0 record than new Patriot head coach, Jerod Mayo. Mayo, a former All-Pro linebacker and Super Bowl champion with the Patriots for eight seasons (2008-2015), was also the inside linebacker coach for New England since 2019. It was announced that he would be the 15th head coach in NE history, and their first Black head coach on January 12th of this year. Of course, Mayo had massive shoes to fill as he’s replacing Bill Belichick. A legend who won six Super Bowls and 296 total games for the Patriots.
Going into this season, the Pats were considered one of, if not the worst team in the league according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Their projected win total of 4.5 was the lowest in the league, while also having the worst odds of making the Super Bowl or making the playoffs. This was their worst projected win total entering a season since 1991.
Many factors led to bottom of the barrel projections. A new head coach is certainly one of them, but they had plenty of departures during this offseason. Their top push rusher, Matt Judon, who recorded 32 sacks in three seasons, was traded to the Atlanta Falcons. One of their best offensive lineman, Trent Brown, signed with the Bengals. They also moved on from their former starting quarterback, Mac Jones, and traded him to the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s abundantly clear that this team is in a rebuilding stage. They finished 4-13 last season, and had the #3 overall pick in the NFL Draft; which resulted in their QB of the future in Drake Maye.
Anyone who watched last Sunday’s performance would agree this Patriots team didn’t deserve the worst projected win total in the NFL. Honestly, their game plan was still very similar to the post-Tom Brady era. They led with their running game on offense, played physical defense, and forced turnovers defensively and on special teams.
My favorite part of watching this team play was the energy and passion on the sideline. It seems that Mayo has everyone on board with his plan and it’s clear they love playing for him. While the Pats kneeled down the rest of the clock, Mayo was greeted with a Gatorade bath as the players celebrated his first career head coaching victory.
It may seem like an overreaction as we still have 17 more weeks of regular season football, but Jerod Mayo looks like the correct choice to replace Belichick. Mayo is a players coach, a guy who has a deeper connection with his team and treats them like family. This is evident by some of the post-game press conferences, where there was high praise of Mayo. Defensive end Keion White had a massive game, with 2.5 sacks, three QB hits, and two tackles for loss. He said that the team would “run through a brick wall” for Mayo.
“As a guy who’s been there. Who’s won the championships… you kinda just respect that… He wouldn’t have you do anything he hasn’t done or wouldn’t do himself… He’s relatable… you wanna run through a brick wall for him… And that’s something special I feel like.”
This quote reminds me of when Dan Campbell was hired to be the head coach of the Detroit Lions. His gutsy and relentless personality rejuvenated a struggling Detroit franchise as last season they made it all the way to the NFC Conference Championship game for the first time since 1992. This isn’t to say that Mayo is going to transform the Patriot culture in the same way that Campbell has, but it seems that they had similar coaching styles.
Starting Quarterback Jacoby Brissett has one of the best relationships with his new head coach, as he said he cried three times before the game, one of those being after Mayo’s pre-game pep talk.
“Mayo came up to me… before the game and he started laughing and he’s like, ‘Man, you’re about to win us this game. You’re about to ball out.’ I had never heard that from a coach y’know? And that meant a lot to me.”
Jacoby is playing with a big chip on his shoulder as he said this after the victory,
“Y’all don’t know the work that we put in through these past couple months. Obviously everybody’s counting us out… we came out here and showed ‘em what a good team we are… I couldn’t be more proud…”
It’s safe to say that this Patriots team will be worth watching this season. The players have all bought into Mayo’s system and are having fun on the football field.
Mayo has already done something that Belichick couldn’t do in New England: win his coaching debut.
