Jerod Mayo Already Making Excuses After Patriots' 4th Straight Loss
The New England Patriots had a golden opportunity to break their three-game losing streak in Week 5 with the banged-up Miami Dolphins in town. But after jumping out to an early lead, numerous mistakes plagued New England all afternoon, allowing Miami to hang around.
That opened up the door for a late collapse, which is exactly what happened, as a late fourth-quarter touchdown by the Dolphins turned out to be too much for the Pats to overcome.
This demoralizing loss exposed some of the Pats' clear weaknesses, with Jerod Mayo's gameplanning and decision-making playing a role in the team's loss.
However, despite some of these issues clearly being fixable, it seems Mayo would instead make excuses than seek solutions.
Asked about the team’s struggles and taking lumps, Jerod Mayo again mentions other successful head coaches losing in Year 1.
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) October 6, 2024
He mentioned Dan Campbell and Kyle Shanahan by name earlier this week.
Right after the Pats' Week 5 defeat, Mayo was asked about New England's struggles amid its 1-4 start. But the first-year head coach confusingly brought up how other recent new HCs like the Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell and San Francisco 49ers' Kyle Shanahan didn't get rolling with their squads right away.
Now, it's good for Mayo to keep some nice perspective as a rookie head coach. After all, he surely anticipated some troubles heading into the 2024 season, and he's not oblivious to the fact the Patriots are rebuilding, so it's encouraging he's not beat down by a slow start.
But, trying to make the situations seem the same attempts to distract fans from the Pats' obvious areas for improvement.
Campbell and Shanahan both undeniably brought their identities to their teams, even early on in their tenures. Their success now is directly attributed to the strong cultures and personnel moves they've made since taking over.
Meanwhile, New England looks lost offensively over the first five weeks of the season, continuing its troubles on that side of the ball that led to Bill Belichick's departure. That's not even to mention the Mayo era, from an acquisition standpoint, has been headlined by swinging and missing on top talent like Calvin Ridley and Brandon Aiyuk.
Mayo seems to think the Pats' early issues will resolve down the line and end with the team being a contender. But they won't get to that point without putting in the work now to make that dream become a reality, like Campbell and Shanahan once did with their squads.
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