Despite Sunday’s impressive road win over the Cincinnati Bengals, there was no “Victory Monday” for the New England Patriots on Monday, the earned off day Bill Belichick often gave players after hard-fought wins. That was part of a purposeful message from first-year coach Jerod Mayo.
Yes, the season-opening triumph in Cincinnati was stunning and brought much-needed joy to the locker room after months of outside talk about how bad the Patriots would be. But …
“It was one game!” Mayo said Monday.
With that, Mayo quickly turned the page. The Seattle Seahawks await this Sunday in the home opener, and there’s lots of work to do.
Before we too move on, here are 10 final thoughts from the Patriots’ Week 1 performance.
1. Mayo has scoffed at the use of the term “player’s coach.” But the intention behind that title was on display Sunday — and it doesn’t mean practices are easy or that he caters too much to the players.
Before the game, he chatted with quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Mayo told his quarterback he believed in him. The coach told Brissett he was about to lead them to victory. It was an entirely positive message, one that Brissett said moved him to tears.
Maybe that sounds corny or doesn’t jive with what some mean by a “player’s coach.” But that is the kind of message Mayo is giving to his players, and it has many of them raving about his early days as the head coach.
2. Part of why the Patriots felt comfortable trading Matthew Judon was the emergence this summer of Keion White, their second-round pick from last year.
Still, it’s one thing to dominate training camp practices against a struggling offensive line. It’s another to do it against the behemoths on the Bengals O-line.
That’s why White’s performance Sunday was so important. On a team of really good defenders, White might’ve been the unit’s best. He recorded 2.5 sacks and was a big reason the Pats didn’t need to blitz much against Joe Burrow, dropping seven into coverage to take away the deep pass.
There’s still a long way to go for White and, as Mayo said, it was just one game. But things continue to trend in the right direction for the 25-year-old pass rusher.
3. In a league where coaches try to turn every component of the game plan into top-secret news, Mayo has been clear about what he wants this Patriots offense to do.
“We will always, always offensively be a run-first team,” Mayo said Monday on radio station WEEI.
He later clarified in a news conference that’s because of what he thinks running back Rhamondre Stevenson can do.
“You want to get the ball into the hands of your best players, and I would say Rhamondre is one of those,” Mayo said.
Stevenson was the MVP of the Patriots offense Sunday, running for 120 yards and a touchdown. And it’s not like the offensive line made his day easy.
Of 39 qualified running backs in Week 1, Stevenson ranked 36th in yards before contact, signaling he was hit early. But he ranked second in yards after contact (behind only Aaron Jones) according to Pro Football Focus, showcasing why the Pats are so high on him. His 10 broken tackles were the most in the league, double the next-highest total, per PFF.
That first of the year feeling 🤩@budlight | #EasytoCelebrate pic.twitter.com/tyLDIwHBR0
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 8, 2024
4. There will be more to come on the Patriots’ passing attack later this week. It was up and down on Sunday — Brissett was 15-for-24 passing for just 121 yards — and they’ll have to lean on it more at some point.
But the game also gave us a better look at the depth chart and how the coaches view the receivers. Second-round pick Ja’Lynn Polk got the fourth-most snaps among receivers (though his 35 snaps were only five behind the team leader among receivers, K.J. Osborn), while Kayshon Boutte didn’t see the field on offense. Rookie Javon Baker was a healthy scratch.
The four receivers who played for the Pats combined for only eight catches for 66 yards. That obviously will need to improve going forward.
5. This won’t be a regular note while he’s on the bench, but let’s quickly touch on Drake Maye.
First, Mayo made clear that there won’t be any special packages for Maye. It’s all Brissett all the time until they make a switch.
Second, this win likely pushes back Maye’s debut a bit. New England would like to wait until at least the second half of the season to play the rookie quarterback. But if they started 0-4 with four disastrous performances from Brissett, they might’ve been forced to change plans. Now that that won’t happen, Maye’s earliest debut would likely come in late October.
6. The only victory lap Mayo took after Sunday’s win was regarding the offensive line. He pushed back on the media narrative about how bad the front five was.
“I think the whole offensive line conversation has been overblown,” Mayo said.
That echoes Eliot Wolf who was defiant last month that the O-line wasn’t an issue.
Are they right? We’ll see. There is still reason for skepticism, even if the group only allowed one sack.
7. Part of the concern is due to the struggles of starting left tackle Chukwuma Okorafor. He was so bad Sunday that the team benched him after 12 snaps for Vederian Lowe, a guy who had barely practiced in the last two weeks due to an injury.
Mayo was non-committal about how the offensive line will set up this weekend against the Seahawks.
8. On the flip side, Mayo praised rookie guard Layden Robinson who formed a bullying duo with Mike Onwenu on the right side of the line. Whenever the team needs an important run, it seems like a safe bet it will go to the right side so Stevenson can follow those two.
“Robinson has an opportunity to be a special player in this league,” Mayo said. “He’s tough. He’ll move guys off the line of scrimmage. He can do it all. His overall effort and mentality is something that, when you think about changing a culture, he’s definitely one of those guys that fits into that box. He did a great job.”
9. A lot of attention went to second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez following Sunday’s game, and deservedly so. He played well while typically matched up against Ja’Marr Chase.
But another key to the Patriots’ defensive success was the play of fellow cornerbacks Jonathan Jones and Marcus Jones. Both were excellent. Their task wasn’t as difficult with Tee Higgins out, but the two of them are sneaky important to the team’s defensive success this season, and Sunday was a great start.
.@justjjones with the 🛑 STOP 🛑
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/O3QlhSs4zY
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 8, 2024
10. We’ll see how much of Sunday’s performance the Patriots can replicate. There are still plenty of reasons it could be a rough season.
But this much seems clear: The Patriots aren’t the worst team in the league. Not even close. After plenty of worry the last six months that the Pats might be unwatchably bad, it’s the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants who seem likely to fight it out for that dishonor.
The Patriots might not be great this fall, but at least there’s competence and a functional plan. That’s more than can be said about last year’s team — and a few others around the league.
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(Photo: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)
