The New England Patriots are sticking with Jacoby Brissett as the team’s starting quarterback despite their recent offensive struggles, coach Jerod Mayo told reporters Monday.
Mayo’s latest endorsement of Brissett echoed his comments following the Patriots’ 30-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon, when he said, “At this point, Jacoby is our starting quarterback.”
On Monday, Mayo reiterated that sentiment.
“Jacoby is 100 percent our starter, and that’s how we’re going to look at this going forward,” he said.
The Patriots are coming off their second straight blowout loss and third overall. Brissett has struggled in the last two games.
In Weeks 3 and 4, Brissett’s passer rating of 74.3 ranks 31st in the NFL, according to Trumedia, and he’s been sacked 11 times — tied with Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson for the most in the league the last two weeks.
“We have to do a better job of getting the ball out of our hand right now,” Mayo said Sunday. “And then secondly, I would say the offensive line just has to do a better job holding up in protection.”
Mayo said after New England’s Week 3 loss to the New York Jets that Brissett, who was pulled in the fourth quarter of that game, would continue to be the starter with 2024 No. 3 pick Drake Maye remaining as the backup.
Brissett began the offseason as QB1 and stayed there even with Mayo saying at one point that Maye had outplayed Brissett. The veteran passer has started all four games with the Patriots, losing their last three after a win in Week 1.
Why Mayo’s sticking with Brissett
This was one of the first major decisions before Mayo in his first season as a head coach. His options weren’t great ones. Either continue trotting out Brissett to run the league’s least productive passing game and risk this season falling apart before Halloween, or throw the previous plan to the wind and start Maye.
He chose patience. Mayo has insisted since the beginning of the season that he was going to keep the long-term in mind when making decisions, and that was reflected in his comments Monday.
But it also reflects that the Patriots are coming to grips more, at least publicly, that this season could be a long one. After a Week 1 win in Cincinnati, the Patriots coach took a mini victory lap regarding his offensive line and seemed delighted that his plan to win low-scoring games while running the ball a lot was working.
Now, that’s in question. To be fair, the Patriots’ schedule eases up going forward. After games against the undefeated Seattle Seahawks as well as the Jets and 49ers over the last three weeks, the Pats now face the Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars in their next three games.
For now, it seems like Brissett will be the quarterback for those contests as Mayo insists on patience while keeping a long-term outlook. — Chad Graff, Patriots staff writer
