The second week of January was a difficult time for all of us.
A moment of great uncertainty.
Like anyone whohad just suffered a great loss, we didn’t know what the future held.
Not in the long term.
Not even how we were going to get through the next day.
Personally, I reacted like people do when they’re going through theKubler-Ross Stages of Grief.
Also, I was in no position to demand anything since I had nothing to bargain with.
(Unless I pulled theBlazing Saddles"Help me!
)I apologize for nothing.
By that I mean, who care how they’re received by the media and fans.
So they play up to the cameras.
take a stab at come up with clever, memorable witticisms.
Or bend over backwards to sound profound.
Or go out of their way to demonstrate they’re tough, non-nonsense hardos.
… Just be yourselves and not some fake image you’re trying to project and everything will be fine.
Like all of us, I’ve taken issue with some mixed messaging.
Especially lately around things Mayo has said about the Drake Maye vs. Jacoby Brissett dynamic.
Which has never, ever worked in this market.
(Just ask Rick Pitino.)
And sometimes they’ve been guilty of oversharing.
Until it didn’t.
It’s perfectly fine to have two separate humans doing those superhuman jobs.
But they have to be of one mind.
… Whoever works above Mayo has to work with him.
Only not horrible like that trash is.
Presumably, from the outside looking in, this has appeared to be the case.
Wolf and Mayo were reportedly co-counsels as they interviewed assistant coaches and throughout the draft process.
He resigned pretty much the entire young core of Mayo’s defense to extensions.
While trading away Matthew Judon after he and Mayo had one of those “We’re not fighting!
We’re having a discussion!”
arguments on the practice field.
It’s way too soon to tell.
So far, so good though.
Grade: B+
We Need a New Offensive System …
The Erhardt-Perkins system has served us well.
So did the Saturn V rocket that sent men to the moon, but they still mothballed it eventually.
Complexity can be a good thing.
I want one of those.
I got what I asked for.
A version of the West Coast run by a guy who’s a twig off the Shanahan coaching tree.
But the underlying wish that the Pats scrap the system they’d been using since 2000 was granted.
And so far the young receivers they’re building around seem to be grasping it.
Which was a very rare occurence over the previous 24 years.
All we can do is wait to see if it succeeds.
This past year, the most glaring need was tackle.
Highly regarded tackles were available in the draft.
… Dollar General off-brand tackles for the franchise on a budget.
Does anyone else remember the Calvin Anderson era?
You don’t have to get a tackle with the No.
But it can’t be neglected another season.
At the very least, we need next Matt Light or Sebastian Vollmer Round 2 home run.
To do anything less would be dereliction of duty.
No need to mince words here.
This offense always ran through an elite slot receiver and a 3rd down back.
Demario Douglas may very well be the former.
No one on the roster is positioned to be the latter.
Three RBs, with Antonio Gibson as the 3rd down guy.
Seven WRs, reflecting an 11-personnel attack.
No issues with this.
Ask your average Pats fan to recount for you one play that Chris Board made all season.
We all should be able to, because he took 406 snaps.
Going forward, keep a long snapper, a kicker, a punter, and Schooler.
But train him up as a goal line defender, the way they did Nate Ebner.
Need I say more?
Grade: A+
No More Reaches in the Draft
The drafting of special teamers brings me to this.
I get that the professional draft guru class and the mock draft sites don’t have it right.
But I’m done with off-the-wall, way-too-early selections no one could’ve possibly seen coming when they did.
By now they are as familiar in our mouths as household names.
(That was me slipping in a line from the “St. Crispian’s Day” speech.
That’s the Old Balls Difference.)
That’s a rare occurrence in these parts.
But so far it’s hard to argue anyone they took qualifies as “a wasted pick.”
Not to mention, they didn’t dick around with the No.
3 pick, addressing the most crucial area of need by taking the franchise quarterback I wanted.
Again, so far, so good.
So I guess this leaves the Wolf-Mayo Administration with a passing grade at this point.
One dragged down enormously by the heavy weight of the failure to add a professional offensive tackle or two.
There’s no scaling the test when you’ve botched a crucial area of need so spectacularly.
So the best I can do is give them an overallGrade: C+.
The good news for Wolf and Mayo is the real semester is just about to start.
And there’s always extra credit available.
