But truthfully, Mayo didn’t add a lot to the discussion.
He didn’t say anything regrettable.
He just didn’t shed much light on another dark, dingy season.
He talks to ownership after every game.
Promises he’ll do a better job next year.
He tries to shut out criticism and stay positive.
But everything sucks when you’re losing.
That sort of thing.
Which to be clear, I’m all for.
The Pats have four games left on the schedule.
So by all means, play the rookies.
He who was last shall now be first, and all that.
The time to start seeing what, if anything, you could get out of these guys is now.
I mean, it should’ve started in September.
But it is most definitely now.
Earlier in the week,Mike Reiss said in no uncertain terms there will be changes.
Which has long been a tradition in Foxboro to talk about in early December.
But Josh McDaniels flaming out in Las Vegas pretty much ended that.
And Bill O’Brien going to Boston College makes him the last dinosaur of desirable Patriots assistants.
Now it’s just an annual exercise in figuring out who needs to pay the price for their failures.
One consistent thread throughout the season has been his game management, particularly at the end of the half.
But to his credit, he’s never lost the locker room.
There hasn’t been one player or anonymous team source that’s bad mouthed him.
He seems to enjoy universal respect inside the building.
At least not when it’s fully operational.
That his offense is currently 31st in points per game with 17.0.
But that figure is still 3.1 per game more than last year.
And while the Pats are scoring more on his watch, the Browns are down 4.6 PPG year-to-year.
Yes, there are a ton of variables there, but still.
Which is no reason to hire a caterer and rent a bouncy castle, but it IS progress.
Most importantly, and in spite of everything, he’s developing Drake Maye.
But the fact remains that Maye has been a revelation.
Besides, the whole organization could use some consistency at this position.
Van Pelt gets another season.
OL coach Scott Peters.Here’s where this gets dicey.
But with the second highest cap space in the league, The Wolf chose to sign Chukwuma Okorafor.
We can blame Wolf for a lot of it.
But all the unforced errors, presnap penalties, false starts and illegal formations?
That’s on coaching.
I don’t know what even the Patron Saint of O-line Coaching Dante Scarnecchia could do with this lot.
A change here has to be made.
But his catch % is 85th at his position, and his drop % is 12th highest.
While Javon Baker (110th) has nothing to show but one target.
Whatever kind of hand Hughes was dealt, that’s just unacceptable.
But Covington probably doesn’t get the same consideration.
The logic being that he wasn’t brought in to install a brand new system.
And the drop off from last season to this has been remarkable.
Maybe “shocking” is not too strong a word.
I don’t think any of us saw this coming.
And in points allowed, fallen from 14th (21.5 PPG) to 20th (23.6 PPG).
As Michael Corleone put it, “Somebody has to answer for Sonny.”
Covington is likely to be the Patriots Carlo.
How much deeper the cuts go than these names, we’ll have to wait and see.
