Finally, a torturous Patriots season is coming to a merciful end - The Boston Globe


Finally, a torturous Patriots season is coming to a merciful end - The Boston Globe

The same can be said for pretty much the entire season. While there have been a couple of bright spots -- most notably rookie quarterback Drake Maye -- the Patriots have few positives to lean on from this season, Mayo's first as coach and the first in 25 years without Bill Belichick at the helm.

The Patriots entered this season with the lowest over/under win total in the NFL (4.5), yet managed to underperform even those meek expectations.

The Patriots enter Sunday's regular-season finale with a 3-13 record, needing to beat the Bills just to match last year's 4-13 record, which was the Patriots' worst since 1992.

The Patriots are finishing not on a high note, but with fans chanting "fire Mayo!" at half-empty home games and players complaining about the direction of the team. A loss Sunday would wrap up the No. 1 draft pick for the first time since 1993.

"Obviously, everybody's disappointed," veteran tight end Hunter Henry said. "No one comes into this wanting this, at all. But we are where we are."

Robert Kraft expressed excitement and optimism in January when he elevated Mayo to head coach. But Mayo's first season has been a flop.

The high point came in Week 1, with the Patriots pulling off the biggest upset in the NFL with a 16-10 win over the Bengals. But the good vibes quickly subsided, and the Patriots have won just two of their last 15 games as a litany of problems has built up.

"I think it's important to remember where you are in the journey, and no one's happy with our record or anything like that," Mayo said.

Fans have had little reason to cheer all season. The Patriots have had two losing streaks of six games, including one that is current. They are 1-6 at home this seasons, and just 2-14 the last two seasons. They lost to two of the worst teams in the league, the 4-12 Jaguars and 3-13 Titans.

The offense was boring and unproductive last season (31st in points), and is boring and unproductive this season (30th in points) with new coaches and quarterbacks. The defense took a massive step back without Belichick, dropping from 15th to 26th in points allowed. The Patriots' 25.1 points per game allowed are seventh-most in their 65-year history, and second-most in 40 years (1990).

A few young players such as Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones, and DeMario Douglas had productive seasons, and Maye looks like the real deal. But the Patriots still haven't developed many building blocks for the future.

They have the worst offensive line in the NFL, and the least-productive wide receivers. The guy they signed to be the starting left tackle, Chukwuma Okorafor, had never played the position in the NFL, then quit on the team after 12 snaps. The draft class outside of Maye made scant impact, and second-round pick Ja'Lynn Polk (87 yards all season) has been one of the biggest busts of the entire draft.

It's hardly all Mayo's fault. Kraft surrounded Mayo, an inexperienced head coach, with the least-experienced coaching staff in the NFL. He also handed Mayo one of the worst rosters in the NFL, with glaring holes at two of the most important positions, wide receiver and offensive line.

But Mayo hasn't done his part, either. It's hard to find any positives or signs of progress, other than the team probably found its franchise quarterback in Maye.

"It hasn't gone the way that any of us have wanted it to go," Mayo said. "Steve Jobs, I think, had a quote where you have winning seasons or, 'winning years,' and then you have 'character-building years.' And this has been one of those character-building years that I'll always remember."

Mayo references the Patriots' 2-6 record in one-score games as evidence that the team is close to turning things around, but it's really just a sign that they don't know how to win.

The Patriots also were 1-7 in games decided by multiple scores, and had five losses by at least 19 points. In other words, half of their games weren't competitive, about one out of every three games was a blowout loss. Even that number is low, as the Patriots padded losses to the Rams, Dolphins, and Cardinals with points in garbage time.

Most alarmingly, the Patriots' coaches have looked overmatched, both with X's and O's and in leadership. Mayo has been one of the least aggressive and analytical coaches on fourth down this season. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt acknowledged in November that he didn't realize that Jones could be a spark on offense until Jones texted him, practically begging him to contribute. Mayo also has spent most of the season apologizing for his own statements, such as when he boasted that the Patriots were going to "burn some cash" in free agency, called his players "soft" in public, and shifted some blame to Van Pelt after a recent loss ("you said it").

"First year doing anything, there are going to be growing pains and things like that," Mayo said. "You have to learn from those mistakes. Move forward, do the things that you did well early in the season, and carry them over to the next season."

Except it's hard to find many positives to carry over, other than learning what not to do. More appropriately, the Patriots have 60 more minutes to slog through on Sunday, then can flush the season and move on to 2025.

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