I Miss Belichick Already
Patriots training camp officially begins on Wednesday as the team officially turn things over to new head coach Jerod Mayo. Make no mistake about it that Bill Belichick is the reason the Patriots finished with 4 wins last season and had to draft a quarterback with the third pick overall. The team was left with a core of players the team had to invest in and will try to revamp their offensive line and special teams which struggled mightily last season.
The offseason hasn’t been great for Jerod Mayo. Finding an offensive coordinator was no easy task for the group after multiple assistants declined the job. He made a comment about burning cash in free agency, which he then backtracked. He made jokes at the owners meetings about the glass of orange juice and went on to spill the glass and then today he made the comment that Drake Maye could be the week 1 starter if he lights it up this preseason. I don’t believe that for a second. The plan is to sit Drake Maye and has been discussed all offseason. A day before training camp he opened up the can of worms and it’s another thing that makes me miss Belichick. The snorts and grunts and saying nothing was perfect. People didn’t like it when he did that when they were winning and it was even worse when losing.
The media will like how transparent Mayo will be. They were greeted with fans to stay cool and it’s noticeable how different things are over at Gillette. But Mayo has said too much, says he will make mistakes and makes it clear that there will be competition this preseason. One thing that is not clear is the control Mayo will have on roster decisions. Will he make fourth down calls? What power does he actually have? I’m excited for the new season, but I missed the way Belichick handled press conferences at the start of the season. Hopefully not a sign of things to come this season.
