Here are some final thoughts on the Patriots defense and other notes from their upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals, as we turn the page from Week 1…
The New England Patriots defense brought back almost all the same players as a year ago, and yet they look faster and more physical than ever. Why is that?
It starts with new head coach Jerod Mayo, and by extension, new defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington. When analyzing the Patriots’ defensive performance in Sunday’s 16-10 upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the coaching is the only major off-season change that can explain why the Patriots ran a similar scheme with most of the same players, and yet looked and felt different.
Mayo appears to have tapped into these guys in a way that his predecessor could not. Bill Belichick is and may always be the greatest head coach in the history of the franchise, and even to the end could still draw up a strong defensive gameplan. But it’s fair to wonder if he lacked a certain ability to get the most out of modern players, athletes four, even five decades his junior.
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His successor, on the other hand, takes his own approach. He described it as “empowering players to play.” While that’s not terribly far off from “Do Your Job,” what Mayo does is essentially put players in control of their own performances. It’s led to the Patriots defense playing with a sense of freedom, confidence, and purpose, while still going at top speed. Compared to recent, still-very-good Pats defenses, Week 1 of 2024 indicates that Mayo’s approach has taken this group to another level.
“It allows the guys to go out there and really take ownership of their role,” Mayo said during his Monday morning video conference. “I always talk about roles. For me, it’s about excelling in your role. Whether that’s 50, 60, 70 snaps or five snaps, that’s your role. So excel in that role, and as you continue to progress, you’ll get more opportunities to go out there and perform.”
Clearly, Mayo isn’t going to overstate the idea of being a defensive mastermind, either.
“One thing I do believe in, and I know everyone likes to say all these geniuses with X’s and O’s. Football has not changed since high school,” Mayo continued. “If you played Cover-3 in high school, it’s the same thing now. Offensively, if you run power O, it’s the same thing now. When you hear about all the, ‘This guy’s a guru, this guy’s a guru,’ that’s not really what it is. It’s about how do you get the guys to understand conceptually what we are trying to do as a unit.”
Regardless of the underlying meaning of his comments, the important part is what we saw on the field: a burst of speed, physicality, and awareness that we haven’t seen in a long time. The result of giving players agency to create their own excellence.
No single play embodied that combination of speed, physicality, and awareness than Jonathan Jones’ fourth-down stop in the third quarter. Jones rocketed nearly 10 yards off his initial spot and hammered the bigger Andre Iosivas behind the line to gain, making a loud declaration of just how tough this version of the Patriots defense is going to make it on opponents.
If anything is sustainable over the course of the season, if anyone is going to give a chance to win more games than they should, it’s going to be the Patriots defense. And the way their new coach is getting through to them will be central to the process.
“As a guy [Mayo] who’s been there, who’s won the championships, at every level really, you kind of just respect that,” said defensive end Keion White. “He wouldn’t have you do anything he hasn’t done, or wouldn’t do himself, so, he’s really like a player’s coach, he’s relatable, he communicates with all of us … you want to run through a brick wall for him. And that’s something special.”