Patriots Players (NOT Drake Maye) Laughing it Up in the Locker Room After Getting Boat Raced is a Terrible Look for the Whole Organization
Traditionally, the Patriots have had a rough go of it playing in Miami, even in the best of times. Bill Belichick spent almost 20 years dining out on the example of the time the Pats rolled in there on a Monday night in 2004 at 12-1 against a 2-11 Dolphins team led by interim coach Jim Bates, and managed to lose 29-28.
More recently, the beatings down there have been pretty severe and very regular. Just in the 2020s alone (the Post-GOAT Apocalypse) the Dolphins have outscored the Patriots 140-75, including yesterday. So it would be smart not to overreact to seeing the Pats get their brakes beaten off, even if this is the worst Miami team since 2019.
Except for one thing. I'm in no mood to be smart. And it's not overreacting when you're reacting to the way Patriots players reacted. To their own humiliation, not ours:
Source - At 4:28 p.m. Drake Maye was in the hallway of Hard Rock Stadium’s visitors locker room.
The Patriots 34-15 loss hit the rookie quarterback hard. Before meeting with the media, Maye stood outside the door of the press conference room where he leaned up against a large blue bin with his head in his left arm.
Just around the corner, it was a different scene with several players on offense smiling and laughing with one another. It was a strange scene for a team that was embarrassed by the Miami Dolphins. Although not everyone was happy – several players were upset – the sounds of light laughter filled the side of the room where offensive players got dressed.
The mood was in stark contrast to the Patriots quarterback. …
Maye returned to the locker room at 4:36 p.m. He looked angry and was quiet as he sat in his locker with a dejected look on his face. There was no laughing for the Patriots No. 3 overall pick.
As Patriots players quickly exited the building to get on the team bus, Maye took his time. …
At 4:54 p.m., Maye [headed] for the exit.
The juxtaposition of Maye’s reaction to the loss compared to some of his teammates was striking. This rookie looks the part. The Patriots roster does not.
It's worth reminding everybody that Maye turned 22 just before the season started. And that he's got seven career starts. And that while any rookie's goal is to prove he belongs in the league, he's long since aced his entry exam and passed all his freshman classes. Including the Miami game:
If anyone deserved to be feeling pretty OK about a 34-15 beatdown, or at least consider it a mixed blessing, it's him. But he's the one who was miserable. While practically every other player on the NFL's 31st scoring offense (16.4 points per game) was acting like they were at Elton John's Oscar Night party.
Full credit to my good friend and Barstool legend Uncle Buck for coming up with the perfect movie reference:
Even as I say this, I can hear the reaction of people saying this is just OK, Boomer bullshit. That this is just being out of touch with how current athletes who came up through the college ranks collecting NIL money operate. How you can't expect them to wallow in misery and rend their clothing every time the team has a bad game. They're just staying positive and moving on to the next game or whatever.
If that's you, you're missing the much larger point here. There's a lot more going on than just one or two generally upbeat guys staying positive in the face of adversity. Don't forget, the whole reason Jerod Mayo was hired to replace Bill Belichick was to establish "less of a hard ass vibe." Those aren't my words; they're Eliot Wolf's. Mayo is expected to change the entire culture:
And when that culture goes from one where losing is unacceptable to one where getting your dick kicked in the dirt as you fall to 3-9 is no reason to spoil your afternoon, then this whole franchise is in peril. That winning culture was passed down from the likes of Tom Brady, Tedy Bruschi, Ty Law and Vince Wilfork to Mayo. And then from Mayo to Devin McCourty, Dont'a Hightower, James White and the rest. Call that "a hard ass vibe" all you want, like it's a bad thing. But ask any of the players who won rings during that Reign of Terror if it was worth it. Or ask any former NFL player if they had any fun on a losing team. The ones I've talked to have been unanimous in saying absolutely not. And it's pretty obvious already that Drake Maye is in their category. That he came into the league with the same mentality those Patriots legends took great care to instill in the younger guys as the Dynasty continued.
I'm not asking these Pats players to climb into a bathtub and open a vein. Just to hate losing as much as the current and future franchise quarterback does. If they can't bring themselves to, then Mayo and Wolf have an obligation to ownership, to fans, to Maye and to themselves to get rid of such guys and replace them with somebody who does care. Or else they'll be gone before said players are.
In the words of the late, great George S. Patton, "Americans love a winner, and will not tolerate a loser. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for any man who lost, and laughed." Neither should we.