Jerod Mayo Makes it Sound Like the Patriots Could Go Full Tank Mode This Sunday
I have a complicated relationship with the No. 1 overall pick, which I'll get to more in depth if the Patriots end up securing it and it's not a holiday week where I should be day drinking and watching TV like a free American. But to summarize, the history of franchises "earning" (i.e. not trading for) the top pick has not been great over the last dozen drafts or so. Real, lasting success seems to come from hitting tape measure home runs with later picks than finding the magic elixir that cures all your problems with that first pick.
That said, while I might have gone to Weymouth Public Schools, I still know how math works. And that in this case, No. 1 is one better than No. 2. And that it would benefit the Patriots to lose to Buffalo Sunday. Which is a task made harder by the fact the Bills are playing for nothing other than to host the lowest seeded Wild Card team in two weeks. Making this game accidentally winnable, with Mitchell Trubisky probably starting and Buffalo -2.0.
So it should be comforting to hear Jerod Mayo talking this morning like victory is not going to happen on his watch. Not if he has anything to say about it. Which he presumably does.
From his press conference:
Q: Good morning, Jerod. I know, obviously, you want to go out this year with a win. Any thoughts to not playing Drake Maye this week, given the injury risk and given his style of play and everything?
JM: I would say right now, everything is in consideration, and we'll see how the week goes.
Q: Jerod, up to this point, Joe Milton has been the third quarterback in every game. How much motivation is there internally to maybe bump him up to the gameday roster this week and just to see more of what you have in an actual game?
JM: It's absolutely a possibility, but like I said earlier, all things are still under consideration.
Granted, that's not more of a vague suggestion he's considering tanking than an all-out declaration of surrender. But add to that what he said on his weekly WEEI appearance:
“I mean, it kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier,” said Mayo. “Like, everything’s on the table. …"
“Is Drake not gonna, potentially not start on Sunday?” WEEI’s Jermaie Wiggins asked.
“I mean, that could happen,” said Mayo. “That’s what I’m saying. Like, everything is on the table -”
“And is that part because of the hit that he took?” Wiggy interjected, referencing a hit from Saturday’s loss that briefly knocked Maye out of the game before being cleared by the medical staff to return.
“It has nothing to do with that,” said Mayo. “It has everything to do with - look, it’s the last game of the season, and we have to look forward. Like, going back to, like, it’s a journey. I mean it’s not just about one game. It is, you know, trying to be present and win this football game. But it’s a journey, and we gotta think - look out the front windshield, where we wanna go.”
Even though Mayo did preface all these answers with disclaimers about how he's only focused on beating the Bills, tell me you're talking about tanking without saying you're tanking.
I mean, if Mayo wanted to play the Drake Maye Concussion card, he absolutely could. Maye might not be in the official protocol. But if ever there was an excuse to proceed out of an excess of caution, now would be the time. He's got the perfect cover. Pats fans would appreciate him for it. And based on the polling data (plus the ticket prices on the secondary market right now), he could use all the goodwill he can get.
I'm not suggesting everyone in New England will run down to the Pro Shop and buy Coach Mayo hoodies, but they'll recognize he did the right thing. That he understood that "looking forward" means drafting whomever they want. Or the "journey" involves getting a motherlode of picks by suckering in some team desperate to get Shadeur Sanders (>cough< Giants >cough cough<). and that the "look out front windshield" has a vision of joe milton as future qb2:< p>
So my guess is that all this carefully chosen language was just setting the table for the Patriots to try and out-backup the Bills. Which shouldn't be all that hard, since the only roster in the league worse than New England's is New England's bench. In fact, they could probably lose if they played the starters and balled out. If there's one lesson they'd drilled home time and again over the last couple of months, it's that there's no game so winnable they're not capable of cocking it up.
And honestly, that's the scenario I'm hoping for. That they fail while trying to succeed. Because the only thing more damaging to the soul of an organization than being the biggest loser in their sport is trying to be the biggest loser. It's bad juju. It puts a mark of sin on you that doesn't come off easily. If ever. It was bad when Cleveland's owner tried it in Major League. When the Charleston Chiefs' owner wanted it in Slap Shot. And when The Judge actually paid his players to lose in The Natural.
Fortunately, like I said, the 2024 Pats have a gift for losing to anyone, under any circumstances. As Crosby, Stills and Nash sang it, "We never failed to fail. It was the easiest thing to do." Let's just not rule out the possibility they'll completely screw up this miserable season by winning and dropping all the way to No. 4.