Patriots' week that was: Thunder hopes to catch lightning in a bottle again

It has been a hectic last couple of weeks in Foxboro. One day the Patriots are parting ways with perhaps the greatest head coach in NFL history. Then before the dust is even allowed to settle, the Patriots announce that they have already found their new head coach. 

The days since the announcement of Jerod Mayo's hire have been surreal with news that Bill Belichick has “interviewed” with the Atlanta Falcons. You would think Belichick would interview teams, not the other way around. What do you ask a guy who comes walking into an interview wearing six Super Bowl rings?

On Wednesday, the Patriots held a press conference to formally present Mayo as their 15th coach in franchise history. It was apparent it was a coronation that was years in the making, starting when the Patriots drafted Mayo 10th overall in 2008.

The thing that stood out the most to me from the press conference was Mayo, constantly, referring to owner Robert Kraft as “Thunder.” Mayo explained that he gave the nickname to Kraft because of his tireless, youthful energy. "Thunder" was short for "Young Thunder Cat." Seriously?

Wouldn’t you think Kraft would say to Mayo as they are walking up to the press conference, “Hey, Jerod. You know how you like calling me that nickname that you do? Let’s not use it during this press conference or any public statements, for that matter. Let’s just keep that between you and me.”

I can’t picture any cute nicknames I have ever had for any of my employers. I can think of some nasty nicknames my co-workers and I have come up with for our bosses. Either way, we would never use those nicknames in front of the boss, nevermind using it in a public forum.

What does that show me? It shows me Mayo is a little too comfortable with Kraft. It shows me that Mayo may think he has Kraft wrapped around his finger. It shows me a certain lack of respect. 

Sometimes we see the star-struck fan come out in Kraft. Kraft will name drop young rappers to make him sound cool. He wears sneakers with his suits to make him look young and athletic. He will have different celebrities sitting next to him during games. That is why I believe Kraft may have even encouraged Mayo to refer to him as “Thunder.”

Kraft’s mentality may be, “How cool that a former NFL player has a nickname for me? I feel like one of the guys.”

I was also taken aback when Mayo rebuked Kraft’s answer to a question about the significance of Kraft hiring the first black head coach in Patriots’ history. Kraft gave a perfect answer about how he chose the best candidate for the head coaching job. He pointed out he is color blind when it comes to these things and that he doesn’t see skin color. He, simply, chose the best person for the job.

Mayo responded, “What I will say is that I do see color. And if you don’t see color, you don’t see racism.” He added, “It really doesn’t matter, but it does matter so we can fix the problem that we all know we have.”

It rubbed me the wrong way. Sports to me is an escape from the problems of the world. I hate it when the two overlap and I didn’t think this was the place for it.

I was also put off by Mayo not having a real answer when asked what his football philosophy is. People want to know if his philosophy will be similar to Belichick – bend but don’t break defense, run heavy offense, emphasis on special teams. Or is he going to be the polar opposite of Belichick? Is he more in favor of building an offense that relies more on the passing game, speed, and aggressiveness?

His answer was simply, “Winning.” That sort of mentality is backwards. It is results-driven. It is the wrong way to think. In Tom Brady’s final season with the Patriots, New England started out 8-0. But Brady knew that team was flawed. How could an 8-0 team be flawed? Brady knew that the team had played an easy schedule. They hadn’t been tested. Brady knew the offense was too reliant on himself and Julian Edelman. The team had no running game. They had no second option in the passing game beyond Edelman. Gronk had retired. Belichick never adequately replaced him. Belichick brought in washed-up veteran Ben Watson. He also brought in past-their-prime wide receivers Josh Gordon and Mohamed Sanu. He actually traded a second round draft pick for Sanu. It wasn’t even close to enough. Brady was proven right when the Patriots were bounced in the first round of the playoffs in what would be his last game in a Patriots' uniform.

What is important is how do you build the foundation for winning. You need to identify how you are going to win. What is the methodology? Winning is not a philosophy. It is a goal. Every head coach’s goal is to win. How do you plan on going about it? Mayo had no answers other than something about it all starts in the weight room. 

So the press conference left me far more concerned with the hire of Mayo. The unexpected availability of Mike Vrabel made me think twice (and three and four times) about just handing the keys over to Mayo. Mayo has spent his entire career with the Patriots. He acknowledged that the game has changed even from his playing days just about ten years ago. Does he know, specifically, how it has changed? Can he install the changes? One of the biggest criticisms of the Patriots is that they haven’t been able to adapt to the modern game. Mayo has always been a part of this franchise that has been stuck in the 20th century.

Would it have hurt the Patriots to interview other candidates for the head coaching job? How about listening to the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, and ask him how did he resurrected Jared Goff’s career? How about bringing in some people from the Mike Shanahan coaching tree and find out some insight into the inner workings of the high octane offenses that San Francisco and Miami are using?

Instead, the Patriots are just handing the reins over to Mayo. Mayo has known he was going to be the next head coach of the Patriots. It was written into his contract. Reports were that employees of the Patriots felt a change in Mayo’s demeanor and they didn’t like it. After watching the press conference, I could understand why. He did look smug. He didn’t seem humble. He told WBZ’s Steve Burton in a one-on-one interview that he knows this is "his time."

Bill O’Brien has already left the team to take the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State. I don’t blame him. With his extensive history of head coaching experience, it is understandable he wouldn’t want to work under someone who has only five years of coaching experience. And to find out now that he never had a legitimate chance at the head coaching gig?

Mayo also let slip in the Steve Burton interview what direction the Patriots were going with their first pick in the draft. He told Burton – as he pat Burton on the knee – that the Patriots were going to pick the best available player at the most important position on the field. So unless Mayo views wide receiver as the most important position on the field, that eliminates Marvin Harrison, Jr. as someone the Patriots will draft. That is a huge rookie misstep by Mayo. Now if any team picking after the Patriots really wants Harrison, they don’t need to worry about trading with New England for that pick.

It is the first of many rookie head coaching mistakes Mayo is bound to make. It is part of the reason I am thinking more and more that not hiring Vrabel is a mistake. Experience counts for a lot. How will Mayo handle time management? How will he handle timeouts? What will his philosophy be on fourth-and-short? These are all in-game decisions that you don’t learn from playing Madden. Vrabel has led a team to the AFC Championship game.

Time will tell if Thunder made the right decision hiring Mayo. Kraft says he trusts his gut. He listened to his gut when he hired Bill Belichick in 2000. Let’s see if Thunder can catch lightning in a bottle a second time.