For much of the season, the buttons pushed by the New England Patriots have not worked. One of the worst teams in the NFL this season, the team of head coach Jerod Mayo stumbled its way to a 3-11 record.
The latest of those losses happened Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, which seemingly led to the team taking some unusual measures the following day. A release by the Patriots’ media relations department updating the availability schedule for the week served as a notifier in that regard:
Patriots players will not have a team meeting today, therefore we won’t be scheduling any video conferences this afternoon.
The Patriots giving their players Monday off is nothing strange per se. However, there are two reasons why this particular instance raised some eyebrows:
1.) It is coming after a defeat, and therefore is not a “Victory Monday.”
2.) New England’s game against the Cardinals was preceded by the bye week.
The motivation behind the change of schedule is not known; Mayo’s own media session took place before the announcement was made. However, the end result remains the same: players were not asked to report for a meeting on Monday, which in turn also meant that none of them would talk to reporters in the afternoon.
Without entering speculative territory — social media and talk show radio have that base covered — New England altering their schedule is curious, especially considering how the team handled post-loss meetings in the past. One way or another, and at least for one day, change is afoot at One Patriot Place.
That is actually something Drake Maye spoke about during his postgame press conference after Sunday’s 30-17 loss to the Cardinals.
“The same things keep showing up, that’s probably the most frustrating part,” the rookie quarterback said after his team’s fourth defeat in a row. “We are practicing well, I feel like. It’s just not translating to the game, so we have to do something extra or do something different.”
For one reason or another, the Patriots did just that entering Week 16 and their first season meeting with the AFC East champion Buffalo Bills.
