The New England Patriots face an fascinating dilemma as they put together for Sunday’s season finale.
Lose at residence to the Buffalo Payments, and the Patriots (3-13) safe the No. 1 total decide within the NFL draft.
On paper, that would appear nearly a certainty. New England is using a six-game shedding streak, with final Saturday’s 40-7 rout by the hands of the Los Angeles Chargers the brand new low-water mark in coach Jerod Mayo’s first season.
The problem is that Buffalo (13-3) is locked into the No. 2 seed within the AFC playoffs and should relaxation a lot of its stars with nothing to achieve from profitable on Sunday.
Mayo stated the Patriots are “one hundred pc targeted on beating the Buffalo Payments,” and that securing the No. 1 draft decide is not his precedence. So, if rookie quarterback Drake Maye and different key personnel are wholesome, he expects his workforce to take the sphere with the intent of closing out the season with a victory.
“That is what we’ve to do,” Mayo stated on Monday. “My expectation is that if the fellows are wholesome, then they’re anticipated to be able to go on the market and play. Once more, we’ll must see how the week goes. I perceive the query. The fellows are working onerous and we have to play soccer.”
Mayo stated he knew his first season on the helm in New England could be a problem, but in addition pointed to the eight one-score video games the Patriots have misplaced.
Cross rusher Keion White is amongst a number of gamers who’ve questioned the workforce’s route underneath the present teaching employees, however Mayo stated he believes his workforce has continued to play onerous — it is only a lack of execution that continues to carry the Patriots again.
“It looks like we have been within the storm for a very long time. I feel the gamers as an entire, I might say they’ve come into work day by day throughout a troublesome season. I feel that is been an enormous piece of the puzzle,” Mayo stated. “Hopefully we are able to preserve that going ahead. We had eight one-score video games this 12 months. We simply acquired to, actually, we’ve to win these video games. That is what the NFL is. That is going to be the objective going ahead.”
Requested whether or not he has been assured by proprietor Robert Kraft that he’ll return for a second season, Mayo didn’t tackle the query instantly.
“I am all the time in fixed communication with possession, and I really feel like we’re nonetheless on the identical web page,” he stated.
–Discipline Stage Media