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Rookie quarterback Drake Maye may not be Tom Brady, but he’s the face of hope for a franchise that has seen a rapid fall from grace in recent years. (Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports)
The last time the New England Patriots played a game without Bill Belichick as their head coach, it was a day after Y2K.
On Jan. 2, 2000, the Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens but Pete Carroll was fired as head coach anyway. The day before, Tom Brady played his final college game. There are many ways to illustrate how life has changed since then, but in the Patriots’ world this is what matters: They went from one of the NFL’s forgettable franchises to winning 17 AFC East titles, nine AFC championships and six Super Bowl wins with Belichick. They had the greatest dynasty in NFL history and perhaps sports history. The dynasty ended when Brady left, and Belichick is gone too after an unceremonious end.
It’s going to be strange to see Jerod Mayo as the Patriots’ head coach. Mayo was 14 years old when Belichick coached his first game for the Patriots. Mayo was drafted by New England in 2008, after Belichick already had three Super Bowl rings as the team’s head coach. Mayo had a very good eight-year NFL career at linebacker. Belichick then coached eight more seasons after Mayo retired as a player.
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But it was time for a change. The relationship between Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft had frayed, as it had with Belichick and Brady, and more important than that, the Patriots had fallen into serious disrepair.
For as great as Belichick was, he left the Patriots in ruins. Years of bad draft picks and misguided signings left the Patriots with arguably the worst roster in the NFL. They went 4-13 last season and Belichick’s masterful defensive coaching — they managed to have the No. 9 defense in DVOA despite plenty of injuries and not much star power — stole a couple of those wins. The one parting gift Belichick gave New England was finishing…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-offseason-power-rankings-no-31-new-england-patriots-start-over-with-drake-maye-and-jerod-mayo-123402957.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-06-19 12:34:02
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