It took Patriots' Jerod Mayo one loss to regret his remarks on the offensive line

Besides the Patriots Week 1 win over the Bengals being completely unexpected, one of the most impressive aspects of the win was how well their offense played despite the lack of firepower most believed would be needed to be successful this year.

The run game was solid, with Rhamondre Stevenson recording 120 yards and a touchdown, and Jacoby Brissett looked more poised under center, playing well enough to come out of Cincinnati the victor. The offensive line gave minimal issues with their performance, which prompted optimism heading into their first home game of the year against the Seahawks.

As quickly as things looked good for the 2024 Patriots, they began to look how they were predicted to play all offseason. Although they ultimately lost to Seattle by just a field goal in overtime, the offensive line was a disaster and played radically different than they had a week before.

The stat sheet doesn't tell the whole story, and Brissett was wincing in pain from the several hits from defenders throughout the game. The inconsistency of protection on all sides led to the quarterback having to take those hits, throw the football away, or miss wide-open receivers because he either didn't have enough time to scan the field or didn't trust the protection to look beyond his first read.

It was an issue that analysts and fans saw from a mile away, which the team (of course) heard throughout the summer. It led to Mayo defending the offensive lineman after their win against the Bengals, but it didn't take long for his words to come back to haunt him.

Jerod Mayo is having to eat his high assessment of the Patriots offensive line after Week 2 loss

It could easily be chalked up to a head coach trying to put his team over and be optimistic when speaking to reporters, but Mayo's continued assessment that the Patriots offensive line is not that big of a problem is proving to be wrong over and over again.

Unfortunately, it was seen firsthand against the Seahawks on Sunday, yet it was only one week before that Mayo was emphasizing that analysts and fans were "overblowing" the deficiencies of the group.

He shared that take during his weekly appearance on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" on the Monday following their win over the Bengals. While it was a solid performance from the offense, it might have been much too early to declare the offensive line as not that much of an issue.

“I’ve told you guys the entire time, and I’ve told the media. We’ve overblown the deficiencies that we have at offensive line. Every single preseason game, turn on the tape. This what I’d say – turn on the tape, every single preseason game, I’d say we dominated the line of scrimmage offensively and defensively.

Now there were some things – there was the one practice versus Philly where everyone kind of blew it out of proportion. But I have nothing but total faith in [offensive line coach] Scott Peters, [offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt], [assistant O-line coach Robert] Kugler, … all those guys, to get those guys ready to go, and we don’t hear [the criticism]. We don’t hear it.”

Obviously, it's good to have the backs of your coaches, especially at the start of the season when it's far too early to make any conclusion about how they or the players are performing. However, Mayo isn't unaware of the lack of talent on the offensive line, even more so since they are down Sidy Sow and Cole Strange, two starters holding own the left and right guard spots.

That has forced Mike Owenu to play out of position this year, putting rookie Layden Robinson in as the starting right tackle. Now, with another injury, rookie Caedan Wallace is being thrown to the fire, as well.

The group lacks depth and consistency in performance, and unfortunately, it's only going to get worse the longer the season goes on. At the same time, there's not a whole lot that Mayo can do, as top-of-the-line offensive linemen don't grow on trees, meaning teams don't willingly give them up when they find one.

It limits their options in the trade market, and free agents still available have either spent more time on the injury report over the last several years or would be more of a liability than a help. It's a hole the new regime has gotten into, and they likely won't be able to fix it until next offseason.

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