Patriots might have another new mantra to plaster on Gillette Stadium walls

Throughout the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady era in New England, the phrase "Do your job" became synonymous with their success and was their most infamous mantra until the very end. It was simple but to the point and reflected the type of attitude the head coach wanted for the team, which they lived and breathed every season.

Once it was announced Jerod Mayo would replace Belichick as the Patriots head coach for the 2024 season, there were questions regarding what type of coach he would be, especially since he lacked the experience his predecessor had.

The assumption had been and has mostly been proven true that he would be considered a player's coach, given his NFL playing career as a linebacker and then learning from Belichick as a positions coach after retiring. He has clearly made an impact on the roster already, with many singing Mayo's praises in the months since he was hired.

The 38-year-old has made an effort to rid Gillette Stadium of its past and revamp some of the old rallying cries used for so many years before. Reporters have closely detailed this throughout the offseason, noting the various replacements of Belichick-ian sayings on the walls of the facility with new phrases to reflect a new attitude under Mayo.

The focus remains on stressing the importance of working as a unified group, which Mayo has tried to keep up with even more by renovating the locker room and common areas. But it seems like the changes are making such a dramatic impact on the players already that they've come up with another mantra to live by in 2024.

Patriots players accidentally came up with a new phrase to live by after Week 1 win

One of the many things discussed about the Patriots' win over the Bengals last week was hearing players yelling to each other, "Take them to the hill" in the fourth quarter. It was a cry to rally and finish the game strong, hoping it would motivate their teammates to play hard until the end.

It was even heard in the video released by the Patriots of Rhamondre Stevenson's mic'd up moments from the game, which prompted Mayo to be asked about the phrase's meaning.

While meeting with reporters on Wednesday morning, the head coach detailed the origin of the phrase, revealing it was a reference to a tough part of practice that has been part of Patriots culture since Belichick took over two decades ago.

Mayo continues to implement it into practice and believes because of the difficulty of the drill, it has become a way for players to get their head right to finish the game strong in the way they always practice, which certainly seemed to pay off last week.

“We talked about artificially creating adversity during practice. One of those ways is to go to the hill after a two-hour and 15-minute practice where you go one or two ways. One way is like, ‘oh man, I got to go to the hill.’ The other way is, ‘all right, we’ve got to break down through this wall, and push our bodies.’

Most of the time, and I tell the guys this all the time, your mind is going to give up before your body gives up. Being able to go to the hill or take them to the deep water, as we like to say, because we do have a lot of faith in our conditioning and what we’ve gone through throughout the summer. The guys that started saying, ‘take them to the hill’ during that fourth quarter. I love it. That was from the players.”

Starting nose tackle Davon Godchaux reiterated Mayo's point, declaring "Take them to the hill" will become a motivating factor in close games for the rest of the season.

“A couple of guys in the locker room said, ‘Take them to the hill’ and we already knew what time it was: time to finish the game. That’s kind of like the motto or the saying. Going forward, that will be the saying in the fourth quarter especially when it’s tight ball games.”

It might still be incredibly early in the 2024 season and Mayo's tenure as the Patriots head coach, but it's really impressive to see the dramatic change in attitude of the players and the immense support and respect they have for their new coaching staff.

It's clear they're all on board with the new messaging and the culture they're trying to implement, which will only benefit them all moving forward.

More Patriots news and analysis: