Reactions to the Patriots' brutal Week 7 loss are getting out of control

Although they ultimately lost to the Texans in Week 6, there was plenty of optimism about the Patriots' chances moving forward this season for one reason only: Drake Maye. The rookie quarterback was finally named the starter last week and, despite the loss, had an impressive NFL debut against a very good Houston team.

Seeing the Jaguars on the calendar for the following game felt like a good chance for Maye to lead the team to its first win and second of the season, especially after Jacksonville's forgettable efforts against the Bears the week before.

That created high expectations for the Patriots' offense and for Maye to build upon what he had already proven he could do with a less-than-ideal team around him. But as we know, that's far from what happened.

The game started well, and the Patriots were on the board early with a 10-0 lead, only to fall flat on their faces and let the Jaguars score 32 points through the end of the game. The loss was brutal and nothing short of ugly, bringing up some of the most negative takes regarding the team and their future going into Monday morning.

Some concerns are valid and should be spoken of, while others can simply be categorized as overreactions.

Biggest overreactions to Patriots' brutal Week 7 loss to the Jaguars

1. Jerod Mayo and his entire staff need to be fired

We're heading into Week 8.

Criticism of Jerod Mayo and the new coaching staff is warranted, and plenty of questions need to be addressed by them and Robert Kraft. Many things must be adjusted and fixed as the season progresses, which will inevitably come with more time and experience. Firing Mayo or any other coach midseason would not benefit anyone, especially the team.

Knee-jerk reactions like that don't serve a better purpose, as we've seen time and time again in the NFL, and teams only get worse (typically) when their head coach is fired before season's end.

The hiring of Mayo to succeed Bill Belichick might be a questionable decision by Kraft to fans, and they have made their preference known many times over the past nine months. But it's important to remember how bad the team was under Belichick over the last three years, which seems to be conveniently forgotten in this discourse.

Belichick didn't properly prepare for life after Tom Brady, leaving him to deal with finding a new quarterback and building a team around them. He failed to do that adequately, hence why Mac Jones was traded this offseason and the team last won a playoff game in 2018.

Mayo has had his fair share of struggles, which will continue during his first year as a head coach and maybe even into 2025, as he is presumed to remain in his current role. Expecting that he would be able to magically turn around a roster and make them competitive when the best head coach in the history of the NFL couldn't do it over four years is unfair, just like demanding his firing seven games into the 2024 season.

2. The Patriots are wasting the opportunity to be competitive this season

The narrative surrounding the 2024 Patriots was that they were undergoing a complete overhaul and at the beginning of an overdue rebuild, so expectations were low for how they would fare. It was presumably widely accepted that they wouldn't be competing for a playoff spot and would instead look for progress over perfection.

But with the selection of Drake Maye and a season-opening win against the Bengals, there was an uptick in what the Patriots could shockingly accomplish this year, especially with Maye presumably waiting for his turn to take over under center.

It all seemed to cloud the better judgment of everyone who had already gotten on board with the objective of the new regime. It's led many to believe New England actually had a chance to make a run this season despite everything working against them. It has thus created a miserable atmosphere in Patriots Nation.

The Week 1 win was great and certainly boosted morale, but it was a mirage of what could have been this year had the roster been in better shape. We already knew what 2024 would be, and it's proving to be exactly that and nothing more.

3. The defense is really bad because of bad coaching

This is a point that Belichick seemed to make in his response to Mayo's "soft football team" comment after the latest loss. He pointed to knowing the players firsthand and how good the run defense was in a top-five group during his final season with the team last year but failed to mention the players the defensive line is missing.

While he's not wrong about the defense being significantly better in 2023 than they are currently, and some of that could certainly be attributed to the coaching change, ignoring the tremendous impact of not having Christian Barmore, Ja'Whaun Bentley, and Jabrill Peppers is convenient only to support his argument.

The coaching has been questionable, especially from a toughness standpoint, since the defense was expected to be the best part of the team again, but suggesting they've only declined because of coaching is misrepresentative.

The players out for the season with injury or otherwise were some of the best on the team, and any team would suffer in their absence. So it's no wonder that the Patriots' defense struggles without them in the lineup, on top of the significant changes they're having to overcome during a rebuild.

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