There’s a great season finale scene in the HBO drama Succession during which protagonist Kendall Roy rips a page out of his father’s playbook, double crossing the CEO in a high-stakes press conference. Dad, Logan, looks on with a Mona Lisa-like expression: is it a hint of a smile? A grimace? A slightly proud smirk?
I imagine that’s exactly how Bill Belichick looked watching his successor beat the Bengals Sunday, because Jerod Mayo’s game plan and execution could not have adhered more to the Gospel of Bill.
For 20 years, the Patriots played a Hippocratic Oath style of football: first, do no harm. Ball security is job security. Let the other team beat themselves.
These aspects of coaching became so ingrained in Patriots football, it took a couple seasons before everyone looked around and said, “Hey wait, this team is playing kind of moronically.”
Smart, patient football was back Sunday – albeit, against a Cincinnati team with a lot to work out before Halloween. That’s sort of become the calling card of Joe Burrow’s Bengals, but to say Sunday’s win was all about Cincinnati’s shortcomings does a disservice to a Patriots team who’s heard nothing but how putrid they’d be for the last four months.
The Patriots had a +2 turnover differential, thanks to outstanding heads-up plays from their defense and a methodical offensive game plan. Safety Kyle Dugger punched the ball out of a Tanner Hudson’s arms at the goal line and jack of all trades Marcus Jones snatched it like a border collie with a frisbee. Jacoby Brissett played an extremely clean game, thanks in part to an assist on a would-be interception on a red zone throw to Hunter Henry.
Henry wrestled the 50/50 ball mid-air, averting disaster.
Can we talk about Brissett? The quarterback originally drafted by Belichick averaged just five yards a throw. It didn’t matter. He played the part designed for him and let Rhamondre Stevenson run the rock for his most productive game since 2022. There didn’t appear to be any “Wide Receiver 1” or star weapon outside of the running back. It was a top-to-bottom collaborative effort led by a much-maligned offensive line.
Ditto for the defense, where Keion White, Dugger, Christian Gonzalez, and Ja’Whaun Bentley all took turns breaking Burrow’s plays.
The game even featured an old classic: watching the other team’s coach make a boneheaded challenge. Technically Zach Taylor won it, but what was the point of that fumble clarification?
A lot has changed in Foxborough from Belichick’s days at the helm. Every player drafted in 2024 is on the 53-man roster. A running back got a second contract. Mayo got a Gatorade bath for a regular season win, (this is totally inoffensive to me, it’s his first career win as a head coach, but I imagine some rolling their eyes). Captains don patches on their uniforms.
But Sunday was a reminder Jerod Mayo is Belichick’s protégé. For as different as his style and outward demeanor might be, he learned how to play and coach NFL football exclusively in New England.
Let’s be clear: it’ll be extremely tough for the Patriots to replicate this 16-10 win week-in, week-out. They must have the ability to put up more than one offensive touchdown in a game. They’ll face healthier teams with stouter run defenses. There’s a lot of room to grow.
There’s still a lot of the old way of doing things around this team, though. They were on to Cincinnati, and they came out with a massive upset. It’s gotta be way too soon to expect any warm and fuzzies from Belichick, but deep down, it’s the sort of game he would have adored.
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