Boomer Esiason: Patriots players ‘love their coach’

In both his postgame press conference and his Monday morning appearance on The Greg Hill Show, Jerod Mayo tried to not make Sunday’s upset win over the Bengals – his first win as Patriots head coach – about himself, quickly deflecting credit and praise to his players and staff.

The players themselves had no problem celebrating for Mayo, though, dousing him with a Gatorade bath at the final whistle and professing their love and respect for him after the game. Team owner Robert Kraft made sure to gift Mayo the game ball in the locker room, too.

Whether Mayo wanted it to be or not, Sunday very much was about New England’s new coach. There was a lot of skepticism from those outside the building. There had been criticism of the way he sometimes backtracked or contradicted his own comments in the media.

Many fans and media did not support his decision to start Jacoby Brissett over Drake Maye. And, of course, there were those who were ready to pounce if his team looked in any way less disciplined or less prepared than it would have under Bill Belichick.

All, or at least many, of those concerns were wiped away with one gritty road win. And one thing was made abundantly clear to Boomer Esiason: Patriots players love playing for Mayo.

“The player reaction … tells you all you need to know,” Esiason said Monday during his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show (listen to the full interview above). “I mean, that tells you a lot, that there was internal pressure coming from every which way. …. I do believe that there was a genuine appreciation for the coach in this case, and you could see it, and you could hear it in the players’ postgame interviews. They love their coach, and hopefully that will continue. This is a long season.”

Esiason also believes that Mayo knows “exactly what he’s doing” with the quarterback situation, contrary to the narrative that he wasn’t even the one picking the starter.

“The decision to play Jacoby Brissett, while it wasn't pretty and there weren't a lot of yards, there were very few explosive plays, the fact of the matter is he steadied the ship,” Esiason said. “He didn't turn the ball over. And maybe, as Drake Maye is standing there watching, believe it or not, he is learning. He is watching how quickly the game is played, all the different adjustments that have to be made on the fly. Eventually, he'll get on the field. I think Coach Mayo knows exactly what he was doing, and it certainly bore itself out with the victory.”