The most intriguing moment in the Patriots’ dreadful 30-17 loss to the Cardinals didn’t come on the field, but rather, when CBS’ camera swung to New England’s owners’ suite.
The Patriots were down 10-0 in the first half and had just lost yards on a run when the broadcast found Robert and Jonathan Kraft looking like Statler and Waldorf watching Miss Piggy sang opera.
I’m not going to attempt to lipread. There are plenty of social media accounts with their own translations out there. Here’s what I know I saw: while the elder Kraft looked on with his chin cradled in his hand, Jonathan gestured to the field, shrugged, and shook his head in apparent impatience. In his hand was a blue pen. Whether he was taking notes on the game before him or jotting down a takeout dinner order is anyone’s guess.
It actually made me feel better about 2025. Let me explain why.
It’s not the first time the Krafts have looked dissatisfied during a loss. But this very public glimpse of the Krafts’ frustration jumped out after a week of reports about rookie head coach Jerod Mayo’s future with the team – most notably, a story from The Athletic’s Diana Russini noting that “Patriots leadership is standing by Mayo.”
“Robert Kraft has privately assured those close to him that’s he’s committed to giving his first-year head coach the time and resources he needs to grow into the role,” Russini further reported over the weekend.
Sure, Robert Kraft may be privately telling everyone Mayo is back – and he may still grow into the right guy for the role next season. Maybe the CBS cameras just caught ownership emoting the way we all felt watching that game, (at least until awesome back-to-back plays from Drake to Kendrick Bourne and DeMario Douglas in the fourth quarter). But I want to believe that ownership feels the same way Maye does on game day.
“Nobody wants a season like this year again,” the rookie quarterback said during his weekly availability with media in Foxboro. “I think it’s two years in a row of a season like this, and you start to worry.”
The 2024 Patriots are rudderless. They lack moxie and they’re far from the feisty team Mayo wanted them to resemble at this point in the season.
They went 0-6 on third-down, while Arizona went 10-15. Maye looked handcuffed by screen plays through the first half. The run defense was abysmal.
That the flat performance came off a bye week makes everything look degrees worse.
When Mayo was asked by a reporter postgame about the decision not to have Maye execute a quarterback sneak on 3rd-and-1 or 4th-and-1 when he has the running capability, his answer was, “You said it. I didn’t.”
So, the frustration is clearly felt on the sidelines as well as in the owners’ box.
There must be significant changes after January if this team is going to look better than 3-11 next December. The Krafts have found the golden goose in Drake Maye. That’s the hardest part of rebuilding a team. Now, they can’t waste another offseason losing out on free agents, failing to restock the franchise’s brain trust, and whiffing on offensive players in the draft.
I would guess (fully speculate) that the Krafts didn’t love getting shown on the broadcast wearing sour expressions right after losing yards on offense. But it might be reason for hope to see them react to football that is not up to their standards, because it suggests there could be changes this offseason that amount to more than window dressing.
The Patriots need to undergo a dramatic makeover. Maybe we got a genuine look at a sense of urgency in the owners’ suite.