Leftover thoughts from the Patriots’ latest loss while we wait for the new non-media-friendly iteration of Jerod Mayo to address the media Monday morning and provide another non-answer for why Rhamondre Stevenson started.

Stevenson started, but…

Let’s start there. Mayo told Scott Zolak on the 98.5 The Sports Hub pre-game show that, due to Stevenson’s fumbling issues, Antonio Gibson would start Saturday’s game against the Chargers.

Fast forward to the Patriots’ first offensive drive, and Stevenson was standing in the huddle. The Patriots’ first offensive play was a 5-yard carry from Stevenson.

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Takeaways from Patriots’ abysmal performance in 40-7 loss to Chargers

Mayo said after the game that it was a coach’s decision, but he wouldn’t specify which coach’s decision. Gibson said he wasn’t told during the week that he would be starting and that he knew nothing about the situation at all. One team source surmised it was a simple miscommunication but acknowledged that it was a bad look given the Patriots’ current circumstances.

We’ve jumped all over Mayo’s media miscues this season, but this one was just strange. If Stevenson was going to be benched, wouldn’t Gibson know about it? And if he wasn’t going to be benched, then why say it before the game?

All in all, it falls in line with the overall lack of accountability in the team’s current culture. It’s what leads Mayo to constantly say that if you take out a negative play, then the team’s performance looks a lot better. It’s what leads to defensive tackle Davon Godchaux coming out of the gate Saturday night saying he thought the team defended the run well. And it’s what leads to Mayo saying he was going to punish Stevenson for fumbling and then apparently walking back his decision.

Overall, Gibson out-snapped Stevenson 29 to 24 and out-touched him 12 to 2, but seven of those snaps and six of those touches came in the Patriots’ final drive during garbage time. So, Stevenson had actually played more than Gibson before that final drive when Jacoby Brissett had replaced Drake Maye at quarterback.

Pass rush is a zero

Remember when the Patriots sacked Caleb Williams nine times in Week 10? They have three sacks in the five games since. And the fastest of those sacks took 4.4 seconds. The Patriots’ pass rush was blanked again Saturday with zero sacks against the Chargers.

The Patriots have just 19 total sacks in their 15 other games. A team source believes it’s a talent issue. The Patriots certainly miss Christian Barmore, and it probably didn’t help their production that they traded Matthew Judon and Joshua Uche (though both deals were smart), but Keion White, Yannick Ngakoue, Anfernee Jennings, Deatrich Wise and the Patriots’ defensive tackles should be significantly better.

Rookie receiver report

Four weeks ago, we wrote about how rookie wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk was having a historically poor rookie season. Since that time, he’s played in three games, was targeted twice and hasn’t caught a pass.

It felt impossible that Polk, a second-round pick, could finish his rookie season worse than it started, but that’s the way things are trending. We’re also 17 weeks into the season, and fourth-round pick Javon Baker has yet to catch is first NFL pass.

It’s been well-established that the Patriots should have stayed put at No. 34 overall and drafted Ladd McConkey rather than trading down to select Polk and Baker. It’s still worth noting that McConkey caught eight passes for 94 yards with two touchdowns in Saturday’s loss. McConkey, who has 77 catches for 1,054 yards with seven touchdowns on the season, matched Polk’s touchdown total in one game, and he surpassed his yardage total in one game.

Obviously, McConkey looks like the better pick. But Polk was still regarded as a second-round talent, so it’s bizarre to see him struggle this way. McConkey is also better than the Patriots’ current slot receiver, DeMario Douglas, but Douglas was one of the team’s few bright spots on offense last season. It’s at least somewhat understandable why the team wanted an outside receiver like Polk rather than upgrading a spot where they already had a promising young player.

Polk posted a picture of himself on Instagram after the game with the captain, “The most hated.” It felt slightly tone-deaf.

Maye struggles

There was truly almost nothing good to glean from this Patriots’ performance. The Patriots’ lone touchdown was a head’s up, if obvious, decision by Maye to heave it up into the end zone after the Chargers had jumped offside. Douglas made a nice adjustment to catch the ball.

But it was Maye’s worst performance of the season from an EPA (expected points added) per play perspective. And it was his second-least efficient performance based on completion percentage over expectation (CPOE). It was just Maye’s fourth performance with his CPOE in the red at -4.3%.

Maye also had his lowest yardage total (117 yards) and lowest completion percentage (54.5%) for a performance in which he played the majority of the game.

Maye obviously passed the NFL’s concussion tests after being evaluated for a head injury in the first quarter, when he took a helmet-to-helmet shot, dropped the football and stayed on the turf for an extended period. It was odd to see him leave for the locker room and then be cleared.

It’s also natural to wonder if the head injury he suffered led to any of his struggles.

Maye missed the Patriots’ second offensive drive and was pulled before their final drive.

Other thoughts

No bad snaps from center Cole Strange, but he did snap the ball once before anyone was expecting it. He pass protected well filling in for Ben Brown at his new position.
Rookie Caedan Wallace let up one pressure in 15 snaps. The Patriots need to start him at right tackle next week to see what they have for the future.
The “fire Mayo” chants weren’t exactly thundering, but they were loud enough to be heard in a half-empty Gillette Stadium. And even if the Patriots spend extravagantly in free agency, it’s not going to improve the public’s approval rate of the head coach. One question that Robert and Jonathan Kraft need to answer is would they hire Mayo as their head coach based on what he has shown this season. Another question is what has Mayo shown this season that they believe other coaches don’t possess. And another question is what specifically would Mayo be hired to do on another team next season if he is let go. Would he absolutely, certainly, 100% get a coordinator job? He’s never held the title before, and he’s never called defensive plays. Mayo is supposed to be a culture-builder, but the Patriots’ locker room lacks accountability, White is openly pining for major changes, and we’ve heard internally that the team culture is poor because of a lack of leadership. Ultimately, this is the Krafts’ decision to make. But the crowd isn’t going to get any larger by Week 18 or more supportive by Week 1 next season.
One positive to close it out: It was nice to see safeties Dell Pettus, Jalynn Hawkins and Marte Mapu have an extended hour-plus heart-to-heart in the locker room after Saturday’s loss. It was also nice to see Wise, a defensive captain, sit down to have a chat with Polk after the game.