Filling in the boots of legendary Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was never going to be an easy task for Jerod Mayo. But them being this bad wasn’t something that New England could have predicted. Slipping down to 3-9 on the season after getting dominated by the Dolphins 34-15 has led to Mayo questioning the Patriots’ culture.

Transitioning through a re-building era led Mayo to share his stance on trying to re-establish the winning culture, “I never thought that we would be able to re-establish a culture in Year 1. It’s a process. It’s hard to change a culture. We’re trying to put those pieces together.” While Mayo tries to get the Patriots up and running, he may just run out of games this year. With only a few games left before the regular season ends, the Patriots have nothing left to fight for this season.

After getting dominated by Matthew Stafford last week, who threw 4 TDs. This week’s result in Miami was nothing different. Coming up against Tua Tagovailoa, the Dolphins QB continued the streak by recording 4 TDs. Even his support cast on the offense had a field day against the Patriots. Jaylen Waddle finished his afternoon catching 8 passes for 144 yards with a TD. Well, it just got worse when the Patriots found their former TE Jonnu Smith recorded nine receptions for 87 yards. And, of course, a TD at the start of the second quarter.

Witnessing his team play off the park in Miami led to Mayo calling it a defeat that is hard to digest, “Hard pill to swallow. We showed some fight at the end which is encouraging. But in this game every single play counts. I hate losing more than I really like to win.” However, the Patriots coach still believes there is light at the end of the tunnel, “I think it’s only up from here. We got a bright future and bright players in there that are going to make some players for the Patriots.” 

While Jerod Mayo tries to take the Patriots back to where they belonged in the NFL. His boss, Robert Kraft, had to face disappointment yet again after getting snubbed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame committee.

Robert Kraft falls victim to unlucky number 13

As Bill Belichick’s culture found itself undermined by Jerod Mayo, the Patriots owner had to contend with his own disappointments. Kraft, who has spear-headed the Patriots to six Super Bowl titles with Bill Belichick at the helm, has missed out on the HOF final nominations for the 13th time. And this time, he had to watch Ralph Hay take his place as the co-founder of the NFL. Hay, alongside a coach and three other candidates from the previous NFL era, will be considered for the HOF next year.

However, seeing Kraft getting sidelined for Hay was a huge surprise for some of them out there, “It’s a huge surprise. And it’s very disappointing. Unless you are an NFL historian, you don’t know who Ralph Hay is,” as per an anonymous source to ESPN. Well, some believe Kraft’s controversies, like the infamous 2007 Spygate scandal to blocking his way to Canton, “Some voters believe he was part of the biggest cheating scandal in NFL history. That’s a very tough one to overcome,” according to one HOF voter.

As the 83-year-old continues to wait for his recognition as the most successful NFL owner to date. His Patriots need to turn things around under Mayo. Otherwise, they would just remain a shadow of their former selves since the Belichick era.