“It takes time, and we’re still not where we want to be, but we’re headed in the right direction.”
It was an afternoon of firsts for the Patriots on Sunday at Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium.
For the first time since 2000, the Patriots had a head coach not named Bill Belichick patrolling the sideline.
And for Jerod Mayo, Sunday’s hard-fought, upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals not only gave him his first NFL victory as a head coach, it also stood as his first-ever Gatorade bath.
“It was cold, man, it was cold,” Mayo said after New England’s 16-10 win over the Bengals. “I felt worse for my shoes. I was like ‘Ugh, these are done.’”
The deluge of blue liquid — delivered courtesy of Davon Godchaux and Daniel Ekuale — served as an emphatic stamp on a rewarding result for Mayo and his coaching staff.
Despite entering the 2024 campaign with low expectations, Mayo’s Patriots delivered a statement win against a Bengals team with championship aspirations — with New England opening a season 1-0 for the first time since 2020 thanks to a tenacious, ground-and-pound offensive gameplan, timely turnovers, and a disciplined execution in all three phases of the game.
“I thought the guys went out there and competed hard,” Mayo said of New England’s performance on Sunday. “We talked about establishing the run game and stopping their run game, making them one-dimensional, we did a good job with that. I’d say we still left a lot of plays out there, but we’re going to enjoy this one on the flight home and look forward to next week.
