Within the days of Invoice Belichick on the helm of the New England Patriots, Rhamondre Stevenson would have been actual acquainted with the bench. He may need wanted a pillow and blanket for his prolonged keep there, too.
Jerod Mayo did not go that route when it got here to Stevenson’s expensive fumbling points, however he ought to take a web page out of Belichick’s e book.
Mayo seems to be trending in that path after the first-year head coach mentioned Wednesday sitting Stevenson and giving extra reps to Antonio Gibson in Sunday’s matchup in opposition to the Miami Dolphins is an possibility on the desk.
That certainly would not be a simple resolution for Mayo. The Patriots paid Stevenson this offseason — a four-year, $36 million contract extension with $17 million assured — to be the workhorse function again and New England facilities its offense round Stevenson’s stout capability within the floor sport.
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Sticking Stevenson on the sideline would take a playmaker off the sector for a Patriots offense in determined want of them. It is the improper transfer on paper. However it’s the best message for Mayo to ship.
Mayo and his teaching employees have preached fundamentals because the new regime took over and already gave Stevenson an excessive amount of leeway. It is comprehensible that they supplied him a second probability after he fumbled in a season-opening win over the Bengals, by which he was New England’s high offensive performer by speeding for 120 yards and a landing on 25 carries.
When Stevenson fumbled once more in an extra time loss to the Seattle Seahawks — and this time down by the aim line — that ought to have raised crimson flags. However Stevenson saved his regular enjoying time after which coughed the ball over in opposition to the New York Jets and once more this previous week in opposition to San Francisco 49ers.
4 fumbles in 4 video games. Inexcusable. Belichick would have by no means stood for it.
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Mayo is making an attempt in some methods to be the other of Belichick and function a extra prototypical gamers coach. That has its benefits and on this case disadvantages.
He confirmed his inexperience and made a misstep by not taking motion sooner in opposition to Stevenson. By not disciplining Stevenson, whether or not benching him for sequence, quarter or perhaps a half, he inadvertently rewarded Stevenson for not maintaining the ball in his grasps.
Mayo’s job this season is not simply making an attempt to enhance New England’s on-field product, but additionally set up a brand new tradition contained in the confines of One Patriot Place after 24 years of Belichick’s reign.
Mayo might have made a stand with Stevenson and displayed that repeated fumbles will not be tolerated on a staff that should do the little issues appropriately even to have a shot in video games. As an alternative, Mayo regarded like a pushover, conceding to one of many staff’s premier gamers.
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The precise resolution remains to be out there to Mayo even when it is coming a few weeks late. Simply 4 weeks into the marketing campaign, it seems like a misplaced season for the Patriots, so giving Stevenson a while on the pine would not dramatically alter their trajectory.
The Patriots additionally already seem like an undisciplined bunch with on-field outbursts and gamers calling out teammates within the media. It is on Mayo to show that round. He can repair just one drawback at a time and he can begin by exhibiting his staff that if they do not shield the soccer, they don’t seem to be going to see the sector.
