HARROW ON THE HILL, England — Jerod Mayo was answering a British reporter’s question of why a someone in the U.K. should pick the Patriots to follow in their journey as a fan of American football, but the head coach might as well have been speaking to long-time supporters wondering why they’re still taking three hours out of their weekend to watch the 1-5 squad.
Mayo’s answer, as he stood at a makeshift podium inside the Harrow School gymnasium outside of London, was surprisingly candid.
“One thing I would say is we’re hitting the reset button and then looking forward to building something special,” Mayo said. “Looking forward to building the next dynasty, and it starts with obviously through the draft and developing but also through free agency. We look to get back on top here pretty soon.”
The 1-5 Patriots are certainly hitting the reset button. But they have a lot of work to do before beginning a new dynasty. Bill Belichick’s Patriots gained a ton of fans in Europe by winning six Super Bowls and appearing in three more in an 18-season span. The path of the Patriots shows how short the NFL attention span can be, however. They’ve had four largely forgettable seasons since Tom Brady left, and they had just one primetime game on their 2024 schedule. And the Patriots’ performance through six weeks shouldn’t have the league second-guessing that decision. At times the Patriots have been hard to watch.
The Patriots rifled through Cam Newton, Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe and Jacoby Brissett as starters since Brady left. Their next great hope is Drake Maye, who created a spark on offense in last week’s loss and was creative with his own answer for why fans in the U.K. should follow the Patriots.
“First off, I think it comes with the team name – New England,” Maye said. “I think it’s easy for U.K. fans to be attracted to that. Our colors are pretty sweet, I think they represent a lot of different things. And then from there kind of the excitement from the team. I think we’re on the comeup and we have a lot of things to look forward to, bright futures ahead. Shout out to all the fans that are already Patriots fans over here and look forward to having some more.”
Sunday’s game against the Jaguars will reveal if the Patriots truly are on the rise. The Jaguars present a beatable opponent, and a win would certainly go a long way in improving morale among the fanbase. A loss would only solidify the Patriots as one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Overall, there are mixed feelings among NFL players when it comes to the pomp and circumstance and travel woes of playing in an international game.
Players say that they’re looking forward to seeing a new country, they’re excited to bring the sport to an international audience and that it can serve as a team bonding trip. And yes, all of those things are true, but the lack of sleep that comes with flying east while trying to maintain a normal weekly practice schedule is a grind that players will also grumble about behind the scenes.
The Patriots wrapped up practice Thursday in Foxboro and left for the airport before they could even review film from the session. Quarterback Drake Maye was still trying to play some catchup Friday when arriving at the Harrow School, which housed the Patriots’ practice in England.
“Just trying to catch up on some practice tape yesterday, but really other than that, I think we’re trying to get back on the normal schedule,” Maye said. “We’ll have a typical Friday out here today. Same practice schedule, going through different periods, seeing different throws and different circumstances throughout the games that we try to replicate during practice. So, really the same schedule, just probably have to catch up on yesterday’s film. You usually watch that after practice as a quarterback anyway. So, nothing new, but just in a different spot. A lot of new, different things, so just trying to navigate that.”
Hopefully, if you’re a player, you’re good at sleeping on planes, because the six-hour flight from Boston to London might be the only chance to rest before getting on the practice field at 2:53 p.m. BST (9:37 a.m. ET). There’s some time to see some sites in between meetings on Saturday, but when Sunday’s game kicks off at 2:30 p.m. BST, players’ body clocks will still think it’s 9:30 a.m. ET.
Mayo wasn’t concerned.
“I have energy, I have juice, and I would say the players do, too,” he said. “We flew out here; we landed this morning. A lot of those guys slept on the plane, and they have an opportunity to get their energy up through the rest of the day and get ready for [Sunday].”
The Jaguars have already been in London for a week — they were embarrassed by the Bears in a 35-16 Week 6 loss. The Patriots could have arrived earlier and prepared all week in London but stuck to the same schedule that they followed last year when they traveled to Germany.
“When it’s all said and done, it’s about who has the most energy and who goes out there and executes their game plan,” head coach Jerod Mayo said. “So, I don’t see it as an advantage or a disadvantage. I think whoever executes the best will win.”
The team practiced at DFB campus, home to the German national soccer team, last year before their 10-6 loss to the Colts in Frankfurt. This year, they’re calling the Harrow School, a boarding school that was founded in 1572 by Queen Elizabeth I, their homebase. The school itself is beautiful, but the setup for interviews was more modest and held in the school’s echo-y gymnasium with teal and mint green painted cinderblock walls and mounted basketball hoops set as a backdrop.
Mayo was asked if he’s a history buff since former prime minister of the United Kingdon Sir Winston Churchill is a notable alumni. Such a question might have elicited a 10-minute answer out of former Belichick about the strategy of World War II. Mayo showed his millennial side and said that, yes, he does like history, but he was also excited to hear that a scene from “Harry Potter” was filmed at the school (“It’s LeviOsa, not LeviosAR!”)
