Jerod vs Jamie
In a sea of poor play, two players stood out as the worst. One of them ‒ Chandler Jones ‒ has been addressed. The second such player was Jerod Mayo.
While Mayo didn’t do anything egregious, he was consistently unable to shed the blockers that made it to the second level. In the past, he played in a 3-4 scheme that allowed him to roam free and make tackles. Now, when a blocker initiates contact, Mayo can almost never disengage.
Video 6; Mayo montage (MayoEngaged.mpeg)
Contrast that with someone like Jamie Collins, who, on Monday night, did a good job of not allowing blockers into his body, using his aggressiveness to dictate the point of contact. Collins played like a human wrecking ball on several running plays, meeting lead blockers in or well before the hole they looked to clear.
Video 7; Collins montage (Collins.mpeg)
Players like Wilfork, Chris Jones, and Collins looked aggressive and oftentimes created opportunities for players around them to clean up and finish off plays. Unfortunately, a lack of discipline and execution from players like Chandler Jones and Jerod Mayo turned defensive victories into decisive losses.
The good news for Chandler Jones is that this is fixable. Jones can minimize mistakes without having to completely sell out to stop the run, which is something that comes with maturity and experience. Jones is not broken. Jerod Mayo, on the other hand, has an uphill battle in learning to shed blockers. His best traits ‒ he’s smart, stays at home, diagnoses plays, and is great in open space ‒ translate very well to a 2-gap scheme. It remains to be seen if he can succeed in this incarnation of the Patriots defense.