New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo has a message for opponents after the team’s Week 1 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Patriots made running the football the offensive priority, rushing for 170 yards on the ground. They also had a great defensive showing, allowing only 224 total offensive yards to the Bengals and 48 plays overall.
Mayo made it clear that he is going to stick to his run-heavy game plan, and he is not worried about revealing it to future opponents, as transcribed by NESN.com’s Adam London.
“I think sometimes it gets overblown,” Mayo said, when appearing on “The Greg Hill Show.” “‘Oh, they know the scheme.’ Look, we’re going to run the ball all year. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Listen so I never have to answer this again. We will always, always offensively be a run-first team, and you gotta stop it. And if you do, then we have other answers after that. It’s not a secret.”
The simplistic nature of the Patriots’ game plan might make it easy to predict. However, their willingness to stick with it, as well as the fact that it limits turnover situations, could be a bonus.
The Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, before getting to the more challenging parts of their schedule.