Jerod Mayo Highlights ‘One Positive’ From Patriots’ Disastrous Loss

The Patriots didn’t have much good to take away from their embarrassing home loss Saturday.

New England first-year head coach Jerod Mayo expressed as much immediately after the 40-7 defeat and doubled down during a video conference Monday morning. Mayo did take away one positive, however, and it was none other than Cole Strange.

“Just like I said after the game, there wasn’t much positive to take out of the game,” Mayo said. “I guess if we want to say one thing positive, it was good to see Cole Strange out there. He played pretty well. He graded out pretty well in the game. And for a guy who hasn’t played football in a year, to go in there and play center, it definitely was encouraging.”

Strange, who spent a full year recovering from a torn patellar tendon, played his first offensive snaps of the season against the Chargers. The 2022 first-round pick made his first career start at center after playing right guard in his first 27 starts.

Strange replaced center Ben Brown, who was ruled out with a concussion, and snapped to quarterback Drake Maye for the first time.

“I thought he handled it well,” Maye said of Strange after the loss. “I was proud of the way he worked, proud of the way he fought. Got to watch the tape and probably go over some little things that maybe we can do better, but he caught the guys offsides. That’s really him doing that. He snapped the ball, and really credit to him.”

Strange graded as the team’s third-best offensive lineman in pass-blocking metrics as he didn’t allow a single pressure on Maye, per Pro Football Focus. However, PFF did not grade him as well in the run game.

Strange could be in line for his second consecutive start when the Patriots close out their season against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Kickoff from Gillette Stadium is slated for 1 p.m. ET.