The music over the public address system blared “Glory Days” at the conclusion of the New England Patriots preseason-like end of season win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

Of course,nothing could be further from the home team’s situation these last few years. Leave the ‘l” out of glory and you’ve got what it’s really been like.

It was a surreal atmosphere, the few fans (compared to,well,the glory days) in attendance not going nuts on good plays,knowing the Patriots could have had the No. 1 pick in April’s draft had they lost to Bills, who had nothing to play for.

But of course the players who played didn’t care about that. They needed every positive aspect they could find from the 2024 season — and so did their coach. Or so we thought.

The biggest question that was looming: Would Jerod Mayo be back as head coach?

“We’ll have enough time here tomorrow and the next couple of days to address all the other things,” a fairly curt Mayo said after the game. “At some point in time here,I’ll have my normal meeting with the Krafts and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

An hour later, it went to the exit without a key card.

Save that quote. It’s virtually the same thing that Bill Belichick, Mayo’s incredibly successful predecessor, said following the final game of the 4-13 2023 season on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024.

“I’ll sit down with Robert (Kraft) as I do every year at some point at the end of the season,” Belichick said after the final game, a loss in a blizzard to the New York Jets, “and we’ll talk about things as we always do. I’ m sure that will happen. But that’s really all I have to say about that right now because there isn’t anything else to talk about.”

Several days later, Belichick was fired.

Mayo had him beat. From the media perspecitve on Sunday, we were all wrapping up interviews in the locker room. No sooner had the media arrived back up in the press box than someone in the press box screamed out, “Already?”

The wars was the NFL Network and ESPN were both reporting the Krafts had made the decision to fire Jerod Mayo, and other media chimed in. Believe it, none of the beat reporters knew.

And then the Patriots sent out a statement by Robert Kraft confirming the decision.

We all had been talking with the players about Mayo as coach.

“A lot of people don’t understand that good things take time,” veteran QB Jacoby Brissett said. “A word people don’t want to use is patience.”

It just didn’t seem like the Patriots would do this a while ago, maybe in November. But after the bye week, the network TV cameras zoomed in on Robert and Jonathan Kraft in the press box in Arizona, a bad loss in a season of bad losses, and Jonathan was taking notes and you could see he was annoyed at the play calling, etc. We feel that Jonathan Kraft was the driving force behind this move.

And now the Krafts have to be verrrry careful. They are playing with fire. Things always seem to happen for a reason, wink-wink. Bill Belichick backed out of an agreement to succeed Bill Parcells as the Jets coach back in 2000, very likely, nudge-nudge, because he knew he had the Patriots job waiting for him.

The Krafts, after hearing all about the successful interview Mike Vrabel had with the Jets, were likely figuring they could not let that happen. So rather than dilly dally, they created the opening immediately. In some ways, it was cruel.

But here’s the thing. There’s a little thing called the Rooney Rule that says you have to interview two minority candidates for your head coaching vacancy. It’s no secret that former Patriot Vrabel likes the organization and the organization likes Vrabel. But already one high profile minority candidate Brian Flores sued the NFL three years ago, and a few others have joined him. And when the Krafts follow the rule and interview those minority candidates – if any agree to be interviewed — how should those candidates feel, especially if Vrabel is eventually hired? It could get very messy, and unfair. They’ll feel used, and should.

Now former Patriots coach Jerod Mayo talks with the media per usual after the Patriots win over the Bills on Sunday. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

We think the Krafts should have stuck with Mayo one more season. He needed better media training. He needed his own coaches and to be able to make his own decsions. By all appearances, Mayo ran a good training camp, etc. But his defense was suspect. The Patriots also bounced offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who helped develop Drake Maye.

“We’re always going to have Mayo’s back,” linebacker Christian Ellis said, an hour before the news broke. “Mayo is an amazing coach. He knows what it takes to win.”

Unfortunately for Jerod Mayo, his record said otherwise. The team’s performance against the Chargers sealed his fate, along with the chant of the fans during that game.

He left what was a somewhat defiant press conference, likely to meet his owner and his fate.

Gory days indeed.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X at @Telegraph _TomK.