Jerod Mayo fell at the hands of defeat to fellow rookie head coach Mike Macdonald, as the Seattle Seahawks took a 23-20 victory over the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
After a promising season-opening victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Patriots have now fallen to 1-1 on the season.
Although there are clear issues that need to be addressed, the Patriots played hard and competed. What more can be expected from a rebuilding team coming off a 4-13 season?
It wasn’t all bad for the Patriots in their Week 2 loss. They showed promise in some areas, and there were at least five players who stood out as deserving of praise regardless of the outcome. Here are the players worthy of game balls following the home-opening loss on Sunday: