Coming into this season, my mindset was I don't care about wins and losses. I want to see an identity. I feel an identity gives your teams direction and helps with scouting as you looking not only at talent but do people fit our system. The next thing I wanted to see was growth. Are our young guys developing and lastly is the team playing hard. I feel some players have grown but New England definitely missed the mark on the other two. It seems players are here for the check and don't seem motivated. Jerod Mayo doesn't have a culture and we definitely don't have an identity outside of being unfocused. Does this point to bigger issues such as coaching, or evaluating talent and is there enough here outside of Drake Maye to build on? – Kyle Depaul

I definitely understand the frustration and you are definitely not alone based on this week's posts. I do believe Mayo is trying to establish his culture and he's searching for the players who will best fit with what he is attempting to do. Clearly the results haven't looked great to this point and the performance in London was not up to the standard of past Patriots teams. But he's still learning on the job and the roster is very much a work in progress. I'm willing to give the coaches some time to find players and establish the identity that he is looking to create. It won't happen overnight, and so far, it hasn't been promising but there are still 10 games to go and things can change quickly.

How can Mayo talk about accountability and playing the players that give you the best chance to win when Ja'Lynn Polk is talking more than he is producing. I liked the pick when they drafted him and I don't want to give up on him, but he doesn't look like he can play. If Mayo is going to stick to his words, then Polk needs a mental break and needs to sit. Otherwise, his words have no weight behind it. I also don't understand the call to give that two-point play to Polk. – Justin Davis

I totally agree with you with regard to Mayo needing to follow through when he makes such statements. Not necessarily with regard to Polk, but in general. Polk is struggling through some typical rookie growing pains and needs to show some maturity to try to deal with those struggles a little better, but he showed some ability during training camp and it's possible he could still get back there at some point. But the players need to show more discipline and toughness and if they don't there need to be some repercussions from the coach. On that I'm 100 percent in agreement with you.

After the Jags game it clearly shows the coaching staff is not equipped or experienced enough to lead a rebuild. We have a head coach that has never been a coordinator and two coordinators that have never called plays. A coaching staff shouldn't be leading a rebuild while they are still learning their jobs. Can they demote Mayo to defensive coordinator and bring in Mike Vrabel to lead this team? If he would come? – Stacy Hanson

Hey Team. This may be an overreaction, however, is it just me or does it feel like Jerod Mayo's coaching tenure here has some one-and-done potential? I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but the eye doesn't lie and it's looking ugly on-field and the team lacks the discipline on and off the field of the past. I get the feeling Robert Kraft wouldn't do that to someone he's shown a lot of love for recently, but if it continues to spiral, is it a possibility? – Anthony Pearson

As I've said earlier, some of these criticisms are warranted. Mayo is leading a team that hasn't shown much discipline or toughness so far. But that doesn't mean he can't learn from these experiences and get better as the season progresses. Mayo isn't going to take a demotion and stay with the team in a diminished capacity. He should be afforded the time to get things straightened out, with more of his players bolstering a roster that is clearly lacking at this stage. It's no fun being 1-6 but that doesn't mean Mayo can't develop into a quality coach. Let's try to show some patience.

What's going on with Javon Baker? Do you expect him on the field anytime soon? – Nic Hagen

Based on what the coaches have said, Baker is learning how to adjust to life in the NFL. Alex Van Pelt and Jerod Mayo have separately talked about Baker's need to improve his route-running and have a better understanding of the playbook and his assignments. They've also spoken about Baker's need to be more professional. Van Pelt also said that Baker is extremely talented, but the details are lacking. Things like lining up correctly, running the right routes and earning the trust of the coaches and quarterbacks. Van Pelt added: "There is a bright future there. He just has to come on and tighten down the details." We'll see if Baker can improve on the things the coaches are looking for and earn some playing time over the final 10 weeks of the season.

Am I the only one that thinks Ja'Lynn Polk is a victim of circumstance right now? I keep hearing about how many incompletions are thrown to him, but it is rare that I see a catchable ball thrown his way. This is not to say that it's not the NFL and you have to make those plays, but I haven't seen him drop any passes that were not highly contested or horribly inaccurate. But you talk about a heel out of bounds here or a throw just out of his grasp on that crosser over the middle ... Brissett missed him for a big gainer on a flag route a few games back ... some of these things start going his way and he's the top receiver on the team. Again, this is the NFL, but I have a hard time believing there aren't better days ahead for this rookie. So let's give him a little more time to grow before we start throwing around the bust label just yet. Your thoughts? – Joel Lindgren

While I would agree it's way too early to label Polk a bust – he's played seven career games – I think you've painted a much rosier picture of his performance in those games than what has happened. He's had several easy drops, including three in the Houston game alone. But more importantly to me his comments in response to Jerod Mayo were a sign that he has some growing to do. Mayo simply suggested he's a young player who may need a mental break and Polk responded by saying he doesn't have any mental problems and has the best hands in the league. That's not a great way to start your NFL career. But that said I agree with you that it's too early to give up on him. Allow him to work through these struggles and perhaps he'll be a stronger player down the road as a result.

After the Week 6 game with Houston, is there another team in the NFL that has only one first-round starter on offense (Drake Maye) and one first-round starter on defense (Christian Gonzalez) like the Patriots? Also, is there any other team with a fourth-rounder being their highest drafted starting lineman like the Patriots? If this doesn't show how bad the Patriots have been at drafting offensive players I don't know what else does. – Steven McLeod

I did a quick look at the depth charts of each team and found only one other team that currently lists just one first-round pick on both offense and defense and that is the Rams. Matthew Stafford is the one offensive player and rookie Jared Verse is the lone defensive player. I found a few teams with two and one, such as Carolina, Las Vegas and Miami (all two offense, one defense) and Washington (one offense, two defense). Kansas City has two of each with Patrick Mahomes and Xavier Worthy on offense and George Karlaftis and Trent McDuffie on defense. But the Patriots and Rams were the only two I could find with just one each, although those can change from week to week depending on injuries. As an example, Worthy is only in the Chiefs starting lineup due to the injury to Rashee Rice. I did not find another team without at least one starting offensive lineman drafted before the fourth round.

I see that there may be more bad teams looking to possibly trade their wide receivers for draft picks. Should the Patriots be looking for a younger wide receiver and a pass rusher at the trade deadline and work on offensive line in draft and defense? – Jason Bing

I don't feel the Patriots should be in the market for acquiring a high-priced wide receiver at this stage of the season. DaVante Adams and Amari Cooper were recently traded and Jerod Mayo said the team wasn't involved in talks to acquire either one. The Jets are a team that expected to contend for the playoffs this season with a 40-year-old quarterback and the urgency to compete immediately. The Bills have been and remain one of the best teams in the AFC. So, grabbing Adams and Cooper made sense for those teams. The Patriots are rebuilding in the first year of a new regime and adding older players doesn't make a ton of sense in the team's current position. Obviously, if a younger talented player becomes available at a position of need, that would change the dynamic a bit and the Patriots should be interested. But it's not common for teams to give up on young talented players so that would be more difficult. In my view the Patriots should hold onto their draft picks, look to free agency to add talent and work to build the roster back up to the point where the team can compete.

If you could have any one Patriots player from years past to fix what ails us, who would it be and why? – Ryan S.

The easiest answer here seems pretty obvious – Tom Brady. But I assume you were looking for something a bit deeper than that and there would be lots of options. A terrorizing pass rusher like Andre Tippett would look great on the edge of the defense. Having the best offensive lineman to ever play – John Hannah – would certainly shore up the problems up front. An argument also could be made for Randy Moss, who would instantly give the offense a true No. 1 option at wide receiver. It would be difficult for any of these great players to fix what ails the team all by himself, but any of those options would be a great place to start.

Who do you think should be our center of the future? Ben Brown seemed pretty good for his short time on the roster last game. I also agree that Cole Strange at center is a compelling thought. – John Smolak

I don't really know enough about Brown or the possibility of Strange at center to be able to project if either would be a legitimate option as the center of the future. My guess is David Andrews will do everything he can to return next season and his eventual long-term replacement likely isn't on the current roster. I expect Eliot Wolf to add some offensive linemen in the draft next year and it's possible one of them later in the process will be a center. Strange has the athleticism to make that transition but it will be interesting to see if Andrews could work with him and help him along.

When will the Patriots be any good/competitive? The way things look to me the answer is never with this coaching staff, front office and owner. – Guy Baird

I know it's frustrating waiting for the team to turn things around and it's been five seasons since Tom Brady left and things haven't gone well. But it's only the first year of the Jerod Mayo/Eliot Wolf regime so let's give them some time to establish their culture and find some players they want to work with. So far, the results haven't been good but that doesn't mean they aren't building toward something better in the future. The Patriots should have a high draft pick and will have to opportunity to acquire some young talent in the draft. They will also have plenty of money to spend in free agency, so it's possible that significant improvement can come quickly. It won't be an easy fix, and a lot will depend on the development of Drake Maye, but the Patriots can be competitive as soon as next year with some strong work in personnel.

Why don't punters aim to kick the ball out of bounds near the goal line anymore? They could easily practice this and it would prevent returns like the one returned for a touchdown by the Jags. – Wanda Dunn

I've asked coaches why punters don't try for the old "coffin corner" punts anymore that you're describing, and they tell me the idea is to try to give the coverage unit a chance to make a play downing the ball as close to the goal line as possible. It's not easy to place the ball perfectly out of bounds near the goal line without creating a touchback so instead they teach punters to use different techniques that allow the ball to bounce up or back toward the field and not into the end zone, and for the coverage players to down the kicks. Against the Jags this wasn't an option because Bryce Baringer wasn't close enough to attempt one of those plus-50 punts and have it downed. His kick was low and went 66 yards and the coverage didn't do its job to prevent the 96-yard touchdown return. It was a problem all around from the kick to the coverage.

Is it a possibility that the Patriots would trade Rhamondre Stevenson? Is it a possibility, Joe Milton could see some playing time if the Patriots season continues downhill? – Frank Pacious

The Patriots just gave Stevenson a four-year contract extension so I don't think they will be looking to trade him anytime soon. Stevenson is also the team's best offensive player so I don't think they should be looking to move him at this stage either. He is a solid running back for a team that wants to play physical and run the ball. I don't see Milton as an option unless injuries hit the quarterbacks over the coming weeks. Maye is the future of the team and removing him from the lineup to put Milton in doesn't make a lot of sense. Milton is a sixth-round developmental pick and if he pans out it's possible that he could garner some interest from other teams in the coming years. For now, he's likely entrenched as the third quarterback.

Why is it that Jabrill Peppers has been placed on the naughty list but Rashee Rice for the Chiefs was allowed to play prior to his injury? Sounds like the NFL was on a wait and see approach with Rice. Why doesn't the same apply to Peppers? Don't get me wrong, what Peppers is accused of doing is serious but so was leaving the scene of a multi-car accident and also punching someone in the face in a separate offense. – Mike Costa

These decisions are made by Roger Goodell and at times he's the only one who knows for sure what the differences are. In this particular case I would agree with you in that the seriousness of the accusations that Peppers is dealing with is probably the reason he was placed on the commissioner's exempt list. To be honest it's probably the best thing for the Patriots, who now don't have to worry about making any premature decisions before more information is learned. Rice's situation is serious but doesn't involve violence against women so perhaps that was a deciding factor. Again, I agree with you that in both cases I would have used the list, but now Rice is out for a while regardless, so we'll see how it gets resolved.

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