Kraft did the only thing he could do after the Jerod Mayo firing. He took blame for the "situation" and set out to fix his fallen franchise.

Here we are — one year, one overmatched one-and-done Belichick successor, and you’re right back where you started from last January.

When Robert Kraft hired Jerod Mayo a year ago, he felt he’d identified the right person to follow the championship legacy left by Bill Belichick. In hindsight, Kraft now believes Mayo wasn’t quite ready to be an NFL head coach.