Bill Belichick talks Patriots loss, plan for Drake Maye: ‘Can’t move the ball and can’t score’

Jacoby Brissett was sacked six times on Sunday.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

The Patriots were blown out by the 49ers on Sunday, 30-13, to drop to 1-3 with no relief on the horizon.

So, what’s next? The Dolphins come to town in Week 5. But first, we’ll spend the next few days debating what the coaching staff could possibly do to jumpstart New England’s offense and keep its defense together.

What we’re watching on Monday ...

• Head coach Jerod Mayo was on “The Greg Hill Show” on WEEI. He stood behind his quarterback and had an update on Kendrick Bourne’s status, then doubled down on those statements with reporters later. Read on for updates.
• Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy is ready to see rookie Drake Maye under center. Do you agree? Weigh in here.
• Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick finally talked New England on the “Pat McAfee Show.” Read on for his comments. There’s no ManningCast during Monday Night Football, so no Belichick appearance this evening.
• Patriots players will speak to the media in the afternoon, around 4:30 p.m. What’s the status of center David Andrews (shoulder), safety Kyle Dugger (ankle), and offensive tackle Caedan Wallace (ankle)? All three were ruled out of Sunday’s loss at halftime. Maybe we’ll hear from them.

Follow along with Monday’s action — and reaction from folks around the league — below.

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Bill Belichick on the Patriots loss to the 49ers, plan for Drake Maye

Making his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, former Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked for the first time this season about the team he left earlier this year.

Asked about the Patriots’ plan for No. 3 pick Drake Maye, Belichick said he wasn’t privy to the franchise’s internal approach to its QB of the future.

“Well Pat, I’ll be honest with you, I have no idea what the plan is so I don’t know, I can’t comment that. If Mayo says he’s got a plan then I guess he’s got one, and we’ll have to see what it is. I don’t know. ... We’ll see. I have no idea what it is.”

Belichick gave his thoughts on the issues plaguing New England amid a three-game losing streak.

“I’d say there’s a number of issues there: one is, can’t move the ball and can’t score,” Belichick said. “Got a [score] off a 63-yard field goal, whatever it was, and then got a touchdown off the fumbled kickoff, but otherwise had a hard time moving the ball. And I don’t know exactly what the numbers were, but the amount of time Purdy had to throw was pretty high. I got to think, in terms of the amount of time before the ball was released, had to be the highest in the league or close to it. So I think there are some pass-rush issues there, there are some scoring issues.”

Belichick was right; according to NFL Next Gen Stats, Purdy’s average time to throw on Sunday was 3.47 seconds, by a wide margin the longest in the NFL in Week 4 through Sunday’s games. It was also a significant uptick from Purdy’s season mark of 3.05 seconds through the first three weeks.

For comparison, Jacoby Brissett’s average time to throw on Sunday was 2.60 seconds as the pocket continually collapsed around New England’s quarterback.

Belichick did have praise for one aspect of the Patriots’ game: special teams.

“Joey Slye, that was a great addition for them, they got a good kicker, that’s a big upgrade from where we were last year,” Belichick. “But there are some other things that have to be worked out, and obviously they got the [field-goal] protection straightened out, that cost them the game against Seattle on the blocked field goal.”

McAfee jokingly asked if Belichick got a heads-up on the plan for Maye on his way out the door, and Belichick had a wisecrack of his own.

“No, that email got cut off the next day,” he said with a laugh.

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Bill Belichick gives his thoughts on Tom Brady-Baker Mayfield comments

Making his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, former Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked about the comments made by both Tom Brady and Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield that made headlines last week.

Appearing on the “Casa de Klub” podcast, co-hosted by former Sox pitcher Corey Kluber, Mayfield suggested that Brady’s time in Tampa led to a high-stress environment in the locker room.

“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out. ... They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football, for guys who weren’t having as much fun.”

Brady shot back Sunday.

“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” said the seven-time champion. “So, there was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare. If I was going to have fun, I’d go to Disneyland with my kids.”

Belichick gave his thoughts on the discussion, having spent two decades with Brady in New England.

“I do think Tom and I were a good match there,” Belichick said. “Look: Tom was one of those players where, Tom could have fun and he could pull pranks and make fun of people and be made fun of and all that, but when it was time for business, he was all business. Whether that was in the meeting room, a walkthrough, on the field — there was nothing more important to him than everything being done right, not just his job, but the players around him. The proper timing, the proper alignments, and so forth, and everyone that played with Tom would support that, Julian [Edelman], Rob [Gronkowski], Troy Brown, you name it.

“That’s kind of the way I was, and people say, ‘well, we didn’t have fun,’ well, let me tell you something: winning six Super Bowl championships was fun. Going to nine Super Bowls was fun. Winning those AFC Championship Games, that was fun. The fun was really the winning. I certainly understand where Tom’s coming from; certainly, I think there’s a lot more stress when you’re not winning. Winning’s hard, it’s very hard in the National Football League, and I think you’ve got to put a lot into it and it’s a very fine line between winning and not winning.”

Brady and Mayfield found themselves on good terms postgame, after Brady gave Mayfield his “LFG Player of the Game” award and Mayfield clarified his comments after the Buccaneers’ win over the Eagles.

“Look, in the end I think both of those guys have a lot of respect for each other,” Belichick said. “I don’t think either one of them really is malicious. Baker’s his own person, Tom’s his own person, they’re both successful — nobody’s more successful than Brady.

" I don’t know how anybody can question anything Tom’s done, he’s probably the greatest player of all time and certainly has had the most success of any player, so let’s leave it at that.”

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Jerod Mayo clarifies Brissett comments, gives ‘quarterly review’ of season

After his morning appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” Patriots coach Jerod Mayo met with the media Monday to further unpack Sunday’s loss to the 49ers. Here are some highlights:

⋅ Mayo was asked about falling short on some of the team’s expected strengths, and he offered an overview on New England’s struggles as the season nears its quarter point.

“Just look at it from a quarterly review,” Mayo said. “Defensively, we just haven’t tackled well. We haven’t kept the quarterback in the pocket. There have been times where we’ve covered well, and also times that, you know, it seems like receivers are wide open. That’s something that we just have to get better at. And really, special teams had a great game yesterday; offensively and defensively, we did not. And for this team to win games, we have to be able to play well in all three phases. And really, I know you guys get tired of me saying this: fundamentals. Fundamentals still continue to be an issue, and I’ll continue to harp on it.”

⋅ There has been plenty of attention on the Patriots offensive line, which has struggled significantly since the start of the season. Jacoby Brissett was sacked six times on Sunday, and after Mayo said Sunday that “schematically, we’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball out of our hand right now,” it was noted to him that Brissett had one of the quickest average releases in the league in Week 4.

“I mean, when you play a good defensive front, a good defensive defensive end, we definitely have to get the ball out quick,” Mayo said. “And that was part of the game plan. I’ll tell you guys, the game plan was to run the ball and get the ball out into the receivers’ hands so they can make yards after the catch. So I think, I think when you talk to Jacoby, he’ll always say that there’s room for improvement, and I feel the same way.”

Mayo also clarified his comments on the radio earlier Monday, when he caveated his confirmation of Brissett remaining the starter by reserving the right to make a change. That, Mayo said, is just the case across the board.

“I’m not trying to send mixed messages,” Mayo said. “And when I said, you know, ‘the right to change my mind,’ I’m actually, I’m talking about the entire team. I always reserve the right to make a change at any given time. And so, you know, I don’t want the fans or anyone to think, like, ‘what is he talking about’ — Jacoby’s 100 percent our starter. He’s 100 percent our starter. And that’s how we’re going to look at this going forward.”

⋅ Mayo confirmed that the Patriots expect wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, who has spent the first four weeks on injured reserve as he continues to recover from an ACL tear suffered last season, to return to practice Wednesday. “That’s the plan,” Mayo said.

⋅ After a fourth fumble in as many games from Rhamondre Stevenson, Mayo was asked how exactly the team can go about rectifying their lead back’s ball security issues.

“They were all different as far as how the ball came out,” Mayo said. “And it’s a mentality, it really is. And it’s easy for me to sit here and say, ‘well, you know, eagle-claw grip, keep the nose of the football’ — like those are the easy things to say. It’s a mentality, and Rhamondre has to do a better job of being aware of that stuff. He’s a target. He’s a target now, he has been a target since the beginning of the season, and now it just continues to show up. He understands that he just can’t do that.”

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Jerod Mayo stands behind Brissett, offers Bourne injury update

The highlights from Mayo’s appearance on “The Greg Hill Show” on WEEI on Monday morning ...

▪ Jacoby Brissett is still the starter at quarterback. But Mayo added a caveat: “You know, when I say those things, like, all right, this guy is starting ... we always, always reserve the right to do something else, no matter what the position is.” Could he be teasing that a change could come sooner rather than later?

▪ Mayo was asked about the “spark” — possibly playing Drake Maye. He spoke directly to fans: “I understand the frustration from the fans,” he said of playing the No. 3 overall pick. “I understand the frustration from you guys in here. What we’re doing is what we think is best. What I’m doing is what I think is best for the Patriots today and also in the future. And that’s how I have to look at these things.”

Mayo also said there’s not one specific reason Maye is not playing over Brissett, and that the decision to play Maye rests with Mayo alone — ie., not with de facto GM Eliot Wolf.

“It’s me,” he said. “It’s 100 percent and so that you can talk crap about me, I’m doing what I think is best going forward.”

Mayo also said the Krafts leave football decisions to him and Wolf.

▪ Mayo had one compliment right off the bat: “Special teams go out there and play well, and the rest of us stunk it up.” Patriots kicker Joey Slye hit a franchise-record 63-yard field goal on Sunday.

▪ Mayo called out his team on air: “You guys have heard me say it time and time again, and I use this platform, and any other media platform also as a way to communicate with the players. I know they read the stuff. Look, fellas, we got to set the edge offensively. We got to protect the quarterback.”

▪ Mayo said the defense “just didn’t hit our targets” and was complimentary to San Francisco: “They’re a good team ... they’re dealing with injuries, but they have good depth, and they have good players on all sides of the ball, and we just didn’t go out there and do it offensively, we still turned the ball over. We started slow coming out of the gates. Defensively, you know, we still let the quarterback outside. We still let some of those runs get outside.”

▪ No updates on injuries to David Andrews, Kyle Dugger, or Caedan Wallace. “Not yet, not yet.” Mayo said the team landed back in Boston around 4 a.m. and the players will be in the building later for tests.

▪ Kendrick Bourne, who has been out since last season with an ACL tear, is “about ready to go” according to Mayo. Bourne is eligible to return to practice this week after spending the first four weeks on injured reserve. Bourne came along on the trip to San Francisco — a rarity for players on IR.

“Thought it was good to bring him on the trip just to get back into the routine,” Mayo said.

▪ Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled for the fourth time in as many games. Mayo took it as an opportunity to address the run game as a whole: “We got to be able to run the ball, and we got to be able to stop throwing and play good special teams ... We cannot — we cannot — go out there and expect to win games if we’re going to turn the ball over. Can’t win until you stop.”