Jerod Mayo Makes His Head Coaching Debut 

JEROD MAYO MAKES HIS HEAD COACHING DEBUT

Jerod Mayo, who was hired as the 15th head coach in team history on Jan. 17, 2024, made his NFL head coaching debut with a 17-3 win against Carolina. Mayo is the fourth person to be named head coach after playing for the previous coach (Bill Belichick) with the same team since the 1970 merger. The others are Mike Tice of Minnesota (under Dennis Green), Jack Pardee of Washington (under George Allen) and Bart Starr of Green Bay (under Dan Devine).

PATRIOTS DEFENSE GENERATES FIVE SACKS

The Patriots defense generated five sacks against Carolina with one each from LB Christian Ellis, DT Jeremiah Pharms Jr., LB Oshane Ximines, DE Deatrich Wise Jr., and DE Josh Morgan. Last season, the Patriots registered five sacks in a game two times with five sacks at Denver (12/24) and six sacks at New York Giants 11/26).

David Andrews and Kyle Dugger served as game captains for the coin toss.

JACOBY BRISSETT MAKES THE START

QB Jacoby Brissett started the game and played the first series of the game. Brissett will become the 30th player to have at least two stints with the Patriots since 2000 (on the active roster with the Patriots for at least one game in each stint; on the active roster with another team for at least one game in between). Brissett originally joined New England as a third-round draft pick in 2016 and played in three games with two starts as a rookie. He was traded to Indianapolis at the end of training camp in 2016 and has also played with Miami, Cleveland and Washington before being re-signed with the Patriots this past offseason.

DRAKE MAYE MAKES NFL DEBUT ON THE SECOND OFFESIVE POSSESSION

Patriots 2024 first-round draft pick QB Drake Maye entered the game for the second offensive possession. His first pass completion resulted in a 13-yard gain to RB Antonio Gibson. He also had a 6-yard pass to RB Kevin Harris.

ZAPPE ENTERED THE GAME FOR THE THIRD SERIES