The blame game is a foot in Foxborough with the Patriots riding a 5-game losing streak and pretty clearly having one of the least talented rosters in the NFL yet again.

Why is that the case? Well, that depends on who you ask. For instance, when head coach Jerod Mayo was asked on Monday during his weekly appearance on WEEI, it seemed there was a name the first year coach wanted to say, or a direction he wanted to point in, but stopped short. Take a look.

"Because Bill left the cupboard bare" is probably closer to what Mayo wanted to say there. Which isn't entirely inaccurate. Mayo, Eliot Wolf, and the new regime inherited a roster devoid of much playmaking talent on the offensive side of the ball and a group that lacked any sort of foundational pieces up front.

It's not a way of thinking that tends to get much thought at the pro level, but in college when a new coach takes over a program, he's usually allowed a grace period while attempting to overhaul it to his standards. How many times do you hear poor results excused away because "well, he hasn't had the chance to bring in his players yet or fully build out his culture." That's a process Mayo and his staff are actively undertaking.

However, in the pros you can also spend money and swing trades to bring fresh faces to town. Something they had an entire offseason to address the issues and fix, which they didn't. That's not on Bill.

Of course, you also have the owner getting in front of every microphone he can find, and even producing a 10-part documentary with an in-house production company, to let us fans know that Bill tried his mightiest during his final years to tank the Patriots while Kraft did everything in his power to protect the fans from a losing product.

While both sides have certainly played a role, there's no cop-outs in today's poll. With all the finger pointing going around, who is in your crosshairs as being ultimately responsible for the current state of the team?

 

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