In New England, Gatorade baths are usually reserved for the last game of the season. So, it was a bit of a surprise to see Patriots players give head coach Jerod Mayo a Gatorade shower after a Week 1 victory.
But there were Patriots defensive tackles Daniel Ekuale and Davon Godchaux dousing Mayo with blue Gatorade as the team wrapped up a stunning 16-10 upset of the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium.
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It was a great moment for Mayo, who became the first Patriots head coach since Dick MacPherson in 1991 to win his coaching debut. (Yes, even the great Bill Belichick dropped his first game in 2000.) But it was certainly a departure from the last two decades in New England, where the only victories that warranted such a celebration were Super Bowls.
So, was Mayo's Gatorade bath a reflection of how much the bar has been lowered in Foxboro, or a good sign of how Mayo is viewed in the locker room? Former Patriots player Ted Johnson says it's the latter.
"I loved it," Johnson said on NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Postgame Live. "You know what it is right there? You can say, 'It's the first game; what are we doing here?' They are telling the rest of us what they feel about their head coach. That's what they're telling us by doing the Gatorade bath.
"If it's too much for you, that's too bad. It's really what the players think of their coach. The players like their coach, and by doing that, it shows everybody that they have belief in him and they have confidence in him."
MORE PATRIOTS COVERAGE
Mayo has had his ups and downs since replacing Belichick as Patriots head coach in January. But it's clear he has buy-in from his players, who spoke glowingly about the Patriots-linebacker-turned-coach throughout training camp and the preseason and rose to Mayo's challenge Sunday in Cincinnati.
"Without them, I'm nothing. So, I made sure they knew that," Mayo said of his players after Sunday's win. "When they cross the white lines, I always talk about empowering the players to go out there and play. I always talk about awareness being the No. 1 thing and those guys taking ownership. So, all the praise goes to those guys. They did a great job."
The Patriots have a long way to go in their post-Belichick rebuild, but Sunday's victory could be a sign that they chose the right successor on the sideline.
Check out more postgame reaction from Michael Holley, Tom E. Curran, Brian Hoyer and Johnson in the YouTube video below.