Image courtesy of Sports Illustrated 

This was always going to be the case, no matter how much Pats fans wished for a different outcome.

On Thursday morning – minutes before he was set to speak to the media after he wasn’t scheduled to speak initially – Adam Schefter broke the news that Mayo had told the team Jacoby Brissett would be starting Week 1 against Cincinnati.

No matter how much Mayo and the team preached a legitimate ‘competition’ this summer, Brissett was brought here to start and be an $8 million dollar sacrificial lamb until the organization deems Maye is ‘ready’ to start in the league. The plan has always been there and after the Mac Jones debacle, there was no way Maye was ever going to be thrust into the starting role immediately, even if he did win the battle throughout training camp.

“Good morning friends,” Mayo started during his very brief – 1:26 to be exact – press conference. “Just like I told you guys a few days ago, it’s a process as far as selecting who the starting quarterback is. We have decided – well, I have decided – Jacoby Brissett will be our starting quarterback this season.

“Now, in saying that, as an organization we are 100% behind Jacoby. They’re 100% behind Jacoby. I had an opportunity to talk to Drake. I had an opportunity to talk to Jacoby separately and also together, and I feel like we’re all on the same page as an organization.”

May took just two questions following the statement, adding a bit more context to the decision.

“There were a lot of factors that led to this choice. I think the hard part is taking in the short term and the long term at the same time. As an organization we feel like Jacoby gives us our best chance to win right now…I don’t want to get into hypotheticals (about when we might see Drake). We can’t go into the season saying ‘well, he’s going to go X amount of weeks.’ Look, as long as Jacoby is going out there and performing the way we all have confidence in him doing, he’ll be our quarterback this season.”