Patriots Coach Jerod Mayo acknowledged Monday morning that he often thinks about decisions he’s made during games in hindsight.

One of those from the Patriots’ 20-17 loss to the Titans on Sunday was the decision to kick an extra point and send the game to overtime rather than attempt a two-point conversion to win in regulation after an incredible scrambling touchdown pass from rookie quarterback Drake Maye that spanned 12 seconds. Another could be the Patriots’ decision to kick north to south after the Titans won the coin toss in overtime and chose to receive the ball.

Mayo was asked if fatigue played a role in the Patriots’ decision to kick an extra point since Maye and the offense had just been running around for 12 seconds. Mayo would only say that “multiple factors” went into the Patriots’ decision-making in the moment.

“You go back earlier in the season, we went for two. We didn’t get it. You get criticized and you kick the field goal here, and you get criticized,” Mayo said. “I’m always going to do what I think is best for the team. I think we can talk about analytics and all those things, which we do use those things. At the same time, there’s also a flow to the game. As a head coach, ultimately, the decision and the consequence lays on me.”

The Titans marched down the field after receiving the ball and settled for a field goal after an aborted snap on third-and-2. The Patriots ran three plays in overtime: an incompletion to Hunter Henry, a first-down pickup on an 11-yard scramble from Maye and an interception on a deep target from Maye to Boutte.

After the game, Maye said he should have put more power behind the throw since he was throwing into the wind. But the Patriots chose which way they wanted to kick after losing the coin toss.

“Yeah. The wind at the time, I would say the wind had changed,” Mayo said on Monday morning. “The wind had changed from the beginning of the game to the end of the game. So that’s what happened.”

The Patriots kicked north to south to start the game, when they lost the coin toss, and again to begin overtime when they lost the coin toss.

Clearly, in hindsight, the Patriots should have been able to tell that the wind had changed by the end of the game and factored that into their decision.

“Going back and watching the film and just seeing plays that were left out there on the field,” Mayo said in his opening statement Monday morning. “I always say it’s not just one play. Everyone’s going to either be stuck on the interception at the end of the game, or to go for it on two here, or not to go for it on two. Those are definitely those hindsight things that I oftentimes think about, that we prepare for throughout the week and during the flow of the game.”

THE PATRIOTS ARE in the midst of a lost season in Mayo’s first season, but a defensive boost appears to be on the horizon.

Mayo was asked Monday if defensive tackle Christian Barmore, who’s on the non-football illness list with blood clots, could return to practice soon.

Mayo would only say, “We’re getting close.”

Last month, Mayo said Barmore was “progressing” and that there was a chance he could play in 2024.

Barmore was arguably the Patriots’ best defensive player last season, when he contributed 8.5 sacks, 64 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 16 QB hits in 17 games with six starts. The Patriots signed Barmore to a four-year contract extension worth up to $92 million this offseason.

They’ve missed him as a run defender and pass rusher this season. The Patriots are 2-7 this season and allowed 167 rushing yards to the Titans and only sacked quarterback Mason Rudolph once.

EXPECTING FIREWORKS FROM the Patriots at the NFL trade deadline? Maybe don’t, after listening to Mayo speak on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday morning.

Even after trading outside linebacker Josh Uche to the Chiefs last week, Mayo downplayed the deadline, which is at 4 p.m., Tuesday.

“This isn’t baseball. In baseball, you have big-name players going to other teams. I would say historically, even as a player and now as a coach, the trade deadline is a bunch of hype,” Mayo said. “It’s a bunch of hype. Who’s going to move a starting quarterback to another team right now? Who’s going to move a starting left tackle? It rarely happens.”

Mayo is right that starting quarterbacks are typically traded during the offseason, not in November. But the Vikings acquired starting left tackle Cam Robinson in a trade with the Jaguars last week. So, starting-caliber players are moved.

The Patriots have already been sellers. If they choose to buy at the deadline, it would likely have to be a young player offering them something in the future, not just as a one-year rental. The team has needs at nearly every position but quarterback.