Getty Image / Richard Heathcote
Things in New England in the first year of the post-Bill Belichick era are not going well. The team is 1-6, they’ve lost six in a row, and they look like a soft football team under first-year head coach Jerod Mayo.
Recently, Bill Belichick took some thinly-veiled shots at his successor after Mayo called the team soft following their blowout loss to the Jaguars in London on Sunday. Mayo fired back at Belichick on Wednesday.
The Patriots have been unable to run the ball or stop the run, two signs of a soft team. The Jaguars realized their run defense was poor on Sunday, and ran it 39 times for 4.4 yards per carry. Meanwhile, New England mustered just 38 yards on 15 carries. Drake Maye looks good, but outside of that there’s very little going on in the organization that’s promising.
After Mayo called the Patriots soft on Monday, Belichick went on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday and said this.
“I think when you criticize your team publicly like that, it doesn’t always go over well. Now, every coach has their own style, and maybe sometimes that can be effective and all. But ultimately I always felt like when the team played bad, that was my responsibility, too. We might have bad playing, but we had bad coaching that led to bad playing. So I think it’s always best to take a look at yourself and do what you can do to help the team and then you know if you have constructive criticism as a coach that’s your job,”
According to Pro Football Talk, here’s how Jerod Mayo responded.
“Look, like I said, my main focus is the guys inside of this building, not only the players, but also the coaches and the rest of the staff,” Mayo said. “Look, as soon as we turn this thing around, then we’ll be OK. It comes down to wins and losses. That’s what it comes down to, and that’s what you’re ultimately judged by.”
As to the issue of noise, Mayo addressed the subject at the top of the press conference, without prompting.
“Like I always tell you guys, I always take this opportunity to speak with you guys really with the understanding that I’m talking to the players, right?” Mayo said. “I’m talking to the players. Obviously, there are things where I’m talking to the fans as well, but the message for those guys is it’s all about the Jets, and we’re moving forward. Obviously, there’s a lot of noise out there, and I said, ‘We are what our record is, and we have to get better.’ That ultimately is my responsibility, and look, I take all the blame, and it’s fine. It’s moving on to the Jets.”
This sounds like a coach that is clearly feeling the pressure of following in his mentor’s very large footprints.
Could Jerod Mayo be already losing the locker room? Could the Patriots fire him after just one year? Both things look like a real possibility.