This move by Jerod Mayo after a loss reportedly ‘surprised’ Patriots team personnel
"It’s not that Jerod’s [way] was definitely wrong. But I can’t say I’ve seen that before.”
Speaking on Monday after making the call to fire Jerod Mayo after one season as Patriots head coach, team owner Robert Kraft bemoaned his decision to elevate the 38-year-old to a position that he wasn’t quite ready for.
“I feel terrible for Jerod because I put him in an untenable situation,” Kraft said. “I know that he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job.”
Some of the growing pains that Mayo went through during his lone year leading the Patriots were put on full display in 2024 — be it his mixed messaging and ill-advised comments to the media, lapses in late-game and fourth-down situations, and more.
But a new story from Chad Graff of The Athletic details more instances in which Mayo’s inexperience and approach eventually prompted New England to make a drastic coaching change.
Graff’s story leads with an anecdote of the Patriots’ response after a listless performance coming out of the bye week against the Cardinals on Dec. 15.
While most of the coaches and team executives sat in the front of the plane on the trek back from Arizona, one source detailed that Mayo “left his spot near the front and went back to where some players had gathered to play cards, choosing to hang out there while his assistants watched film. “
“Look, there are a lot of ways to do the job,” a team source told Graff. “It’s not that Jerod’s was definitely wrong. But I can’t say I’ve seen that before.”
This stands as the latest report featuring sources within the Patriots’ organization that casted doubt over Mayo’s ability to lead the team.
Speaking to Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi, one Patriots veteran stressed that the team started to lose faith in Mayo and New England’s revamped coaching staff in the “spring.”
“Felt like he — they — were making it up as they went along,” the Patriots veteran told Giardi. “It was amazing how one day it would be this and then the next, something completely different.’”
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