“We just have to start winning some games,” said Patriots coach Jerod Mayo, trying to cool down the drama his comments stirred up. The Patriots’ ship has already sunk this season. They’ve hit a new rock bottom with their constant losses, and the recent controversies surrounding the head coach aren’t helping. Every struggling team this year feels caught up in some mess (bad management or some kind of controversy). Jerod Mayo found himself in the same boat after their loss to the Cardinals. 

The Pats took their eleventh loss of the season in Week 16 against the Cardinals. During the post-game conference, head coach Jerod Mayo made a comment that stirred up some drama. People took the HC’s remarks as a jab at the team’s offensive coordinator, Alex Van Pelt. With Mayo catching a lot of heat, Pelt decided to throw some water on the fire. “I have Jerod’s back at all costs. I mean, we have a great relationship. We’re very communicative and I didn’t. I took no offense to that whatsoever. I think it was taken out of context, as he said, and we have a great relationship,” clarified the Pats’ OC. 

To give you some context, there was this moment in the game where the Patriots had back-to-back chances to get just one yard near the Arizona 4-yard line. It was third-and-1 and then fourth-and-1, but they couldn’t pull it off. The media questioned Jerod about why they didn’t consider letting QB Drake Maye run the ball in those situations. Especially since he seemed like he could’ve easily gotten the yard. To which the HC responded, “You said it, I did not!” 

And boom! That’s when everything blew up. People didn’t even bother to hear what he said next in the interview and just assumed he was calling out OC Pelt for not letting the QB run. The whole drama was getting so out of hand that Mayo had to step in again to clear things up.

Jerod Mayo clarifies his stance

Honestly, folks, we should give the HC the benefit of the doubt. It’s his first season as head coach, and he’s still learning the ropes. “Just like I tell the players, I’m still learning how those things work,” said the Pats HC. Recently, Jerod Mayo told sports radio WEEI that everyone took the whole thing out of context and that he didn’t direct any criticism toward Alex Van Pelt. According to the HC, it was just a knee-jerk response because he didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole of explaining everything. But the ball has been dropped, and people aren’t ready to buy Mayo’s explanation.

When the media asked if it was the OC who didn’t let QB Drake Maye run the ball, the HC said, “It’s always my decision. The quarterback obviously has a good pair of legs and does a good job running the ball. We just chose not to do it there.” Whatever the intentions, the coach made the wrong choice of words, and people know it. “We have QB designed runs. We just haven’t pulled them out yet. That answer just sums us up this year. Laughable,” commented a user on X on Mayo’s remarks. 

But now that OC Pelt has cleared the air, I think people should let it go. It’s already been a tough season for the Pats. In the meantime, Jerod Mayo might want to consider some media training, just in case.