“We might’ve had bad playing, but we had bad coaching that led to bad playing,” legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick said last month during an appearance on Let’s Go! With Jim Gray and Tom Brady. It was a shot at the Patriots HC Jerod Mayo, who had called his players ‘soft‘ after the week 7 loss against the Jaguars. Fast forward, the Pats are at a 3-9 win-loss record after 12 weeks. A former NFL QB has given his 2 cents on the Belichick-Mayo cold war.

As a guest on the November 27 episode of the Dan Patrick Show, Ryan Fitzpatrick talked about different things. Then, came the interesting discussion about the situation between the Patriots ex and the current head coach. The retired quarterback just referred to history and said, “I think that some of his comments on Mayo were a little heavy-handed, maybe because of the way it ended there and how their relationship was at the end.” He is right, partially.

Belichick’s 24 seasons as a head coach culminated in 6 Super Bowl victories. Mayo arrived there in March 2019 as the inside linebackers coach. He learned the culture for 4 seasons before things went south in 2023 as Bill Belichick had his worst year as an HC with a 4-13 win-loss record. And with this, he left his role. The important point here is that everything happened mutually. But who knows? The Pats appointed Mayo as the head coach.

Later during the show, Fitzpatrick also praised Belichick for his mindset of improvement of his former team and added, “There’s a purpose behind every little thing that he says you know, and most of it rooted in truth some of it rooted in vengeance.” That’s unexpected.

While things are not going well at the franchise, Mayo got support from his locker room.

Team captain sees similarities between Jerod Mayo and Bill Belichick

Former Patriots player Rob Gronkowski hosted team captain David Andrews and QB Brian Hoyer on his The Quick Snap Podcast on November 26 where they discussed the ongoing season. Things got interesting when the name of the ex-coach also came up.

Andrews made an interesting revelation. He claimed that Mayo told them to focus on themselves in the field. He also said that the HC explained he could do nothing once they crossed the white line. While making a comparison between Jerod Mayo and Bill Belichick, and said, “That’s the truth, though. Coaches can’t play the game. Bill always would say that stuff, too.” Well, Mayo learned under the legendary coach.

The ex-HC used to conduct sessions where the coaches would only watch from the sidelines without any interference. They let the players figure out the game by themselves. That’s what’s required to turn around the season.

Things may look rocky from the outside, but both have not taken any direct shots at each other. There are 5 games left in this season. Will they finish above the worst record? We’ll find out soon.