Patriots HC Fires Back at Critics

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo fired back at his critics after Week 12.

Aug 15, 2024; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo walks out to check on an injured player during the second half against the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette Stadium. / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo has not had a great start to his NFL head coaching career. In his first year, a lot of things have gone extremely wrong.

While the product on the field has not been great, it has been the way he has handled the media that has been the worst part of his coaching debut season. He simply hasn't said the right things to the press.

Multiple times this year, Mayo has publicly criticized his players. He called them "soft" earlier in the season and after the Patriots' Week 12 blowout loss to the Miami Dolphins, he blamed it all on the team and not himself.

Due to his latest blaming of the players for the brutal performance against the Dolphins, Mayo has been receiving a lot of backlash. Fans on social media have been aggressively calling for New England to fire him as well.

Bill Simmons also called out Mayo very strongly for coaching "scared football."

Mayo has fired back at all of the criticism.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that. My thing is I’m always going to do what I think is best in that moment in time," Mayo said. “Now, have there been times throughout the season where I go back and watch like, ‘Ah, I could’ve done that better?’ Absolutely. I’m sure when you first started on this show, you’re a lot better now than you were on your first show. Everyone, they act like it’s not a learning experience and that growth doesn’t happen.”

He continued forward, making a bold promise to Patriots fans.

“I will be a better coach going through this adversity going forward,” Mayo stated.

That being said, it will be interesting to see how the franchise feels about all of this. Mayo has caused a lot of adversity himself. Between the way he has talked to the media and the decisions he has made, he has made a ton of unforced errors.

Could Robert Kraft and New England actually consider making a second coaching change in as many years?

More than likely, Mayo will be back to begin the 2025 season. However, if he does not show signs of improvement early next year, the Patriots would be much more likely to move on.

Hopefully, he can start figuring things out and become a successful head coach. That would be an ideal situation for New England.

Unfortunately, he has not shown many reasons for fans to expect to see that happen yet.

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