Jerod Mayo’s first year as head coach of the New England Patriots has resulted in a lot of losing, and a lot of instances where Mayo has not always taken accountability for the team’s failures.
Both of those things happened on Sunday in a 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
One of the subjects Mayo was asked about after the game was why the Patriots did not call for Drake Maye to try a quarterback sneak when the Patriots were facing a 3rd-and-1, and then a 4th-and-1, late in the second quarter.
The exchange was extremely bizarre.
Mayo was asked a follow-up on what he meant by that, and added “the QB obviously has a good pair of legs. We just chose not to do it.”
This does not really clear things up.
Where this entire exchange is bizarre is Mayo’s initial response of “you said it, I didn’t” regarding the suggestion that Maye can win.
That seems to imply that maybe he does not think Maye can run (which does not make much sense given the way he plays) or that Maye does not want to run (which also would not make much sense).
Following up by saying “we just chose not to do it” would then seem to transfer the blame to offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Maybe Van Pelt should have called a run for Maye. Maybe Mayo wanted to see that.
The problem with that is Mayo is the head coach. He has the final say on everything that happens on the field. If Van Pelt calls a play that Mayo does not like, he has the authority to override and say “do something else.” He also has the authority to tell Van Pelt, “this is what we are doing here on this play.”
That is the benefit of being the head coach. It is your team, your game to call and your decisions to make. You do not get to shift blame to coaches under you when things do not work.
This is not the first time Mayo has seemed to go out of his way to avoid taking responsibility this season, having called his defense “soft” earlier in the season and also saying that once the players get out on the field there is nothing he can do for them.
The poor results, lack of progress and Mayo’s willingness to throw everybody else under the bus is enough to make you wonder if he might be a one-and-done head coach in New England. This was always going to be a difficult year, but it is going even worse than originally expected.
