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Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff Writer
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Coach Jerod Mayo acknowledged he made a mistake in how he answered a query on offensive playcalling after the New England Patriots’ 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, which might have been interpreted as him being at odds with coordinator Alex Van Pelt.
A key a part of the sport got here when the Patriots had been stopped on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 from the Cardinals’ 4-yard line within the third quarter. On each performs, the Patriots utilized conventional handoffs on working performs, which led Mayo to be requested whether or not calling on quarterback Drake Maye to sneak was thought of.
“You stated it. I did not,” Mayo answered.
While Mayo later answered that he’s chargeable for all choices, his preliminary comment might have been considered as a slight on Van Pelt, the first-year playcaller.
Mayo additional addressed his feedback in his day-after-game video convention Monday.
“I did not imply something by that,” Mayo stated. “It was extra of a defensive response. I attempted to make clear that with the follow-up query [Sunday], as a result of in the end all these choices are mine. … I did not wish to go down that complete rabbit gap attempting to clarify all these issues.”
Mayo additionally stated in his weekly radio interview on sports activities radio WEEI that he “should not have performed that. Just like I inform the gamers, I’m nonetheless studying how these issues work.”
Mayo has had related missteps in what has been a rocky preliminary season with the Patriots, who’re 3-11 and sputtering in direction of the top of the common season.
Immediately after the Patriots’ loss to the Jaguars in London on Oct. 20, Mayo stated they had been a “comfortable soccer crew throughout the board,” earlier than clarifying the following day that they had been “taking part in comfortable.”
Before that, shortly after he was employed in January, Mayo stated in a radio interview that the crew was able to “burn some money” to herald proficient gamers. He later known as it a “rookie mistake”, clarifying that the Patriots would spend correctly.
Those errors, along with the crew’s shaky play on the sphere, have contributed to a irritating season within the first yr after proprietor Robert Kraft fired Bill Belichick following 24 seasons on the helm.
During Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals, CBS cameras confirmed Kraft and crew president Jonathan Kraft a number of occasions, as Jonathan Kraft gave the impression to be pissed off with the tempo of the offense at one level within the second quarter, making a movement along with his hand and finger to hurry issues up.
Entering the season, Robert Kraft had preached persistence with Mayo, 38, who’s the second-youngest head coach within the NFL behind the Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald. Kraft stated one of many prime traits he noticed in Mayo, who performed linebacker for the crew from 2008 to 2015 and served as a linebackers coach from 2019 to 2023, is his capacity to attach with and handle youthful gamers.
Kraft predicted earlier than the season that they’d “most likely be in for some tough occasions” — a reference, partly, to extra time wanted to inventory the roster with expertise. At the identical time, Kraft projected the season “can be nice development and lay the muse for the long run.”
Kraft hasn’t publicly commented on Mayo because the season started.
