Friday morning got off to a hot start for the Patriots, as veteran linebacker Jahlani Tavai made headlines during his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show.
After saying he was bothered by the fans booing and chanting “FIRE MAYO” during Saturday’s loss to the Chargers, he was asked by WEEI’s Jermaine Wiggins if he understood why fans were reacting the way they were.
“I don't know. There's a reason why they're fans,” said Tavai. “Everybody can say what they think that we should be doing, but they're not qualified to do what Mayo is doing or whatever the Krafts are doing. They're fans. I appreciate them at times, but sometimes they just have to know their place and just understand that it's a work in progress. Rome wasn't built in one day.”
About three hours later, first-year head coach Jerod Mayo addressed Tavai’s comments during his regularly scheduled Friday morning press conference.
“I’ve handled that internally,” said Mayo. “We had a conversation about it, so we’ll keep that in house.
“I will say this - look, for the fans, I’ve said this before. I’m a fan of different things, too. Like, no one’s happy. No one’s happy with our record. No one’s happy where we are right now. And the fans - look, they pay the bills. They come in here, they demand us to go out there and perform well. And we haven’t done that this year. So look, I understand.”
Doug Kyed of The Boston Herald followed up, asking Mayo, “After comments that were made by Davon Godchaux and Deatrich Wise earlier in the week, did you address the players about how they should speak about fans?”
“No,” said Mayo. “I’ve talked to the guys about how, you know - look, they’re getting caught up in trying to defend me. And I told them, ‘Look, I appreciate it.’ But at the same time, the fans are the most important thing here.”
The energy of the Patriots fanbase will be interesting to monitor on Sunday, as Week 18’s game against the Bills at Gillette Stadium is among the more unique situations this franchise has ever been in.
At 3-13, New England is in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. With a loss, the Patriots will secure the pick, giving them an incredibly valuable asset to help add gasoline to their rebuild process. Whether they stick-and-pick, or trade the pick for a war chest of assets from a QB-desperate team, being armed with the top pick is so much more valuable than finishing with a pick in the top five.
On top of this obvious incentive to lose, their starting quarterback is coming off of a Week 17 game that saw him get banged up on multiple levels.
In the first quarter of the loss to the Chargers, rookie Drake Maye exited the game for one series to be evaluated for a concussion. Even with the UNC-product re-entering the game, taking a sub-concussive hit is of-note for a player who suffered a full-on concussion earlier this season.
In addition to concussion concerns, Maye has been listed as having had “limited participation” for both Wednesday and Thursday’s practices with an injured right hand. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport posted on X.com on Wednesday that Maye “suffered a finger injury during Sunday’s game,” leading to this distinction on the team’s practice report.
Despite this reporting from Rapoport, as well as the team’s own self-reporting, Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt have both separately said this week that the rookie is at full-strength and is ready to go for Sunday. Mayo went so far as to say on Friday that Maye’s hand injury has had “no effect” on him at practice throughout the week, which makes you wonder why the team gave him a “limited” distinction on the practice report at all.
Knowing Maye’s not at full health, and knowing a loss secures them the No. 1, it begs the question:
Why put him out there?
To top it all off, their opponent in the Bills (13-3) has already clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC for the postseason. Regardless of the outcome on Sunday, that playoff positioning cannot change. Buffalo will be trotting out mostly backups throughout the game as they rest their key players for the postseason, with MVP-front runner Josh Allen reportedly slated to play only a handful of plays.
So you have a team in New England that has incentive to lose, but a coaching staff that’s trying to save-face in their season finale as Mayo’s seat gets hotter by the day. And you have a team in Buffalo that has no incentive to win, who will actively be sitting their best players.
My best prediction for the fan’s energy on Sunday:
Weird.