The biggest Patriots topic across New England on Monday was first-year head coach Jerod Mayo’s postgame shot at offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt.
“Did you consider running Drake [Maye] in that situation - that it’s a short yardage situation, you feel like he can run?” Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston asked Mayo during Sunday’s postgame press conference, referencing the consecutive stops on 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 by Arizona from the Cardinals 4 yard line in his team’s 30-17 loss in Week 15.
“Uh, that’s - you said it, I didn’t,” Mayo responded flatly, quickly moving on to the next question.
The 38-year-old head coach was quick to walk this answer back during his weekly “Patriots Monday” appearance on WEEI, but that did nothing to quell the conversation around this topic.
On Tuesday, Pro Football Hall of Fame corner and Patriots legend Ty Law weighed during his weekly appearance with The Greg Hill Show.
“I mean, he’s just piggybacking off of what was caught with [Jonathan Kraft] up in the suites, right?” said Law, referencing the now viral video of the Patriots team president clearly mouthing “the play calling is terrible” when the CBS cameras panned to his suite during the telecast.
“So he’s following Jonathan Kraft’s lead on that?” WEEI’s Greg Hill asked Law.
“He following the lead,” said Law. “You know, when you up there, sitting in that spot, you know all the cameras is on you. So I guess the lip readers, the lip-reading Gods - and you know what Mayo said, ‘You know what? If he said it, I can say it, too.’ You know? But it’s still a reflection of the team, because you’re a head coach, and you never wanna do that. Just like you don’t wanna throw a teammate under the bus.
“So I think it was just a bad choice of words, you know, and the delivery, you know? I would’ve probably just said, ‘You saaaaaid that,’ and just let it go.”
Law went on to say that when he was playing for New England (1995-04), members of the team’s PR staff would routinely tell players “what to say, and what not to say,” and said he thinks a member of that staff needs to “whisper a little something in Jerod’s ear, because that’s what they used to do to us.”
“So somebody has to tell him not to throw his offensive coordinator under the bus?” said Hill. “It’s not alarming to anybody that that’s his first go-to, is to throw others under the bus?”
“He’s supposed to be changing the culture. That was a big thing that I was told by Robert Kraft that was gonna happen. And that’s not a winning culture, is throwing - when you lose - throwing everybody else under the bus.”
Law agreed, saying, “Oh, no - I mean, you start pointing the blame, not only do you lose coaches, you can lose your players. You know what I mean? So that’s the kind of stuff that’s supposed to be left in-house. You know, hopefully he learns from it, because it’s gonna be the talk, you know, pretty much all offseason now.
“What are they gonna do? Who are they gonna pick? They’re gonna be talking about who’s going to want to come, who’s gonna wanna coach for him? So you don’t wanna put that negative energy out there, because it is free agency, even with coaches. If you, let’s just say the offensive coordinator, ‘I don’t like what you said,’ you gotta let him go for whatever reason. What other coach is gonna wanna come in -”
“And work for a guy that’s willing to throw you under the bus,” Hill interrupted.
“Exactly,” Law agreed. “So that’s not a good look. But hopefully he learns from it, and keeps it in house next time.”
Mayo is slated to meet with the media again on Wednesday before practice.