Jerod Mayo joined The Greg Hill Show on Monday for his weekly appearance as a part of “Patriots Monday” on WEEI.
And even though the Patriots head coach snapped a six-game losing streak on Sunday with his team’s 25-22 win over the New York Jets (2-6), he was still answering questions about their Week 7 trip to London.
“You talk about it all the time, being transparent,” said WEEI’s Greg Hill. “And that’s what I love about getting the opportunity to have you address all this stuff. I know you essentially said this week you didn’t have an issue with guys and how they’re conducting themselves when they’re not on the field -”
“Can I just go back to that?” Mayo interrupted. “Guys being out in London, simply not true. And so those stories continue to come out where it’s just not true.”
“Not true?” clarified Greg.
“Yeah,” said Mayo. “So I’m not sure where it’s coming from, but everyone has their sources. Again, working in the media, I understand how that works. But it’s simply not true.”
“So nobody missed curfew in London?” asked WEEI’s Chris Curtis.
“I’m saying this,” said Mayo. “We did not have people out in London. That’s what I’m saying. I’m not going back to London. I don’t want to go back to London. Is this me going back on what I just said?”
“You’re not walking it back?” asked Greg.
“I’m not walking it back,” said Mayo. “What I’m saying is it’s not true.”
“Nashville, very fun city,” Greg interjected as a joke, referencing the team’s Week 9 road game against the Tennessee Titans (1-6). “Maybe put some restrictions in place down there, that’s a fun city.”
“Listen, the guys in the locker room, they do what we need to do to go out there and perform," said Mayo. "And look, we’ll win, or whatever happens, happens. But at the same time, these guys are professionals, and they’ve acted that way.”
These denials from Mayo run in contrast to comments we heard postgame in Week 7 from wide receiver Kendrick Bourne.
“That’s [making] personal decisions. Rather than staying up all night, or eating whatever,” Bourne told The Boston Herald. “Whatever it is, whatever makes us be better, we have to make those decisions to be better so when we get [to the game], we can be better.”
Four days later, Bourne walked these comments back during his media availability, saying he was “taken out of context.”
But when you pair what Bourne said postgame in Week 7 with reports of second-year wide receiver DeMario Douglas dealing with an illness heading into the London game, it’s only natural that fans and media start connecting the dots.
But according to Mayo, it’s “simply not true.”
Regardless of what actually happened in London two weeks ago, the Patriots are looking to go on their first two-game winning streak in two years on Sunday, as they’ll take on a Titans team sporting one win, coming off a blowout loss in Detroit in Week 8.
The Patriots last won two games in a row during the 2022 season as a part of a three-game winning streak that year. From Week 8 to Week 11, they beat the Jets, Colts and Jets, with a bye week in between the second and third wins.
The team was 6-4, and firmly in the hunt to make their second consecutive playoff berth with Bill Belichick at head coach and Mac Jones at quarterback.
From Week 12 of the 2022 season to now, the franchise has gone 8-24 overall.
Let’s see if Sunday’s win can start sending this thing in the right direction.