After his team lost their sixth consecutive game on Sunday, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo took to the podium in London to call out his team.
“Look, we’re a soft football team across the board,” said Mayo after the 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-5) at Wembley Stadium. “You talk about what makes a tough football team - that’s being able to run the ball, that’s being able to stop the run, and that’s being able to cover kicks. And we did none of those today.”
Mayo attempted to play a bit of damage control during his “Mayo Monday” interview with The Greg Hill Show, saying he meant to say his team was “playing soft.”
But at that point, the damage had been done.
Sports talk fodder was presented on a silver platter by the first-year head coach of his 1-6 football team, and the sports media world has continued to eat it up.
In steps Bill Belichick.
After 24 years at the helm in New England, Belichick has joined the talking head ranks for the 2024 season, taking on media jobs with ESPN, SiriusXM, Underdog Fantasy and The CW (the new home of the iconic “Inside the NFL”). And if there are any others I have missed, I apologize in advance. It’s becoming difficult to keep track at this point, as it feels like his media resume grows by the day.
With Mayo making these pointed comments on Sunday, it only makes sense that Belichick would be asked about his former protege’s words on Monday during his various paid appearances.
First up, his weekly appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“Defensively, the Patriots led the league last year in rushing defense - yards per carry, number one in the league,” said Belichick. “And this year they’re way down in the 20s somewhere. It’s the same guys - they re-signed [Anfernee] Jennings, they re-signed [Jahlani] Tavai, they re-signed, obviously, [Kyle] Duggar, right? Marcus Jones and [Christian] Gonzalez have been healthy all year, which they were both on IR at this point last year. You got [Deatrich] Wise, you got [Davon] Godchaux. You got, you know, Keion White, you got [Marte] Mapu, Gonzalez - three rookies from last year. So it’s a lot of the same players, and in some cases, I would say more.
“I’m kind of hurt for those guys, because to call them soft - they’re not soft. But, they were the best team in the league last year against the run. And those guys got out there, went out there and did it, even though we couldn’t score very many points offensively. So I feel bad for the defensive players on that one because those guys, that’s a tough group. I mean, Jon Jones, Godchaux, Wise, Jennings, [Josh] Uche - those guys are all tough players. Like, they’ll strap it up and go. Duggar, I mean, they’re tough guys.”
Belichick defending all these defensive players by name is not entirely surprising, as these were all players the Patriots legend either signed or drafted over the last decade in New England. To pump their tires is an indirect way of pumping his own tires.
The existence of these comments, regardless of their substance, is in stark contrast to his appearance on McAfee’s show after New England’s Week 1 upset in Cincinnati, where Belichick went over 40 minutes without a single question about his former team.
The juxtaposition of these two radio hits seven weeks apart is no coincidence, by the way. Belichick’s camp and McAfee’s staff are almost certainly in touch ahead of these appearances, and they almost certainly clear topics.
Next up, his podcast with Jim Gray for SiriusXM, “Let’s Go! with Bill Belichick, Maxx Crosby, Peter King & Jim Gray.”
As a reminder, Belichick replaced Raiders minority owner Tom Brady as the regular co-host of this podcast, as the seven-time Super Bowl winning quarterback now only re-appears on the show as a guest host from time to time.
“Hey coach, have you ever had a soft team?” Gray asked Belichick.
“Look, I think when you criticize your team publicly like that, it doesn’t always go over well,” answered Belichick, ready to take another shot at Mayo. “Now every coach has their own style, And you know, maybe sometimes that can be effective and all. But ultimately, I always felt like when the team played bad, that was my responsibility, too.
“I mean, we might have had bad playing, but we had bad coaching that led to bad playing. So I think it’s always best to kind of, you know, take a look at yourself and do what you can do to help the team. And then, you know, if you have constructive criticism as a coach, that’s your job.”
Pointed criticism by Belichick of Mayo’s pointed criticism from Sunday’s postgame.
And in case we had forgotten, he had to run this line back from his hit with McAfee:
“But I don’t know - last year, the Patriots led the league in rushing defense - yards per carry, number one in the league. This year, they’re 26th or whatever it is. It’s the same players - I don’t think that those players on defense are soft, but they haven’t stopped the run very well this year.”
With reports swirling since the summer about Belichick’s intention to return to coaching in 2025, the 72-year-old is making sure potential future employers know that this is not the type of media circus he would create as the head of their organization.
That media circus would come with his mere presence alone.
Mayo will have a chance to respond to his former head coach when he meets with the media at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday morning.