With Friday being yet another bye week day for the Patriots, there’s more time to unpack Tom E. Curran’s exclusive sitdown with first-year head coach Jerod Mayo for NBC Sports Boston.
Curran sat down with his former “Quick Slants” cohost earlier this week for an interview that was released Thursday on “Tom Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast,” where the longtime WEEI contributor spent a little over 20 minutes talking with Mayo about his first year at the helm in New England.
While a bevy of topics were discussed, including why Mayo feels he will be a better coach next year than he has been this year, more insight into his continued collaboration with the Kraft family was an area that particularly peeked my interest, especially given the rhetoric we’ve heard from Patriots ownership this calendar year surrounding the greatest coach in the history of their franchise.
Curran asked Mayo, “How often is their dialogue with Robert [Kraft] or Jonathan [Kraft], in terms of, ‘Hey, you know what? Wasn’t what we were looking for, but we trust you. We’ve empowered you, and we’ll talk about it later’ - how does it go, I guess? I mean, they’re very invested.”
“Look, we speak all the time,” said Mayo. “And I would say, you know, even outside of football, they have other businesses. And so when you talk about all this stuff, it’s about relationships.
“Coaching is about relationships. Business is about relationships. And they’ve been an open book as far as, if I have a question on managing processes, or, you know, leading people. They have been very open and honest with me in some of those things. And it’s gonna make me a better coach going forward.”
“How does it go after a game?” Curran followed up. “Do they say, ‘Why didn’t you go for two?’ Is it that blunt?”
“We always debrief the games,” Mayo responded. “And they’re very - they just want to know, at least my thought process. And they absolutely, just like the fans, sometimes don’t agree with the way that the game is going. You know, obviously, when you lose games, the questions are plentiful -”
“Pointed,” Curran interrupted. “Pointed and plentiful.”
“Very pointed,” laughed Mayo. “That’s right - and again, though, as the head coach, like, I have to be able to answer those questions. And my job is not only to protect the coaches, but also protect the players. And that’s why I try to take 100% accountability.”
This is all, clearly, in stark contrast to the perceived way of the old regime, where head coach Bill Belichick would rule with an iron fist on all fronts, answering to no one along the way. The entire football operation was in his hands - whether that meant benching a starting cornerback in the Super Bowl, or letting the greatest QB in NFL history walk with gas left in the tank, it was all Bill’s domain.
His reign was, of course, the most successful run in the history of the game, winning six Super Bowls and amassing more wins over a 20 year period than any other franchise in NFL history. That’s well-documented. As it should be.
There’s also plenty of reporting out there to suggest the Krafts were unhappy with their lack of influence on football decisions towards the end of Belichick’s run, eventually leading to a “mutual parting of ways” in January (which Kraft later called a firing during a radio interview this fall).
As currently constructed, it appears that would not be the case in a Mayo-led operation. If owners are having debrief conversations about specific in-game decisions, what else are they weighing in on?
If you believe Mayo from his interview with Curran, he’s still ultimately the man in charge, even with these extra meetings with his boss.
“I always get up there and take 100% accountability for everything that we do,” said Mayo. “Every decision that is made on the football field, the decisions that are made as far as the roster is concerned, in conjunction with Eliot [Wolf]. And I appreciate ownership really letting us build this thing out the way that we want to.”
Whether this season has been fully in Mayo’s vision, Kraft’s vision, or some combination of the two, it’s been ugly.
With four games remaining, New England sits at 3-10 on the season, and will miss the postseason for the fourth time in five seasons.