In today’s day and age, it’s rare to find a public figure willing and able to walk back public comments.
Regardless of the topic - when someone says something, they’re almost always sticking to that “take” all the way to their grave.
Mea culpas are rare, unless you’re covering Patriots first-year head coach Jerod Mayo.
Whether it’s walking back his “burn cash” proclamations from earlier this year, or how he handled his QB competition during the preseason, or having to clarify for an entire week what he meant by calling his team “soft” after their loss in London to Jacksonville, or what he meant last week when he said he can’t help his team once they “cross the white line,” or…
…OK, you get the point - Mayo is not afraid to say “never mind,” followed by trying to explain his reasoning for the change of heart.
He was back at it again on Monday during his weekly “Mayo Monday” appearance with The Greg Hill Show, as a part of WEEI’s “Patriots Monday” coverage.
This week’s walk-back began on Sunday, immediately following his team’s 25-24 loss to the Colts to fall to 3-10 on the season.
With all three timeouts in-hand, Mayo waited until 17 seconds remained in the game to use his first, coming at the tail end of Indianapolis’ game-winning, 19-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, which lasted almost five and a half minutes and saw the Colts succeed on three different 4th down tries.
Indy’s offense was wearing the Patriots' defense down, and Mayo opted to let his guys figure it out on the field. They couldn’t get the job done, and ended up having to hand the ball back to their offense with 12 seconds left and two timeouts. Four plays later, kicker Joey Slye was missing a 68-yard field goal as time expired, and the Patriots were walking off the field as losers for a 10th time in 2024.
Mayo was asked during his postgame press conference, “Was there any thought to taking a timeout, maybe before earlier in the drive where the Colts ultimately scored, and what was the thought process there?”
“Absolutely, there was a thought,” said Mayo. “We have also won a Super Bowl here doing it the other way. Keeping our timeouts is what I thought was best for the team.”
You could almost feel the “eeeeeesh” in the room when Mayo gave that answer, showing shades of a young Matt Patricia attempting a Bill Belichick impression while at the podium as head coach of the Lions.
Yes, Belichick famously did not use a timeout during the waning moments of Super Bowl XLIX against Seattle, which ultimately led to Pete Carroll making one of the worst coaching decisions in the history of football, throwing the ball while inches away from the goal line, leading to Malcolm Butler making one of the most iconic plays in the history of North American sports.
Yes. That happened.
The final Colts’ drive on Sunday was not that.
Fast forward to Monday morning, where it was time for Mayo to unpack this.
“So I think you’ve done a great job of being your own man,” started WEEI’s Chris Curtis. “And it’s something that we’ve credited you for. A lot of people have followed certain coaches, and they try to be that person. It was frustrating for me to hear you cite the Super Bowl with the Seahawks -”
“Yeah, I shouldn’t have done that,” Mayo interrupted Curtis. “You’re right, and I probably shouldn’t have. You know, when I said it, I was frustrated, first of all. Which - I should have taken a deep breath.
“I should not have said that. I should not have said it.”
After having a laugh about “neutralizing” Curtis with his answer, Mayo went on to say, “I shouldn’t have said it. I shouldn’t have said it, and we all make mistakes.”
So for Mayo, Monday brings yet another “never mind” moment.
With four games remaining on the schedule, there’s plenty of opportunities for more.
And if you’re playing the percentages, we’re gonna ’em.