Patriots
“I think it was unfair to coach Jerod Mayo. He never had the chance to develop as a head coach.”
Former Patriots tight-end Rob Gronkowski sharply criticized his former team for firing coach Jerod Mayo.
Mayo lasted just one season as a head coach in New England. He was fired almost immediately after the Patriots’ win over the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s season finale.
The Patriots went 4-13 under Mayo this season, which was the same record they had last year under Bill Belichick, who was also fired.
Robert Kraft’s decision to fire Mayo so quickly after handpicking him to be Belichick’s successor caught some, including Gronkowski, off guard.
“I was shocked by that, and to happen that soon was a shocker to a lot of people especially here at the desk,” Gronkowski said during NFL on FOX. “We were all surprised by that. I think it was unfair to coach Jerod Mayo. He never had the chance to develop as a head coach. He was just a rookie himself in that department, and if you judge a coach by their first year that’s really not appropriate.”
FOX cut to a commercial before Gronkowski could finish his comments. He was bringing up a point about fellow panelist Jimmy Johnson, who went on to win two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys after going 1-15 during his first season, when Michael Strahan told him the network needed to go to break.
Belichick, who went on to win six Super Bowls as a head coach, finished 6-10 in his first season with the Cleveland Browns. Four of his five seasons in Cleveland were losing seasons. He also went 5-11 in his first season with the Patriots in 2000 before coaching the franchise to its first Super Bowl title the following year.
Mayo did not get a second chance with the franchise that he spent his entire playing career with. Kraft released a letter to the fans on the same day as the season-finale explaining the firing. The move, Kraft said, was the best option to return the Patriots to playoff contention.
While their record was the same as last year, the Patriots did show some signs of regression under Mayo.
The Patriots had the No. 1 run defense, in terms of yards per carry, in the NFL last year. They slipped to the middle of the pack this season. They looked sloppy and undisciplined for much of the year with plenty of pre-snap penalties. Players had several off-the-field run-ins with law enforcement. Mayo had several embarrassing moments during press conferences.
But, there were signs of improvement as well. The offense, which was working with a patchwork offensive line consisting mostly of rookies and journeymen, improved slightly. Quarterback Drake Maye appeared to be developing well. The Patriots beat two teams that had much more talent (Cincinnati and Buffalo) when they weren’t at their best.
Still, the organization decided to cut its losses and move on from Mayo without bothering to see whether he could improve with a second year under his belt.
Mayo is the third Patriots head coach to last less than one season.
Phil Bengtson went 1-4 as an interim coach after taking over for John Mazur in 1972 before becoming the team’s Director of Pro Scouting. Rod Rust was fired after he went 1-15 in 1990. Mayo is the only one of the three who won multiple games.
New England likely felt a sense of urgency to make a big move after enduring multiple losing seasons at the end of the Belichick era and drafting a potential franchise quarterback in Drake Maye.
They acted upon that feeling, and change came swiftly.
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2025-01-05 22:45:51
