GLENDALE, Ariz. — Following another paint-by-number loss where the Patriots repeated the same mistakes, Jerod Mayo emphasized the importance of personal accountability in the visitors’ locker room at State Farm Stadium.
“I told the guys in there: We’ve all gotta take accountability,” Mayo said. “What does that look like? Accountability is not really the, ‘My bad.’ Accountability isn’t coming in and saying things like, ‘If we would have just did X, Y, and Z.’ We’ve been talking abut that all year. Accountability is going out and correcting it. That’s about action.”
Then Mayo shirked his own accountability later in the press conference.
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The Patriots coach was asked about a failed goal-line sequence in the third quarter. Trailing 16-3, Drake Maye and company had entered the red zone for the first time all afternoon and were knocking on the door. Facing a third-and-1 from Arizona’s 4-yard line, Lester Cotton entered the game as a sixth offensive lineman and Antonio Gibson took a handoff up the gut. It was stuffed. On fourth-and-1, Mayo kept his offense on the field and sent Rhamondre Stevenson into the huddle. Another handoff up the middle was called, Stevenson was stopped short of the line to gain, and the Patriots turned the ball over on downs.
“It was disappointing,” Mayo said. “There comes a point in time as a football team where everyone in the stadium knows what the play is and we’ve just gotta move bodies. We weren’t able to do that.”
Drake Maye has been terrific as a runner this season, picking up 17 first downs and a touchdown with his legs. As a rookie, he’s already the offense’s best player. Mayo was asked a simple follow-up:
“Did you consider running Drake in that situation? It’s a short yardage situation and he can run.”
“You said it. I didn’t,” Mayo replied.
And just like that, three minutes after preaching about how important accountability is, Mayo threw his offensive coordinator to the wolves. Alex Van Pelt is the one who called those non-Maye running plays, and though Mayo “didn’t” say it, he absolutely let everybody listening know what he thought about his coordinator’s decision-making. This is Jerod Mayo’s team. The buck stops with him… until it didn’t. Imagine Bill Belichick doing that to Josh McDaniels.
Following the eyebrow-raising response, Mayo was then asked a clarifying question about the decision-making process. He began by taking accountability, but then couldn’t help himself and veered into it wasn’t me, it was Alex territory again.
“It’s always my decision,” Mayo said. “I would say the quarterback obviously has a good pair of legs and does a good job running the ball. We just chose not to do it there.”
Though Mayo says he ignores the noise, he can’t be oblivious to the criticism he’s getting from all angles. An irked Jonathan Kraft went viral during a woeful offensive series — notepad in hand — so Mayo is likely hearing it from his bosses, too. It’s got to be tempting to redirect some of the blame elsewhere, but owning it is part of the gig.
This is Mayo’s staff. He hired Van Pelt and company. Their mistakes are his mistakes. But hanging them out to dry is his mistake alone and sends the wrong message about accountability. And accountability is important. Just ask Mayo.
