Bill Simmons has never been one to shy away from sharing how he truly feels — especially about the New England Patriots.
It only took about 30 minutes for the Boston sports fan and founder of “The Ringer” to rip into Jerod Mayo’s coaching style in Week 12 against the Miami Dolphins.
“This spring, Jerod Mayo needs to find an author to help him write a book called Scared Football. Just throw all his scared concepts and strategies in there — passing up 4th and 1s, handing off on 3rd and 16 to set up 45 yard FGs, just rattle all of them off,” Simmons posted to X. “SCARED FOOTBALL.”
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The play Simmons posted about on social media referred to when Mayo elected to not go for it on 4th-and-1 from the Patriots’ own 39-yard line. He later fired off another social media post calling the game “indescribable.”
“It’s like a 2024 greatest hits compilation of all the bad coaching, dumb plays, scared coaching and inexplicable penalties this season,” Simmons wrote. “This team is getting worse. (Robert) Kraft will do nothing and bring everyone back. No way he pays 2 coaches.”
This isn’t the first time Simmons has openly criticized Mayo. In October he called the Patriots the “worst-coached team” since 1990.
The Patriots played undisciplined football and took a total of 10 penalties accepted in the 34-15 blowout loss. Miami took a 24-0 lead into halftime and took advantage of New England’s sloppy defense and struggling offensive line. It was a struggle for them to get any momentum going and gave up four touchdowns and 373 total yards to the Dolphins.
Mayo initially shouldered the blame for Sunday’s loss, telling reporters that it starts with him. But later was asked about when the players need to start taking some of the blame.
“Look, once those guys cross the white lines, there’s nothing I can do for them,” Mayo said. “There’s nothing any coach can do for them once they cross the white line. It’s my job to continue to prepare not only them, but our coaches, to play better football.”
Despite entering the week at 3-8, the Patriots were starting to show some momentum and appeared to make some changes where needed. But they regressed in Week 12 in a game that left a lot to be desired.
