Ex-Patriots coach Jerod Mayo played cards with players on flight home following double-digit loss: report
The New England Patriots fired coach Jerod Mayo after just one season on Monday, and a report on Wednesday revealed telling details about his first year as NFL head coach and what the lead up to that decision looked like.
The Patriots closed out the season with a win over AFC East rivals, the Buffalo Bills, but it wasn’t enough for owner Robert Kraft to want to stick with Mayo.
"After the game I informed Jerod Mayo that he will not be returning as the head coach of the New England Patriots in 2025. For me, personally, it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made," Kraft said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the trajectory of our team's performances throughout the season did not ascend as I had hoped."
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Mayo had developed in the Patriots’ system, first as a player winning a Super Bowl during his eight-year career and later as a linebackers coach under Bill Belichick. But it seems that the "Patriots’ way" didn’t carry over into his coaching style.
According to a report from The Athletic, one incident that stood out to those close to the situation was a plane ride home after a loss to the Arizona Cardinals last month.
The report claimed that instead of reviewing film with the coaching staff, Mayo opted to play cards with the players.
"But in a move that surprised some at the front of the plane after such a lopsided loss, according to a team source, Mayo, the team’s first-year head coach who had been handpicked by owner Robert Kraft to succeed Bill Belichick, left his spot near the front and went back to where some players had gathered to play cards, choosing to hang out there while his assistants watched film," Chad Graff’s report read.
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"Look, there are a lot of ways to do the job," a team source on the plane told Graff. "It’s not that Jerod’s was definitely wrong. But I can’t say I’ve seen that before."
Other sources added that Mayo’s attempt to differentiate himself from Belichick may have been his downfall.
"Mayo, they felt, tried too hard to be 180 degrees different from Belichick, then struggled to apply and uphold discipline after positioning himself as a players’ coach," the report continued.
For Kraft, he shouldered much of what led to Mayo’s troubles.
"This whole situation is on me. I feel terrible for Jerod. Because I put him in an untenable situation," Kraft said during a press conference on Tuesday. "I know he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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