Curran: Mayo’s postgame comments ‘invite more dysfunction’ at team originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The New England Patriots put together another lackluster performance on Sunday in Arizona, but head coach Jerod Mayo’s questionable comments after the game overshadowed everything that happened on the field.
After the 30–17 loss, Mayo was asked by Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston about the ensuing series in the third quarter. The Patriots trailed the Cardinals 16-3 and faced a third-and-1 from Arizona’s 4-yard line. Antonio Gibson and Rhamondre Stevenson were loaded on back-to-back run plays for no gain on third and fourth down respectively, resulting in a turnover on downs and a missed opportunity for New England.
Has Mayo considered running the ball with its 6-foot-4, 225-pound quarterback Drake Maye in those short-yardage situations?
‘You said it. I don’t,” Mayo replied.
That bizarre reaction seems like a bull’s-eye for offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Perry and fellow NBC Sports Boston Patriots insider Tom E. Curran parsed Mayo’s statement Patriots Postgame Live.
“We should have been talking about the football game and the things the Patriots didn’t do right to start their four-game stretch, and instead we’re going to talk about a situation that Jerod Mayo made worse,” Curran said. “He should talk about those aspects, and if he continually says, ‘These are my decisions, I’m going to make these decisions, they all start and end with me,’ to ask a question and then deduce from that : “Yes, ‘You’re right, we should have run Drake Maye,’ which undermines the whole thing and undermines Alex Van Pelt. And then to circle back and later say, ‘Yes, it’s all on me,’ it is another rake.
“But this is probably the most prominent rake because Alex Van Pelt – if you don’t want him calling these plays, if you don’t want him running inside the red zone, tell him, ‘Don’t run.’ inside the red zone we don’t do that anymore.’ So this to me, unfortunately, is probably the biggest rake that Jerod has stepped on. It’s really going to lead to more dysfunction than I think they’ve seen all year.
Earlier in the season, after Maye suffered a concussion, Van Pelt indicated he was cautious about setting up designed run plays for the rookie QB. Perry believes the reluctance to let go of Maye’s athleticism has caused some friction among the Patriots’ coaching staff.
“I think he’s frustrated. I don’t think he makes comments like that unless maybe this is building up,” Perry said of Mayo. “This is a question I’ve been asking not only Jerod Mayo, but Alex Van Pelt and Drake Maye for weeks, well over a month. When are you going to actually run this guy? Obviously he’s one of the best athletes that you have Obviously this is a skill that he possesses that can be very difficult for opposing defenses to defend because I’ve had opposing defenses that the Patriots have on the schedule this year, tell me: ‘Thank God they’re not doing design runs for Drake Maybe because things like that are really hard for us.”
“So I ask, and I ask, and I ask. They’ve already decided they’re not doing this thing anymore to protect Drake Maye, and he’s already scrambling enough, and so we’re I’m not going to call designed runs. They’ve all acknowledged that they want to get these designed runs into the game.
“And so to me, this isn’t necessarily a one-off from Jerod Mayo. I predict he’ll take back the comments tomorrow, as we’ve heard him do many times this year. But I think this is probably a conversation that they’re having have been suffering from short yardage, critical situations on the goal line for a long time. These are the types of quarterback runs we have at our disposal, and the fact that it wasn’t used here in a critical situation, I think, leads to that moment of frustration which I think is that is, that is, boiling over. I think this has been building for a while.”
For what it’s worth, Maye says he’s open to being used as a runner in short-distance situations.
“Yeah, that’s a good point. I was a good quarterback sneak in college,” he said after the game. “I’m a big guy. I’m heavier than people think. So I think maybe there’s a conversation for that. I think it’s hard to stop a 6-foot guy for three feet.”
Now sitting at 3-11 on the season, the Patriots close out Sunday with the third pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. They will look to clean things up both on and off the field before heading to Buffalo for a tough Week 16 showdown with the 11-3 Bills.
