Albert Breer has a strong reaction on Sports Sunday to Jerod Mayo’s “You said it. I didn’t.” comment after the Patriots’ loss to Arizona
Jerod Mayo made a bad situation even worse after the New England Patriots' loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
The Patriots head coach fielded several questions in his postgame press conference about an embarrassing third-quarter sequence in which the Patriots got stuffed on back-to-back run plays on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 from the Cardinals' 4-yard line, resulting in a turnover on downs.
One of those questions came from Phil Perry, who asked Mayo if the team considered calling a designed run for athletic quarterback Drake Maye, who has made several plays with his legs this season.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
"You said it, not me," Mayo responded.
Many took Mayo's answer as a call-out of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and a suggestion that Mayo would have liked to see a designed run for Maye in that scenario. Many also criticized Mayo for going in that direction, with our Tom E. Curran pointing out that Mayo's comments will "invite more dysfunction" and The MMQB's Albert Breer noting that Mayo threw Van Pelt "under the bus."
Breer recently insisted that Mayo was "on solid ground" to return as the Patriots' head coach in 2025, but were Mayo's postgame comments damaging enough to impact Mayo's job security going forward?
Breer shared a strong take on that subject during an appearance on NBC Sports Boston's Sports Sunday.
MORE PATRIOTS COVERAGE
“I think the press conference was a Joe Judge moment," Breer said, as seen in the video player above. "Now, I think the score on who the head coach is in 2025 could change. I think a lot of things changed (Sunday). You saw the frustration in the owner's box, the press conference going the way that it did; I think everybody should be on notice now.”
For context, then-New York Giants head coach Joe Judge went off on an press conference 11-minute rant after his team's Week 17 loss to the Chicago Bears during the 2022 season and was fired two weeks later. Mayo is in a bit of a different situation -- Judge was in his second year as head coach at that point, while Mayo is in his first -- but Breer found Mayo's comments just as damning.
“I've covered the league for 20 years. I've never seen a head coach do that," Breer said. "I've seen infighting between offensive coaches and defensive coaches. I've seen infighting between players and coaches. I've never seen a head coach do that.
"You guys know how much I think of Jerod Mayo and his potential as a head coach. That was one of the worst moments I've ever seen at the podium from head coach. He threw his offensive coordinator under the bus."
But would Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who said earlier this season that he hand-picked Mayo to be Bill Belichick's successor as early as 2019, really part with his head coach after just one season? While Breer clarified this was his opinion and not a report, he believes New England might be tempted to consider replacing Mayo with coaching free agent Mike Vrabel this offseason.
“Again, I haven't heard this, but I think now all bets are off," Breer said. "Mike Vrabel is gonna be the hottest name in the market. You're gonna have one shot at him. You could bring in a whole new offensive system with him; maybe (ex-Patriots offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels comes with him."
Pulling the plug on Mayo would be a bold move and an admission from the Krafts that he wasn't the right hire. They'd need to be very sure that Mayo's replacement can succeed where the first-year head coach failed before risking further instability, especially with a franchise QB in Maye.
If the Krafts do take drastic measures, however, Breer believes Mayo's comments from Sunday would be in part to blame.
