Ted Johnson reacts to Drake Maye and Hunter Henry, among others, defending the Patriots coaching staff during their postgame press conferences and explains why that’s a good sign for this team moving forward.
The more the New England Patriots lose, the more media members and fans wonder whether Jerod Mayo will remain keep his job past the 2024 season.
But as speculation heats up about Mayo's job security, Patriots players have delivered a consistent message about their head coach.
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye delivered the loudest message after Sunday's 24-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills, calling reports that Mayo's job may not be safe after this season "some B.S." and giving a strong vote of confidence for both Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt.
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Former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer was particularly impressed with Maye's ability to take accountability for his own play while supporting his coaches.
"The New England Patriots organization is lucky to have a young man who is as talented as he is," Hoyer said on NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Postgame Live. "He goes up there and takes the ownership and puts his own reputation on the line for the coach that everybody is trying to get out of here."
Mayo and Van Pelt also received a vote of confidence from tight end Hunter Henry, who said he "loves" playing for the head coach and OC. And from Hoyer's perspective, the number of veterans who have publicly praised their coaches this season carry much more weight than any criticism in the media.
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"You've got Davon Godchaux, Christian Barmore, Jabrill Peppers, Michael Onwenu -- guys that I've been in the locker room with that I have a lot of respect for -- they're saying it's not the coaches," Hoyer said. "(They) feel like, 'Whatever (the coaches) call and we execute it and we're on the same page, we will do it.'
"So, I think you have to listen. We can sit here and speculate all we want. But listen to the players who know. ... Listen to these guys who are veteran players who've been coached by Bill Belichick, been in the playoffs, all of those things. Listen to what they have to say when they take the accountability."
But are players just paying lip service to Mayo and their coordinators to avoid controversy? Do they feel differently about their coaches behind the scenes, especially given the team's 3-12 record and the nature of some of their losses?
Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, who won three Super Bowls in New England but also played on some bad Patriots teams in the 1990s, insists we should take players for their word.
"If you really want to know if you've lost the team, you'll hear it in the players' voices," Johnson said on Patriots Postgame Live. "Brian and I looked over each other at the exact same time when Drake Maye (essentially) said, 'It's AVP? Please, that's B.S. It's on me for turning the ball over.' I mean, for him to do that, he didn't even think about it. It was just such a natural thing for him to say.
"... Hunter Henry in his postgame interview, he absolutely said, 'I love playing with Jerod. I love playing with AVP.' Players don't say that if they (don't) mean it. If players aren't happy with the coach, (if) they want him out of here, they're not going to throw flowers like these guys are in this postgame for Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt."
Comments in postgame press conferences shouldn't dictate decisions, and it's still possible that ownership makes significant changes after another lost season. But how the organization feels about its coaches internally should outweigh any outside criticism levied against them.
