Just Another Monday: Jerod Mayo Walks Back Headline-Grabbing Comments

Lather, rinse and repeat.

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo unsurprisingly tried to walk back his headline-grabbing comment about 12 hours after he made the initial remarks. Mayo essentially called out offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt for a specific play-calling decision in New England’s 30-17 loss.

“You said it. I didn’t,” Mayo responded to a question from a reporter after the game.

Speaking to reporters on a video conference Monday morning, Mayo backtracked and said he didn’t mean anything by the comment.

“I know there’s a lot of chatter about the question last night, ‘You said that.’ I didn’t mean anything by that,” Mayo said. “It was more of a defensive response, and ultimately, and I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question, because ultimately all of those decisions are mine. So just wanted to get that out there.”

A defensive response?

“Yeah, it was just more — I didn’t mean anything by it. I just was like, ‘You said it’ because I didn’t want to go down that whole rabbit hole of trying to explain all those things. And like I just said, I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question, saying that all of those critical situations follow me.”

Mayo’s initial comment came after he was asked about the decision not to try a quarterback sneak with Drake Maye on third-and-1 or fourth-in-1 in the red zone. The call came from Van Pelt, but Mayo confirmed he does have the power to override Van Pelt’s call should he want something else. He didn’t do so in the moment and the Patriots failed to gain one yard on either of the two carries.

Shortly after meeting with reporters, Mayo told WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” he spoke to Van Pelt after the game. Mayo said Van Pelt was unaware what he was even referencing.

“I back Alex 100%,” Mayo told WEEI.

It’s the latest example of Mayo’s postgame messaging getting him into trouble. And given how the first 15 weeks have played out, it’s fair to think it won’t be the last.