Is Jerod Mayo coaching for his job? | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast - video Dailymotion

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Greg Bedard and Nick Cattles discuss the state of the Patriots on a day when news has broken and rumors continue to swirl. Greg elaborates on his earlier reports that Jerod Mayo's job could be in peril, they discuss KJ Osborn being waived, and whether Bill Belichick could actually end up being UNC's next head coach.   ************************************************ Patriots Content Brought to you by.... 💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS Download the app today and use Code CLNS at PrizePicks.com/CLNS & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!  🎫 Gametime - https://gametime.co Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!  Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com  Social Media!!!! 🏈 Patriots Twitter- https://twitter.com/patriotsclns 🏈 Patriots Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/patriotsclns/ 🔵 Facebook- https://facebook.com/clnsmedia 🔵 LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/clnsmedia/about/ 💟 Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@clnsmedia ********************************************************* 🏈 ABOUT PATRIOTS COVERAGE ON CLNS: 🏈  Welcome to the CLNS Media Network’s YouTube channel for New England Patriots 🏈 football.  CLNS Media is the leading online provider of audio/video coverage for the 6X Super Bowl Champions.  Get complete inside access to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and everywhere on the road. CLNS Patriots credentialed insiders Greg Bedard, Andrew Callahan, Tayler Kyles, John Zannis, Alex Barth and Mike Kadlick provide instantaneous news and analysis all in real time, as well as full access to complete videos from the players, coaches, ownership and everyone else inside Patriots Place.  If you enjoy CLNS’ Celtics 🍀 All Access and are craving more Boston sports content, you head over to CLNS’ Patriots 🏈 Press Pass at  🔴 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqX7G3pEDTseNxtoDU27PEg?sub_confirmations=1 🔴  __________________________________________________________________________ 🍀 For Celtics Content:  🔴  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmp3kivpOg3lzoJC7yV7VjQ?sub_confirmations=1 🔴 🔴 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmp3kivpOg3lzoJC7yV7VjQ?sub_confirmations=1 🔴 🏀 🍀 Celtics Twitter - https://twitter.com/CelticsCLNS 📸 🏀 Celtics Instagram - https://instagram.com/celticsCLNS 🔵 Twitter Main- - https://twitter.com/clnsmediaCLNS 📸 Main Instagram - https://instagram.com/clnsmedia ******************************************************* Check out over dozens of sports podcasts from CLNS Media here: https://clnsmedia.com/ OR for all 200 shows, go to https://northstationmedia.com

Transcript

00:00This is the Gregg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.

00:10So some of you might wonder what Gregg Bedard does during the bye week. Apparently the answer is

00:16write one of the longest stories in the history of Boston Sports Journal regarding Robert Kraft

00:23and Gerard Mayo and Mayo's past, present, and future and what it looks like. We're going to

00:30get into that story today, but first I remind you the PrizePix app. Use code CLNS, get 50 bucks

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00:42you play five. Also our friends at GameTime, don't forget about them. Download the GameTime app,

00:48create an account, use code CLNS for 20 bucks off your first purchase. All right, before we get into

00:55Gregg's ginormous story about Gerard Mayo, we have some other things to talk about. KJ Osborne,

01:02Gregg, just about 90 minutes ago or so was released. I have a couple of questions for

01:08you regarding this release. The first question is why now? Great question. I think it's because

01:16they're looking at the, excuse me, they're looking at the final four games of the season.

01:22Here they are. They know they're not going any place and you know they're not going to play him.

01:29He hasn't played in a while and they have two guys, Cole Strange probably first and then Caden

01:35Wallace second. We'll see whether he's up this week. They just opened up the 21-day window on

01:40him coming back. I would assume that he would be back more the following week because it's been a

01:45while since he's been in pads. Then again, they just threw Christian Barmore out there after not

01:52even having a padded practice. So would it be a shock to see Caden Wallace out there this week?

01:56No. They need the roster spots. Everything that we've seen recently, you know, with releases

02:06and things like that, whether it's like a guy like Michael Jordan, what have you, basically what

02:12they're doing is, are they part of our future plans or not? KJ Osborne was on a one-year deal.

02:18He's obviously not part of their future plans. So let's get a look at some kids who could be in

02:26our future plans. About those kids, I wanted to ask you, does this tell us that Jalen Polk and

02:33Javon Baker are going to play more in the final month? I'm not sold on that and I'll tell you why.

02:37KJ Osborne has been a healthy and active and Baker is still barely getting on the football

02:44field and Jalen Polk is a lot of times being used as a run blocker more than receiver.

02:50Should we anticipate more snaps from those two guys starting this weekend or slow the roll?

02:55The KJ Osborne move is more about like you just mentioned Wallace and Cole Strange.

03:01Yeah, I think when it comes to the individual games, Nick, I think they're going to still

03:06take the approach of what's the best personnel, what's the best path to win this game and I think

03:12that's going to depend on the week and their approach to each team that they take on. I don't

03:19think it would be a stretch to say that Kendrick Bourne, Booty and Douglas are probably still going

03:26to lead the way in terms of wide receiver snaps down the stretch and then Polk and Baker after

03:34that. So, you know, if I were the coaching staff of the Patriots, I would have used the bye week

03:43to say, okay, you know, Baker is Baker. We all know he's sort of in his own special category in

03:50terms of where he was entering the league and maturity issues and we've seen he's had issues

03:56on the field. They should have made the bye week a priority of like, all right, how do we get Jalen

04:03Polk going and I'm hopeful that we see that down the stretch. Final thing about KJ Osborne, of

04:09course, he was one of the free agents that Elliott Wolfe brought into town during the offseason and

04:16when you look at the free agents from that offseason, you've got Osborne. Obviously, we

04:21would say he was a fail, did nothing. Chooks a core four. I don't know if you agree with this,

04:27Greg. I feel differently about Chooks than a lot of other people and maybe it's just my own

04:31personal situation in life dealing with, you know, mental health and things like that. I know

04:36Phil Perry had said it was a mental health thing with Chooks and something was going on. So,

04:43I don't really hold that against Elliott because I don't know if you can predict that but, you know,

04:50you got the Chooks a core four. If you want to kill him for that, certainly you can kill him.

04:54Armand Watts was cut. He didn't work out. Nick Leverett, I think, is another contextual

05:00conversation to have because he's actually a guard. They pushed him to center because

05:06the Jake Andrews injury after the David Andrews injury, of course, you had Jake Andrews

05:10surprisingly get hurt before you got to camp and then David Andrews. So,

05:15Leverett was kind of thrown into a situation where he wasn't comfortable.

05:18I wonder if that would have worked out differently. Sione Takitaki has not worked out.

05:23Jacoby Brissett, I think, was worse than we expected. Antonio Gibson, I think, has been

05:28very good and deserves the football more. Jalen Hawkins started off pretty good but he's fallen

05:33off. Not really much of anything to write about with him. Austin Hooper, I think all of us would

05:38say was a good job by Wolfe and he has worked out. Overall, how do you feel about the free agency

05:44class? Not great. You know, when it comes to criticizing Elliott Wolfe and we'll get into

05:51that once the season's over and I've maintained all along like I need to see the full seventeen

05:56games. I mean, because you know, who knows who pops down the stretch. It's not unusual for,

06:03you know, when a new coaching regime takes over, you have especially on offense, you have an

06:09entirely new system and bunch of new coaches. It's not unusual at all for it to take time

06:18at least like half a season before things really start to gel for people and so, you know, I need

06:25to see the finished product. To me, this is the most disappointing aspect of Wolfe's tenure to

06:32this point, his one off season. The draft, I'm not gonna, I know a lot of people and I, Nick,

06:38I know we're of similar minds on this. I mean, people are losing their minds about the draft.

06:42Again, outside of the first round, I don't expect much from draft picks.

06:50You know, you would like them to grab some sort of role and you could say a guy like Polk hasn't

06:55but I still think the potential is there for this draft and I'm not judging them off of a half a

07:00season, three quarters of a season. I still think, well, obviously, May, I still think Polk is gonna

07:07be a good player. Leighton Robinson is a good player. I think Hayden Wallace is gonna be a

07:13serviceable, at least backup swing tackle in this league whenever he gets on the field.

07:19Consistently, Baker was a pick I wouldn't have made. A guy like Marcellus Dial, you know,

07:26good special teams type guy late in the draft, that's what you're hoping for. Joe Milton,

07:31I think has a lot of potential and could be a future lottery ticket for the Patriots down the

07:38line. So, I'm fine with the draft. I'm not overreacting to the draft but this, the free

07:44agency, Nick, I didn't mind their approach. I know a lot of people are up in arms. They should

07:50have spent more. They should have done X, Y, and Z. You know, I get all that but I didn't at the

07:56time and we, you know, with the benefit of hindsight, we can all be correct but, you know,

08:01after seeing what they did, I didn't mind it. I thought that it was very much like something like

08:08Belichick would have done, you know, going into 2001. After he came on in 2000, they won five

08:16games. You know, they went to free agency and, you know, they found a bunch of like role type

08:21players under the radar, cheaper, that sort of thing and I thought that's what the Patriots were

08:29doing. They were like, you know, they weren't sure about like say like Jonah Williams who hasn't

08:34played for the Cardinals as sort of the big quote unquote offensive tackle in this free agent class

08:40and they identified people and I didn't disagree with it like KJ Osborne has been a good productive

08:46number three wide receiver in this league. Chooksacore on film showed that he did have the

08:52potential to play left tackle in this league. Arman Watts was a defensive tackle who, you know,

09:00they just brought him in to be sort of like a third defensive tackle, help against the run type

09:06of guy. Didn't disagree with that. Takitaki's been a good linebacker in this league, has been with a

09:12lot of the coaches in Cleveland that came here. Bursette, I think he did about what they thought

09:19he was going to do. I mean, you know, maybe he was a little bit worse throwing the ball but then again,

09:25you know, look at the protection. It was the first month of a brand new scheme for a lot of people.

09:30Yeah, that's fair. He was sort of he was sort of a sacrificial lamb. I mean, remember he has

09:35delivered two of the Patriots victories so far. Like you said, Gibson, I think he's been really

09:41good. Hawkins, you know, that that was one of those under the radar type of things where they're

09:47like, alright, well, we think we identified a guy who can be better here than he has been before and

09:52Hooper, I think has been good. I just think that, you know, none of those guys, I mean that they're

09:58going to get to the end of the season and Osborne, Okorafor, Watts, and Leverett aren't going to be

10:04on the team anymore. It's it's just there's there's nothing else you can say is other than

10:11that's just a failure. It's it's a failure. Those guys needed to help this team. They're veterans.

10:17They're professional and that they're not even on this team anymore. Some of them like Leverett

10:22is circumstances. I think that when they signed him, they saw a guard deficit but then they got

10:28Leighton Robinson and Michael Jordan started off pretty good and so, you know, he got passed a

10:33little bit by some other people which they didn't foresee but they needed they need it that they

10:41didn't spend a lot of money on those guys. They really needed them to grab roles on this team and

10:46they just didn't and so to me, that's a fail from Elliot Wolfe. Alright, let's get to the latest

10:51with Bill Belichick in the University of North Cackalacka. A lot of stuff coming out the last

10:57few days. Uh as a matter of fact, 40 seconds ago, uh people are posting on Twitter that

11:03Belichick's girlfriend is now following UNC Chapel Hill, UNC football, UNC underscore FB

11:10Nutrition on Instagram. There's uh there's just so many things happening but let's give you uh

11:16the latest. The latest legitimate uh info here on this and this comes from Ollie Connelly from

11:22the Guardian. He's been all over this story and he posted about an hour ago. We're recording this on

11:27Tuesday afternoon uh before one before Greg has to go serve his penance with uh Felger and Mass

11:33for a couple of hours. So, look, Belichick might be North Carolina's head coach or be ruled out by

11:38the time this podcast comes out but here's where we are. Uh this is what Conley posted. Belichick

11:44has agreed to become the next UNC coach. So, there you go. Belichick wants to be the head coach. He

11:49has agreed to coach there. It's now in UNC's hands. Belichick handed the school a 400-page

11:56organizational bible with structure, payment, uh payment plans, staffing choices, uh etc. Decisions

12:03on whether to commit with UNC. He is expected to know their decision within 24 hours. So, Belichick

12:09has said yes. He's waiting for North Carolina to say yes or no within the next 24 hours. Again,

12:15this is about this was posted about 11 30 in the morning on Tuesday. Belichick's bible would

12:21require historic levels of investment from the school. Includes salary minimums position by

12:27position and a willingness to hire not one but two staffs. A coaching staff run by Belichick

12:34and a recruitment staff run by a sitting college GM. The sitting college GM Greg would require a

12:42buyout. Uh Belichick has a college and pro version of his updated manual and has shared it with

12:49other schools and NFL teams but he drafted a new one specific to UNC that touched on every aspect

12:56of the program and school. Uh will need to be signed off by the AD, chancellor, trustees, and

13:02boosters uh and Conley finishes by writing there's already been pushback from the group of 13

13:09trustees with input from wider wider faculty. The investment would overhaul the school's approach

13:15to football and here's what you've been waiting for. Belichick is unsure if the school will meet

13:21the demands and dot dot dot is unwilling to negotiate. No, you're telling me that bill is

13:28is throwing this bible on the desk and saying this is exactly what you need to do for me to be the

13:33head coach and if you wanna change one single word of this damn thing, I'm out. Um not surprising to

13:40read that. Overall, Greg, I just gave you the latest. Your thoughts on Belichick, North Carolina,

13:45and what the hell is going on? Yeah, I I I know this is a, you know, I understand that this would

13:51be a popular talk radio subject around here but you know, to what I do covering the Patriots,

13:59it doesn't really register with me. Um you know, so, I haven't been following this very closely.

14:05Um my number one reaction, I don't know if you can guess what it is uh especially hearing about

14:11the Belichick's dossier is um can we see Gerard Mayo's um plan? How many pages was Gerard Mayo's

14:20plan when he took over um the Patriots? It was more of a pamphlet. Uh but to me, this is all about

14:30I think Belichick has certainly tested the waters in terms of NFL jobs and I think that he feels

14:39that there won't be a chair there for him when the music stops and so he really wants to get

14:45back in the coaching. Um I don't know what his staff is going to look like. Like, I mean, I guess

14:52we could figure like a guy like Matt Patricia will probably go with him. I don't see, I don't see

14:57Josh McDaniels um going with him. I don't know. Hold on. Hold on. Let's have some fun, okay? Let's

15:03do this quickly. Okay. Defensive coordinator. If Bill gets the job, is it Patricia? Yes. Offensive

15:12coordinator. Could be Ben McDaniels, Josh's brother. Oh. Oh, brother Ben. Hello, brother Ben.

15:21Um this one's fun to me because there could be a lot of answers for this. Who's the GM with the

15:27buyout? I'm just guessing. I have no information on this but I could see, could you see a Joe

15:36Judge there considering he's been in the college game for the past year and has been through the

15:40college game. Um he just got retained by Ole Miss but you know, could he jump to be Bill's GM?

15:48I could see that. How about Patricia GM, Stephen Belichick, defensive coordinator,

15:53ready to take over for dad when Bill Belichick says goodbye? Yeah, I'll be interested to see

15:58if that's part of anything. I would be surprised if North Carolina agrees to that but I guess you

16:03can't, you can't rule it out and and then again, Steve could really like the Pacific Northwest. I

16:09mean, I know when I've been up there, I've loved it. University of Washington is an awesome campus,

16:14an awesome place. Um I wonder if he just stays put where he is. Maybe it could be, could it be

16:20Brian Belichick? Could Brian say, I've had enough Gerard Mayo after 1 year and jumping over with

16:26dad. Then again, I think he's, I think he's here because of family obligations in terms of I think

16:32his wife is from here and and look, this is, this is basically the only place he, he and they have

16:38ever known. So, I understand. Um I certainly understand choosing family over uh a specific

16:44job and being able to have roots. Couple things. Number one, uh Belichick would look at Patricia

16:52and say, he's gotta be the GM because as we know and with Belichick's revisionist history,

16:57it was Matt Patricia who built the entire Detroit Lions offensive line. Um also, you could look at

17:03uh the the Bill Belichick, Steve Belichick succession plan. Bill could say, hey, I learned

17:10something from Robert Kraft. He had that in the contract for Mayo. Let's do the same thing for my

17:15son. So, let's do that for Stephen. How about those ideas? Alright, speaking of Mayo, we've

17:22gotta get to Greg's ginormous story. We've gotta get to the sit down Mayo had with Tom Kern but

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18:53Alright, before we get to, and I'm not blowing smoke up my man's skirt here, but

18:58before we get to Greg's Gerard Mayo story, which I thought was tremendous. It's long.

19:04So, if you want to sit down. I didn't even realize it was long and you said it like. It felt long.

19:09I guess. Maybe it's. It felt long. It felt a little long to me. I wrote it in like three

19:13different installments. I wrote it like before the weekend, during the weekend,

19:18and then after the weekend. Like that's the type of story that, you know, you accumulate

19:24certain nuggets over the course of time. You figure out when is it time.

19:28Bi-week heading out of the bi-week. I thought it was time.

19:31That's what I said to Kelly. I said to Kelly this morning. If anybody was wondering

19:37what Greg does during the bi-week, it is putting together this story.

19:42But I say that because it could be a long read for some people,

19:48but it's well worth it. Trust me. You want to read this in its entirety. I tweeted out

19:52one of the more revealing lines within the story, but I also followed up that tweet by saying,

19:59I urge everyone to read the entire story because a lot of people were sending me questions on

20:03Twitter that Greg answers within the body of the story. So check it all out. But before we get to

20:09that piece by Greg, Tom Curren sat down with Mayo last week. And Tom, of course, does a great job

20:16with his podcast. And he was sitting down with Mayo for an exclusive. And just two things out

20:21of that interview, Greg, I want to ask you about. Gerard mentioned this, you know, year two bump.

20:26And this is something that he has kept going back to that, you know, I'm going to learn from this

20:30year. And during the off season, I'm going to look back and see what I did wrong. And things are

20:36going to be good and we're going to be all set. Your thoughts on a year two bump with Gerard Mayo.

20:42I mean, I don't disregard that possibly happening to me. I hate that just line of thinking or at

20:51least speaking it out loud during a season. And I think we've talked about this before because

20:56this is not the first time he's done it. I mean, I think he did it around the midpoint of the season

21:01as well. And, you know, I just put my I just put myself in the place of the players,

21:06especially say guys who are going into free agency, stuff like that. And you're like

21:12year two. Like, what about this year? What about this week? Like, why are you already thinking

21:18about year two? How about you just worry about the game in front of you? Take a page out of

21:23Bill Belichick's handbook where he's just worried about think about next year, next year. It's all

21:29about the next game. I think that to me as a coach, you are doing a disservice to your players

21:36who are going out there and risking injury and their future every week. If you're even speaking

21:43or thinking about next year. Yeah. Worry about getting better in the month. There's no reason

21:49why you can't get better game to game. That's how we judge players. I mean, if Jalen Polk

21:54stunk for half the season, but all of a sudden or say he stunk up to now, but all of a sudden Jalen

22:00Polk is putting in the work. He's like, I'm going to be better. And then in the final four games,

22:04all of a sudden he catches, I don't know, 15 passes, like three touchdowns over the final

22:09four weeks, 15, 20 passes or whatever. You're like, OK, you know, now we got something like

22:15I'm not just waiting for Jalen Polk to hit it next year. I'm waiting for him now to do something.

22:21So it's just. I don't know, I don't know if it's just me the way I'm made, but like him talking

22:27about next year and talking himself up and how he's going to be better in the offseason for next

22:33year does not sit well with me. I take it as he doesn't have a lot to point to as far as what's

22:40happened so far this year and what's going on presently. So I kind of go back to the political

22:46world. Nobody get triggered about this, OK? Cupcakes, let's not get triggered because people

22:53might, you know. Politicians do one of two things when they're running for office, and I think we

23:01saw that in this last presidential election and we've seen it in a lot of presidential elections

23:06and we've seen it in a lot of elections all over the country forever. You sell one of two things,

23:11Greg. You either sell people on hope. Or you sell people on fear, right? This idea of things

23:19are going to get worse. Things aren't going to get better. Things are terrible right now. You

23:23should fear the future if you don't vote for me. Or I have the vision of what this can be and we

23:31can all come together and hold hands and have marshmallow s'mores and enjoy the world. You

23:38either sell hope or fear. And I think Gerard Mayo, because of what's played out this year,

23:43he's selling hope. Hey, look, I'm going to get better. I'm going to sit down during the off

23:48season. I'm going to look back at my mistakes and I am going to correct those mistakes and

23:54everything's going to be great. Vote for Gerard Mayo 2025. That's kind of how I feel why he's

24:01doing this and why he's saying this kind of stuff. It's an excellent point. I'm probably going to

24:10steal some of it for Felger and Maz today. Just give me credit, Greg. Give me credit.

24:15I'm going to twist it a little because then I can take credit for it if I twist it a little.

24:20What's the old saying? Either you run on your record or you run on hope. And Gerard Mayo has

24:27no record to run on. When you talk about why people should believe in him, how have you proven

24:35that you're a capable head coach for this organization? He has nothing to run on, which is

24:41what we'll really be talking about when we talk about my story. And so he's talking about a future

24:49where he's much better. And sorry, I don't believe in those things. I don't believe in

24:58hope. And we've said this before. And we've said this in relation to the Patriots and some of

25:03Gerard Mayo's plans for this year. Hope is not a plan. Hope is a dream. Hope is a fantasy to me.

25:10I like to deal with reality. And what I like to see is a first year head coach. We've talked about

25:15it all year. I want to see a first year head coach show improvement. I'm not even talking

25:19wins and losses. Show me that you're getting better. For example, the Carolina Panthers

25:25and Dave Canales, who for half the season, they looked like the worst team in the league.

25:30They were a joke. They were going, benching Bryce Young, Andy Dalton, Bryce Young's back in.

25:36Those guys, they've won two of their last five games. The other three against the Chiefs,

25:43the Eagles, and I want to say the Bucks, all close games. How Gerard Mayo said,

25:49we want to be the team that teams don't want to face, that we want to be a pain in the ass

25:55to those teams. That's the Panthers. It ain't the Patriots. And so Gerard Mayo really doesn't

26:00have any record to run on. So he has to run on hope. One more thing. We got to do this quickly

26:06because I want to get to your story about Mayo. Mayo also mentioned these ownership debriefings

26:12with Curran. What was your reaction to that? Didn't surprise me. And to me, it explained

26:20that weird press conference after the Titans game where Gerard Mayo came out.

26:25And I think it was the second sentence. He talked about the decision to go for two and how some

26:30people might disagree where it wasn't even on my radar in the moment. I just thought, I mean,

26:39I was just amazed with what Drake May did going down the field, pulling that play out of his rear

26:43end. I didn't even mind. I meant more, I was more worried about, you know, over the overtime pick

26:50and then the decision to go for two. But at the time I said, I wonder if the crafts asked

26:57Gerard Mayo why he didn't go for two. And to me, that sort of answers the question.

27:03All right. We're going to get into Greg's magnum opus on Gerard Mayo. But before we get to that,

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27:27panoramic view from your seat in the app before you buy, which is a must for me.

27:32I was just looking it up. The Chargers game. First of all, you can get in, I think all in

27:38anywhere for about 52 bucks. I saw a deal. You could sit in the lower bowl. There were great

27:44seats sort of right in front of the red seats. You can sit in the lower bowl for 163 all in.

27:50If you want to get a look at Drake May and also Justin Herbert. I just used game time to get

27:57concert tickets for my wife and I during the buy week. She's still talking about it. We had a great

28:02time. Thanks to game time. Download the game time app, create an account, use code CLNS for $20

28:07off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code CLNS for $20

28:12off. Download game time today. What time is it? Game time. All right. How I'm going to handle this

28:20is hopefully the right way to handle this because there is a lot in this story.

28:26So I want to read through some of the story, most of the story, and I'm just going to get your

28:30reaction, Greg. You can stop me when you want to stop me or I'll stop myself and ask you a question.

28:35Again, I urge people to read the entire story. Greg writes about Gerard Mayo. The Crafts expected

28:41a little bit of a bump this season. You mentioned, you know, that most people inside the building

28:47agreed that there would be a bit of a bump thinking that the Patriots, hey, you stay the same on

28:52defense, better quarterback, turnover differential better, Joey Sly, Mayo getting the players to buy

29:01into his vision and the better environment. And so the thought was the Patriots would take a step

29:07forward this year. Obviously, to this point, that has not happened. Greg writes, the chances are

29:11likely that Mayo returns, but there are organizational sources who believe he needs

29:17to keep the team competitive in the final four games. Greg, what is your definition of competitive?

29:24Uh, you know, I think they, I think I would say, um, a majority, I think they just need to play

29:32tough. I mean, it's hard for me to put a definition on it. I mean, they definitely need to be competitive

29:36with the Cardinals. I'm not saying they, I'm not saying they need to win any of the four games,

29:40but if they can, you know, go down to the wire with the Cardinals, um, you know, do, do well

29:49against the bills on the road, get into the fourth quarter. Remember Belichick and Mack Jones beat

29:55the bills, um, last season, the chargers at home, you know, just make it a game. And I don't think

30:03that's a chargers team. That's going to run away from anybody. They're offensively challenged.

30:07I don't see why that should be an issue. And then the bills, we don't know what they're playing for

30:12in the last week of the season. I just think they, they need to come out of the buy. They've gotten

30:17to reset rest up. Um, they just need to be, they need to, they need to look like a competent unit

30:23and be competitive back to Greg story. According to multiple sources, if craft comes to the

30:29realization, and this is the line that I ganked and posted on Twitter, uh, according to multiple

30:34sources, if craft comes to the realization, he made the wrong choice with Mayo. He would not,

30:39I stress would not hesitate to rectify the situation. So Greg, the thoughts that, Hey man,

30:46craft put Mayo there. Owners don't like to be wrong. If, if he fires mail after year one,

30:52it's egg on crash face. You say fans should not necessarily be too concerned about that.

30:59Yes. Uh, however, um, I think that I don't think it's tough for us to realize that Robert is, um,

31:09sentimental, um, to say the least when it comes to certain, certain things. I know,

31:15um, this is something that I've heard for multiple months that Robert,

31:20that Robert, if, if he deems this to be a mistake and I don't know whether it's risen

31:29to that level at this point, I don't think it has. Um, but again, this is why the final four

31:37games are important. I mean, if they go out losing, I think it would be, would it be six

31:41in a row? No, it would be seven in a row that they would lose. Yeah. They lost six in a row

31:46early on in the season. This would be seven straight games to finish the season. Um,

31:51three and 14 worst records since Dick McPherson in 1992 point down for their point differential

31:57could be along those same lines. It could be worse than last year. Uh, if this final four games go

32:04poorly. Um, I know, I know people believe that that's the case that Robert would not hesitate

32:14in, in actuality, would he actually pull the plug? I think that's where, and I understand,

32:21um, there are people who have a hard time seeing that and quite frankly, so do I, but that's why

32:28a lot of it depends on how these final four games. I mean, if, if they're getting blown,

32:32if they get their doors blown off in the final four weeks and they've lost seven straight to

32:36finish the year, it could get into that territory. I don't think it's close to that right now,

32:42but it could get there. One of the questions I got on Twitter was like, why now? It took them

32:46this long to figure this out. Like now they're now they're worried about Mayo. Not necessarily.

32:52Greg writes about this in his story. He says, doubt about Mayo's staying power did not just

32:58come on in the past few weeks during the off season. Ownership had some concerns that Mayo

33:04was in over his head and not focused on the right things to build a football program.

33:11Add to that, Greg. Yeah, I think that you're talking about an ownership group that inherited

33:16bill Parcells that, that hired, um, Pete Carroll, that hired bill Belichick. These are guys who

33:22were all former head coaches, um, before they were coaches here, they were, they had a history

33:28of being successful coordinators in the NFL and they all three, even though you could, you could

33:34argue with, you know, Carol, how successful he was here, but there's no question that they,

33:39they had a vision and they knew what they wanted. And they also had football acumen in terms of,

33:45um, you know, being able to get the team in the best position to win each week. And I think that

33:52aspect for Mayo has been underwhelming to the crafts. I mean, just put, put yourself in their

33:57shoes. You know, those three coaches, they're all going to the pro football hall of fame.

34:02So they know what it looks like. They know how they've operated. They know how they got to,

34:06you know, be successful Parcells and Belichick. We know about Pete Carroll. He was around 500

34:11in his three years here. Um, you could understand that if Gerard Mayo didn't come with the,

34:17um, the forethought, the, the vision of his football program, that it wouldn't take the

34:24crafts long to be like, wait a minute, this is, this is not like we've seen before. And I don't

34:32know if this is going to be successful for us.

34:37More on the idea of the crafts being alarmed. Uh, Greg, you said it really started to kick in

34:42when the team started at one and six. And then you, you explain that, you know, I think you

34:48touched on this a little bit in a prior podcast, but this idea that the craft started to kind of

34:55dig in to what went wrong last year in the building and what was Mayo's role within the

35:02fracture of that program. And certainly you can add more detail to that. But my question is,

35:11why did that not happen before officially naming Gerard Mayo, the head coach of the

35:18new England Patriots? Yeah, I think they were more preoccupied with the end game with bill.

35:25Um, and that's, to me, it's understandable, but I mean, cause we're talking about just, uh, uh,

35:32almost an other worldly presence in terms of bill and success and, you know, how he's going to be

35:37the greatest coach of all time. And like, I think they were more, I think they were more preoccupied

35:41with, uh, the elegant solution at the end and parting ways with bill and maybe even a little

35:49bit, uh, you know, of, you know, can, can this be repaired? Can they get the train on the tracks

35:55if they do X, Y, and Z. And so I didn't, I don't think they really delved into what was going on

36:02inside the building. And I do think those com those communications, you know, I'm not going

36:07to call them calls. I'm not going to call them meetings. I'm going to just say communications,

36:11which Mike Giardi also had really good reporting on BSJ the day before to talk about like that.

36:19Jonathan there, there are NFL people that believe Jonathan was at the heart of a lot of these

36:25communications, uh, as far as, you know, the direction of the team. And it not only included,

36:34you know, it was reported at the time by Bert that they were, they were having communications

36:39about how the, how's the best way to support a young quarterback. That wasn't just what the

36:44communications was about. It was about, yes, it was about may, but it was also about Mayo.

36:50It was also about doing a little bit of a background on Mayo because I think they had

36:56heard some rumblings about, you know, his role on the coaching staff in the previous year or two.

37:03Right. Um, you know, how do they, can Mayo be, they were doing some research on can Mayo be

37:10successful? Can, how can they help him? Which I think would be their preference will be their

37:16preference going forward is to retain Mayo. And how do they, how do they better support him

37:23that they failed him a little bit in that regard. And so, uh, those, those communications were all

37:28encompassing. It wasn't just about Drake. You then mentioned Greg that, you know,

37:34the situation, the Patriots are currently in, you've got Drake may, uh, a top three pick,

37:39hopefully, uh, certainly it looks like a top five pick fingers crossed a bunch of cap space,

37:45the new football ops building that that is going to become, uh, you know, an actual thing that

37:51exists by 2026. You think that the new England job, if the crafts actually made the move and

37:57said goodbye to Mayo, that this Patriots gig would be according to you by far the most attractive job

38:03out there, which, which leads us to, you know, if you move on from Mayo, what would you do?

38:09And I think a lot of people are thinking of the same guy. It's a guy that you bring up and that's

38:14Mike Vrabel. Yeah. I, um, you know, I, I think that especially Jonathan, um, thinks a lot about,

38:22and I think you can probably pull quotes. I remember him commenting on Vrabel as a head

38:27coach. I don't know if it was around the hall of fame thing or whatnot. Um, but you know, we,

38:34everyone knows Mike Vrabel is an excellent coach. He's an excellent tactician. Uh, you can certainly

38:40quibble with, uh, if you want to put the personnel choices in Tennessee on him, even though, you know,

38:46whether it was Robinson or the guy that's there now, um, ran Carthon, um, they were in charge

38:52of personnel and, you know, also his offensive approach and, you know, that's, that's fine.

38:58But I think that if, if there wasn't a Mike, because you know, we all know that Vrabel was

39:05available at this time last year. And you're just like, how do you not talk to him? How do you just

39:09promote Gerard Mayo? And okay. They, they wanted to honor their word to Gerard Mayo.

39:15And they probably figured at that point in time, well, we lost our opportunity from Vrabel and

39:20we'll have to see if it bites us in the butt. And then all of a sudden he's still out there

39:24and he's available again in year two. And you're staring at it and you're saying like, I mean,

39:29you really have to answer the question. Like, do you think Gerard Mayo is going to be a good coach?

39:35Do you think good? Do you think coaches develop over time and become good coaches? Because if

39:42there's any doubt about that, if there's a lot of doubt about that, Mike Vrabel is plug and play.

39:47And he understands the environment. He understands the crafts. He understands all that. And I just,

39:53and plus the specter of, he could land with the New York Jets and he could be there twice a year

40:00for how long and, you know, rub, rub his butt in your face every time he plays the Jets. I mean,

40:08I do think that complicates the situation. And again, I do think, and this is the premise of

40:13the whole article, you know, Mayo needs to meet, needs to have us not as strong. He needs to have

40:20a good solid close to the season. Read the piece. It's great work by Greg. There's just a lot of

40:28stuff in there. Uh, the one thing about Vrabel I'll say before we move on quickly is that, you

40:33know, the, the one question about Vrabel is personnel, you know, does he want a say in

40:39personnel? How heavy handed does he want that say to be? What do you do with the front office?

40:44You know, is, is Elliot Wolf still here or do you clean house? And does Vrabel choose the GM

40:51that he wants to work with? And if that's the case, then the power structure is already off

40:55from the very beginning because now Vrabel has more power than the GM. Is that what you want?

41:01There are some legitimate questions if Vrabel, uh, is the guy they look at if they make the move

41:06and get rid of Mayo again, read the full piece. It's great work. All right. Before we say goodbye

41:11quickly, I want to tell all of you, uh, that Boston sports channel has a holiday special going

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41:44You can get 20 bucks off your first purchase by using that code CLNS. All right, Greg, before you

41:48say goodbye to us, the visit Felger and Maz, three things you like, three things you dislike for the

41:53season up until now. Yeah. Why don't we put that off till later in the week? Cause I got to tell

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43:49today. I love Niterno, but we can't end on a read. So can we at least give one thing we like

43:54and one thing we dislike, Greg, from you? Yeah, so far this season, obviously Drake May,

44:00Keon White. I know people have been complaining about him, about he hasn't been out there. I think

44:07he's been serving a role. He's still got the most pressure on the team in the last game. I've just

44:12been fine with Keon White this year. Christian Gonzalez, I think, has been really good. Things

44:18that I'm disappointed about, the payoff in free agency, which we talked about, which was nil.

44:26That's a huge disappointment for me. I figured Elliot Wolfe and those guys in the front office,

44:31they're veterans, as opposed to a lot of people on the staff. They've been through it before,

44:36they were ready for their jobs. And that's been a disappointment for me, certainly.

44:42I think that, what else? I had a couple of other things.

44:50Covington? I mean, yeah, you could say Demarcus Covington, but I think my bigger disappointment,

44:58which was what I was going to mention, it's related to this, is Gerard Mayo. I just don't

45:02think he's been very good. And the biggest indictment to me is the defense on the huge

45:08regression. And you could talk about last season, maybe they're overrated. That's why I like to look

45:13at DVOA, because it takes a lot of things into account that raw stats don't. And the Patriots

45:19had a ton of injuries last year, including in their secondary. And they still found a way to

45:24get it done. And that Mayo hasn't taken ownership of that, and at some point tried to make that

45:31group better, to be like, look, dude, I'm a defensive head coach. My defense needs to be

45:36better. To me, it has been a problem. And I also go with, of late, Romandre Stevenson.

45:46We've talked about it before. In the last three games, he just hasn't been the same player. I

45:50don't know what's up with him. In the first eight games that he played, he was really good,

45:55graded out really well for me. In the last three, it's been really bad. I don't know if he's hurt

45:59or just lacks confidence, but they need to figure out the way to get the big bowling ball going.

Is Jerod Mayo coaching for his job? | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast

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