Belichick remarks on Mayo's "soft" comments on Pat McAfee Show - "They're not soft"

[n1997y]

Mayo doesn't call plays, he's not an Xs and Os guy, he probably doesn't have much hand in the gameplan. All he has is how he "leads" the players. If he can't get through to them, then what is his role?

He could try hands-on coaching, like a real SB winning coach not an Optum intern?

 

[Dec54]

Bill doing Mayo no favors with that commentary, not that he owes him or anything.

I feel for Mayo, but you should not call out your players in public, if it needs to be said then you do it behind closed doors. BB should keep his mouth shut too, just take a look back Bill and see the mess you left us in.

 

[203Pat]

I think the only variable this year vs last is Coaching. Basically same personnel as last year …..last year one of top defenses….this year one of the WORST. I think it is becoming very likely that Stevie B was calling the D primarily with Bill….and Mayo may have been just coaching LB or something. Mayo just doesn’t seem ready and AVP and other coaches have been awful…..and they’ve lost control of their team and Mayo is allowing players to say whatever they want to media and post whatever they feel like on social media without repercussions……totally different culture, bad practice, and it will be a disaster!!!!!

I definitely think the defensive drop-off was Bill and Steve leaving. Who knows if Steve was any good in his role but I would guarantee he had his dad, who just so happens to be one of the greatest defensive minds in history, with him every week to prepare. Lombardi, aka Bill's mouthpiece, said that Mayo used to show up to coaches meetings late because he was meeting with Kraft. Maybe that happened once or maybe it happened all the time but considering Bill told Lombardi about it then it lends credence to the fact that everyone knew Mayo was the successor to Bill.

I don't blame Bill for being pissed off that after everything he did for the organization he was expected to train his replacement if he didn't agree on the timeline for him leaving. With all that being said I wouldn't be surprised if Mayo spent the last year or two getting the cold shoulder from Bill and frozen out of a lot of defensive game planning with Steve getting all of Bill's help and insight. That now leaves us with Mayo, who potentially wasn't all that involved in the defense and was never even a play caller, as our head coach. My main worry is the fact that Mayo was billed as a character and culture guy but it is pretty clear there are some issues in that area already so what is Mayo bringing to the table if the one thing Kraft sold us on isn't working?

 

[Clonamery]

I feel for Mayo, but you should not call out your players in public, if it needs to be said then you do it behind closed doors. BB should keep his mouth shut too, just take a look back Bill and see the mess you left us in.

He mentioned the weak offense when he described how tough the defense was against the run last year. Are you only hearing what you want to hear?

 

[203Pat]

Bill doubling down lol. Basically said "We were good on run defense last year. They aren't this year and it is the same players" Bill smells blood in the water.

 

[Dec54]

He mentioned the weak offense when he described how tough the defense was against the run last year. Are you only hearing what you want to hear?

About as much as you do I suppose

 

[NashuaPats]

Bill doubling down lol. Basically said "We were good on run defense last year. They aren't this year and it is the same players" Bill smells blood in the water.

Belichick is definitely having fun at taking shots at the Patriots coaching. It would bother me except that Mayo and particularly Kraft did it to him first. I also suspect Mayo was undermining him last year while gunning for his job.


Brady looks rough there. It looks like he had fat removed from his cheeks which is apparently a thing now. Although, it’s usually women like the Kardashians who do it.

 

[signbabybrady]

I feel for Mayo, but you should not call out your players in public, if it needs to be said then you do it behind closed doors. BB should keep his mouth shut too, just take a look back Bill and see the mess you left us in.

Ok so everyone can say he created the mess but the moment he starts to defend his guys he has to shut up. Got it.

 

[Clonamery]

Ok so everyone can say he created the mess but the moment he starts to defend his guys he has to shut up. Got it.

Thing is, what BB said will likely help Mayo if the team is in a "let's show him" mood. Plus, they're playing the Jets.

 

[signbabybrady]

Belichick is definitely having fun at taking shots at the Patriots coaching. It would bother me except that Mayo and particularly Kraft did it to him first. I also suspect Mayo was undermining him last year while gunning for his job.


Brady looks rough there. It looks like he had fat removed from his cheeks which is apparently a thing now. Although, it’s usually women like the Kardashians who do it.

Mayo backstabbed him for this job.

Kraft fired him just 5 seasons after he won a SB and 2 of those 5 years we were a playoff team.

They both should feel lucky that thus far Bill has held back.

 

[203Pat]

Mayo backstabbed him for this job.

Kraft fired him just 5 seasons after he won a SB and 2 of those 5 years we were a playoff team.

They both should feel lucky that thus far Bill has held back.

Coaches don't get 5 years with no playoff wins. It doesn't, and shouldn't work that way.

 

[signbabybrady]

Thing is, what BB said will likely help Mayo if the team is in a "let's show him" mood. Plus, they're playing the Jets.

BBs comments will probably help BB recruit a bunch of these guys next year when he's working again.

Not sure about your logic though. These guys are going to work extra hard this week to prove BB wrong? He's the one defending them Mayo threw them under the bus. Hopefully they take some personal pride and man up this week and the rest of the season but I don't think let's prove BB wrong will have anything at all to do with it.

 

[signbabybrady]

Coaches don't get 5 years with no playoff wins. It doesn't, and shouldn't work that way.

I think at least a year for every SB ring they win seems fair.

In the past 6 seasons how many coaches have more playoff wins and appearances than Bill? Obviously Reid, Shanahan, and McVay but can't be that many more.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Bill doubling down lol. Basically said "We were good on run defense last year. They aren't this year and it is the same players" Bill smells blood in the water.

BB is 1/2 right.

Losing Barmore, Guy, Bentley and Peppers is significant.

Even freaking Myles Bryant had 65 solo tackles last year which 7 were behind the LoS.

So while BB can argue the team is not "soft" and disagree with a HC calling out the team publicly is not helpful, he is disingenuous to say they are the same run defense as 2023.

 

[Tunescribe]

Mayo doesn't call plays, he's not an Xs and Os guy, he probably doesn't have much hand in the gameplan. All he has is how he "leads" the players. If he can't get through to them, then what is his role?

Team spokesman to the media.

 

[Clonamery]

BBs comments will probably help BB recruit a bunch of these guys next year when he's working again.

Not sure about your logic though. These guys are going to work extra hard this week to prove BB wrong? He's the one defending them Mayo threw them under the bus. Hopefully they take some personal pride and man up this week and the rest of the season but I don't think let's prove BB wrong will have anything at all to do with it.

Work hard to prove Mayo wrong. BB's words will only reinforce how they feel about themselves already. Same ending.

 

[signbabybrady]

BB is 1/2 right.

Losing Barmore, Guy, Bentley and Peppers is significant.

Even freaking Myles Bryant had 65 solo tackles last year which 7 were behind the LoS.

So while BB can argue the team is not "soft" and disagree with a HC calling out the team publicly is not helpful, he is disingenuous to say they are the same run defense as 2023.

He acknowledged that there are some injuries but he also pointed out that there were players hurt last year too. I suppose he could have gone into more depth about who and where those injured players play. But guess what journalists are lazy and have a small window to make their point details get lost.

There is an easy way to avoid all that though and it's simple don't give the media things to talk about and it can't get thrown back at you like this.

 

[signbabybrady]

Mayo doesn't call plays, he's not an Xs and Os guy, he probably doesn't have much hand in the gameplan. All he has is how he "leads" the players. If he can't get through to them, then what is his role?

It's a really good question. And to take it step further what has done well in his role?

 

[PWRxWLF]

I feel like you can’t really be a “players coach” who also ****-talks his players in the media to try to motivate them. Those two things don’t go together.

Obviously he wasn’t doing that in the offseason or early in the year when things hadn’t gone badly yet, so I have to imagine that since he’s doing it lately (and more often/more seriously the past couple weeks) it must feel like a betrayal in some ways. The guy who was being your buddy over the summer is now saying you’re a soft POS at the podium.

To be fair, according to Maye, he talked **** to their faces first. That removes some of the sting imo. He still shouldnt of done it. Look, the dude needs to learn that honesty isn’t always the best bet when talkin to the media. We dont need to know what you said to the players all the time.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Coaches don't get 5 years with no playoff wins. It doesn't, and shouldn't work that way.

John Harbaugh had 0 playoff wins for 5 years, 1 in 7 years after winning the SB, and 3 in the last 11 years.

Mike Tomlin has gone 7 seasons without a playoff win.

Seems some very successful franchises this century have a different idea as to how things should work. Not saying Belichick shouldn’t have been let go, but I am saying no playoff wins shouldn’t have been the reason. Poor roster talent and poor coaching staff decisions, all of which he was responding for, leading to poor performance should have been the reason.