Reading the Tea Leaves on Mayo and Wolf (Personal Speculation)

[mgcolby]

What are the tea leaves that suggest the Krafts are preparing to get rid of Mayo? When Bill was going, there were rumors everywhere that he would be fired, that Mayo would be coach and Wolf would be GM. There are no rumors this time. It’s just pundits saying Mayo should go. That’s not tea leaves, that’s just spilling the tea.

I listed the cliff notes version in the post. The reports from the national guys Breer, Rappaport, Reese and then the local guys Bedard, Curran, Perry etc... are not manufactured by them. These are coming from, IMO, the Krafts, well mostly. I think the some of the "people in the builiding" reports are from Mayo's camp. I interpret the reports that directly state "current" status of Mayo's job security to the Krafts.

The reports are out there. Here are three from a quick search.

Patriots insider speculates that Jerod Mayo is not ‘assured’ second season coaching team

Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal speculated on Tuesday that Jerod Mayo may not be 'assured' a second season with the Patriots.

www.boston.com

Patriots Rumors: Jerod Mayo Could Be Fired Depending on Results of Final 4 Games

Amid Jerod Mayo's first year as the New England Patriots head coach, some sources believe his future could be at stake over the final four games. Per Boston…

bleacherreport.com

Breer: Mayo's comments ‘felt like he was throwing Van Pelt under the bus'

Albert Breer reacts to Jerod Mayo's "You said it. I didn't" comment, saying he's never heard anything like that from a head coach in his 20 years of covering the league.Breer: Mayo's comments ‘felt like he was throwing Van Pelt under the bus' originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

sports.yahoo.com

 

[mgcolby]

Yeah this quote is so bad it hurts.

Top accomplishments in 2024:
1. Didn’t get fired midseason
2. Guys came to work and didn’t just stop showing up, well except for Chuks I guess lol
3. Uh anyway that’s all

Yet its not his worst....

 

[Family]

The quote was that the Krafts think they know football. That’s the problem. Unless you’re Al Davis or George Halas, there’s less than a 1% chance a billionaire businessman knows football. But the issue is that some owners don’t realize this, and fall victim to the Dunning Kruger effect. Jerry Jones and Woody Johnson are obvious examples here. And it is completely clear Kraft was heading down that path until Belichick started winning. The hope was (and the stories put out to the media from the Krafts indicated) that Kraft learned the errors of his way and let the football people make the football decisions. In reality, that only lasted as long as Belichick was winning. Once he stopped winning, the Krafts appear to have reverted back to Jerry Jones and Woody Johnson status. The Krafts don’t deserve some slack precisely because we have seen this behavior from them before.

This is exactly what an owner is supposed to do. Leave the team alone when they win, and get rid of people who don't.

Let's hope this continues next week with Mayo.

Stan Kroenke knows nothing about football. But he is smart enough to know that he knows nothing about it. He hired Les Sneed, who he realized did know something about football, and let him run operations while Kroenke worked the non-football elements. That’s worked out pretty well. That’s what I want to see the Krafts do. I’ll even go back to James Orthwein. He’s bad news around these parts justifiably for trying to move the team. But from a football perspective, he also realized he knew nothing about the game, so hired the best guy on the market in Parcells and let him run the show and stayed out of it.

Kraft left the team alone for two decades.

This is about not backing Brady or some other agenda because until now Kraft has made mistakes, but has also looked to correct them, while leaving the team alone when winning.

He just has to clean house next week.

 

[TommyD4207]

When your biggest accomplishment as a HC in a season is able to avoid being fired mid season. It says it all!

What a joke this organization has become

More of this 'The guys show up to work' ********.
Yes. They do. They're paid incredibly well to do so.

 

[Ross12]

More of this 'The guys show up to work' ********.
Yes. They do. They're paid incredibly well to do so.

last time I called this out it was a point of contention because Covington said “the WAY they come into work”… as if that’s a significant difference… well, here’s Mayo just flat out saying he’s proud that they simply show up to work, no “the way” modifier attached.

When your only accomplishments you can think of all year are that you haven’t personally been fired yet, and that the people assigned by your boss to work for you haven’t ALL quit their jobs yet (just 1 did), that’s depressing and pathetic.

 

[Brick27]

More of this 'The guys show up to work' ********.
Yes. They do. They're paid incredibly well to do so.

Just nothing he can go to other than lame matter of facts or weak cliches. Not sure have ever heard him say anything articulate or of any depth or intelligence that brought a, “wow, that’s interesting”. A simple mind and simple coach.

 

[Ross12]

Just nothing he can go to other than lame matter of facts or weak cliches. Not sure have ever heard him say anything with any depth or intelligence that brought a, “wow, that’s interesting”. A simple mind and simple coach.

I get that he was unprepared and over his head early on, but it seems like he hasn’t done anything to try to improve at his job all year. It’s like his mindset was “just cruise this year, I get a free pass because the roster is bad and I was underqualified and daddy loves me. NEXT YEAR I have to actually try.”

 

[WhatJustHappened]

Not a surprise really, the guys make good $, and JM is such a nice man.... work is fun.

 

[dliverey44]

I really don't see a better outcome or something remotely palatable to the Krafts.

Kraft is on record as saying he liked the operation that was in place but felt there needed to be more distribution of power. I think Vrabes would be OK with that.

Kraft loves Josh.

The fans would be OK w/ Vrabes.

The fans would be OK w/ Josh mentoring Drake and running the offense.

The D would absolutely be better.

I wouldn't want Jon Robinson as GM as he started off well but didn't draft a proBowler his last 3 years with the team.

How do we know that the Defense would be better? The coordinators would be very important

 

[Ring 6]

Yeah this quote is so bad it hurts.

Top accomplishments in 2024:
1. Didn’t get fired midseason
2. Guys came to work and didn’t just stop showing up, well except for Chuks I guess lol
3. Uh anyway that’s all

I’m still alive, and players didn’t resign.
Note the question was his greatest accomplishment. Answer: I accomplished nothing

 

[Love The Drake]

Ron Rivera interviewing with Jets.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

I sign off on this 100 percent,
Pay McDaniels close to HC money so he stays for Mayes whole career.
If this is the case.

I don’t think we have to worry about josh getting another HC gig.

 

[stcjones]

Based on reports I don't believe Robert wants to fire Mayo, I think he believes Mayo will prove him right and he did not expect much in year 1. I think Jonathan would never have hired Mayo and would like to move on.
I think Robert is saying, we have cap space, we might have the #1 pick overall, we have a QB that can entice other players to sign, let us see what Wolf and Mayo can do, no excuses in 2025. Then he will fire him LOL.

A recent report has him wavering, however, per Diana Russini who less than 2 weeks ago was saying Mayo would be back. We can only hope he wavers enough!

I can tell you that the Kraft family they were ready for the bumps and bruises here. They knew that a first-time head coach is going to go through it, they are learning on the job in a really tough market. But you have to wonder if this has been good enough and I can tell you the tone in that building went from ‘yeah we’re going to probably be safe’ whereas I can tell you people in that building do not feel that strongly about it anymore,” she said.

“I believe going to come down to the last games here with (Robert) Kraft really making a decision, ‘Do I pull the band-aid and just own it,’ and say, ‘we believed in him, we thought maybe he had the pieces of what a great coach would be, but it’s not going to be able to work. We don’t have the time and patience for it, we don’t want to waste the years of a great young quarterback,’ and then find someone that can come in.”

“Maybe we just give them one more year, yeah. But as we know Colin, how many times do we see owners do this? Usually, if you’re playing with it, if you’re toying with it, you should make the move. Because you always come back the next year and you’ll end up firing the guy, anyway. If Robert Kraft is having doubts, then this could be another opening we see available.”

One more year of bumbling brainless decisions and some of the worst coaching (and defense is supposedly his speciality never mind offense)…..and they may think hey hire new coordinators and run it back. Another year of this destroys this team for the next 5 yrs…..think wisely Bob and Jon

 

[stcjones]

Ron Rivera interviewing with Jets.

He had a few good years in Carolina but that was helped tremendously by Cam

 

[TomPatriot]

I get that he was unprepared and over his head early on, but it seems like he hasn’t done anything to try to improve at his job all year. It’s like his mindset was “just cruise this year, I get a free pass because the roster is bad and I was underqualified and daddy loves me. NEXT YEAR I have to actually try.”

Harsh, but you’re certainly not wrong. I’d be shocked if the Krafts relieved him of his duties because that would cost them money.

Mayo had years to watch BB. He could have gone elsewhere to learn the coaching craft. He didn’t. He took the money and stayed. That’s on him.

Forget the roster and the media bs. I look at the in game decisions, game plans, player development, execution, culture and so on. I can’t point to one thing Mayo has done well.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I don’t think we have to worry about josh getting another HC gig.

I think you underestimate how Much Kraft loves MacDaniels. He gave him big money to dump the Colts job just to come back as OC.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

I can’t point to one thing Mayo has done well.

Apparently he is very good at weathering the storm !

 

[Love The Drake]

Breer thinks Mayo is staying ugh.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Harsh, but you’re certainly not wrong. I’d be shocked if the Krafts relieved him of his duties because that would cost them money.

Mayo had years to watch BB. He could have gone elsewhere to learn the coaching craft. He didn’t. He took the money and stayed. That’s on him.

Forget the roster and the media bs. I look at the in game decisions, game plans, player development, execution, culture and so on. I can’t point to one thing Mayo has done well.

The last part sums it all up pretty well. NOTHING improved under him. QB play was better because Wolf drafted Maye, but Mayo had nothing to do with that. Van Pelt and MaCadoo deserve some credit, but Mayo didn’t improve any aspect of this team. And player development is the most important aspect of the coaching staff’s job, and they failed miserably at it.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I think it would take a 70,000 person boycott of the last game to get Kraft to make a move, and that will never happen. But an empty stadium might get him wondering. So just stay in the parking lot and root for the Bills everyone. Give Bob something to think about.