It’s a great day for Best Foods, Hellmann’s and Miracle Whip.
If you watched the iconic comedy film Airplane!, you loved Captain Oveur (Peter Graves) speak into an airport phone saying “Okay, give me ham on five, hold the mayo!”
Or maybe you saw An Officer And A Gentleman, and remember Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) being called “Mayo-nnaise!” by his DI (Louis Gossett Jr.).
Sandwich shops all over New England had better stock up on that delicious white condiment. No doubt Patriot fans everywhere will want that stuff on their club sandwiches or BLTs.
Because down in Foxborough, the hot new word is mayo.
Jerod Mayo is now the new head coach of the Patriots. Moving faster than you can say “Rooney Rule”, the Patriots quickly replaced Bill Belichick with their former linebacker and current linebacker coach. Both Adam Schefter of ESPN and Ian Rappoport of the NFL Network reported this happening early Friday morning.
If nothing else, this brings a lot more clarity as to how the end of this season and the beginning of the offseason was going to go down for the Patriots and Bob Kraft. Moving as fast as they did, we now know what the accession plan was to replace the iconic Belichick, who announced on Thursday that he and Kraft “parted ways” and is now in the process of getting his next job.
This plan had its genesis in the November 12 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt, Germany. Kraft looked forward to going to Germany, a nation the NFL is targeting as future NFL country. There are a ton of Patriot fans in Germany, thanks largely to former Patriot offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer, who broadcasts Patriot games in German to his countrymen. Kraft had every reason to expect the Patriots to win against the depleted Colts.
But two late interceptions, upon which Kraft showed obvious disgust up in his private luxury box, sealed a 10-6 loss to the Colts, dropping the Patriot record to 2-8. Multiple reports said that this was the last straw for Kraft. If Belichick hadn’t been Belichick, with his coaching pedigree and his legacy, he would have been fired right then and there upon return to Foxborough heading into the bye week. But this was the game that convinced Kraft that a change had to be made.
It was a colossal embarrassment for Kraft. He is one of those owners who wants the NFL to have an international presence. The Patriots had made several trips to London previously, as well as Mexico City. Prior to that game, the Patriots had been undefeated internationally. Kraft desperately wanted to make a good impression on the Germans, especially all the Patriot fans there, and instead his team played one of their worst games of the season, and maybe of the last 30 years.
So, that’s when the decision to end the Belichick reign was made. The next question to be answered was who would be the new head coach.
For several years, Josh McDaniels was thought of being the heir apparent to the Patriots throne. But three times he bolted the Patriots for other jobs. He went to Denver in 2009, had two disastrous years, then came back in 2012. He was the Colts’ head coach briefly in 2018 before the Patriots brought him back before he got his hands dirty in Indianapolis. He left again in 2022 to take over the Raiders, but they dismissed him midway through the 2023 season. If McDaniels does come back to New England again, it would be in a subordinate offensive role.
The attention then shifted to Mayo. A 2008 first round draft pick out of Tennessee, he was a solid and beloved linebacker for the Patriots. He got one ring for the Patriots thanks to Super Bowl XLIX, but he was injured and did not play. He retired as a player in 2015, dabbled in broadcasting for three years, then came back to the Patriots as a linebackers coach in 2019.
Along the way, Mayo established a reputation for being “first one here, last one out” type. He is a film junkie and a wonderful student of the game. He was also known as a prototypical gym rat, with legendary workout sessions in the weight room.
He has garnered praise from most everyone in the Patriot organization. Players, fellow coaches and front office people love him to death. He is vocal, energetic, and like Belichick, has military ties in his family.
Mayo was secured by the Patriots for this job because the organization did not want him to bolt to another team as their head coach. This ascension was in his contract, which is another reason why this hiring happened so quickly. Advocates of the Rooney Rule, which mandates that every team looking to hire a head coach or a general manager, interview at least two people of color (and in some cases, women), won’t be anything other than pleased with this hire. No one from the league office will say word one about the Patriots selecting Mayo so quickly.
If you are wondering why men like Mike Vrabel and Brian Flores did not even get an interview, Mayo was the guy all along and it was in his contract. Vrabel, recently fired by Tennessee and Flores, the former Miami head coach who is now the defensive coordinator for Minnesota, both have the head coaching experience that Mayo does not. But the Patriots have all the confidence in Mayo, such that they prevented his leaving by making this hire automatic.
Ironically, this is probably not that unlike what the Jets did to Belichick in 1997. When Bill Parcells took over as Jet head coach in 1997, he brought in Belichick as his defensive coordinator. He also stipulated in Belichick’s contract that if Parcells left his job for any reason, Belichick would automatically ascend to the head coaching job. Of course, with Woody Johnson running the Jets in place of the late Leon Hess, Belichick no longer wanted to be HC of the NYJ and subsequently became the Patriot head coach.
This is a different situation. Mayo wants this job. He now finally has it.
The next job is to find a general manager, to oversee the personnel department and all football operations. Mayo has a tough rebuilding job ahead of him, but so does the personnel department. New and young players need to be brought in, and this time they need to be actually talented instead of representing great value. There is a new Patriot Way that will have to be created, and the old way is now gone and buried.
Mayo can be very happy today. Starting Saturday, he has to become very busy. That will be no issue for him.
As for the rest of us, head for your nearest sandwich shop and have one for Jerod. And whatever you do, do not ask for “easy on the mayo”. Slather it on, and make the new man feel welcome.
We invite you to catch Bob George’s new Boston Sports Podcast, broadcast every weekday on YouTube. Go to YouTube handle thepic413 to view the podcasts. Please click on the Subscribe button so you don’t miss any of the podcasts.
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Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139
