Jerod Mayo is getting harder to defend as a head coach

The New England Patriots are a bad football team. Sunday's 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals marked New England's fourth in a row and one that should spell doom for some members of the coaching staff. The Patriots have scored 238 points this season, third worst in the NFL and a lot of the blame for that can be directed toward offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt.

Following the loss to Arizona, both wide receiver Kayshon Boutte and quarterback Drake Maye called out Van Pelt's game plan and play calling. Boutte and Maye said they wished the team played with more tempo, something evident in New England's two fourth-quarter scoring drives that took six plays each.

However, it was head coach Jerod Mayo's postgame comments that raised eyebrows. When Mayo was asked why Maye, an effective runner, wasn't called on to run the ball on 3rd and 4th and 1, his answer couldn't be interpreted as anything other than a shot at Van Pelt.

"You said it," Mayo said. "I didn't."

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Oh, boy.

This isn't the first time Mayo's postgame comments have caught people's attention. After a loss to the Miami Dolphins, Mayo was asked about the constant penalties the Patriots commit, answering that "once those guys cross the white lines there’s nothing I can do for them." Mayo walked back on this answer the next day.

After an excruciating one-point loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Mayo again had to walk back on comments he made. This time, he referenced the Patriots' Super Bowl victory over the Seattle Seahawks as a reason he didn't call a timeout on the Colts' game-winning drive before saying he shouldn't have said that the next day.

Believe it or not, Mayo has walked back on his "you said it, I didn't" comment. On a Monday appearance on WEEI's The Greg Hill Show, Mayo explained why he answered the question like that.

"It was more of a defensive response," he said. "And ultimately, and I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question, because ultimately, all of those decisions are mine."

If this was an isolated incident, Mayo's comments and walk-back would not be as big a story as it is. The fact that this has happened multiple times, though, should raise concerns internally with the Krafts over their Bill Belichick succession plan.

With an abundance of head coaching candidates this offseason, such as Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, the Patriots should think about moving on from Mayo before it's too late to hire good candidates.

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