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Jerod Mayo reportedly played cards with players on plane after Patriots' embarrassing loss to Cardinals

Steve Burton recaps Robert Kraft's presser after firing Jerod Mayo
Steve Burton recaps Robert Kraft's presser after firing Jerod Mayo 05:24

FOXBORO -- Details are coming out about Jerod Mayo's approach during his one and only season as head coach of the New England Patriots. It sounds like Mayo went a bit too far in his quest to bring a different attitude and method than his predecessor, Bill Belichick.

Mayo was certainly a player's coach in New England, but as outlined by The Athletic's Chad Graff on Wednesday, he may have forgotten that his first priority was to be a head coach. Following the team's 30-17 loss to the Cardinals in Arizona, Mayo spent the plane ride back to New England playing cards with players instead of breaking down film with the rest of the coaching staff:

On a night when the frustration over a terrible performance had some wondering if their jobs were about to be in jeopardy, it was surprising to at least one person at the front of the plane to see the head coach mingling with players in such a casual way.

"Look, there are a lot of ways to do the job," a team source who was on the plane said. "It's not that Jerod's was definitely wrong. But I can't say I've seen that before."

While it's not uncommon for games to break out on team flights after games, especially long flights like the one from Arizona to Rhode Island, it's not often that a head coach will jump in. They're usually busy with their staff watching film and breaking down the game, or catching some much-needed sleep before a new week begins.

Mayo playing cards with players isn't the reason he was fired, and he's not the only one to blame for the team's disastrous season. In fact, had the Patriots showed up that afternoon in Arizona, or finished the season with a few more wins, he'd potentially still be employed and possibly even praised for bringing an unorthodox way of doing things to a Patriots team that was tightly buttoned-up for two-plus decades under Belichick.

But the Patriots won just four games and were outclassed most weekends, with Mayo looking lost on the sidelines and making messes in his postgame press conferences. Mayo leaving his staff for a card game paints a picture of a coach who had trouble putting his coaching-duties first -- especially after a loss like the Patriots suffered in Arizona.

"But to some on the plane, this felt like another example of Mayo going too far in the opposite direction of Belichick, the ultra-serious overseer of the Patriots for the previous 24 years," wrote Graff.

That Week 15 showdown with the Cardinals was supposed to be a turning point for the Patriots. The team was coming out of its bye week, and even if it didn't win over the final four weeks of the season, the hope was the Patriots would show signs of building something positive for the future.

Instead, the Patriots had another no-show in the desert. New England trailed 23-3 before the team scored its first touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. A Drake Maye touchdown run with just under two minutes to play made the score much more respectable than it should have been.

The Patriots did put up a fight in a road game against the Bills the following weekend, but were then blown out by the Chargers at home in Week 17. That loss to the Cardinals ended up being the beginning of the end for Mayo.

Jerod Mayo fired by Patriots after one season

Patriots owner Robert Kraft fired Mayo just hours after the team's Week 18 win over the Bills in Foxboro, making him just the second one-and-done coach in Patriots franchise history. On Monday, Kraft admitted that he didn't put Mayo in the best spot to succeed and took the blame for the 2024 season

Kraft was also asked when he felt like he needed to move on from Mayo.

"This whole situation evolved, but I'd say over the last month, I went back and forth," he replied. "The high point of everything for me was winning the Cincinnati game. Then mid-season, I just think we started to regress."

That last month kicked off with the team's loss in Arizona.

Kraft is now on the hunt for the franchise's 16th head coach, with former Patriots player and Titans head coach Mike Vrabel the favorite to land the job.

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