The New England Patriots addressed their locker room not too lengthy after the choice was made to fireside head coach Jerod Mayo.
Staff proprietor Robert Kraft held a press convention Monday at Gillette Stadium, talking publicly lower than 24 hours after Mayo’s departure. Kraft expressed empathy for Mayo’s lone season as head coach of the franchise and provided some transparency to the fanbase whereas the gamers have been met behind closed doorways.
“There was a gathering right this moment and the entrance workplace talked to us,” Patriots captain Deatrich Smart Jr. instructed reporters Monday. “(The message was) just about to maneuver on to 2025.”
New England’s Week 18 victory over the Buffalo Payments ended its common season with an equivalent 4-13 file to 2023 and one other dead-last end within the AFC East. The Patriots have been hardly ever aggressive, demonstrated a plethora of points holding them again from competing with the league’s Tremendous Bowl hunters and did not persuade the fan base of the staff’s rebuild.
Mayo felt the brunt of the whole lot that went incorrect greater than anybody.
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The 38-year-old was showered with “Fireplace Mayo” chants throughout the staff’s Week 17 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Followers at Gillette Stadium despatched a loud and clear message each to Mayo and staff possession all through the lopsided 40-7 defeat.
Whereas some followers throughout New England have been thrilled with Mayo’s firing, the Patriots themselves shared an opposing feeling. Smart, eight seasons into his stint with New England, revealed simply how the locker room felt after the information broke and what Mayo meant to all of them, past only a coach.
“I instructed the fellows earlier than, I instructed all of them that it was a tragic day,” Smart stated. “No person wished to see him go away. We didn’t know he was fired till after the sport after which it was very stunning information. He meant the whole lot. He was a fantastic chief, a fantastic coach, a fantastic buddy. He was just about constant each single day. Introduced nice vitality, motivated all people, impressed all people within the constructing to higher. I felt like when he got here into the room he introduced a lightweight and an excellent vitality.”
The Patriots, transferring ahead, have loads on their plate though the staff received’t be showing within the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
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New England’s win over Buffalo secured the staff’s No. 4 general choice in April’s NFL draft, Kraft and Wolf want to seek out Mayo’s alternative and the staff nonetheless has a handful of areas to enhance on earlier than subsequent season. Just like final offseason, the Patriots, if something, set themselves again amid what’s been a gradual and painful rebuild.
