Jerod Mayo speaks up about the Patriots’ decision on Drake Maye during Week 15’s game against the Cardinals.
When Mayo was asked why the Patriots didn’t run any quarterback sneaks on short-down situations, he seemed to initially throw offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt under the bus.
“You said it. I didn’t,” Mayo responded.
The Patriots head coach was asked about the offensive play calling again in a follow-up question. This time around, he took ownership of the situation.
“It’s always my decision,” Mayo said. “I would say, look, the quarterback obviously has a good pair of legs and does a good job running the ball. We just chose not to do it there.”
Not using Maye as a runner on short-down situations likely didn’t cost the Patriots the game on Sunday, but it might have cost them a touchdown. They got the ball down to the Cardinals’ 4-yard line with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter, facing a third-and-1. They opted to run the ball up the gut with Antonio Gibson, who was stuffed.
Facing fourth-and-1, they ran a similar play with Rhamondre Stevenson. The Patriots were dealt the same result: a stuff and turnover on downs.
What Drake Maye said of the lack of QB sneaks in Patriots’ loss to Cardinals
The Patriots’ insistence to not use Maye as a runner is head-scratching. He’s already shown a strong ability as a runner as a professional, rushing for 359 yards and two touchdowns this season.
Maye wants to get the ball in those situations, too.
“I was a good quarterback-sneaker in college,” Maye told reporters. “I’m a big dude, I’m heavier than people think. So, I think maybe there’s a conversation for that. I think it’s tough to stop a 6-[foot]-5 dude for one yard.
“But at the same time, Rhamondre is pretty dang good at getting one yard as well. It’s unfortunate that it happened. But there’s a time and place for it.”
Of course, the conversation about using Maye on a quarterback sneak likely wouldn’t have happened if the Patriots just picked up one yard on those two aforementioned runs. That’s what seemed to frustrate Mayo the most.
“It was disappointing. I said this probably the first week of the season, there comes a point in time as a football team where everyone in the stadium knows what the play is, and we just gotta move bodies,” Mayo said. “And we weren’t able to move them … we have guys in there that are physically tough, mentally tough. My expectation for them is that we can always move bodies, and unfortunately, we just didn’t do that today.”
Now, Mayo’s critics have another talking point to use in what’s been a rocky rookie season as head coach. As the Patriots fell to 3-11 with the loss, Mayo took the blame for another loss, but he’s hoping others on the team will do so as well.
“We all have got to take accountability,” Mayo said after New England’s loss. “And what does that look like? Accountability is not really the ‘My bad.’ The accountability isn’t coming in saying things like, ‘Oh, if we would have just done X, Y, and Z,’ we’ve been talking about that all year.
“Accountability is going out and correcting that. That’s about action. It’s not about just sitting here saying that’s my fault. You have enough of those, and that’s what you have out there on the field today.”
