Current Patriots coach Jerod Mayo and former Patriots coach Bill Belichick have exchanged some subtle, or otherwise, barbs of late. Former Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty, who knows both of them well, finds their public squabbling unfortunate.
“I hate to see the way that when Mayo speaks, it kind of . . . gets turned into, ‘Well he’s kind of taking a shot at Bill.’ Bill speaks, he’s kind of taking a shot at Mayo. These two — we used to call Jerod, ‘Jerod Belichick.’ We used to say he was like Bill’s long-lost son because of how he was and how similar he was to Bill as a player, so I hate to see the way this has all unfolded that they’re not kind of close and Jerod can’t call up Bill as a former colleague, as a coach, and then as your former head coach. I hate that part of this, so hopefully they work this out and we stop seeing these kind of subtle shots back and forth in the media.”
McCourty also got a laugh in Belichick’s claim from Monday’s Pat McAfee Show that he felt bad for players who were called out by Mayo as “soft.”
“I’ve never heard Bill say he felt bad or felt hurt for any player, so that kind of was funny to me,” McCourty said, “but it is interesting because they also don’t have Ja’Whaun Bentley, they don’t have Christian Barmore, and I think one of the things that always sticks out to me is Coach Belichick always telling us, ‘Don’t tell me about what you did last year. Each team’s different. Each season’s different.'”
Is there any connection between last year and this year?
“Yes, they had a very good run defense last year, the way they performed on defense, and I do agree with him. Individuals on that team when you talk about Jon Jones, Davon Godchaux, Anfernee Jennings, those guys are not soft, but what I learned from playing under Bill Belichick is tough football teams run the ball and they stop the run.”
It might just be a matter of semantics.
“Maybe you don’t want to use the word ‘soft,'” McCourty said. “Right now, they’re not a tough football team. They don’t run the ball very well. They’re not stopping the run. So to me, yes, I think even Mayo we heard kind of take back those comments. I think he was emotional after the game saying that the team was soft and I said it Sunday night on Football Night in America. I think whenever you have any comment like that or your team’s not playing at that level, Mayo knows it falls on him and I’m sure this team will attack the Jets Sunday and play better especially defensively because you got called out by your head coach and one of the things that I’ve heard when I went back there and talked to players is, Mayo’s telling us exactly how it is. Anything he said in the meeting means he came and he told us that already as a team and they said he’s been very kind of forward in what he said to the team.”
Ultimately, that’s the test. What happens on Sunday, when the desperate Jets are coming to town with a 2-5 record. Will the Patriots toughen up, or will they give Mayo or others reason to say they’re soft?
