Pats special teams coordinator has refreshing response to fans booing originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Multiple New England Patriots players voiced their displeasure with fans booing and chanting “Fire (Jerod) Mayo” during last week’s 40-7 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer, however, empathizes with those fed up with the team’s continued struggles.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Springer was asked to share his reaction to the boos and chants that rained down from the Gillette Stadium stands. He made it clear in his candid response that he understands the fans’ frustrations.
“I always say this, ‘if you don’t want to get shot at, don’t join the Army,’ ” Springer said. “I know this profession. I know what it brings. (The Patriots) have had so much success here. I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan, so as a kid when we weren’t going to the playoffs — and as a little kid we were going to Super Bowls – I was pissed at the team too when we were losing. So I’m all about the team and the fans, too. There’s people in those stands – and I know because I was a kid once and my parents couldn’t afford to go to football games – like, they’re expensive tickets. To bring your whole family to the game, that’s $1,000 you’re probably spending in one day.
“And then to lose like we did, I mean, they’re upset. They’re frustrated. And they should be. We need to put a better product on the field and that’s what our job is. So any time I hear that, I’m like, ‘What can I do better so they’re not doing that next time? What can I do better to be a better coordinator, to be a better coach, to make our players play harder and play better so that we don’t hear that?’ Because they have every right to do that, in my opinion. It’s professional sports. If you don’t want to (hear) that, go coach in Alaska – six-man football. Then you won’t hear that, because that’s all your family in the stands. But this is different. This is professional football.”
Springer’s remarks offer a refreshing perspective after Patriots defenders Davon Godchaux and Jahlani Tavai blasted fans for their boos and chants. After Saturday’s loss, Godchaux called the Fire Mayo chants “ridiculous” and said there “could have been better class from the fans with the booing.” On Friday, Tavai responded to the boos by stating that the fans “gotta know their place.”
The fact is that even in a rebuilding year, the Patriots entering their season finale with a 3-13 record is unacceptable. Fans are well within their right to express their frustrations with the team’s ongoing woes, especially amid an embarrassing blowout loss to a team that had to travel cross-country to Foxboro.
The expectation entering the 2024 campaign was that the team would steadily improve throughout the year with prized rookie quarterback Drake Maye at the helm. But even with Maye showing flashes of star potential, first-year head coach Jerod Mayo’s group has looked flat-out incompetent and overmatched for the vast majority of the season. That goes for both the players and the coaching staff.
The Patriots’ 2024 season will come to a merciful end on Sunday when they welcome the Buffalo Bills to Gillette Stadium. A win would bring them to 4-13 while a loss would give them the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
