Jerod Mayo Explains Questionable Decision-Making In Loss To Rams

Jerod Mayo’s coaching decisions were once again put under the microscope with the New England Patriots suffering a 28-22 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

First, there was the baffling move to not have standout corner Christian Gonzalez shadow either Cooper Kupp or Puka Nacua. But Mayo had a few other choices that he knew would be questioned.

One of which came on New England’s second-to-last offensive possession of the game when he opted to kick a field goal when facing a fourth-and-short in Rams territory with 4:54 left and down by two scores. Then, there was a decision to not go for a two-point attempt after Vederian Lowe’s touchdown grab early in the final frame and punting in plus-territory in the second quarter.

“A couple situations that came up, I’m sure that’s going to be part of the discussion. The fourth-and-2, elected to kick a field goal. If it was fourth-and-1, probably would have went for it, but it made it a one-score game,” Mayo told reporters, per team-provided transcript. “Then the Seattle situation showed up again, and I would say this: Every game is unique. It’s one of one, and I just felt like when I made those choices, it was the best thing to do for our football team today. Like I said, proud of the way those guys competed. Just got to clean up a few things.”

Mayo’s details about having Joey Slye kick a 42-yard field goal, which he converted late in the fourth quarter, are a little bit wrong. The Patriots initially lined up to go for it from the Rams’ 19 yard-line, but Ja’Lynn Polk was whistled for a false start — it looked like New England was about to run a trick play — to push the offense backward.

The Patriots had a chance to take a double-digit lead when a drive stalled at the LA 37 with 12:30 to go in the second quarter. It would have been a 54-yard try for Slye — well within his range — but Mayo decided to punt instead. Rams head coach Sean McVay made a similar call when LA punted from the New England 35 with 2:22 left in the game.

But unlike the Patriots, who saw Drake Maye throw a game-sealing interception, the Rams went down and scored on the ensuing possession after the punt.

“There were a lot of different factors that we take into account,” Mayo said about the choice to punt over a field goal attempt. “We talk about wind, we talk about the pregame warmup. You can kind of see how the kicks are going on both sides during the pregame warmups, and just felt like that was the right decision to make.”

It certainly was a conservative approach from Mayo. It drew some raised eyebrows, but Mayo wasn’t going to apologize for his managerial decisions.

“I’m always coaching to win,” Mayo said. “Look, every decision that I make won’t always be the popular one, and that’s part of this job.”