Patriots Fans Share How Team Should Proceed With Jerod Mayo, Coaching Staff

FOXBORO, Mass. — The opinions of Patriots fans are not unanimous, but they are strong.

Family members and friends, those who have been attending Patriots games together for decades, have differing viewpoints on how Robert Kraft and ownership should proceed.

At the moment, it’s the biggest question in New England sports: Should the Patriots move on from first-year head coach Jerod Mayo? NESN.com asked a handful of fans that question ahead of New England’s Week 18 game at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.

“I don’t have the same opinion as him,” Justin Coscia said with a chuckle while standing next to his father, Ray Coscia.

Justin, 31, was a fan of Mayo during Mayo’s playing days. Justin referenced how players like Devin McCourty and Julian Edelman previously referred to Mayo as a young Bill Belichick, which caused him to have high expectations entering the season.

Since then, though, the product Mayo put on the field is not satisfactory in New England, Justin said.

“The staff looks lost,” the Quincy native said. “It makes me nervous. … It would excite me to pull the plug.”

His father, Ray, 62, believes it would have been better for the Patriots to elevate Mayo to defensive coordinator after the firing of Belichick. Mayo could’ve used more experience, but the decision was made and now the organization should give him another year and see how it goes, Ray said.

John Marchese, of Malden, agrees with giving Mayo another shot.

“I 100% know he (Mayo) knows how to coach football,” Marchese said, prompting some groans from those he was tailgating with. “Make a change next year (if needed).”

Instead, Marchese said, the Patriots should make staff changes elsewhere. Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer and offensive line coach Scott Peters “should go,” said Marchese, a season-ticket holder of 26 years.

Paul Buckley, of Saugus, couldn’t disagree more with Marchese, who Buckley’s attended games with for 26 years. Buckley pointed to the in-game mistakes, lack of preparation and overall looseness of the locker room and in the media as reasons Mayo should be fired.

“They’re not progressing, they’re regressing,” Buckley said. “I don’t want to lose another year.”

Those who are of the opinion the Patriots should move on from Mayo expressed a similar idea: Mike Vrabel is out there on the open market. Vrabel would be interested in coaching the Patriots, according to multiple reports.

Mike Araujo, of Pawtucket, R.I., admitted he is a big fan of Mayo the person and former linebacker. But Araujo, a season-ticket holder of 31 years, is stuck on Vrabel because of what the 2021 Coach of the Year showed during his tenure with the Tennessee Titans.

Araujo views Vrabel as the perfect middle ground on the scale of Belichick to Mayo.

“I hate to see (Mayo) be the victim, but you have to do what’s best for the franchise,” said Araujo, an attendee of 260-plus Patriots games who is closing in on his goal of 300.

There were other Patriots fans who did not want to go on record but made their opinion clear: “Fire Mayo.”

Their overall sentiments seem to closely represent the greater population of Patriots fans. NESN’s social media accounts on Sunday released a poll with the simple question: “How should Patriots handle coaching staff?”.

Sixty-nine percent of the first 2,600 votes on Instagram and 83% of the first 500 votes on X believe Kraft and company should “Fire them all.”

What do you think? Cast your vote on NESN’s social media polls and sound off in the comments below.