“Honestly, when that report came out, my brother sent it to me and it hurt more than anything,” Mayo said Tuesday. “I found the timing a bit odd, in my opinion.
“And I feel like if that were the case, this would have been leaked earlier. At the same time, I will say that I tried to treat everyone the same way, and I thought about it for a while.
“When people talk about rubbing people the wrong way, sometimes that's part of a leader's job, rubbing people the wrong way. I always try to be constructive and respectful in my comments. Some people appreciate that transparency and some people don't. But at the end of the day, if we can't Fooling people the wrong way, how can you expect to be the best you can be?
“I would say any time there's a change, or anything like that, it's going to hurt. Someone is going to rub you the wrong way. You have to look at all the words and really get to the heart of what the person is trying to say.”
Mayo said the report sparked “a period of self-reflection.” Mayo said rubbing people the wrong way may be one of his blind spots, but the report angered him. He hopes people who feel this way will talk to him about it.
“I went through the whole emotional cycle, where I was primarily angry,” he said. “Angry to the point where I feel like I'm always treating people the same way. I haven't really changed in terms of that, I've evolved as a coach, I've developed as a man in my mid-30s. Going forward, I hope these guys will give me a chance to explain myself and also a chance to follow suit.” Track.
“Ultimately, some people will like you and some people won't, and I'm OK with that.
“I think after it's all said and done, the players understand that we as a coaching staff are trying to put them in the best position possible to go out and get things done. And then, from a coaching standpoint, I just want people around me that are going to tell me the truth.”
Continuous conflicts
Now that the final week of the season has arrived, offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien He was asked to think about what went wrong in the crime.
New England heads into Sunday's game with the Jets averaging 14.6 points per game, the worst in the league. Billy Zappi He threw three objections last Sunday against the Bills. Mac Joneswho lost the starting quarterback position earlier in the season, has never thrown more than two interceptions in a game this season.
Zappe's play has been inconsistent through five starts. He has five touchdown passes to one interception in two wins. He has thrown four interceptions against one touchdown in three losses.
O'Brien said consistency was an issue across the board.
“We have to do a better job of consistency, and a lot of that has to do with coaching,” O'Brien said. “I think turnovers were an issue. We were inconsistent.
“We run the ball too much, which was evident in this game last weekend. We've been inconsistent with our defense, and our run is disrupting the offensive line. We've been inconsistent in the passing game.”
“Again, I take responsibility for that. And that comes down to doing a better job in practice. Hopefully we can do a better job in practice this week and get these guys ready to go.”
Praise for Slater
Special teams coach Cam accord He said he couldn't match the right amount of praise Matthew Slater In single press availability.
Slater, 38, has played more games with the Patriots than anyone else Tom Brady. With Sunday's match potentially being Slater's final, Achord was asked what Slater's career means to him.
“If you could create a footballer to coach, Matt Slater is the man I would create,” Acord said. “He's going to be the leader of the locker room. He's going to walk that line and push guys. He's going to take the guys with him.”
“He's going to push the older players to be great on the field. He's going to push the players to be great human beings, great fathers off the field. Even with the coaches, he's had a lot of coaches come to him and he's the guy he'll listen to first. He'll see, 'What's your point?'
“It's never going to be a fight with him. And so the competitiveness that he shows out there is unparalleled. I know you guys deal with him a lot off the field and it's usually with a smile on his face. On game day, he's just on fire. That switch clicks for him.”
Khari Thompson can be reached at khari.thompson@globe.com.
“Food ninja. Friendly thinker. Explorer. Entrepreneur. Zombie junkie.