Calls Mount to Replace Jerod Mayo With Ex-Patriots 3-Time Super Bowl Champ

Jerod Mayo is only seven weeks into the job as head coach of the Patriots, but with the team sitting at 1-6 and seeming to be heading backward after an embarrassing 32-16 loss to the lowly Jaguars, it is already looking like Mayo may be on the hot seat in New England.

Not only did the Patriots fall flat after a promising start in the team's London game on Sunday in Week 7, but after the game, Mayo took the rare step of calling his team soft.

“We’re a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said after the game. “You talk about what makes a tough football team: being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run, and being able to cover kicks. We did none of those today. They controlled the ball for most of the day.”

Hard to argue that. On the day, the Patriots were outgained, 364-295 , and failed to record a sack against Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who had been sacked 15 times in the first six weeks. They did not force a turnover, and the Patriots allowed a punt return touchdown that put them behind, 22-10, and seemed to break the team mentally.

The problem for Mayo, though, is that if his team is soft, it is a reflection of the head coach. This is a team that deserved to be called out, but in doing so, Mayo raises questions about whether he--a 38-year-old first-year coach--is up for this job.

Especially when the guy he's replacing is five-time champ Bill Belichick.

And, also especially when there is a free-agent coach lurking who was a defensive hero for the Patriots, has three championship rings as a player, and six years of coaching experience under his belt: former Titans coach Mike Vrabel.

Amid this low point reached by New England on Sunday, Patriots Nation's lonely eyes turned to Vrabel and the possibility that owner Robert Kraft could move on from Mayo and bring in Vrabel after the season. Or, heck ... sooner.

As Glenn Ordway, a longtime Boston sports radio host, wrote on Twitter/X, one problem for the Patriots may have been that Kraft had determined long ago that Mayo was his guy, and gave no consideration to hiring Vrabel or anyone else. "Vrabel would have been the better choice," he noted.

Vrabel was 54-45 in nine years in Tennessee. He played for 10 seasons with the Patriots, winning championships in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

It's a long way from the first two weeks of the season, which saw Mayo and the Patriots open with a win over Cincinnati and follow with a well-played overtime loss to Seattle. And really, this isn't all Mayo's fault--no matter how soft or hard some of his players may be, the fact is, there just are not enough of them that are good at football.

Mayo and the Patriots will now lick their wounds and head to New York to play the Jets in Week 8.

Related: Bill Belichick Makes His Opinion of Jerod Mayo's Patriots Extremely Clear