Jerod Mayo: I didn't mean to criticize Alex Van Pelt with postgame comments

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo opened up a Monday video conference by trying to clean up something he said after Sunday's 30-17 loss to the Cardinals.

The Patriots failed to gain one yard needed for a first down on two plays from the Cardinals' 4-yard-line during the third quarter and Mayo was asked about not using quarterback Drake Maye as a runner on either play.

"You said it. I didn't," Mayo said, via a transcript from the team.

Mayo later said it is "always my decision" when asked about those play calls, but the comments were seen as a shot at offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and Mayo used part of his opening comments on Monday to address those comments. Mayo called it a "defensive response" and that he "didn't mean anything" critical of Van Pelt before answering further questions on the topic.

"Yeah, it was just more of I didn't mean anything by it," Mayo said. "I just was like, ‘you said it’ because I didn't want to go down that whole rabbit hole trying to explain all those things. Like I just said, I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question saying that all of those critical situations fall on me."

There were low expectations for the Patriots in Mayo's first season as their head coach, but the year has still been a disappointing one in terms of how the team has executed in games and Mayo's postgame comments have created multiple kerfuffles over the course of the season. That may not be enough to make him one-and-done after being anointed as Bill Belichick's successor, but it wouldn't be surprising if Robert Kraft is having some second thoughts about Mayo being the right guy for the job.