One person who is clearly not a fan of the job security talks between Mayo and Van Pelt is Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye.

During his postgame press conference, he strongly defended the Patriots’ coaches.

“I’m just trying to block out this noise. I think the talk about our coaching staff and stuff like that is pretty nonsense, to be quite honest,” Maye told reporters. “Coach Mayo, we are behind him. He trains us hard. He wants to win, we all want to win. We’re all frustrated.”

“I feel like AVP has been calling great (games) over the last (few) weeks, we are just (a few) games away. … I think it’s a testament to these guys that we keep fighting. We’re not going to go. “To make the playoffs, we’re out of contention, and these guys come in and get frustrated when we don’t score in practice, and they have energy that comes into the game. I want to win.” There are guys who don’t play, who scream on the sidelines and want to win.

“I think we’re building something good, something that feels right here. I am proud to be a patriot.”

This was the second time in the past week that Maye defended Mayo and Van Pelt.

When asked about Mayo on Wednesday, Maye said: “As players we are behind him and supporting him. We trust the plan he has for us and we trust what he says in the team meeting rooms and all the little sayings.” He does. We are confident that the results will come. We strive for it, but sometimes it doesn’t work out. This way the profit comes in the near future.”

The Patriots have the second-worst record in the league at 3-12, and if they don’t win another game, they will finish with a worse record than last season’s 4-13. The last time the Patriots won four or fewer games in back-to-back seasons was from 1967 to 1970.

The performance on the field was not good enough this season. There’s no denying it. But at the same time, this roster is terrible – maybe even the worst in the league. It’s hard to imagine a coach in professional football winning more than four or five games with this squad. There are massive weaknesses at key positions like left tackle, wide receiver, edge rusher and cornerback.

The coaching staff deserves a ton of blame for what happened this season. But unless the Patriots make significant improvements to their roster, the losing streak will continue into 2025, regardless of who is on the roster.