Patriots captain compares Jerod Mayo to Bill Belichick after latest controversy

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo raised some eyebrows when he said following his club's 34-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins this past Sunday that "there’s nothing" he can do for his players "once those guys cross the white lines."

Mayo insisted on Monday that his statement would've been viewed as a "compliment" rather than as "a slap in the face" had New England defeated Miami. During the latest edition of "The Quick Snap Podcast," injured Patriots captain David Andrews defended Mayo and compared the first-year coach to legend Bill Belichick.

"That’s the truth though," Andrews said about Mayo's "white lines" comment, Mark Daniels of MassLive shared. "Coaches can’t play the game. Bill would say that stuff, too. 'I can’t play the game for you. I can’t do that.' And there is some truth to that. ...There’s going to come points in games as players where something’s going to be unscripted — they’re going to do a new blitz or the offense runs a new formation. Yeah, the coaches can prepare you and teach you all the rules, or whatever your adjustments may be, but you have to execute those." 

Andrews previously had Mayo's back after the 38-year-old referred to his team as "soft" following a Week 7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. While the Patriots responded by earning two wins over their next three games, they've since fallen to 3-9 on the season via back-to-back defeats. 

By all accounts, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and team president Jonathan Kraft "remain solidly behind" Mayo and aren't thinking about making a significant offseason change that would impact rookie quarterback Drake Maye. Of course, the situation presumably could change if the Krafts feel Mayo has lost his locker room by the end of Week 18. 

"Players have to take ownership," Andrews added. "You have to own your football team." 

It will be interesting to see if the latest potential controversy involving Mayo gives New England any spark leading up to this coming Sunday's home game against the 5-7 Indianapolis Colts. As of late Tuesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Patriots as three-point underdogs for that matchup.