Mayo also addressed reports that came out last week suggesting the Patriots had called around for advice on developing Drake Maye as the franchise looks to develop its QB of the future. Mayo quickly denied those reports.

“All those reports are false,” Mayo said. “None of those reports are true. … We’re sitting here saying, ‘he’s developing great.’ … Who do you think’s responsible for that? It’s Alex Van Pelt.”

You can read more from Mayo’s Monday availability below, as well as reaction from Patriots players from the loss.

Here’s how Monday unfolded.

After a tough day for the Patriots secondary, cornerback Jonathan Jones was the first to take accountability for the team’s struggles on the back end with a postgame social media post.

Jones met with the media on Monday afternoon to explain his statement.

“Just, you know, not making plays,” Jones said. “I mean, there were some difficult plays, difficult situations, but I always hold myself accountable. That’s just how I’ve always been, [how] I’ll always be, not just with sports, just in life. So, always going to hold myself accountable.”

New England had no answer for the Rams’ passing attack, as Matthew Stafford threw four touchdown passes on a big day in particular for star receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua.

“Not to take anything from them, because they are really, really good receivers,” Jones said. “Just schematically, I think we don’t give enough credit to their their coordinator for how they came the game plan that they had. They do a good job of scheming and getting those guys open, they know they’re not going to line up in wide splits and get off press man to man coverage, and so their coaches don’t ask them to do that, and they do a good job of scheming ways for them to get open.”

Jerod Mayo and the defensive staff came under some criticism postgame for the game plan, which saw top corner Christian Gonzalez largely schemed out of the game as protected the boundary and Los Angeles avoided him at all costs.

Jones, for his part, doesn’t think there was an obvious fix on that side of things.

“I don’t think so,” Jones said. “I mean, even looking back at the film, there were, I mean, just a handful of plays that I’ll say that, you know, we’re just out-schemed, you know. I don’t want to say out-schemed, [plays] that just were a good scheme versus, you know, a call. And so I don’t think there’s really a lot of adjustments that, could have been made to really do anything different. [The Rams’] coordinators did a really, really good job, everything they were doing was motion ID to make sure that, ‘hey, I’m in the right, call for what I want to be in.’ And so they had a really good game plan.”

After speaking with the media on Monday morning, Jerod Mayo joined WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” for his weekly appearance. Here are some highlights from his interview.

On Drake Maye’s late interception: “Look, one thing about Drake, he always takes responsibility, and I appreciate that about him. And you know, we’re both going through this together. When I say we, I’m talking about Drake and myself. I mean rookie head coach, he’s a rookie player, and we’re going to learn through these experiences. And [Maye and DeMario Douglas] definitely weren’t on the same page.”

On the inconsistencies on defense: “Yeah, I’m not going to get into, you know, the players we had at Week 1 compared to here. You know, we always have that next man up mentality. Look, my expectation of our defense is to always go out there and perform at a high level, which, I would say we have at times in the season, and it goes back to consistency and we’ve got to be better.”

On Jonathan Jones taking responsibility for his struggles Sunday: [Jonathan] Jones is one of our best leaders in that locker room. I know he’s not a captain, but he is in my eyes, and that’s what it’s about. You know, once you get the team to the point where they understand where they’ve messed up on the field, you’re at a good place. The same thing, you know, when I started coaching 2019 you know, we had a great room of [line]backers, smart guys that I actually played with. You have guys that know when they messed up. And the the other side of that is when you have players out there that don’t know what they’ve messed up, and that’s more difficult, and I look at that from a team-wide perspective too.”

On Ja’Lynn Polk’s struggles, lack of visible frustration: “Look, he’s frustrated, and that’s part of the maturation process too. For a guy like Polk, that’s the difference between, let’s say, a younger guy and a veteran player in this league. The younger guys are still trying to understand holistically what needs to be done, especially in critical situations. Do you want him to like, throw his helmet?

“It’s up to the individual. You know, some players, they get so emotional, they throw things. Other players go into a shell. Other players respond the right way, on to the next play. So that’s the way he handled it, but again, the frustrating thing about that, that false start play, in my mind 100 percent is gonna be a touchdown. And, you know, we have to learn from that, not only Polk, but myself as well, all of us, we have to learn from those mistakes. And that’s what the NFL is. The NFL like, it’s not like, you know you’re playing UT Chattanooga. You’re not playing those types of teams, but it comes down to a handful of plays. And I tell the guys all the time I don’t have a crystal ball to be able to sit here and tell you what play it’s going to be. So that’s why you have to go out there and play with tremendous effort and execution on a down to down basis.”

On the Patriots’ tackling struggles: “I would say the fundamentals of tackling, it is part effort, it’s also part technique. And so that’s … it was disappointing as a defensive coach.”

“We started in the spring, talking about entry angles and things like that. And then obviously during training camp, we have multiple opportunities to work on tackling. At this point in the season, you would hope to have your your sword sharpened enough in the fundamental area that those plays won’t show up. But like you said, it did show up yesterday. We’ve got to do a better job.”

On if Drake Maye should’ve started sooner: “I mean, that’s for you guys to sit here and debate about, you could see the other quarterbacks in the league, the first round guys, and I’m sure you guys could debate about those as well. There was a point in the season where everyone was like, ‘oh, all these teams made the right decision,’ and now they’re looking back at it like, ‘oh, maybe we should have sat him,’ and then vice versa. Our record right now, obviously it’s not where we want to be, but the other side is, ‘well, we should have started [Maye] the first game.’ So, that’s for you guys to sit here and and talk about that, not me.

“I feel good about the trajectory that he’s on, and as people continue to be excited — which, it is exciting to have a quarterback go out there and play like that — we need to continue to manage our expectations and realize that he is a rookie quarterback, and hopefully he continues on this trajectory, because that will help us become a good football team.”

On reports about the team calling around for advice on developing Maye: “Yet we sit here and say he’s developing at a good trajectory. Can we all agree on that? All right. All those reports are false. None of those reports are true.

“Once again, like, it’s almost like talking out both sides of our mouths. We’re sitting here saying, ‘he’s developing great.’ … Who do you think’s responsible for that? It’s Alex Van Pelt. He’s responsible for that. And so why even call around to ask how to develop a quarterback? Yet everyone in the New England area, you just said Sean McVay, included, on the West Coast, is like, ‘hey, this guy’s developing at a good rate, and he’s going to be a good football player in this league.’ Yeah, that, to me, that is the frustrating piece of this.”

Jerod Mayo spoke to reporters Monday morning to discuss Sunday’s loss to the Rams.

Here are some highlights from his availability.

On Sunday’s loss to the Rams: “Look, it’s always disappointing to lose a game, especially here at home. Thought we did a lot of good things. I would also say we lack execution in some of the critical times in the game that we really need to convert, and that’s what a good football team does. But the guys went out there, played with energy, they played hard, played tough. I thought offensively, we did a pretty good job executing the game plan, and then special teams-wise, I would say there were things that we left out there on the field, and then defensively, obviously the receivers were a huge issue for us. You never want to give up big plays. That definitely hurt us as far as momentum and things like that in the game.

“Go back to the drawing board. We have enough talent in that room, in the locker room to win football games, and I stand by that, and I have to be better, because we have to be better, and the players got to be better. But we have enough talent in there. Looking forward to these guys changing the page and continue to get better as we move forward.”

On the deep touchdown to Cooper Kupp to start the second half: “[It’s] risk-reward. And we felt like that was a good time to call that blitz. We’ve called it a couple times in the game, and sometimes it was a run play and it gave us some movement up front. You know, when that happened, on that big play, it was just — we didn’t get there in time, and it was poor coverage on the outside.”

On struggling in key moments, in the red zone: “I would just say overall, probably just a lack of execution. Even yesterday, you look at it, we’re in a short-yardage situation, and then get a penalty, have to move back, or tackle for loss. And then things kind of change, but we just have to be better. We’ve got to be better in protection … I mean, look, there are other players in the box that we just got to be precise and execute.”

On regrets over key decisions in the game: “I don’t want to use the word ‘regrets,’ but look, I’ve been very open. You know, being a first-year head coach; I’m learning as well, and it’s a good experience. And like you said, hindsight is 20/20 but that was the decision I made during the game that I thought gave us the best chance to win the football game.”

On developing an overall philosophy on key decisions vs. making them case-by-case: “Yeah, my opinion is the case-by-case [approach], like, how the game is going, what the flow of the game is. Like I said, in the moment, I always feel like I’m making the right decision. And it’s very easy to look back and say, ‘Well, I wish I would have done X, Y, and Z.’ And that would be multiple situations, you can go back to the London game, and then some of the same situations showed up yesterday, and if you execute, we’re not having this conversation. But you know, as I said, as I say here today, look, it’s 100 percent on me, and I have to be better.”

On Christian Barmore’s return: “It was just good to see him out there. You know, there are definitely things we have to work on, I would say the number one thing is just pad level. It was really his first time being in pads. I look forward to him continuing to progress.”

On Kendrick Bourne’s strong response to Week 10 benching: “He responded great. I think he was our leading receiver yesterday. [He’s] just a guy that, it doesn’t matter what position you’re talking about, there’s nothing more important than practice and going out there and performing at a high level practice, which I would say he had a great week of practice and it transferred to the game.”

Amin Touri can be reached at [email protected].