Here's Your Daily Roundup of Reports Saying Jerod Mayo is Coaching for His Job the Rest of the Way

In a broad sense, it might not be keeping with the spirit of the holiday season to be talking about firing someone. But when you think about it, people losing their jobs at Christmas has been making the Yuletide gay for centuries. Scrooge fired Bob Cratchit for adding coal to the fire, and he didn't even have family coverage for his disabled kid. At Christmas, George Bailey was hours away from losing his family business and going to prison like he was Sam Bankman-Fried. Rudolph didn't get to compete in the Reindeer Games because of his birth defect, until the worst Santa that ever lived saw a chance to exploit him. Frank Shirley fired Clark Griswold in front of his whole family on Christmas Eve, even though he was up for Food Additive Designer of the Year. Frank Cross got security to toss Elliot Loudermilk out onto the sidewalk in under five minutes. Buddy the Elf was fired from the mailroom and became just another member of NYC's homeless population. Unemployment is almost as much a part of the Christmas season as me drinking to the point I can be witty and charming around my in laws. 

That's especially true in NFL coaching circles. At the very least, this is Hot Seat Season every year. Actual Firing Season has been pushed back a bit by the 17-game schedule, but it's still a cruel heartless, results-oriented business. And for the second consecutive year, the throne in New England has gotten hot. Bill Belichick didn't survive last season, and the temperature is only going up for Jerod Mayo. And while he's not necessarily about to get pink-slipped, as any NFL insider and they'll confirm these last three weeks are a test. Finals that he'll have to ace in order to keep his job. 

I already mentioned the report from Tom E. Curran that Mike Vrabel would like Mayo's job:

And based on Greg Bedard's confirmation that he'd not only accept a job offer from the Krafts but bring Josh McDaniels with him for a third tour of duty:

… it sounds like Vrabel is already looking over swatches to decide what color he wants his office. 

So this is where Mayo finds himself. In a situation where practically nothing has gone right. Where his year peaked in Week 1, then he was cursed with a blue energy drink:

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And now he's in an environment where he has to not only keep his team from imploding against the Bills, Chargers, and Bills again, but turn everything around. To make his team seem fully prepared and ready to compete against actual playoff teams for the first time all season. Which is not me talking, but the entire NFL media establishment:

Mike Giardi, Boston Sports Journal - I've gotten some pushback from league sources for reporting that Jonathan Kraft is as onboard with Mayo as his father. While Robert might have initially been the one making calls around the league, I'm told that Jonathan has been the driving force since then; if you'll recall, there's been some different reporting on the purpose of those calls. The initial conversation centered on how best to "support the quarterback." Still, that tidbit sprouted in several different directions regarding coordinators, the general manager, Eliot Wolf, and, depending on how this season plays out, Mayo himself.

And so there you have it. Either every one of these reports is wrong, or Jerod Mayo has three weeks to prove he deserves to be the one to carry the challenge flag in his sock for an NFL franchise. Beginning Sunday afternoon against the presumptive MVP:

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And an offense that's scored 30 or more points for eight straight weeks, averaging 35 per game over that span. Meanwhile Mayo's offense hasn't scored more than 25 all year. 

On the other side of the ball, Phil Perry has reported that people on the Cardinals told him that outside of Christian Gonzalez, there wasn't one Patriots defender they were worried about. That for the first time all season, they felt they had the other matchups in their favor, across the board (cued to the 12:10 mark):

So good luck with that. Frankly, if the Pats were to steal one of these remaining games - and let's rule out Week 18 if the Bills are resting all their starters - or even put up a decent fight, perhaps Mayo does deserve another shot next year. I just don't see that happening. 

What we know for sure is that someone in the Patriots organization is floating all this stuff about Mayo fighting for his job and Vrabel out there being very much interested in taking it away from him. Either way, this whole situation will make the rest of the season something the first 15 weeks haven't been:

Fascinating. 

Strap in. The future of the franchise is up for grabs these last three games.