Patriots Legend Blasts Team, Shades Bill Belichick

This New England Patriots legend ripped the team for how they handled the Jerod Mayo situation and even took a shot at Bill Belichick in the process.
August 15, 2014 Foxboro, MA The New England Patriots host the Philadelphia Eagles in a pre-season game at Gillette stadium. Patriots defensive lineman #75 Vince Wilfork gets double-teamed while he rushes the quarterback in the 1st quarter.

Wilfork Patseagles Bb
August 15, 2014 Foxboro, MA The New England Patriots host the Philadelphia Eagles in a pre-season game at Gillette stadium. Patriots defensive lineman #75 Vince Wilfork gets double-teamed while he rushes the quarterback in the 1st quarter. Wilfork Patseagles Bb / Bob Breidenbach / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The New England Patriots fired head coach Jerod Mayo following a miserable 4-13 campaign. While Mayo's dismissal wasn't surprising in and of itself, the timing of it was a bit jarring.

The Patriots canned Mayo immediately after the season ended, which indicated that New England may have been firing the first-year head coach for quite some time. Now, the Pats have a new coach in Mike Vrabel, and most feel that the team is headed in the right direction with the hiring.

While Patriots legend Vince Wilfork had a lot of positive things to say about Vrabel, he also does not appreciate the way the organization handled things with Mayo.

"I think it was BS to pull that. And knowing Jerod personally, I know the conversations," Wilfork told Fox News. "I know what it is. It’s just hard to fathom, but that’s the business when you deal with certain people. I think it was unfair."

Wilfork went as far to say that it was a "setup" and even fired a shot at Bill Belichick in the process, saying that Belichick left Mayo with a poor roster.

"So what do you think Mayo was [going to] do with the same people Bill brought in?" Wilfork said. "Mayo’s the one who found the future quarterback in Drake Maye. It’s just unfortunate. But it’s part of the game, part of the business."

Wilfork was sure to add that he is happy for Vrabel.

"It has nothing to do with Vrabel as a coach or person. I think he’s phenomenal," he said. "He’s the best coach I would have got. I just think it was unfair for Mayo to go through what he went through."

Mayo was definitely not given a great roster to work with, but he also made some crucial mistakes throughout the year that certainly played a role in his exit.

All of that said, Wilfork is not the first ex-Patriot to take issue with the way things were handled, as former tight end Rob Gronkowski also thinks Mayo got a raw deal.

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Matthew Schmidt
MATTHEW SCHMIDT

Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.