Patriots’ special teams coordinator defended team’s fans after boos

Patriots

“I always say this, ‘If you don’t want to get shot at, don’t join the Army.'”

By Conor Roche

January 4, 2025 | 10:12 AM

2 minutes to read

A few Patriots players have criticized their own fans this past week for booing the team and chanting for the firing of Jerod Mayo. Their coaches, however, have defended the fans.

Patriots special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer arguably gave the strongest defense yet of the team’s fans. After Jahlani Tavai made strong remarks criticizing fans on Friday, Springer recalled what it was like rooting for a team in his childhood.

“I always say this, ‘If you don’t want to get shot at, don’t join the Army,’” Springer told reporters. “I know this profession. I know what it brings. [The Patriots] have had so much success here. I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan, so as a kid when we weren’t going to the playoffs – and as a little kid we were going to Super Bowls – I was pissed at the team too when we were losing. So I’m all about the team and the fans, too.”

Springer showed some empathy for the fans too, recognizing the emotional and financial commitment some make toward the team.

“There’s people in those stands – and I know because I was a kid once and my parents couldn’t afford to go to football games – they’re expensive tickets,” Springer said. “To bring your whole family to the game, that’s $1,000 you’re probably spending in one day. And then to lose like we did, I mean, they’re upset. They’re frustrated. And they should be. We need to put a better product on the field, and that’s what our job is.”

The Patriots fans who were in attendance in their blowout loss to the Chargers in Week 17 certainly let their frustration be known. Boos were frequent and chants of the team to fire Mayo started to come down in the late stages of the 40-7 loss.

Shortly after the game, defensive tackle Davon Godchaux called the chants “ridiculous.” Defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. said the fans were “spoiled” from the franchise’s previous success. On Friday, Tavai told WEEI that fans should “know their place.” He later clarified those remarks, but also added that fans shouldn’t be critics of the team.

As New England fell to 3-13 with the loss, Springer wants to use those remarks from fans as motivation instead.

“Any time I hear that, I’m like, ‘What can I do better so they’re not doing that next time? What can I do better to be a better coordinator, to be a better coach, to make our players play harder and play better so that we don’t hear that?’ They have every right to do that in my opinion,” Springer said. ”It’s professional sports. If you don’t want to [hear] that, go coach in Alaska – six-man football. Then you won’t hear that, because that’s all your family in the stands. But this is different.”