Jerod Mayo opens up about dealing with media scrutiny as first-year head coach NBC Boston [Video]

Unsurprisingly, Jerod Mayo’s first season as an NFL head coach hasn’t been smooth-sailing.

The former New England Patriots linebacker faced an uphill battle when he took over a rebuilding team that just bid farewell to legendary coach Bill Belichick. With his team at 3-10 and cruising toward a top-five draft pick, he has faced no shortage of scrutiny as the six-time Super Bowl champion’s successor.

How has Mayo handled the criticism in Year 1? He opened up about dealing with media and fan scrutiny during an exclusive interview on Tom E. Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast.

“I appreciate true journalism. I always have. As long as these are truthful or there’s some backing behind it, some reason,” Mayo told Curran. “If you have a question, I’ll answer it as much as I can. And in saying that, this is what I tell my coaches: It’s a big difference between noise and signals, right? Noise and signals.

“Noise is just all the chatter. People are …