Patriots remove podcast episode over ‘mutiny’ comments

According to NBC Sports Boston, the Patriots took down an episode of the team’s “Catch 22” podcast that had aired on YouTube Thursday.

NBC Sports Boston’s Trenni Casey said Patriots.com reporter Evan Lazar made some comments about the state of the team during the podcast that caused the episode to be removed.

“It should be noted that this podcast is on YouTube, this episode was pulled,” Casey said during an episode of NBC Sports Boston’s Arbella Early Edition. “I don’t know if it has yet been pulled from Spotify. This was not apparently something the Patriots were all that happy with, but to me if you’re not happy with it, it says they’re telling the truth there and I do wonder if that is sort of the feeling that is percolating under the surface there.”

Casey read Lazar’s comments on the air. He was speaking, in part, about how Patriots players are feeling about the team’s decision to start Jacoby Brissett over rookie Drake Maye.

“Right now, they’re teetering on a mutiny in that locker room,” Lazar reportedly said. “I was in that locker room on Sunday, the defense is mad at the defense, the offense is mad at the offense.”

“You have young receivers who are throwing tantrums … at what point in time do some of these guys say to themselves ‘why am I out there getting my butt kicked and Drake can’t? Why am I going out there with a quarterback that can’t get me the football when we have a Ferrari back in the garage?”

According to MassLive, receiver DeMario Douglas apologized for his body language during the loss earlier this week, saying he didn’t know what got into him and that he felt bad as soon as he watched the film. Rookie receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, who also showed some frustration, said he has to be aware of how his body language may come across.

Lazar addressed the comments Thursday night during an appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub.

“You know (Alex) Barth pretty well as well as I do,” Lazar told The Sports Hub’s Joe Murray. “Him and I can get into some pretty heated debates and arguments over things even off the air sometimes as we tend to do. I’ll fully admit that I got a little carried away on the podcast.

“I’m sure you’ve been there, Joe, yourself just in the heat of the moment. The word I used — mutiny — there’s no mutiny in the Patriots locker room. Like I said, I got carried away and that was my bad. That’s not what was going on.

“I just think the biggest thing I worry about, and this is just me personally and my opinion, is how long the rest of the players in the locker room are going to sit there and take their lumps while Drake Maye waits in the wings and waits for his turn. That was my opinion and it came out a little stronger than I intended it to.”