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Patriots Veteran Fires Shot at Fans Amid Terrible Season

Jahlani Tavai took a shot at New England Patriots fans ahead of their Week 18 season finale against the Buffalo Bills.

By Jason Schandl

Nov 17, 2024; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots linebacker Jahlani Tavai (48) leaves the field after a game against the Los Angeles Rams at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Nov 17, 2024; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots linebacker Jahlani Tavai (48) leaves the field after a game against the Los Angeles Rams at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images
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All winning teams are alike; each losing team is a loser in its own way.

There's no quicker way to put an NFL team's culture to the test than to take an organization with fans and ownership that are accustomed to nothing but success and have them enter a rebuild with a new head coach. And so far for the New England Patriots, that test is not going so well.

Fans have to be excited with the early returns on Drake Maye, but basically the rest of the team from head coach Jerod Mayo right down through the whole roster, has drawn serious ire from Patriots faithful. And when they're paying the often astronomical costs for tickets at Gillette Stadium, they've been letting the players hear it.

One Patriots veteran fired back at the fans though, clearly unhappy with the reaction.

Jalahni Tavai Takes Shot at Patriots Fans

Patriots linebacker Jahlani Tavai spoke about the fans booing the team on The Greg Hill Show this week, and he made his thoughts very clear — saying that they "just gotta know their place." He tried to hedge the negative remarks by showing appreciation, but he couldn't even offer a ton of that, saying he appreciates them "at times."

Tavai started his career with the 3-win Detroit Lions, so you'd think he knows how it goes when you can't win games in the NFL. Maybe Lions fans were just so used to losing at that point that he wasn't getting booed? But seriously, how many fanbases in the NFL wouldn't boo a team putting out the on-field product that we're getting from the Patriots this year?

That's not to say booing the team is productive, or the right thing to do. Anyone who expected more from the Patriots in year one of a rebuild was fooling themselves — this is what any realistic projection looked like for the Patriots' 2024 season. But for a lot of fans (of any team, not just in New England), that doesn't matter.

And now this is just going to get worse for Tavai. Your team is 3-13. You just lost by 33 points in your last game. You yourself have had a poor season (PFF has Tavai ranked 136th among 183 graded linebackers on the year). And now you're taking shots at fans?

Considering the Patriots are ending the season at home in Week 18, expect the boos for Tavai to be especially loud if he has any missteps on the field on Sunday.

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