Jerod Mayo: "This is where I want to Be"

[Real fan 02]

Mayo is set for life; after his career as a player he surely has enough banked to live a comfortable life in retirement if he so chooses. So he can decide what he wants to do and how and where he wants to do it. Seems he has decided he wants to do what he’s doing, and to do it here.

EDIT: was originally a reply on an old zombie thread; Ross moved it to a new thread because of current media. THANKS Ross!

Jerod Mayo clears the air on job title with Patriots

I believe he is the successor in waiting. The guy is charismatic, very smart, very cerebral beloved In the organization and the community. He is his own man. He's not a BB wannabe like judge. I respect mayo tremendously for creating his own lane. I can remember bruschi and wilfork raving about him when he was a rookie.

 

[tasmlab]

How do TV-watching football fans like myself determine how good a coach Jerod Mayo is? As a player, as a all-Pats guy, attitude, etc., he seems great, but I wouldn't know how important his coaching contribution is. And many people have an opinion that's he's future HC material. How?

This said, it seems Matt Patricia's coaching contributions stick out like a sore body part.

 

[Real fan 02]

How do TV-watching football fans like myself determine how good a coach Jerod Mayo is? As a player, as a all-Pats guy, attitude, etc., he seems great, but I wouldn't know how important his coaching contribution is. And many people have an opinion that's he's future HC material. How?

This said, it seems Matt Patricia's coaching contributions stick out like a sore body part.

He has been in this coaching role for a few years. The players, the other coaches on the team including BB himself gush over his coaching abilities. It's also said that he runs everything on the defense, he just doesn't call plays.. as Steve does.

 

[TheRainMaker]

When Mayo was in his prime he was sometimes criticized on this board as he often did not show up in the Box Score, but he was every bit as much a leader as DMac, glad he is still here and probably the future HC of the NEP...

Or the criticism would go the opposite way, where he had 12 tackles but "they were all too far down the field to matter". He never got proper credit for what he brought to the team, IMO.

Put simply, he was drafted at the wrong time. Most of his time with the Pats he played with mostly trash surrounding him. You saw flashes of impact plays from him, but I also saw him limited by scheme and lack of talent. And yes, there were many times you'd see him chasing too many guys downfield which is where the criticism came from. I think had he been draft around 2014, he'd be talked about differently as he's unfortunately an afterthought during his time with the Pats.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

This is where I get confused. Can someone who knows football clarify for me what the difference is between the game plan Xs and Os guy (Steve) and the Coordinator (Jerod)?

So Steve is drawing up who goes where on the field and dictates who is responsible for defending which player from the offense?

What does Jerod do as the coordinator? Decides which players are the starters and backups and who goes in when? Fire them up?

This is not to discount anything Ken said, he is more knowledgeable and detailed than me.

I think the whole defensive team develops the game plan, personnel, and strategy together during the week. I think Steve calls in the actual formations (plays) to implement the game plan (micro view) while Mayo has a more general view to adjust the groupings, formations, and individual players (macro view). For example, Mayo looks at how the other team's offense is executing versus what was expected, which players missed their assignments, whose technique or positioning is wrong, and corrects the groupings and individual players intra-game while Steve continues to call in the individual plays.

Maybe that is too simple of an explanation, and maybe I am off, but that is how I see it.

 

[UrbanCowboy]

Well it's good news at worst. I'm sure SOMEONE will twist the presser into something negative.

Mayo, I believe is an important personality with the coaching staff and locker room. He a guy people are drawn to. I met him a few times after he retired and before he was coaching again. Great guy to meet, and VERY smart and articulate. Was doing great in private business before he came back. Yes he could retire on the money he made playing, but he also could retire on the money he made in business.

Two key points. He has lived in the N Attleboro area for a long time. Like Josh, he has young kids and is rooted to his neighborhood and town. Coaching can be a very nomadic life, especially in DI college and pro. It's like the military, lots of moves and hard on a family. Jarod will be willing to move of course if a great opportunity opens up, but given what he has here, why move when you like the area AND you job.

The second point is that I have never been one to think that he is being demeaned because Steve is calling the Defensive signals. First because defensive signal calling is a bit overrated since so much is dictated by what the offense showed you presnap. And secondly, I wouldn't be surprised if he is doing most of the D Coordinator's job behind the scenes. Granted creating a defensive game plan is very collaborative, but in the end someONE has to put all the data together and OK the final plan.....to show to Bill. .

He's very likely to be a HC within the next 5 years. I hope it's here. In the meantime he couldn't have a better teacher.

I have always been surprised that so many of Bill's coaching tree haven't had more success. But clearly that job is a LOT more than just being the HC. You NEED presence, because you need to have a LOT of people to want to listen to your vision beyond the 53+ members of the team. When you look back at all the guys who left and DIDN'T find any long term success, how many had a great public "presence"
BOB, Vrable maybe? Anyways, just a thought

Finally we have someone who isn't an a-hole I think the old Patriots hard-ass approach is going the way of the dodo and seems Mayo gets that. [just to be clear, I think this is great news!]

 

[DarrylS]

Put simply, he was drafted at the wrong time. Most of his time with the Pats he played with mostly trash surrounding him. You saw flashes of impact plays from him, but I also saw him limited by scheme and lack of talent. And yes, there were many times you'd see him chasing too many guys downfield which is where the criticism came from. I think had he been draft around 2014, he'd be talked about differently as he's unfortunately an afterthought during his time with the Pats.

Point of clarification I had no quarrels with his play on the field, merely pointing out that he was often denigrated for his play on this message board, usually because he did not show up in the box score..
The criticism undermined his selection to the being All Pro(2010) and selected to the Pro Bowl twice ( 2010 and 2012)...

 

[Triumph]

How many job offers did he actually have on the table?

I want to be on the only team that would give me a job too.

 

[mike_usagisan]

I get the feeling Mayo (the player), like Mankins and Welker, are always going to be seen as those players who didn't win a Super Bowl and therefore aren't as good as the champions who came before and after them.

 

[Sicilian]

I get the feeling Mayo (the player), like Mankins and Welker, are always going to be seen as those players who didn't win a Super Bowl and therefore aren't as good as the champions who came before and after them.

Mankins in particular gets a raw deal, because they won the Super Bowl two months before he was drafted, then didn't win one for ten years, only to win one again the same season they traded him away in camp. There are two Lombardi's bookending his Patriots career, which is brutal.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Well it's good news at worst. I'm sure SOMEONE will twist the presser into something negative.

You were correct, that someone was Adam Jones. I couldn't listen for too long, his takeaway was that Mayo had one more year in Foxboro before either getting BB's job or going somewhere else to be a HC. The perfect scenario is Mayo spending a couple of years being groomed as the next HC of the NEPs. Ideally the transition should happen in two years after getting the all time win record, keeping BOB and SB as coordinators for continuity.

 

[Real fan 02]

This is not to discount anything Ken said, he is more knowledgeable and detailed than me.

I think the whole defensive team develops the game plan, personnel, and strategy together during the week. I think Steve calls in the actual formations (plays) to implement the game plan (micro view) while Mayo has a more general view to adjust the groupings, formations, and individual players (macro view). For example, Mayo looks at how the other team's offense is executing versus what was expected, which players missed their assignments, whose technique or positioning is wrong, and corrects the groupings and individual players intra-game while Steve continues to call in the individual plays.

Maybe that is too simple of an explanation, and maybe I am off, but that is how I see it.

To simply put it.. Mayo sets the game plan, how to attack offenses, how to cover up weaknesses on the D, puts guys in positions to play to thier strengths.. SB just calls the plays.. that's how Curran and perry put it..

 

[Real fan 02]

I get the feeling Mayo (the player), like Mankins and Welker, are always going to be seen as those players who didn't win a Super Bowl and therefore aren't as good as the champions who came before and after them.

@ mike_usagisan

maybe I'm making much of nothing. However it's very telling to me of how BOB, Matt Groh when they spoke with the media would not refer to Mac by name.. it's clear they have taken orders from BB. I'm not convinced the issues from last season are done and over with. Look at Baltimore the new OC stated he was excited to work with Lamar.. even amind contract issues.

I like Mac, And I feel the kid is being wronged at this point do the kid a solid and trade him. He's not appreciated here

 

[mike_usagisan]

@ mike_usagisan

maybe I'm making much of nothing. However it's very telling to me of how BOB, Matt Groh when they spoke with the media would not refer to Mac by name.. it's clear they have taken orders from BB. I'm not convinced the issues from last season are done and over with. Look at Baltimore the new OC stated he was excited to work with Lamar.. even amind contract issues.

I like Mac, And I feel the kid is being wronged at this point do the kid a solid and trade him. He's not appreciated here

I'm a homer, so always take what I say with a big grain of salt, but I think they want to see Mac come out and perform, and they believe competition is the best way to stoke that fire. By not promising him anything and making him win it in camp, I think they're trying to bring out his best performance. It's like comparing Tommy to Johnny Foxboro.

 

[Real fan 02]

I'm a homer, so always take what I say with a big grain of salt, but I think they want to see Mac come out and perform, and they believe competition is the best way to stoke that fire. By not promising him anything and making him win it in camp, I think they're trying to bring out his best performance. It's like comparing Tommy to Johnny Foxboro.

That makes the most sense, And I agree with your statement. I definitely want to see Mac perform as I mentioned before usually good QB play is conducive to winning. He earned his spot at Alabama, earned the starting QB his rookie season. I don't know what approach the team can take with Mac that can motivate him more than last season. I truly believe Mac wants to be great. He is going into his 3rd season, some public Acknowledgement would really go along way to make him feel like he's a integral part of this team. Again that's just me speaking.. I'm sure internally things are clearer.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Let me try to give you the basics of what happens when you draw up a game plan in preparation for a game. First understand that whatever I say here is more complex at the pro level, simply because you have many more people working on it.

1. So first you look at you opponent. You have data that has been compiled on what the opponent has done THIS year. You have data on what the opponent had done over the last few years (assuming the coach has been around that long.) If we are talking about the defense, say, you will have data on what the HC and OC have historically liked to do in certain situations. THEN you will have massive data on the personnel of the other team. Who's good, Who's weak. Who may give a hint of what's coming by a lean, or how they set, or line up. THEN you need to go over what teams tend to do from each formation or motion combination. You study what teams are doing based of personnel groupings and down and distance tendencies. THEN you start to put that info together and try and determine what the offense will try and do to OUR defense, based on what they've done in the past when they play the Pats. In other words, how are going to attack what WE like to do on defense and how they might attack certain looks and personnel packages WE put out there. You know they are working with the same amount of data that we have.

2. Now you take what you have found FROM that data and start to organize a game plan that you HOPE can hold your opponent under 20 points that game. You start to create line ups and defensive looks that YOU think will create the best chance at stopping the opponent. What do you want to do in all the different SITUATIONS that will occur during the game based on all the info you gathered. Who do you want in the game on likely running plays, and what defense you want to run. The same goes for obvious passing downs. You do the same things based on what you now expect in certain down and distance situations, and what they like to do when they have certain players on the field. What blitz packages you think will be effective. What tendencies you've found. How much zone. How much man, etc

3. Now after you have done all of that, the next and perhaps the HARDEST task is how you are going to distill this MASSIVE amount of information into a game plan that your players can understand, AND do it simply enough so you don't induce paralysis by analysis. You have to decide just how much info your players need to know to be their most effective, AND the best way to pass on that info.

4 Now that you have take all that information and the basic game plan in mind, you have to plan your practice schedule for the week. You have to determine what specific drills you want to run during group practice and what individual activities you want to do in individual drills. Then during team work you have to prepare all the cards you need to use to run a scout team and who are the guys who are going to be on that teams and prepare THEM to be able to give good looks to the D You have to break down EVERY individual period and what you hope to accomplish during that hour and half to 2 hours of work. THEN you have to decide what film you want each individual group to see that week and what are the key elements each coach will want to point out,

5. Now that you have have the data and the player side taken care of by Tuesday, the coaches will spend the rest of the week determining how they want to call that game. What they want to do on all the different down and distance situations, etc and they have to figure out who they want on the field for each situation, and prepare those players to be ready.

In today's game one of the evolutions I've seen is all the situational substitutions you see. So many players coming on and off the field each down it almost looks like a hockey game. Preparing players to get on and off the field must be a difficult task that we fans take for granted, but I bet a LOT of work goes into this part of the game behind the scenes

I think the guy in charge of this vast operation is Jerad Mayo and Steve is the best guy they have to communicate to they green dot guys what they want to do on an individual play based on the down and distance, what was determined fits the game plan that was developed, and his general feel for the flow of the game

6. I forgot to add that a significant part of the game plan is PLAN B. All game plans do not work at times, so you have to have PREPARED a back up plan if the offense shows you something new. You also have to prepare how and what you are going to do at half time. You have to have organized how you are going to take what you learned in the first half and how you are going to adjust. By the time you arrive in the locker room you have to know what EACH coach is going to say to his group and how they are going to present it. Of course you don't know what you are going to say in that situation, but the organization and coordination of the flow of new information that you want to present has to be done by prior planning.

Understand, Mike, that this is just off the top of my head based on the experience of putting together defensive game plans on the HS level with just 4 guys helping. But the basic PROCESS is the same on every level. We lived by the 5 P:s (prior preparation prevents piss poor performance.) What you have in the pro game is the amount of info you have at hand is infinitely more than what I had to deal with AND the amount of people you have to develop that info is also much greater. We created weekly game plans as a group every Sunday at 6, in a meeting that could last past midnight sometimes, but from it would come the basic plan for the week. Hard work but it was a SO much simpler operation than what happens in Foxboro each week.

Hope that helps.

Good write up Ken, lot's of good info, but it's 6 P's.