TRANSCRIPT: Jerod Mayo Press Conference 8/11
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Here’s the full transcript of New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo’s press conference for Sunday August 11, 2024:
OPENING STATEMENT:
“All right. Well, excited to be back out here. Players had yesterday off. Come out here and compete and honestly get ready for the Eagles.”
On what went into the decision to part ways with JuJu Smith-Schuster:
“It was a decision between Eliot [Wolf] and myself, really to give the younger guys an opportunity to go out there and get more reps and show what they can do.”
On specific to his health, Smith-Schuster dealt with a knee injury coming in the last season and it seemed to sap a lot of his explosion. And if that is something that you just felt like wasn’t going to get better here:
“I mean, that’s part of it. At the same time, we just want him to get healthy. He still has some good ball left in him, and I wish him nothing but the best.
On now that you had the time to watch it and everything else, what he took from that first preseason game:
“Yeah, the first game was really, at least for me, obviously, you want to go out there and coach the game, but also just see operationally how everything was working, whether it’s the communication from the booth downstairs or from coach to coach. Those were definitely things that I just wanted to see for myself. A couple of things to iron out there. From a football perspective, I thought those guys went out there and played hard. They flew around. Once again, it doesn’t matter who’s out there. It’s about the quality of the reps. And this week we’ll have our starters playing a lot more.”
On the fact that considering he didn’t play much the other night, how big of a week is this for Drake in practice, with the joint practice:
“For all the quarterbacks, it’s a huge week for those guys to really show development. Drake will play more this week for sure. But don’t forget, anytime you practice against a team, they’ll get a lot of good reps against someone else. And based on that, we’ll see how we’ll play in the game. That’s all positions.”
On now that he’s had a chance to go back and watch the film, what did he saw from Joe Milton seeing it a second time:
“Just watching Joe run around and that athleticism is always a welcome sight. In saying that, there’s still things for him to work on. One thing would be ball security. I know it looked cool, but It’s always a dangerous thing, swinging the ball around like that. But this is a guy who’s working hard every single day and getting better.”
On how he anticipates the energy, the intensity, the work kind of changes this week as they get closer to the regular season:
“Yeah, this week, first of all, in practice, we’re going to be wearing the same color. I think it’s good to have joint practices to break up the monotony of the week, or sorry, of training camp. But hopefully, you continue to see the team gel together and guys taking a step forward.”
On the fact there’s been a lot of reporting about Brandon Aiyuk, and there’s this notion that maybe certain players don’t want to come to the New England. As a former player, head coach, one, how difficult is that and if it also sort of speaks to what they have to build to when it comes to the on-field product and just making it maybe more appealing:
“We’re always trying to get better. I think Aiyuk is still in San Francisco right now, and some other teams. He didn’t go to some other teams as well. What I will say is, look, when we start to win games, guys will want to come here. When we start to establish the culture, establish the roster, I think guys will be excited to come back.”
On thinking about the first game as a head coach, when he went back through it, maybe with Evan [Rothstein], game management-wise, what he learned:
“It was great. Look, it was the first time I had four channels on my headset. Evan and I have a dedicated line, and we talk through things during the game that will come up during the regular season. We didn’t necessarily approach those situations that way, but it was good. The communication was good between the special teams, coaches, the offense and defense. It was good.”
On that one play at the late second quarter before the two-minute warning, and if that’s an example of one where he would hurry up to the line in the regular season but decided not to:
“That’s right. And there are certain situations in these preseason games where sometimes you’re like, ‘Well, let’s just run our two-minute drill, even though there’s six minutes left.’ So you’re trying to do different things against different teams and just see how it kind of works out.”
On if anything surprises him with what went on in the game, or went on the whole day, if anything was maybe easier than he thought, harder than he thought:
“No, honestly, I felt like I was in my element. I said this after the game where I didn’t have to really worry about substitutions and things like that. It was more of a holistic approach, and I enjoyed it.”
On the fact he mentioned four channels. If Evan’s got one, but the other three just offense, defense, special teams?
“Yeah…”
The McCourty’s? [Laughter]
“[Laughs] No, But you know, the special teams coaches in the past didn’t have headsets here. And so now they do have headsets because I think it’s important that we’re all tied in. That’s just my philosophy.”
On the fact Matthew Slater was on the sideline and it looked like he was on a headset and if he is going to be an important conduit for the players and the coache:
“Yeah, 100%. I think it’s important for him to have a headset. And he’s been helping with the special teams as well. Remember, his role is like this umbrella role, whether it’s advisor or a coach, whatever you want to call him. But he’s always there to help, and I think he did a good job.”
On the fact we’ve seen [Atonio] Mafi and Nick [Leverett] get some work as backup centers behind David [Andrews], and how he assess that group behind the starter:
“Yeah, it’s a work in progress. David has been doing it for a very long time, and some of these other guys, they just haven’t done it. They played more of a guard role. But look, they’re getting better at it. The coaches are doing a good job spending that extra time working on snapping. You always want to have someone else on the one or maybe even two extra guys that know how to snap the ball.”
On the fact Jeremiah Pharms played offense a couple of years in the past and what look did he give the defense when he was doing that and what does it say about his work ethic:
“Terrible look. [Laughs] He’s not an offensive lineman, but what I will say about Farms is he’s a ‘the more you can do’ type of person. He’s always trying to help no matter what you ask him to do. He just loves football, whether it’s playing offense, defensive line, on the practice, or whatever it is, this guy is going to give you 100%. So I appreciate him.”
On what Layden Robinson showed you in the film review:
“That we still have a long way to go. Those young linemen, it was their first opportunity, and we’re looking for that growth. Whoever we’re talking about, we’re looking for that growth from week one to week two.”
On the fact he’s a guy that obviously played more right guard in college, playing more left the last few days, and if he’s gaining more confidence that Robinson might be able to do that:
“Yeah, I do. I do think those guys will be good players. I think Layden is going to be a good player for sure. And once again, the more you can do it, it’s good. Now, this week against the Eagles, they got some big guys in there, so it’s going to be a huge test for him.”
On the fact Matthew Judon was on the sideline a lot, helping coach a few players during the team and after everything that happened over the last week or two, what it was like to see that from him during the game:
“To me, it’s not everything that happened over the last week or two. It’s one day. I think we all have a bad day every once in a while. But he was dialed in. He was excited for the players, and he was coaching them up on the sideline. No complaints from me.”
On if there are any updates on the PUP guys, health-wise:
“Look, those guys are progressing, some faster than others. But when they’re ready to get out there on the field, they’ll be there.”
On his relationship with Alex Van Pelt, and the fact it sounds like you gave him the autonomy to give the input on what they wanted to do offensively a bit prior to the preseason game:
“Yeah, our relationship has been great. Look, he is the head coach of the offense, And once again, we meet about these things all the time, and sometimes things change. People want to say, ‘Why didn’t Drake play this much or that much?’ We had a plan, and we have a plan for this week as well.”
On if he feels comfortable with, ‘Do your thing, I’m delegating to you’:
“Yeah, for the most part. When I watch other teams, I may give him some ideas. And look, I may not necessarily know all the lingo, but look, ‘We need to get the ball in this space,’ or ‘We want to run the ball this week.’ He’s open to all that stuff, and we’re on the same page.”
On game management stuff and how he’ll decide when to go for it on fourth down this season, and if it’s an Evan Rothstein thing saying,’Analytics, say, go, go, go?’ if it’s a ‘feel’ thing, and how he’ll decide:
“Look, Evan does a good job with all that stuff, but ultimately, it’s my decision. And every game, is its own game. So that’s how I would approach it.”
On Matthew Judon, as far as the off-field contract negotiations go, if he feels like that’s also in a good place right now:
“I would say so. I mean, look, He understands he’s under contract, and we expect him to be out here at practice, and when it’s time for him to play, to go out there and play the game.
On the fact Vederian Lowe has gotten a lot of run with the top offense and what he’s seen from him, both on the field and in the preseason:
“Yeah, look, this is one of the quietest offensive linemen I’ve ever been around, but this guy goes out there every single day and improves. He has great athleticism, great length, and look forward to seeing him against better competition.”
(Editor’s Note: This transcript is done via the available footage and is subject to typos. If you spot something, please take a moment to let me know in the comments below.)
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