TRANSCRIPT: Jerod Mayo Press Conference 8/13
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Here’s the full transcript of New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo’s press conference for Tuesday August 13, 2024:
OPENING STATEMENT:
“Excited to be out here. Great weather. Another team here. Break up the monotony of camp. To have the Eagles come in, a great organization, great team. It’s definitely going to be a good measuring stick for us.”
“I did hear you guys have a football game later on. Football game, media football game. I’ll be out there, and I’ll write some articles about you guys. Just stay on your feet. No tackling, no tackling.”
On what are he’s looking for from his offense today:
“I’m looking for the whole team just to be out here and compete. I’ve been saying it since day one. That’s our job, and see who can really play. Another opportunity for us to wear the same color and go against another team. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
On the fact he said he had a conversation with Kendrick Bourne after he popped up in trade rumors last week, and if he’s had a conversation with Matthew Judon since he popped up in a rumor yesterday:
“We don’t really operate in rumors like that. The conversations that I have with those players are pretty private. What I will say is that Judon has done a great job in the meeting room and done everything that we’ve asked. He’s meeting all the expectations.”
On if he has any update on Hunter Henry after he was injured on Sunday and he wasn’t there yesterday:
“No update, really, to give you guys. He won’t practice today, if you want to know that. But when he’s ready to go, he’ll be out there playing.”
On if he anticipates it to be long-term:
“I don’t anticipate it to be very long.”
On what his relationship with Eagles Coach Nick Seriani is like, and how they have worked together to manage things:
“It’s a good relationship. Every time we see each other, we have good conversations. And even yesterday, we had their whole staff here. And just how we wanted to practice, went through the script and things like that. I would say our staffs are on the same page. And once again, he’s done it. This is my first time. So he had some advice about that. But I appreciate the relationship.”
On if there is going to be enough snaps for all four quarterbacks out here today:
“We’ll see. Obviously, the first two will get a significant amount of the snaps. We’ve got to get ready to play some real football. And we’re approaching the day like a game. We’re not tackling to the ground, but at the same time, those guys, we’re going to put our best out there and see how they operate.”
On how much film, study, or scheme goes into a day like today:
“Not a lot. Really, it’s not about anyone else. It’s about us. As far as we talk about fundamentals and knowing what to do and knowing how to do it, those are important things. We didn’t have a big scouting report for the Eagles. What we do know is they’re a good football team, and the expectations for that team are pretty high compared to where our expectations are from the outside looking in. So we’ll see what happens.”
On, in his in experience, how long does it take a quarterback to learn how to play with an offensive line, to partner up:
“I would say they’re all individual circumstances. Some quarterbacks probably can just go in right now and it doesn’t really matter who’s up front. Then you have other quarterbacks that need that time. So I don’t think it’s a magic number.”
On how he would describe, Drake Maye, the preseason and training camp that he’s had to this this point:
“Yeah, he’s been steady. I think if I was to say one word, it’s steady. He’s always in the building, always studying. He’s out here trying to get better each and every day. And he’ll get more reps this week, if that’s the question. If that’s the underlying question, he’ll get more reps this week, believe me.”
On the opener for him, just getting calling plays in the huddle, just handing the football off, the basics, getting that under his belt:
“Yeah, it was huge. And I would also say when he wasn’t in the game, he was still listening to the calls, still taking those mental reps, which are very important. I always talk to all the players, ‘if you’re not in there, you should be getting mental and going through the checks in your head.’ He definitely did that.”
On knowing the game is two days from now, but today is a chance to obviously see a lot of things and how he keeps the guys understanding that this is an exercise to go out there, but maybe not take it too far against the other team:
“Taking it too far means what? We’re going to come out here today and treat it like a game besides tackling. And so we’re going to go out here and try to play with good fundamentals. We’ll wrap guys up. We’re not taking them to the ground, but we’ll thud up. The receivers know, the runningbacks know that we’re going to protect the ball. We’re going to go out there and try to find space. We’re approaching this like a game. I think you have to, especially when you have a good team like the Eagles in town.”
On the fact Jacoby Brissett said a week or so ago, ‘We need to button down the things that don’t require talent,’ and yesterday, there were a a couple of laps, some guys jumping offside, and he had a little meeting there, along with how he feels like you’re progressing as a group on that front:
“I think it’s going well. That was the first truly sloppy practice, in my opinion. I think the guys knew that. I think that’s a huge part of it. You know when you’re messing up. If you don’t know you’re messing up, then you’re messing up. That’s a huge problem. So they took to the coaching. But once again, the pre-snap things, the things that you can control, we have to clean that stuff up before we get to week one.”
On when it comes to figuring out who your best five are on the offensive line, how important are the one-on-ones that he and the staff has to evaluate those guys:
“They’re very important. But in saying that, we’ve all seen offensive linemen who during one-on-ones, they stink. But once you put them in the group, they’re a vital piece of the puzzle. And it’s been that way for a long time, around here, at least as a unit, you always want to evaluate those guys. I would say if you had to weight it, it’s more weighted towards the group than it is the individual performance. Not saying that one-on-ones aren’t important, but those guys have to work hand-in-hand.
On how he would you evaluate his own performance:
“That’s for you guys. That’s for you guys to decide and for the players to decide and the assistant coaches. I’m always open to feedback. And they’ve done a great job. I have this open-door policy. They’ve done a great job. ‘Hey, Coach, we could do this better, or maybe we should change something here.’ I’ve been wide open, just listening to all those options.”
On the fact that couple of years ago when asked about interviewing elsewhere, he said he was a young coach, and he was interviewing and learning as much from them as they were from him, and what he took away from his conversations in Philadelphia:
“Well, first, I would say all of those guys were on the same page. Obviously, it starts with the GM and ownership. Those guys were on the same page. I wanted to have that same relationship, whether it was here or somewhere else. I wanted to have that same relationship with the GM and also ownership, which I feel very confident that Eliot [Wolf] and ownership as well as myself were on the same page. It was a great experience. It was a great experience for me to go out there and learn. And look, when you see this year, we brought in what, 17 new coaches. It’s a different perspective. And it’s not that it’s good or bad or better or worse. It’s just different. And I try to take all that stuff in and put my own spin on it.
On what steps he hopes that Drake Maye takes today and if he has goals in mind for him:
“You just want him to continue to build his confidence and go out there and operate the offense. I would say offensively as a whole, we just need to operate faster. And those guys understand that. And we’ll see, hopefully today, that those guys really take heed to that message.”
On if he has any general memories of joint practice as a player:
“Yeah, a lot of memories. We bring teams in all the time, and even going to West Virginia to go practice out there. It really breaks up the monotony at camp, and it really helps you build that camaraderie amongst the group. Because out here, when you’re going against each other, it gets a little stale sometimes, and it’s always good to go against another team.”
On how much did what happened last year, the second day of the Green Bay practices, impact his decision to have one day of practice:
“I wouldn’t say I was really thinking about that. I think for me, you go out there, you practice one day, and then you play in the game. Some people will say, ‘Well, why not two days?’ What I’ve seen over the years is that second day always gets a lot more chippier. You go back and you watch the film and you’re like, ‘I didn’t even see that.’ And then the next day, something breaks out. We didn’t want that to happen. Look, we’re out here as football players, not fighters, and that’s the message to the team.”
On if he has a plan in place? If there are fights, if he and Nick Siriani have worked that out:
“Absolutely. I mean, look, you don’t fight in a real game. When you fight in a real game, you get fined, you get kicked out. It’s the same thing here. My message to the players, if you’re getting a fight out here, if you’re a starter, you’re going to play the whole preseason again. If you’re not a starter, you won’t play at all. So that’s my mindset with that.”
On the fact he mentioned that Siriani had some advice for joint practices, and what he can share on that:
“I’d rather keep that in-house.”
On the fact this is the last time talking before the preseason game on Thursday, and he said the two quarterbacks are going to get a lot of work today and if he expects them to get the majority of work on Thursday as well:
“We’ll see how it goes. Look, today, we’ll go back and review the film, and depending on how today goes, we’ll be able to lock in what we want to do in the game.”
On if anything has surprised him about Ja’lynn Polk:
“He’s another guy that’s just very steady. You watch him come out of college, of course, he can run routes and catch the ball and do all those things. But the thing that got me was his blocking. You don’t really see the receiver do the things that he did in college. He’s a tough individual, and he’s going out here blocking guys like Dugger and all that stuff. It’s great. It’s great to see. That mentality, that attitude at that position is important.”
(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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