TRANSCRIPT: Jerod Mayo’s Appearance on WEEI 8/26
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Here’s the full transcript of New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo’s press conference on WEEI on Monday following their loss to the Commanders:
We’re on to the regular season. I wanted to ask you from a head coach view, are you used to it now in- game-wise, and are you ready for prime time?
“The operation from a communication standpoint and sub and operational standpoint, I think we’re all on the same page. The regular season might be different. Every game is its own game within itself. So I’m sure some things will pop up throughout the season, but I feel pretty confident about the way the operation is going.”
Jerod, it looks like, just based off of preseason and what we see and what we’re hearing, that Drake Maye has outperformed Jacoby Brissett. So why is it that it seems like Jacoby Brissett is still the starting quarterback or quarterback QB1?
“I would say it’s a combination of Drake becoming more comfortable, and he’s climbing the ranks, and Jacoby having a better overall command of the operation. But who knows? It may change. And we said it all along, we got 1A and 1B. It’s a competition, and that’s definitely a huge conversation here over the next couple of days of how we want to approach it. I would say we came into the preseason with a plan for Drake. He’s a number three overall pick. So the expectations and things like that are high, and the pressure from the outside, from the fans, and from the media, will be to put Drake in. But after speaking with AVP and Eliot, we still feel confident about the plan we have for Drake. Now, in saying that, he’s played very well, and we’ll see how it looks here over the next couple of days.”
You mentioned the plan last week with us. Can I just ask, what was that plan? When you say ‘the plan’, what was that?
“It was a developmental plan. The reason that we were excited to get Jacoby here, he had a good understanding of the offense, and he’s a great leader, great mentor. He could mentor a guy like Drake and also teach him some of the playbook, some of the reads, and things like that. And for us, we’ve all seen the horror stories of sometimes rookie quarterbacks just getting thrown to the wolves and they fall apart. And we didn’t want that to happen. Now, I’m not saying that would happen with Drake at all because he is a mentally tough person, and he shows great resilience and control of the ball. But the plan, I’m not going to get too in-depth with the plan, but just know that his development to this point has worked out the way that we anticipated.”
Well, I know you guys have talked about a plan, and you’ve kind of been pretty open. The only thing that’s kind of confused me a little bit is, it might have been last week, where Alex Van Pelt was asked about Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye, and he said Jacoby Brissett was the starter. So I guess maybe you always talk about plans can change. When will we get the official starter for week one? I know you said it would probably be sometime today?
“Wait, Wiggy [Jermaine Wiggins] I don’t want you to be confused, first of all. ”
Explain it to me like I’m a four-year-old:
“Well, let me clear it up. After much thought, after the cuts, I would rather personally announce who the starting quarterback is to the team before I announce it to everyone else. We’ve maintained our stance that Jacoby was QB1. And early on, you could see that there was a huge gap between 1A and 1B, or I would say 2. But now that gap has definitely shrunk here over the last few weeks.”
“Wiggy, We good on that one? I want to make sure. I want to clear it up. I want to clear it up.If you got a follow-up, fire away.”
Wiggy’s confused because – we all sort of are a little bit – because last night you were not able to say that even if Jacoby Brissett were hurt, that Drake Maye would be your number two, essentially:
“Let me just talk about the injury first. I don’t know. Jacoby may come in here today – we got in at four o’clock in the morning – he may come in today saying his shoulder is no good. So I’m not going to get too far down the road on if Jacoby could play or couldn’t play. What I will say is that this is a true competition. It wasn’t fluff or anything like that. It’s a true competition. I would say at this current point, Drake has outplayed Jacoby. Now, in saying that, we have to take in the full body of work, going all the way back to the spring and the beginning of training camp, and we’ll see where we end up. But those are the conversations that will happen here over the next couple of days.”
I said something a few moments ago that some believe I would not say to your face when you’re on this show. I’m going to say it right now.
“I’m a nice guy.”
Because we’re not in the same room, so I’m not afraid. I will be afraid later.
“You shouldn’t be.”
But to this fan’s naked eye, this O-line stinks. Is that a factor when it comes to this? You don’t want a guy to go in there like Drake Maye, who you may not have the optimum O-line for him right now:
“I would say you always want to support a rookie quarterback, no matter who it is, with the great O-line and receivers that can catch the ball and make things right and run and make big plays, all those things. Right now, the O-line is continuing to try to gel. Pre-nap penalties aside, I thought they did some good things last night as well, especially in a run game. But to your point, you want those guys, you want the quarterback to feel comfortable back there no matter who it is. It could be [Tom] Brady back there or it could be Drake Maye. I don’t know. But you want those guys to be comfortable behind the offensive line. And we still have some time. And I understand the season is really a couple of weeks away, but we still have some time for the quarterbacks to build that trust in the offensive line and also the coaching staff and the players. That’s one of those positions, offensive line as a whole, where it’s not always like putting the best person at an individual spot. It’s about what combination of guys, and I think I said this before, what combination of guys gives us the best chance to win football games.”
“Now, in saying that, when you ask me what success looks like, it’s that we just get better each and every week and that we’re trending in the right way. We should be a better football team in October than we are in September or November than we are in October. And that’s the plan. And if we do that and we’re playing good football at the end of the year, and the O-line and really everyone, defensively, offensively, and special teams that we’re playing great complementary football and that we’re winning football games. So that’s really the North Star in the way that I should say we think about it.”
As an organization, do you wish you had done more to address the O-line in the offseason?
“We felt like we signed the best O-lineman in free agency and Big Mike. That’s number one. Now, his versatility, whether it’s guard or tackle, that’s another conversation. But we did address the O-line. I would also say, looking out the front one-shield, that we have an opportunity to improve our team through the waiver wire. We’re in a very unique situation right now where we’re third on the waiver wire, and there’ll be some good players that get released from their team. And we’re going to try to take advantage of that. And like I said, the starting guard or the starting tackle may not be in our team today, but we’ll see here over the next couple of days what we’re able to pick up.”
Jerod, I do think that a lot of people are just going back and forth on wondering if you guys keeping Drake Maye from being the starter is more so you feel like Jacoby could win you guys more games, or if it’s you don’t want Drake Maye to get hurt. Can you clarify as a head coach, where you stand on that?
“Yeah, I can. Look, you can’t take insurance out on players. And this is coming from a guy who was on IR three times. So you can’t take insurance out on players. And once Drake is ready to go or however we kind of evaluate the quarterback position, he’ll go out there and play. We can’t sit here and say, ‘Well, the O-line this, the O-line that.’ If Drake is the better player, if Drake wins the competition, he’ll be the starting quarterback. And once again, we have to go back – this is the hard part – we have to go back and look at the total body of work to see what that looks like going forward.”
It does, from the outside looking in, look like he’s pretty confident out there. Even last night, when his shoe fell off, he didn’t miss a beat. He didn’t pick one target to just go at over and over again. He didn’t discriminate when it came to his receivers. He seemed confident out there.
“No, I totally agree with you. And he’s going through his reads and progressions. And every day, he’s gotten better. I’m proud of him, really, for the way that it’s a testament to his work ethic and just wanting to get better and I hope it continues.”
When it comes to issues that Drake may have had last night when it came to the snap or prior preseason game, you put those more on the quarterback, the center, the operation?
“We’ll have a conversation today about it. But look, it’s always two people. Anytime the snap is on the ground, it’s the center and the quarterback or the center or the quarterback. And those are things that fundamentally frustrate you. And fundamentally, we just have to get right. There were too many times last night that we were just going backwards, whether it’s a bad snap or whether it’s a pre-snap penalty. And we have to clean that up if we want to have a chance to win football games. We’ve always said, the saying around here has always been, ‘You can’t win until you keep from losing.’ And last night was one of those instances where we just couldn’t get out of our own way. Over 150 yards of penalties. And really, the penalties were being called on both sides of the ball. And one thing I would say is we always operate under ‘Let’s do business as business is being done,’ and we failed to do that last night. And it’s my job, ultimately, to make sure that we have a disciplined football team out there that is fundamentally sound and doesn’t have those pre-snap type of things.”
All right. Speaking of Helmans, time now for the Helmands Mayo question of the week. Which rookie’s progress so far this season has impressed you the most, Coach?
“I guess the easy answer would be Drake Maye, but I’m going to go with [Ja’Lynn] Polk. I’m going to go with Peezy because I think he has the chance to be a very good football player and has natural leadership instincts. And he’s been a very impressive guy thus far.”
Jerod, real quick, who are the leaders on this team? I mean, obviously, I’m assuming David Andrews, but when it comes to leaders, who’s standing out so far?
“Yeah. I mean, one thing I would say is that’s for the players to decide. And I believe that the leaders, the captains, should be voted on by their peers. I know who’s in my mind are great leaders on the team, but that’s for the team to decide, and we’ll see going forward.”
Jerod, one thing I don’t subscribe to that some people might have around here is ‘First year head coach, all the coaching staff is new.’ You talked about pre-snap penalties And a lot of the times, at least from my playing experience, pre-snap penalties is about guys focusing in and locking in and understanding what’s going on. You talked about it a little bit. What do you think is leading to some of those pre-snap penalties that maybe – Because you talked about telling them over and over and over, and the referees made mentions about certain things – What do you think has been a factor into that? Just maybe the players not focusing in enough?
“Yeah. Wiggy, you hit it on the head, that’s what it is. It’s about maintaining focus. The average time of a play is five seconds, right? And so I tell the guys all the time, all I need is five seconds of concentration and extreme focus, 60 to 70 times a game, and we’ll be okay. But it was our first road game, and I would say there were definitely some hiccups, and we just can’t afford to do that here going forward. But you’re right, it’s about focus.”
So, Jerod, what’s your day like today when you look at watching film from last night, making sure that Jacoby Brissett is taken care of, figuring out his injury, and then picking a starting quarterback by tonight?
“Yeah, we’ll have an injury meeting here in a few hours to see how we came out of the game. I would say we’ll have conversations about every position. We’ll have conversations about the away game operation. We’ll have conversations about all that. And it’s a very difficult time, I would say, here over the next couple of days because we have to release players. And I know the practice squad is a little bit bigger now, but the team will not look the same that it did last night. And that’s the tough part of the business. But I think the guys recognize that. But that’s what we’re going to be doing here over the next couple of days. And then I’m going to call in on Wednesday, and I’m going to tell you guys who the starting quarterback is.”
Okay. Okay. What time?
“No, I’m just playing.”
That would be a nice thing to do for us, ratings-wise.
“I’m not running away from any type of conversation or anything. I’m always available for you guys to talk to. And one thing I would say is it’s about clarification. And you guys said multiple times this morning that you’re a little confused here, a little confused there, which is fine. And I would say I try to be as transparent as possible with the fans and with the media to a certain extent. And like I said last night, while still maintaining the ability to change my mind. And ultimately, the decisions in football run through me. And I have to do a better job as well. So I’m still learning as well.”
I would just love to sit in on one of the Monday morning meetings afterwards where you guys watch film because you know how those were, obviously, with Bill. I would hope they’re not as embarrassing to the players. I would just love to sit in. That’s it:
“I mean, Hey, look, he just came in after a win. It’ll be good.”
Well, any update before you go on Cole Strange? We were talking about him earlier.
“No update. No update right now. He’s in here rehabbing every day, and we’ll see where it goes.”
I feel a little better now. I’m not as confused no more as I was, but usually, I think a four-year-old.
“Shoot me a text if you have any more questions I can clear up.”
I will say this. he used to get very anxious about texting Bill. He does not feel the same way about you, Jerod, so that’s a good thing.
“Fantastic. All right, you guys have a good one. Take care.”
(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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