Here’s the full transcript of New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo’s press conference following their loss to the Jets on Thursday, September 19, 2024:
*OPENING STATEMENT:
*This was cut short on the broadcast and joined late:
“… Felt like we had a good game, Xs and Os-wise. We just didn’t go out there and execute. That’s what it comes down to every Sunday. I told the guys, this is NFL football. This is what it is, and we just have to be better. The guys will be off the next few days. Told them to get their minds right, get their bodies right, and then come back and be ready to work. Got a bonus Monday. Got another good team that we’re going to go against next week. Just got to be better.”
On his assessment of the offensive line:
“Well, I thought the offensive line today had a hard time. There were times early in the game where the pockets looked pretty clean, But as the game wore on, similar to last week, it started falling apart as far as the protections. It’s not only knowing how to do it, it’s also knowing what to do. I would also say we had some injuries up front that the next man has to be ready to go.”
On if it was a mental or physical breakdown tonight:
“The first thing, I got to look at myself in the mirror and make sure that I did everything I could to get the guys ready to go. Based on the score today, I need to do more. But going back to what I said earlier, just got to hit the reset button, it’s NFL football, and we have to get better.”
On the decision to bring in Drake Maye:
“I just thought it was an opportunity, a good opportunity for him to go out there with the ones and put a few drives together. He moved the ball. We’ll watch the film and evaluate.”
On if the performance of the offensive line gave him any pause bringing Maye in:
“Well, like I said in the second half, I felt like our offensive line, they just weren’t blocking the way they did at earlier parts of the game. It definitely was something that I thought of personally, but at the same time, I thought it was too good of an opportunity for him to go out there and get some experience.”
On the fact they only ran the ball five times in the first half and the talk this week about getting the ball to the playmakers and if he was concerned about getting the ball to the playmakers:
“I wouldn’t say that. We’ll go back and look at the calls. What I will say is some of those players are called from the huddle, and then others, the quarterback has the ability to check run or pass. Look, I mean, what do we have? 100 yards in the first half? None of it was good. Run, pass, or anything.”
On the fact they had 14 missed tackles:
“Yeah, very uncharacteristic. That’s one of the things I’m very disappointed in as a defensive-minded coach, especially the second level. We struggled all day as far as tackling. Once again, even when we hit them in the backfield, just the lack of fundamentals, the lack of discipline, and the lack of just execution definitely continued to show up. But that was very uncharacteristic for us. But once again, you only get one opportunity to go out there and perform.”
On the fact Jacoby Brissett was sacked five times and has been hit 25 times in the first three games and how concerned he is for him:
“The quarterback touches the ball every play. We have to do better up front. We have to, whether it’s through scheme or whatever, we got to reevaluate. The good thing is, it’s Thursday, so it’s a mini-by-week where we, as coaches, can also reset and look at things that we could do better.”
On the fact he gets up everytime and what it says to him:
“It means a lot. It means a lot for a guy to continue to get up. Toughness is always a huge piece of the puzzle for a quarterback position, but we just got to do better as a team.”
On the fact he said he’s going to evaluate the film based on quarterback performance and if there’s a possibility he’d consider a change:
“I don’t know. Look, we talk about every single week you’re competing for a job. We’ll get together as a coaching staff and see where it goes.”
On how much they miss Ja’Whaun Bentley:
“I don’t want to deal with hypotheticals, but Bentley is a huge piece of the defense, communication, tackling, physicality, all of those things. Look, I have faith in those other guys. I have faith in Raekwon [McMillan]. I have faith in Jahlani [Tavai] and the rest of those guys to get better. It’s a learning experience. Once again, we have to learn from this loss and get better. Bentley is not coming back anytime soon, and that’s the message.”
On Aaron Rodgers’ performance:
“Yeah, he was getting the ball out fast. I would say one of the more disappointing things that we talked about, ad nauseam, was to keep him in the pocket. I felt like we, at too many times, let him out of the pocket, and this is a guy who can make all of the throws.”
On if he was the one who made the decision to put Maye in the game:
“That’s my decision.”
On not keeping Rodgers in the pocket and if that’s a lack of focus or discipline:
“It’s a lack of discipline. It’s a lack of execution. I wish I could sit here and say, ‘Well, these are things that have showed up,’ but they haven’t. What I will say is there have been little things, not little things, there are big things that happened last game that continue to show up today, and we have to get those corrected, and that starts with me.”
On how concerned he is about the pass protection:
“We just got beat pretty handily. I would say right now, everything’s of concern. The offensive line, you want those guys to be able to go out there as a unit and gel together. But whether through injury or through whatever it is. We just haven’t found the right combination.”
On the fact they were more competitive the first two weeks and his thoughts on the change tonight:
“I would say controlling the line of scrimmage. And not to sound like a broken record, the last a few games, I told you guys that I thought we did a good job controlling the line of scrimage and being a tough football team. We just didn’t show that today in any phase of the game.”
On what needs to happen the next ten days as they get ready to play San Francisco:
“We’ll watch the film. Like I said before, we’ll do a self-scout to see where we are. But once again, it comes back to fundamentals. I hate to keep saying that. That’s what it is. We can sit there and talk about, ‘We should do this, we should do that.’ No, it’s blocking, it’s tackling, it’s throwing, it’s catching, it’s running. It’s all those things that we just did a poor job at.”
(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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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
