TRANSCRIPT: Jerod Mayo Postgame Press Conference 11/17
Mayo talks about the Patriots' disappointing loss to the Rams on Sunday 11/17/24.
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo said following the Patriots 28-22 loss to the Rams on Sunday, November 17, 2024:
OPENING STATEMENT:
“Good evening. Obviously, we’ll always be disappointed walking out of here with a loss. But before I get into the football stuff, hopefully you guys have seen these pins that all the guys are wearing, and we all were out there representing a fallen hero, a fallen soldier, which I think is important. I think the ‘Taps Program,’ they do a great job. We’ll support these guys. As long as I’m here, we’ll continue to support them. Today, I was representing Army Sergeant First Class Daniel Ferguson, known as Danny to his friends and his family, and really gave the ultimate sacrifice for our safety. So today would have been his birthday. Pretty tough situation, especially coming from a military family. I can’t imagine suffering a loss like that, but I think the ‘Taps Program’ is a great program.”
“What I told the guys in the locker room felt like… I never really felt like they had control of the game. I felt like we had control of the game. When you look at the first half, I think we only had one 3-and-out. Offensively, I thought they did a great job on first and second down, which was one of the targets that we talked about. Defensively, not so much. Defensively, they only had, what, eight third downs in the game? You just can’t win that way. When you look of the time of possession, you look at the movement we were able to get offensively in the run game and in the pass game, you look at the time of possession, that’s part of the formula. We just got to continue to build on it. I will say the guys came out with energy, and even when our backs were against the wall, they still continued to play hard, which I definitely appreciate. I know the rest of the coaches, and hopefully the fans appreciate it as well, are playing hard. Now, do we need to get better? Absolutely. And that’s my job as the head coach of this football team. It starts with me. I have to do better. We’re going to demand more from our assistant coaches. We’re going to demand more from our players. We have enough talent. We have enough talent in our locker room to be a very good football team. We just got to be able to put it together.”
“A couple of situations that came up, I’m sure that’s going to be part part of the discussion. The fourth and 2, elected to kick a field goal. If it was fourth and 1, probably would have went for it, but it made it a one-score game. Then the Seattle situation showed up again. I would say this, every game is unique. It’s one of one. I just felt like when I made those choices, it was the best thing to do for our football team today. Like I said, proud of the way those guys competed. Just got to clean up a few things. ”
On how much he looks at how hard they played vs guys like Stafford, Nacua and Kupp, who know how to make plays when they need to compared to his guys just trying to battle and learn:
“Yeah, it’s part of it. Look, you win or you learn. That has to be our mindset. It would be a huge disservice if we don’t learn anything from this game. But that’s a good football team that we played today. But at the same time, I feel like we had our opportunities.”
On what he saw on that final play where Drake Maye was intercepted, and what went wrong there:
“Just a miscommunication. Which going back to the question earlier, you go back and look at the Rams versus the Seahawks and those guys making those plays down the stretch. It’s very impressive. And look, we’ll grow into being able to finish and close out these games. Just got to go back to work, get on the practice field. Tomorrow, we’ll clean up a lot of this stuff. And then Wednesday, it’s changed the page onto the next game.”
On the fact both Nacua and Kupp both went for over 100 yards and whether or not, after having Christian Gonzalez play the boundary, whether or not he regrets the decision not to shadow one of those guys or adjust quicker:
“I don’t know. I mean, look, Kupp had the one reception, which was a huge chunk of those yards. But going into the game, we have a plan, and we’re always willing to change that plan. Like I said earlier, I felt like we were going to be okay. Thought we could outlast them.”
On the game decisions and the fact they had an opportunity for what might have been a 54 yard field goal for Slye, but they opted to punt and if that was the one he was talking about:
“No, that’s a different one. I was talking about the fourth and goal on the two. Making that a one-score game. And then really, the extra point versus the two-point conversion is always a conversation. I will say, look, anytime you get a kicked block, too, it’s not a very good day.”
On what was it about the 54-yarder that made him decide to punt:
“There are a lot of different factors that we take into account. We talk about wind, we talk about the pregame warmup. You can see how the kicks are going on both sides during the pregame warmups, and I just felt like that was the right decision to make.”
On the punt, and then not going for the 4th and two where the fans weren’t happy, if he thinks he’s coaching to win:
“I’m always coaching to win. Look, every decision that I make won’t always be the popular one, and that’s part of this job.
On what he thinks is preventing Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker from having larger roles within the offense:
“Look, I think it’s important to remember, those guys are rookies. Sometimes the expectation is that they’re just going to come in here and be all pros. That’s not it. Those guys, they work every day, and at some point, they’ll hit an inflection point where they could help our team win.”
On the tackle eligible play to Vederian Lowe and what gave him confidence that he would be able to make that play, and if they put him on the jugs machine at practice?
“No, no jugs machine for him. It was just something that we worked on in practice. And anytime you see special plays like that, we got to see it multiple times. It’s not like you run it one time in practice and you feel good about it. So he caught three balls in practice, so I felt pretty good about it.”
On the three pre-snap penalties, which cost his team points and what his thoughts are and his message to the team about that:
“Yeah, the message is, look, we can’t go backwards. I don’t care how good the team is. You never want to go backwards, and that definitely hurts us.”
On the fact the team is competitive, but what are one or two things that he believes is keeping them from winning these types of games:
“Overall as a group, it’s just consistency. That’s what it is on a down-after-down basis.”
On his thoughts on Christian Barmore’s day:
“I’m not sure what the final snap count was, but it was good just to see him back out there. Obviously, he’s a disruptive presence, but today, with anyone, linebackers, defensive front, I don’t think we had any negative tackle for a loss or anything like that, but it was good to have him out there. First and foremost, player safety is important, and I know he’s excited about it.”
On the decision to play Christian Gonzalez on the boundary, but as the game progressed and they were scoring with Kupp and Nacua, what the logic was behind keeping him on the boundary versus mixing that up a little bit more:
“We just thought that was the best thing to do. It’s a mix of man and zone. We thought that was the best thing to do.”
“Thanks.”
(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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