Mayo Transcript 12/30

PATRIOTS HEAD COACH JEROD MAYO

PRESS CONFERENCE

December 30, 2024

 

JM: Had an opportunity to go back and watch the film as a full staff. Just like I said after the game, there wasn’t much positive to take out of the game. I guess if you want to say one thing positive, it was good to see Cole Strange out there. I would say he played pretty well, graded out pretty well in the game. For a guy who hasn’t played football in a year to go in there and play center, definitely was encouraging. For me, today, we have the players in. We have our meetings and stuff and really just push forward to the last week of the season. Just got to be able to stay the course through all of the negativity. Look, again, as I’ve said, winning cures all. We just need to win football games.

 

Q: Good morning, Jerod. I know, obviously, you want to go out this year with a win. Any thoughts to not playing Drake Maye this week, given the injury risk and given his style of play and everything?

 

JM: I would say right now, everything is in consideration, and we’ll see how the week goes.

 

Q: Hey, Jerod. How much, if at all, does the Bills situation— The fact that they’re locked into the number two spot, they might sit some starters, they might have some guys play a quarter, whatever the case may be— How much, if at all, does that change your thinking when it comes to gameplay and personnel and the rest of the situation?

 

JM: Yeah, my expectation is if the guys are healthy, then they’re expected to be ready to go out there and play. Again, we’ll have to see how the week goes. I understand the question. The guys are working hard and we need to play football.

 

Q: Hey, Jerod. After the game, Daniel Ekuale said that it feels like a lot of guys start giving up when things get hard. I’m just wondering if you saw any of that on the film in the second half when you reviewed it?

 

JM: No, look, we saw guys still flying around. Guys were still flying around, giving good effort. It was just more about just execution as a whole. I didn’t see that.

 

Q: Hey, Jerod. Hope all is well with you. Just wanted to ask you a little about your process when it comes to Drake in that game where he gets medically cleared, although he was showing signs that he said he got his bell rung, he was showing signs that maybe he had had issues. Do you just completely trust in the medical staff in that instance, or do you take a step back and think about everything? How do you evaluate during that type of a situation?

 

JM: Yeah, as soon as they go into the tent, I just wait to hear back from the medical professionals and the independent evaluator. If they say he’s fine, then he’s fine.

 

Q: Hey, Jerod. A big picture question. I’m just curious, what do you feel are the most impactful things that you’ve accomplished in your first year as head coach?

 

JM: I’ll just say, just being able to weather the storm. It seems like we’ve been in the storm for a long time. I think the players as a whole, I would say they’ve come into work every day during a difficult season. I think that’s been a huge piece of the puzzle. Hopefully we can keep that going forward. We had eight one-score games this year. We just got to, honestly, we have to win those games. That’s what the NFL is. That’s going to be the goal going forward.

 

Q: Good morning, Jerod. We didn’t see a captain’s patch on Jacoby Brissett’s jersey. Is there any update to his captaincy?

JM: No. He’s still a captain.

 

Q: Just left off the jersey, then?

 

JM: Yes.

 

Q: Is Drake Maye in concussion protocol?

 

JM: No, he’s not, no. Let me say this. As far as my understanding, he is not in the protocol. Just want to make sure you –

 

Q: When would you learn that, if he is?

 

JM: It would be today.

 

Q: Could you describe how you and Alex [Van Pelt] have communicated this year? How would you characterize your level of communication and how well it’s gone, in your opinion?

 

JM: We’re in constant communication. We speak every single day. We’re in meetings every single day together, and it’s been good. Obviously, again, with our record, it’s easy to say, ‘Well, maybe this or maybe that,’ but our communication has been great.

 

Q: As of right now, you guys are in line for the No. 1 overall pick next year. How does that, if at all, affect your game plan going into this week?

 

JM: We’re 100% focused on beating the Buffalo Bills, and that’s what we have to do.

 

Q: Keion White was very outspoken toward the end of the week and then after the game as well. I know you said on the pregame show you had a chance to speak with him; you guys are okay. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to kind of catch up with him since his comments after the game and how those conversations have gone.

 

JM: Yeah, I did. We spoke this morning. I’m going to keep those conversations private, but we’re on the same page.

 

Q: You mentioned earlier, eight one-score games throughout the course of this year, and you had high expectations for establishing the brand of football you wanted to establish coming into this season. I’m just kind of curious now as we’re at the last game, do you feel that this has been more challenging than you anticipated, and how would you kind of evaluate where things have gone compared to your expectations going into the season, how you’ve grown as a coach throughout it?

 

JM: I appreciate the question. Look, I knew this was going to be a challenging season, first-year head coach. Obviously, the expectations here are always high. Unfortunately, we just haven’t been able to meet those expectations. Now, in saying that, I think the biggest problem with us as a team – starts with me – is just being consistent. It’s about consistency. It’s about consistency on the field. It’s about consistency inside the building, and we’ve just got to continue to work on that.

 

Q: I know you said after the game that it was a coach’s decision to start Rhamondre Stevenson over Antonio Gibson. Could you give us a little bit more intel into what exactly happened there?

 

JM: No, there’s really no intel. I’m just going to stick with coach’s decision on that.

 

Q: Jerod, up to this point, Joe Milton has been the third quarterback in every game. How much motivation is there internally to maybe bump him up to the gameday roster this week and just to see more of what you have in an actual game?

 

JM: It’s absolutely a possibility, but like I said earlier, all things are still under consideration.

 

Q: I’m curious, after seeing the film, the pitch to Pop [DeMario Douglas], Rhamondre, what happened there? I know some guys talked about there being some heavy pressure on that side. Is that something maybe Drake should have checked out of the play?

 

JM: Look, we had a good player coming off the edge, and again, it just comes down to execution. We’ve run that play many times in practice and just couldn’t get it done in the game.

 

Q: We know there’s one game left. Have you been given assurance by ownership that you’ll return next season?

 

JM: I’m always in constant communication with ownership, and I feel like we’re still on the same page.

 

 

 

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