HEAD COACH JEROD MAYO
Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Opening Statement: "Come in here after a victory. I thought the guys really answered the challenge that we had all during the week. We talked about having a physical Wednesday and I think that showed up today really in all three phases, but offensively we were able to really deliver those body blows that we talked about and really staying ahead of the sticks. The prior week there was a lot of 2nd-and-long situations that really took us off track, and I would say defensively especially on the interior piece, for the most part -- look, there are things to correct. I thought the guys played well in the run game. Defensively I would say we were able to get pressure. We were able to get pressure on the quarterback. We had nine sacks in the game, which is always good, and I would say the back end did a good job as far as coverage is concerned.
Offensively we kind of talked about the run game, and look, (Patriots QB) Drake (Maye) still continues to go out there and make plays. He's going to make mistakes, but this is part of his evolution, part of his growth and development. Then special teams, it was kind of shaky there at the beginning, but I would say as we were able to settle down, it was good. I thought the coordinators did an excellent job the entire week, not only reiterating the message that I said in the squad meeting rooms but also just putting together a good game plan and knowing how we have to win football games. That's controlling the line of scrimmage, and we kind of talked about that."
On 'what the team did well defensively':
"It starts up front. It starts up front. I think that's what we have to do. We have to go out there and reestablish the line of scrimmage and we were able to do that in all three-and-outs."
On S Brenden Schooler:
"That's our Longhorn package. We've done things like that before. Again, we talk about next man up. Now you've got a guy who was primarily a special teams player making contributions. It's probably his first sack ever in his career, but he's fast, he's athletic, and he's a football player. We try not to put anyone in a box, and I'm not going to put anyone."
On Maye 'asking if he could adjust the offense':
"Drake has addressed the offense numerous times. I think it goes back to now he's starting to really take control of the offense and the team. When you go out there and you perform at a high level, that's the first step. The next step is to bring others with you, and I think he's on his way to doing that."
On how much coverage helped generate sacks:
"Coverage was huge. All of those guys in the back end, again, we had the young safeties out there, and (CB Christian Gonzalez) Gonzo continues to play at a very high level. I'd also say (CB) Jonathan Jones. He's one of those guys you can put him in as a slot corner, put him outside, put him in the back end. Just a veteran player that, again, goes in that box of he's a football player, and wherever you ask him to go, he'll go out there and try to perform."
On 'stopping Bears QB Caleb Williams from scrambling':
"That was definitely a huge part of it. We've said that. If you were to take away just our 3rd down penalties and our 3rd down letting the quarterback out of the pocket over the course of the season, we would be much better. I would say today I think they had one 3rd down conversion. Not necessarily sure what it was. Then one 4th down conversion. Look, that's the recipe, and we just have to be patient enough to do it on a down-after-down basis."
On 'how much better young defenders have gotten with playing time':
"I'm not sure. Look, those guys work hard. They come to work every day. They go on the practice field and they try to get better. It doesn't always show up on game day. Fortunately for us it showed up today."
On WR Ja'Lynn Polk's touchdown:
"It was great. With young players, you never know where that inflection point is going to come. You never know when that switch is going to flip. Hopefully this is the start of him being a very good receiver in this league. We never doubted him in the locker room, and I think that's important. There's been a lot of outside noise, and he's had to deal with the outside noise, but when it's all said and done, if you go out and do it on the field, there's not much people can say."
On the 'lack of snaps for WR Kendrick Bourne':
"There was a lot that went into that. You know, anytime we put the active roster together, you said it, we thought that that was the best thing to do for us to give us the best chance to win. All those guys bring a certain skill set to the game. We just didn't know who was going to play more. It just played out that way. But I will say this; even though Bourne didn't play today, he was the first one smiling when I walked in the locker room, and I've always appreciated that, just his energy and excitement. Same thing with (WR) K.J. (Osborn) and the rest of those guys. Sometimes even when they're inactive, just the excitement for their teammates. We talk about abundance versus scarcity and having that mindset of abundance where we can all eat versus scarcity, if you have that scarcity mindset, you don't want your teammate to do well because there's only a certain amount of the pie. I will say the mindset of this team is if we go out there, there are enough plays to be made for all of us, we've just got to go out there and execute. I know that was a long answer, but I thought I was going to get philosophical."
On the end of the first half:
"Yeah, situational football has definitely been a strength of ours, especially over the last few weeks, like the different situations that show up depending on the clock and the score and the time-out situation. I would say, again, we were ahead of the game. It's great to see when it comes to fruition."
On if this game 'proved something to people':
"To me the only people I'm really concerned with are the people in that locker room. I've always known that these guys, they're going to give great effort no matter what, and that's why on Wednesday we talk about changing the page, win, lose or draw, and I think that's a good mindset to have. You can't get too high, can't get too low, and I would say that's the leadership all the way to the players, and they've done that."
On K Joey Slye?
"Hey, huge. To go out there and be four-for-four, to have a new baby at home less than a week old in (Slye's daughter) little Palmer. I would throw in (LB) Jahlani Tavai in there, as well. His fiance had a baby a couple days ago, Anua. I think that said that right. That means earth in that language. That means a lot. Anytime a kicker goes out there and kicks and he's perfect, there's nothing I can say bad about that."
On Bears QB Caleb Williams:
"I still believe that Caleb Williams will be a very good player in this league, but just like any rookie, he's going to go through his ups and downs. It doesn't matter what position you play. He'll be a special player. He's got to stick to it."
QUARTERBACK DRAKE MAYE
Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 10, 2024
On the Patriots' defense:
"Man, it's a good feeling sitting over there as an offense, as a quarterback, watching that type of performance. I felt like all of the 11 were out there at a time, but I know 15, 20 played. Just credit to them, credit to them in practice this week. Just kind of a good taste of what it looked like for me in training camp. They get after you, mix up shell, mix up coverage, mix up blitz packages. It's pretty cool to watch. It's good to be on the other side of the ball. I've got to make some better decisions and keep those guys in great field position."
On 'what helped him get into the flow of the game':
"I think being able to run the football. Anytime you're able to run the football on first down, I think that was the big thing today. Credit to those guys up front. Our guys, they played their butts off, in run blocking and pass pro. I think being able to run the football, seeing some first downs and some big yardage on first downs kind of helped us throughout the way. Then after that we had a couple good drives that we got down there and got down in the red zone and the Bears are one of the best red zone defenses in the league. I think there's some throws that I'd like to have back, and that first interception, just a bad decision. Tried to throw it away and got to throw it away farther. At the end of the day, that defense won us the football game, and we did just enough."
On 'addressing the offense during practice and what he saw that compelled him to speak out':
"I think just little things. I think just taking that next step is me being the quarterback in the offensive meeting room. Little things that are adding up and hurting us in practice that are leading to game day. I think last week I mentioned we had second and third down and a two-minute drill that we ran and couldn't pick up one yard. Little things like that, just little detail unfocused, and I think sometimes just getting into practice mode where you're just running plays and not really tuned in and trying to execute specific plays. You're trying to just get in a groove like hey, we're just running plays out here just for nothing, and just really trying to challenge those guys and challenge myself to take each play and know that when the game comes, this play is called, it matters. There's so many times throughout the game you see how much that play can impact the turnout of the game, so I was just trying to get through to them and probably fumbled some words trying to do it, but I think those guys respected it."
On the sequence that led to the spike and ensuing field goal at the end of the first half:
"It looked like they were in two man, something we practiced. Credit to (Head) Coach (Jerod) Mayo and the offensive guys and the staff. We practice those like nobody's business. We practice them every week, big plays and a chunk play and getting up there and spiking it. I think we even practiced that in our walk-through yesterday morning, almost that same exact thing where we have no time-outs, it's either thrust the field goal team out -- I don't know if we could have had time for that. No time-outs, we had to clock it, and it ended up working. I think we looked at that same play on film, kind of a backside dig, and it shows what contributes to just coaches getting me prepared and just making the throw."
On 'bouncing back' after his interception:
"I think just being a competitor and having confidence in myself. I know that's not my style of football, turning the football over like that. Just growing up and playing different sports and having older brothers and being able to bounce back and getting dunked on a mini-hoop and having to come out here and bounce back from older brothers. Whether it's that or just facing adversity throughout the season. I think more and more at times not everything is going to go right, not everything is going to go perfect, and I think you saw that from the offense today. Being able to bounce back and do what we needed to do with a defensive performance like that."
On Offensive Coordinator Alex Van Pelt's communication with the offense:
"I think that's huge, no doubt. I think that's something you've got to balance. Getting to know these guys and being genuine with them and going creating relationships, sitting with people getting something to eat or playing different guys. Kind of reaching out to different guys, trying to get on a personal level instead of just, hey, we're teammates, we're friends, we come to work and go home. Text them after, send them a video, hey, in this look, when we're watching film at home. Little things like that I think can go a long way. Like I said, trying to get each guy on a personal level, then they feel like, hey, I know Drake and he cares about me and that's how I approach them."
On when Van Pelt spoke to the group:
"I think maybe after Wednesday's practice. First practice of the week. I think I fumbled a snap. I think we didn't pick up protection that we've been trying to pick up. I think we may have had some little mental errors that I think I really struggled with myself that I think ended up that we didn't show today, and that's what counted."
On his connection with WR Ja'Lynn Polk:
"That was pretty cool. First-round pick, a second-round pick, and I think JP is finding it. I think there's sometimes where I think I may have had him some other times in the game. I think he's going to be a great player and looking forward to hoping that touchdown gives him some confidence, and he's going to make a lot of plays for us."
