PATRIOTS HEAD COACH JEROD MAYO
PRESS CONFERENCE
August 13, 2024
JM: Look, we're excited to be out here. Great weather. Another team here, break up the monotony of camp. To have the Eagles come in, a great organization, a great team, it's definitely going to be a good measuring stick for us. I did hear you guys have a football game later on? A media football game? I'll be out there, and I'll write some articles about you guys.
Q: Any tips?
JM: Just stay on your feet. No tackling, no tackling. Alright, fire away.
Q: What are you looking for from your offense today?
JM: I'm looking – well, for the whole team – just to be out here and compete. I've been saying this since day one. That's our job and see who can really play. It's another opportunity for us to wear the same color and go against another team. It doesn't get any better than that.
Q: Jerod, you said you had a conversation with Kendrick Bourne after trade members last week. Did you have a conversation with [Matthew] Judon since he popped up in a rumor yesterday?
JM: You know, we don't really operate in rumors like that. The conversations that I have with those players are pretty private. What I will say is that Judon has done a great job in the meeting room and done everything that we've asked. He's meeting all the expectations.
Q: Jerod, do you have any update on Hunter Henry? We know he was injured on Sunday, and he wasn't out here yesterday.
JM: No update really to give you guys. He won't practice today if you want to know that. When he's ready to go, he'll be out there playing.
Q: Do you anticipate it's going to be long term?
JM: I don't anticipate it to be very long.
Q: Jerod, what is your relationship with Coach [Nick] Sirianni like, and how have you guys worked together?
JM: We have a good relationship. Every time we see each other, we have good conversations. Even yesterday, we had their whole staff here, just how we wanted to practice, went through the script and things like that. I would say our staffs are on the same page. Once again, he's done it. This is my first time, and so he had some advice about that. I appreciate the relationship.
Q: Are there going to be enough snaps for all four quarterbacks out here today?
JM: We'll see. We'll see. Obviously, the first two will get a significant amount of the snaps. We've got to get ready to play some real football. We're approaching today like a game. We're not tackling to the ground, but at the same time, look, we're going to put our best out there and see how they operate.
Q: How much film study or scheme goes into a day like today?
JM: Not a lot. Really, it's not about anyone else. It's about us as far as we talk about fundamentals, knowing what to do and knowing how to do it. Those are important things. We didn't have a big scouting report for the Eagles, but what we do know is they're a good football team. The expectations for that team are pretty high compared to where our expectations are – from the outside looking in. So, we'll see what happens.
Q: Jerod, I understand it's different players, different years, different schemes and all that, but in your experience, how long does it take a quarterback to learn how to play with an offensive line, to kind of partner up?
JM: I would say they're all individual circumstances. Some quarterbacks probably can just go in right now, and it doesn't really matter who's up front. Then you have other quarterbacks that need that time. I don't think it's like a magic number.
Q: How would you describe Drake Maye, the preseason and training camp that he's had to this point?
JM: He's been steady. I think if I was to say one word, it's steady. He's always in the building, always studying. He's out here trying to get better each and every day. He'll get more reps this week if that's the underlying question. He'll get more reps this week, believe me.
Q: How much was the opener for him calling plays in the huddle, just handing the football at the basics, getting that under his belt?
JM: Yeah, it was huge. I would also say when he wasn't in the game, he was still listening to the call, still taking those mental reps, which are very important. I always talk to all the players, if you're not in there, you should be getting mental reps and going through the checks in your head. He definitely did that.
Q: Knowing the game is two days from now, but today is a chance to obviously see a lot of things. How do you keep the guys understanding that this is an exercise to sort of go out there, but maybe not take it too far against the other team?
JM: Taking it too far means what? We're going to come out here today and treat it like a game, besides tackling. We're going to go out here and try to play with good fundamentals. We'll wrap guys up. We're not taking them to the ground, but we'll thud up. The receivers know. The running backs know. We're going to protect the ball. We're going to go out there and try to find space. We're approaching this like a game. I think you have to, especially when you have a good team like the Eagles in town.
Q: Jerod, Jacoby [Brissett] said, about a week or so ago, 'We need to button down the things that don't require talent.' Yesterday, we saw a couple laps. We saw some guys jumping offsides. You had a little meeting there. How do you feel like you're progressing as a group on that front?
JM: I think it's going well. You know, that was the first truly sloppy practice in my opinion. I think the guys knew that, and I think that's a huge part of it. You know when you're messing up. If you don't know you're messing up and you're messing up, that's a huge problem. They took to the coaching, but once again, the pre-snap things, the things that you can control, we have to clean that stuff up before we get to Week 1.
Q: Jerod, when it comes to figuring out who your best five are on the offensive line, how important are the 1-on-1s that you guys have to evaluate those guys?
JM: They're very important. But in saying that, we've all seen offensive linemen who during 1-on-1s, they stink, but once you put them in the group, they're a vital piece of the puzzle. It's been that way for a long time, around here at least. As a unit, you always want to evaluate those guys. I would say if you had to weight it, it's more weighted toward the group than it is the individual performance. I'm not saying that 1-on-1s aren't important, but those guys have to work hand-in-hand.
Q: Jerod, in your first training camp as head coach, how would you evaluate your own performance?
JM: That's for you guys. That's for you guys to decide, for the players to decide and the assistant coaches. I'm always open to feedback. They've done a great job. I have this open door policy. They've done a great job [of saying], 'Hey Coach, we can do this better or maybe we should change something here.' I've been wide open, just listening to all those options.
Q: I remember a couple years ago, you were asked about interviewing elsewhere. You said you were a young coach; you were interviewing and learning as much from them as they were from you. What did you take away from your conversations in Philadelphia?
JM: First, I would say all of those guys were on the same page. Obviously, it starts with the GM [general manager] and ownership. Those guys were on the same page. I wanted to have that same relationship, whether it was here or somewhere else. I wanted to have that same relationship with the GM and also ownership, which I feel very confident that Eliot [Wolf] and ownership, as well as myself, we're on the same page. It was a great experience. It was a great experience for me to go out there and learn. Look, when you see this year, we brought in 17 new coaches. It's a different perspective. It's not that it's good or bad, or better or worse. It's just different. I try to take all that stuff in and put my own spin on it.
Q: Specifically for Drake, what steps do you hope that he does take today? Do you have goals kind of in mind for him?
JM: Yeah, you just want him to continue to build his confidence, and go out there and operate the offense. I would say offensively as a whole, we just need to operate faster. Those guys understand that. We'll see, hopefully, today if those guys really take heed to that message.
Q: Any memories of joint practices as a player?
JM: Yeah, a lot of memories. We would bring teams in all the time, even going to West Virginia to go practice out there, it really breaks up the monotony of camp. It really helps you build that camaraderie amongst the group because out here, when you're going against each other, it gets a little stale sometimes. It's always good to go against another team.
Q: How much did what happened last year, the second day of the Green Bay practices, impact the decision to have one day of practice?
JM: I wouldn't say I was really thinking about that. I think for me, you go out there, you practice one day and then you play in the game. Some people will say, 'Well, why not two days?' What I've seen over the years is that second day always gets a lot chippier. You go back and you watch the film, you're like, 'I didn't even see that!' Then the next day, something breaks out. We didn't want that to happen. We're out here as football players, not fighters. That's the message to the team.
Q: Do you have a plan in place if there are fights? Have you and Nick worked that out?
JM: Absolutely. I mean, look, you don't fight in a real game. If you fight in a real game, you get fined; you get kicked out. It's the same thing here. Look, my message to the players, if you get in a fight out here, if you're a starter, you're going to play the whole preseason game. If you're not a starter, you won't play at all. That's kind of my mindset with that.
Q: Jerod, you mentioned Sirianni had some advice for joint practices. What did he share?
JM: I'd rather keep that in-house. Yeah, sorry.
Q: This is our last time talking to you before the preseason game on Thursday. I know you said the two quarterbacks are going to get a lot of work today. Do you expect them to get the majority of the work on Thursday as well?
JM: We'll see how it goes. Look, today, we'll go back and review the film, and depending on how today goes, we'll be able to lock in what we want to do in the game.
Q: Has anything surprised you about Ja'Lynn Polk in your first offseason with him?
JM: He's another guy that's just very steady. You watch him come out of college, of course he can run routes, catch the ball and do all those things, but the thing that got me was his blocking. You don't really see receivers do the things that he did in college. He's a tough individual. He's going out here blocking guys like [Kyle] Dugger and all that stuff. It's great. It's great to see. That mentality, that attitude at that position is important.
