Head Coach Jerod Mayo 10/13: "The fundamentals of tackling and our run fits have to improve"

Jerod Mayo (0:00)

Good afternoon, good evening. Good to be here again, sit here before you guys, just disappointed.

You know, the penalties in the first half, just too many. It's the same story over and over again. That four turnovers, three or four turnovers in the game, can't win if you lose that battle. Defensively, I would say, just the fundamentals of just tackling and our run fits have to improve. They have to improve. And I told all those guys, I said, you should feel like crap today. Well, you should feel like crap. You take away those two long runs. We had two runs over 50 yards. And so, I mean, it's just not winning football. Offensively, I thought they did some things that were encouraging. Obviously, still not enough. Turnovers, one was on a tip ball, but that's the way the league is. I thought Drake made some good decisions out there. I thought he had some good reads. I thought he tried to get the ball out of his hands. I thought he did a good job extending plays with his legs and picking up first downs. So, just got to be better. fire away.

Ken Roach (1:05)

Jerod, on Drake, is that kind of what you hoped you would see as far as some of the things that he would be able to do? And how did you have that little bit of, okay, that 40-yard drop in the bucket pass to Kashon that got you guys back into the game to end the half?

Jerod Mayo (1:19)

Yeah, and look, we fully anticipate or expect him to be better going forward. You know, it was his first start. Obviously, here at home, there was a lot of expectations on him. I thought he handled it well. So, got to build on him.

I thought he showed a lot of, I thought he showed a lot of poise. I thought he went out there and controlled the huddle, got those guys out of the huddle, and once again, made some place. And it's definitely encouraging. From a team-wide perspective right now, we're just, we let him down. It was his first game, and I feel like I let him down. I'm sure all the coaches feel like we let everyone down, and it's got to be better.

SPEAKER_3 (2:02)

Sophie Well on your far right.

Sophie Well (2:04)

Jerod, throughout the first few games, you've emphasized the passing game as something that needs to improve. Today, it felt like we saw the receivers getting a little more involved. Just what would you say to the passing game today, specifically as it relates to Drake May?

Jerod Mayo (2:16)

Yeah, I would say first, there were some good pockets. Let's start with up front. I thought the offensive line at times definitely has some good pockets to allow the quarterback to make those throws. But once again, it's a team wide sport, and we don't feel very good about anything right now.

SPEAKER_5 (2:33)

Jerod, with the offensive line, the left side going down with Viderian and Michael, how tough is it right now to keep a cohesive unit together with how far down the depth chart you guys are at that spot?

Jerod Mayo (2:43)

It's very tough, and every single week is a different combination of players. It's tough to get in, it's tough for those guys to really build that camaraderie or that communication. But again, like the backup players, they have to prepare like their starters every week, and we'll see how we came out of this game, but it's definitely an issue for us.

SPEAKER_3 (3:04)

Jerod, you mentioned the penalties. From a coaching staff standpoint, what can you do on your end to get those numbers down?

Jerod Mayo (3:12)

Well, we talk about it all the time, and Saturday night meetings, we talk about what crew is going to be out there, what do they call frequently, and we knew that this crew was going to hire a penalty calling crew. I thought the second half kind of cleaned it up a little bit, but there's way too many penalties in the game.

SPEAKER_6 (3:32)

Jared, a couple questions ago, you said that you, along with the players and so on, the coaching staff let Drake down. Could you be more specific what you meant by that?

Jerod Mayo (3:44)

Yeah, not really the coaching staff. Look, we're all, I mean, we feel like crap right now. And I would say just for a rookie quarterback to go out there and do some good things, you know, do some good things. I just felt like, you know, we could have did a better job supporting.

SPEAKER_7 (3:59)

Jared, Pop Douglas had 92 receiving yards, most of you guys have had in more than a year. He seemed to come off the field when you go to those two receiver sets. Do you think he can function in those? There's a way to get him the ball more often?