Head Coach Jerod Mayo 11/24: "We gave up too many big plays"

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Jerod Mayo (0:31)

Look, my message to the team was, look, this is the NFL. It just wasn't good enough. You know, first quarter, zero points across the board and then give up 24 points in the second quarter. Definitely is a hard pill to swallow. And then look, we saw some fight at the end, which is encouraging. But at the same time, this game, you got every single play, every single play counts. I thought we gave up too many big plays defensively, did a better job in the run game. They have too many big plays, tackling, scheme, whatever you want to call it. Just overall execution defensively just wasn't good enough. On offense, they did some good things, but anytime you lose a turnover battle, it's always going to be a tough game. And then special teams, we just got to continue to improve on that.

Sorry, last thing for me. Like the last thing I told the guys, it's all about us. And this is before the game. I said, it's about us. It's not about anybody else. It's about us and to make a commitment to one another. And that's what the game really came down to. It's us going out there, kicking ourselves in the butt or stomping our toe against the wall because of penalties. We don't have a team. I don't think any team wants to go backwards in any cause, but we did that today.

SPEAKER_5 (1:43)

Did you get a sense this week practice that something was off, or did you not have a good week?

Jerod Mayo (1:48)

No, I didn't. Not at all, not at all. I thought the guys were locked in. I just didn't walk away with a win.

SPEAKER_6 (1:53)

What do you blame on the coverage breakdowns? We're not used to seeing that from this team historically. So what's the cause of that?

Jerod Mayo (2:00)

Historically, or even this season. Just a lack of communication, a lack of communication.

SPEAKER_2 (2:07)

The six pre-snap penalties in the first half.

Jerod Mayo (2:10)

Yeah.

SPEAKER_7 (2:11)

Five on offense, one on defense.

SPEAKER_8 (2:14)

I mean, how much of that is a reflection just on the coaching?

Jerod Mayo (2:17)

Yeah. Look, it starts with me. It starts with me. And we've had these hiccups of games where the penalties really affected us and they did it today.

SPEAKER_10 (2:25)

Do you think that first drive, the first sustained drive in the first quarter, the two penalties brought it back and then you kind of went conservative in the middle and then went for the field goal. Did you feel like things stalled out there? How much did you...

Jerod Mayo (2:36)

In the first quarter? Yeah, to me, in the first quarter, you're still trying to just get a vibe for the game, how they're going to play us and how we're going to play them and how they're going to match our stuff.

SPEAKER_7 (2:45)

How concerned are you that this was a big spot for you guys, coming off a loss, division games, you guys kind of came out flat?

Jerod Mayo (2:50)

Yeah, we came out flat and it's a long season, and it is a long season, and the guys, they recognize that. When you get the schedule early on, you got to see where the bye week is. And saying that, no excuses from me, and hopefully no excuses from the players, we just have to be better.

SPEAKER_11 (3:04)

Detensively, where do you go from here?

Jerod Mayo (3:08)

For me, nowhere but up. A lot of that stuff, going again, and going back to the big plays, like it starts there. The defensive line in the run game, I don't think that was a problem this game. It was just the big plays.

SPEAKER_8 (3:18)

Hey Jerod, how do you coach a guy, and you've been there, done that before, as a player, how do you coach a guy who keeps making the same mistakes over and over and over again?