Head Coach Jerod Mayo 12/16: “We have to go back to the drawing board and get better”

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Jerod Mayo (0:30)

You know, just like I said yesterday, and then having the opportunity to watch the film, there were definitely a lot of plays out there that needed to be made. I talked about, you know, the third down, you know, the unique thing about only having six, I think we have six or seven third downs, and a couple of those were situational third downs. It was a very unique situation, but we didn't play well on third down on either side of the wall. Offensively in the red area, you know, we did an okay job. Obviously, you want to pick up those short yardage situations. And then defensively, you know, it comes back to fundamentals, which I always talk about. You know, even look at the big run play. We had two players that were pretty much unblocked that probably should have made that play, and they expect to make those plays, and we as a coaching staff expect them to make those plays. But overall, you know, I would say that, you know, they came out, Cardinals came out, and they played better than us, they executed better than us, and we have to go back to the drawing board and get better. You know, I know there's a lot of chatter about, you know, the question last night, you know, you said that. I didn't mean anything by that. It was more of a defensive response, and ultimately, and I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question, because ultimately, all of those decisions are mine. So I just wanted to get that out there. Fire away.

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Now, we'll start with Mike Reese, and I anticipate a handful, you know, a lot of questions today, so we'll start with a single question, and get back, raise your hand again, if you have a follow-up question, and we'll come back to you. Go ahead, Mike.

Mike Reese (1:58)

Jerod, what do you mean by defensive response to that question?

Jerod Mayo (2:02)

Yeah, it was just more, I didn't mean anything by it. I just was like, you know, you said it because I didn't want to go down that whole rabbit hole of trying to explain all those things. And like I just said, I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question, saying that all of those critical situations follow me.

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Next question, Mike Giordani, followed by Doug Kyd.

Doug Kyd (2:22)

Continuing on that theme, Jerod, you're on the headset, you're on the channel. If you want Drake to run the ball, do you have the right and the power to say, hey, Alex, tell him to run the ball?

Jerod Mayo (2:36)

100% on me.

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Doug Kyd, followed by Phil Perry.

Doug Kyd (2:44)

Good morning, Jerod, has there been any organizational disagreement about whether to use Drake Mayon design runs?

Jerod Mayo (2:52)

No, look, we have quarterback design runs. Just haven't pulled them out yet, so there's no disagreement. We're all on the same page. I think Alex and the offensive staff do a good job putting together the game plan. I go in there, I offer my two cents, and we come out of the room as a unit, all on the same page.

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Phil Perry, followed by Chris Ryan.

Phil Perry (3:16)

Hey, Jerod, has Drake lobbied for those kinds of carries? He mentioned something last night about how, you know, he was a good quarterback sneaker in college, and he was open to it. Has he talked to you guys or suggested in moments that he would like to do that kind of thing?

Jerod Mayo (3:30)

Yeah, I'm not going to get really into those types of conversations. And again, look, Drake's the ultimate team player. He has been an ultimate team player. And whatever is called, he's going to try to go out there and execute it the best that he possibly can. What I will say is, look, Ramonjo is one of our best players on the team, one of our best weapons on offense. And what we did there was ultimately my decision, and I thought we could pick it up.