Head Coach Jerod Mayo on WEEI 11/25: "I don't think progress is a straight line to the top"

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Pats from the Past. Tune in as Matt Smith and Paul Perillo offer in-depth interviews with some of the greatest players and coaches in New England Patriots history.

SPEAKER_2 (0:07)

Joined by the newest member of the Patriots Hall of Fame, Mike Ravel.

SPEAKER_1 (0:10)

Find out what led to some of the greatest moments in franchise history and unique behind the scenes insight.

SPEAKER_2 (0:15)

And pleased to be joined by former Patriot quarterback, Brian Hoyer. Joined by number 37 on your scorecard, but number one in our hearts at least, Rodney Harrison.

SPEAKER_3 (0:23)

Good to be home, good to see you guys.

SPEAKER_1 (0:25)

Search for Pats from the Past anywhere you get your podcast.

Greg Hill (0:30)

How are you doing?

Jerod Mayo (0:31)

Doing all right. Yeah, it was a tough game down there in Miami. We just got outplayed, out coached and we just have to continue to get better. You take that game away. The last four, we felt pretty good about where we were trending, and this hopefully is just a hiccup and get ready for the Colts.

Greg Hill (0:45)

I don't know what word you would use. We were using sloppy earlier. Do you feel like this team is playing sloppy?

Jerod Mayo (0:56)

I would say if you take that game, that was a sloppy game and it starts with the penalties. Look, the post snap penalties, you can sometimes go back and forth. It's the operational penalties and the lack of focus that really frustrate me, and I know frustrate the team.

SPEAKER_6 (1:11)

Jerod, we talk about this every week. It's like you said, it's those penalties that you have, the fall starts and it's continued. When do you get to a point, and I know it's probably difficult based on personnel, when guys do start messing up, where they got to be concerned about their asses being on the bench for the rest of the game and worrying about playing time.

Jerod Mayo (1:31)

Yeah, and that's the hard part, as you continue to try to build a culture, and look, these are the things that we're not going to do. It depends on the position group that you even look at, whether we have depth at that spot or not. Well, we don't have depth at that spot. That definitely goes into it, but it's unacceptable by all the players.

Greg Hill (1:48)

So depth at that spot, that you...

Jerod Mayo (1:50)

I'm just using just general position.

Greg Hill (1:52)

Well, I would use it like Vidarian Lowe, like somebody who ends up being penalized three times in that game. And certainly, costly when it comes to where you are field position-wise. Do you have to look then back at the roster and say, we don't have the depth there at the position that we need?

Jerod Mayo (2:09)

That's part of the conversation, not only now, but also in the off-season where we do have depth and where we don't.

SPEAKER_7 (2:17)

We've been talking about already this morning about your comments after, about once the guys cross the white line, there's really nothing you can do for them when it comes to penalties. And then you brought up the fact that you just need to prepare them every single week. Do you feel like every week when you're going in to the game, that they are prepared to not make those mistakes? How do you make sure to up that as the head coach when it comes to practicing to make sure that this isn't a repeating issue?

Jerod Mayo (2:40)

You know, I've always said in the media even when I was a player that, you know, or I should say going back to when I was a coach in 19 when I first started, is that, you know, once you cross the white lines, like, it's your game. There's nothing I can do to do, like, I try to give you the tools. You have to go out there with high awareness and execute what we're trying to do. I've always said that. And if we would have won the game, it looks like a compliment. We lose the game. Now it looks like a slap in the face. But if you were to ask any of those players, I say that all the time.

SPEAKER_8 (3:09)

There was a report this morning that, as Drake Maye was talking to the press, that there were several offensive players laughing. How do you clean up the culture where players don't find any sort of frivolity in a blowout loss in Miami?

Jerod Mayo (3:30)

I didn't get that vibe in the locker room. When I broke the team down, I told them how I felt about the game. I'm not sure where that report came from. What I will say is I heard one person, I guess Low, smiled during a question, but that's him. He smiles all the time. We're disappointed. We're all pissed off, and we all understand that we have to get better.