Head Coach Jerod Mayo on WEEI 12/30: "Anything worth having has to be hard"

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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.

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

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

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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.

Rodney Harrison (0:23)

Good to be home, good to see you guys.

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Greg Hill (0:30)

Rod, thanks for joining us.

Jerod Mayo (0:31)

Thanks for having me.

Greg Hill (0:32)

Happy holidays. And I guess the place that I would love to start with you today is, where you left off on Saturday's game. You said when you came out of that game, not a whole lot of positives that you could take away from the film. I know when you just met with the media, you said, well, Colestrange at center, seems to be a place that you could build from. Did you find any other silver linings in that performance?

Jerod Mayo (0:58)

Well, when watching it, effort wasn't the problem. It was just execution across the board. And look, it all starts with me, and I'm okay saying that, and we just have to be better.

SPEAKER_6 (1:09)

When you talk about effort, there was, I think it was Daniel Acqualle. Acqualle. Listen, I told you, I'm horrible with last names, right?

Greg Hill (1:19)

Wiggie came in from his vacation.

SPEAKER_6 (1:22)

If it's not like James Johnson or Jefferson, I tend to kind of butcher them a little bit. But he had said that he felt like there was some guys that he might have saw some quitting players. Do you feel like you saw that in any part of the game from watching the film afterwards?

Jerod Mayo (1:38)

I mean, look, there are a couple of field goal blocks that guys didn't get their hands up. But besides that, I felt like the effort was good. And it's hard. Look, it is hard.

You used to be a player. It's hard when the score gets out of control like that, to keep pushing on. And I would say the majority, most of, if not all, of the guys were still going out there trying to make a play.

SPEAKER_6 (1:59)

When we talked to you early in the season, I think one thing, it's always about having confidence. As a former player, now turn coach, we all have that confidence. You were confident that you guys would be able to win more games than you were last year.

If you could, now that you've been able to see pretty much the whole season except for one more game left, what would you do differently that could affect that outcome in your mind?

Jerod Mayo (2:25)

For me, my confidence is still high and I feel like we're on a journey. We're on a journey and that's part of it. And so you're going to have to go through the fire, you're going to have to go through the blues, you're going to have to go through the criticism to get to where you want to go. Anything worth having, it has to be hard and that's what it is right now.

Greg Hill (2:42)

So you mentioned that there were still guys in the fourth quarter going out with a lot of fight. Drake May appears to be somebody who just has that very naturally. Was there any conversation at all in the fourth quarter when Justin Harbert is on the sidelines on the other side about, hey, should Drake go back in at all? Or was it just kind of a given at that point?

Jerod Mayo (3:01)

Look, Drake is a competitor. He said he was good, he was cleared by the NFL and he wanted to play.

SPEAKER_6 (3:07)

When you look at this up and coming game, I know that you had mentioned that as far as starting Drake May, everything's still on the table. Do you plan on starting him? Or is there, when you say there's a lot of things on the table, what do you mean by that in general?

Jerod Mayo (3:24)

You already answered the question. There are a lot of things on the table. And look, it's, what is it, Monday? Plan on a Saturday. My days kind of get messed up.

SPEAKER_6 (3:31)

Today's Monday.

Jerod Mayo (3:31)

Yeah, today's Monday, so we have time to have those conversations.