Mayo Monday: “This Isn’t a One-Year Thing in My Mind”

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo sat in on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday. It was his weekly segment of “Mayo Monday” on the program. For the fifth week in a row, his appearance followed a Patriots defeat. This time a 41-21 loss to the Houston Texans. Mayo summed up the loss succinctly: “You turn the ball over four times, it’s tough to walk away with the win.”

Mayo touched on many topics, including the team’s penalty problems, Drake Maye’s first start, their next game in London, and more.

Note: These comments are grouped by topic, not chronological order in which they were discussed. But no quotes are meshed together to present a false narrative of what Jerod Mayo said.

Patriots Penalties

Mayo spoke about the team’s penalty problems. New England has had 21 penalties over the past two weeks. It makes the most over a two-game stretch this late in the season since 1990 for the Patriots.

“It finally settled down in the second half as far as penalties are concerned,” said Mayo. “I would say in the first half, I think we had seven penalties there. And we just got to continue to chip at the rock and be a more disciplined football team.”

Also Read – Kelley: Is Starting Drake Maye a PR Move for the Patriots?

Later, he discussed how some penalties are tougher to stomach than others.

“I would say the more frustrating ones are the pre-snap penalties or the false start,” Mayo stated. “Even yesterday, the first play of the game, it’s so frustrating that we’re in the season at this point, and the first play of the game.”

Jerod Mayo was referring to the illegal formation penalty against Sione Takitaki on the opening kickoff. In fairness to Takitaki, it was his first game of the season.

The coach acknowledged that missed calls by officials are frustrating. He was careful not to generate a fine for himself.

“It’s very frustrating for me,” confirmed Mayo. “Now in saying that, look, they made the call and you can yell at them all you want to, but the call’s already been made.”

Drake Maye’s Play on Sunday

Jerod Mayo answered several about Drake Maye’s first NFL start and how the offense looked with the rookie behind center.

“We started slow, but when he settled in, he [Maye] was able to really take control of the offense and push the ball down the field. You saw him make plays with his legs; you saw him make plays with his arms. And I don’t want to forget about our center, Ben Brown, who came in at the start. He was here for five days, and I thought he did a great job yesterday. To only be here five days and to go out there and play like that is definitely special.”

Mayo discussed Maye making adjustments to correct his mistakes from the first to the second half.

“We always talk about not being repeat-error guys and that’s at every position,” said Mayo. “And you could see that Drake [Maye] is not one of those guys.”

How was Drake Maye after the game?

“Drake [Maye] was great, man. Look, his attitude and mentality overall, it’s not Gronk-ish (referring to Rob Gronkowski), you know what I mean, kinda goofy, a little bit goofy, but he was just pumped. But obviously disappointed in losing the football game. We all look forward to seeing him continue to grow.”

Should Maye Have Started Sooner?

“Look, we came into the season with the plan,” Jerod Mayo responded to the question of waiting until Week 6 to start Drake Maye. “And you guys have heard about the plan all the time. And I would say, for the plan, I thought it was just we always had to try to put the team in the best position to win games. Now in saying that, historically, Jacoby [Brissett] has not turned the ball over and was able to go out there and operate. We knew that Drake [Maye] was trending to be the starting quarterback. And this was, you know, we felt like this was the time to do it and he gave our team the best chance to win.”

But Mayo made it clear multiple variables went into deciding when to start Maye.

“I mean look, as far as the plan is concerned, there are definitely different factors that go into that. I thought from a roster standpoint, just in general, especially with our younger players, we had to see what we have this year, no matter what the record is. And when we get out of this season. we need to know exactly what we have from a talent standpoint and then fill the holes that we need to fill.

“So just to answer your question, I mean, I don’t know when Drake [Maye] was going to play. Look, if we were undefeated at this point in time, he could ride it out a little bit longer if we were protecting the quarterback at this time, maybe. But in saying that, I think you got to get a guy like that out there.”

Third Drake Maye touchdown pass of the day!

📺: #HOUvsNE on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/wx1KyxB7uR

— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024

Eventually, Jerod Mayo was asked point-blank if the Patriots’ offensive line was the primary factor in determining whether or not to play Drake Maye

“It was more based on seeing what we had up front with the offensive line,” conceded Mayo.

When the subject came up again, whether Maye would’ve played sooner if the team addressed the offensive line in the offseason, Mayo got a bit defensive.

“You can keep going back to that, but once again, handling the offensive line, what does that mean?” asked Mayo. “We drafted offensive linemen as well. You can talk about free agent linemen, which I think someone said a couple of weeks ago, but who are those guys? This is what we have, and this is what we’re going to play with.”

Time to Open Up the Playbook?

With a new quarterback in the lineup, one with a new skill set, Jerod Mayo was asked if the New England Patriots would open up the offensive playbook a bit more.

“I know people talk about, ‘we need more creative plays’ and things like that,” acknowledged Mayo. “But going back to the offensive line, we still have not settled on an offensive line. I know the focus is always on the quarterback and what he can understand. And Drake [Maye] is a very smart person. Now in saying that, it’s not just him out there on the field. Also, other guys out there need to be on the same page.

“But I do think going forward, hopefully, the o-line kind of settles down, even though we lost [Verderian] Lowe yesterday. Hopefully, when that starts to settle down, we can start adding new plays in there. And that comes just from practicing together with the same group.”

Mayo used his new starting center as an example. “Going back to Ben Brown, how much stuff can you put in in five days and expect them to go out there and perform?” asked the coach.

Supporting the Quarterback

The New England Patriots drafted Mac Jones in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. The hosts pointed out how much money the Patriots spent that offseason to improve the team. The signed players like Kendrick Bourne and Hunter Henry, who remain with the team.

“If you look at free agency or through the draft, we’re always trying to improve our roster,” stated Mayo. “Now, in saying that, we had a lot of holes on the roster that we felt coming out of the draft that we addressed. Now, in free agency, we still felt like we signed the best offensive lineman in Mike Onwenu. And then re-signed some of our own players, which was definitely part of it. Now, once again, this isn’t a one-year thing in my mind. It’s going to take time to continue to build out the roster, and that’s how it is.”

Godchaux Says Defense Wasn’t Playing With Pride

Defensive tackle Davon Godchaux stated after Sunday’s game that it didn’t look like the defense had pride out there at times. Mayo responded to questions about Godchaux’s comments.

DT Davon Godchaux: Players need to be accountable … comes down to having pride out there and didn’t look like we had it at times after going down in the third quarter … frustrating. pic.twitter.com/SPxIAeykPY

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 13, 2024

“I’m not going to tell those guys what to say, and that’s one man’s opinion,” answered Mayo. “What I will say is that the defense went out there, after going back and watching the film, big plays aside, which I understand that’s part of it, they played okay. Now going back to playing complimentary football, putting special teams in there as well, like we just didn’t do a good job there. Now defensively again, they were put in some tough situations where they were already, with the turnover starting on the plus side of the field.”

The hosts circled back to whether it bothers Mayo that one of his players believes the team was not playing with pride.

“No,” said Mayo. “I mean look, when he [Godchaux] watches the film, he’ll see that the guys were still out there flying around. We went into halftime, it was 14-7. Came out of halftime, getting the ball, you couldn’t ask to be in a better…well obviously you always want to be ahead. But 14-7 coming out the second half, watching Drake start to trend and not making those repeat mistakes, I thought the guys had energy and they went out there and tried to do their best.”

Why Was the Roster in Such Bad Shape?

Jerod Mayo was asked bluntly why the roster was in such bad shape and he responded with a chuckle, “You tell me.”

Before anything else could be followed-up on, Mayo said, “Nah, not doing that one.”

Injuries Affected the Defense

In defense of the New England Patriots defense, Jerod Mayo pointed to some costly injuries.

“Look, injuries happen all the time,” prefaced the coach. “One thing I would say is, you lose a guy like [Ja’Whaun] Bentley in the middle of the defense, it’s going to be a blow to the team. A captain for us. You lose a guy like [Christian] Barmore, who hasn’t played all year, who’s one of the most disruptive players in the league. You lose the safeties, which I feel like when they’re out there playing, the best safeties in the league. And when they’re not out there playing, other guys have to step up, and that’s just part of the growth.”

The safeties Mayo referred to are Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers. Dugger missed Week 5 against Miami. Peppers missed Week 6 against Houston and is currently on the NFL Commissioner’s Exempt List following his arrest. Mayo did not mention Jabrill Peppers by name, and no questions were asked about his situation or status.

Development of the Culture

After 24 years of Bill Belichick running the show in New England, Mayo was asked about the development of the team culture that the new regime is attempting to create.

“I think we have buy-in,” said Mayo. “The one thing I would say is just, look, the penalties are a frustrating thing. And that’s not part of what we’re trying to build. We want to be a smart, tough, dependable football team, and we have to continue to work towards that.”

Week 7 vs. Jacksonville in London

Looking forward to their next opponent, Mayo was asked about possibly seeing former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I have nothing but love for Mac Jones, and wish him nothing but the best,” said Mayo.

So will New England do any sightseeing in England?

“No, our focus is on Jacksonville,” said Mayo. “No sightseeing.”

Host Greg Hill ended the conversation by stating there was some excitement around the New England Patriots with their new quarterback.

“I’m excited too,” said Jerod Mayo. “I’m excited for just our team in general getting better every week.”