PATRIOTS HEAD COACH JEROD MAYO
Obviously disappointed by the outcome of the game. We had our chances. We always talk about it, it's not just one play, it's not the interception, it's not going for two, there are multiple plays that happen within a game that can change the tide of it. And at the time, I felt like that was the right thing to do. It's easy to make a judgement one way or the other. But I thought that was the right thing to do at the time. I will say this, I thought the team went out there and they fought. Being on the road in this environment, I will say, just a shout out to the fans that traveled. I felt like we had a lot of fans that traveled. You could hear them supporting us and too bad we let them down. We've got to do better. I have to do better. Coaches have to do better. We go back to the drawing board. Have to be able to run the football, obviously that was disappointing. I think Drake (Maye) was probably our leading rusher today. You never really want your quarterback to be your leading rusher, and that's in all facets. We've got to be able to move guys off the line. I thought their defensive line did a good job. They were hard to handle inside, especially 98 (Jeffery Simmons), and we knew that coming into the game. Just got to be able to stand up. Every team that we play, they're going to have either good edge rushers or good interior rushers, we've just got to do a better job of getting those guys off the ball. Defensively, again, leaky run defense. There were times where it goes back to fundamentals. We spend a lot of time talking about the X's and O's, but I thought the tackling still needs to improve. That's part of it. We went into the game also saying special teams was going to make a play, had to make plays, and we had big returns by Marcus (Jones) and those guys out there were blocking for them and too bad we let this one slip away.
Jerod, I think obviously the disappointing loss, but I think the entire NFL is talking about the 12 seconds that Drake (Maye) had running around and threw the game tying touchdown. Just your thoughts on what you saw from him?
Yeah, just mental toughness and the ability to make plays with his legs, which he has shown before. Gave us a chance to win the game. Obviously, just didn't pull through.
Jerod, did his running around and kind of tiredness, it looked like after, factor into not going for two there.
I'm not going to get in. I don't want to get into that. It's a good question. I just don't want to get into it now.
Two weeks ago, you said the production in the running game was sort of a mentality thing. Do you still feel that way or what do you think is preventing that run game from finding consistency?
I've always felt that stopping the run and running the ball starts with your attitude. It starts with your attitude. It starts with your mentality. And we just have to do better on both sides of the ball.
Jerod, what did you think of the decision by Drake on the last play of the game?
Look, he's a guy out there trying to make a play, just trying to make a play. I think sometimes, as well as he has played, sometimes you forget how young he is. And he's going to continue to develop, and he'll be a good quarterback in this league. We'll all learn from this, myself included.
Jerod, what did you learn about him today?
We already knew it, but I think the obvious thing is just his mental toughness and ability to really change the page and being a resilient player, and that's a great quality to have in a quarterback. And he's a good competitor.
The defense obviously held them to 17 points, obviously in regulation, but it's just a sense of, after that game tying touchdown having them come right down the field, how tough was that to watch there?
It was very tough. We'll watch the film and see what happened, but it was tough. Those long drives have hurt us at times this year.
What did you see from your offensive line today? It looked like (Layden Robinson) was being replaced by (Mike Onwenu) at one point.
Well, Mike (Onwenu) ended up kicking in to guard. We felt like we needed to match up with one of their best players. Again, when you watch the film, you're going to see the interior of the pocket at times was soft. And I thought putting our best player in there was the best thing to do for the team.
(Drake) Maye has two interceptions and the fumble, what is the balance there between letting a young quarterback to get his feet under him versus win now?
Look, we never want to go out there and turn the ball over. We came into the game saying we need to get turnovers and not turn the ball over. That's the recipe for us to win football games. And we just didn't do that today. He'll learn from his mistakes. That's one thing if you want to go back to a characteristic, he learns from his mistakes, and he'll be better for it.
You feel like you're seeing some progress in certain facets of the game, complementary football, the interception by (Jahlani) Tavai, you go down and get points, things like that where you're trying to—you mentioned Marcus Jones with a punt return and then the drive.
Yeah, I think so. At the same time, we never want to lose games, and I feel like crap right now. So, it's hard to really pull a positive out of this one, for me, at least.
How did you feel about the way Drake protected himself, obviously has to leave last week's game, took a few hard shots today. What did you think of how he handled himself in the open field?
I thought he did well. I thought he did well. I'm sure we'll watch the film and say things and second guess whether to slide r not to slide. But he's healthy and I think that's the most important thing.
What would you like to see the football team do now going forward here? After what happened in London, where they've come and where you'd like to see it go from here?
I want these guys just to, as we always say, change the page on Wednesday and get ready for a big game coming up.
