FOXBORO, Massachusetts — On January 12, Jerod Mayo was named the New England Patriots’ fifteenth head coach. For the majority of us, it is sufficient time to get used to the work, breeze through the dreaded six-month performance review, and accrue enough paid time off to take a quick family vacation.
However, as everyone knows, there is nothing “average” about being an NFL head coach. The job may be an express train to Crazytown in terms of the stakes, the expectations, and the knowledge that some crazy fan named, oh, Tony from Quincy, is moaning about something you said or did, or did not say or do, on the radio right now.
But for Mayo, the real work really does not start until today. Before Tuesday morning, there was a mix of organizational heavy lifting (assembling a staff, hunkering down with vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and the rest of the football operations crowd for the NFL Draft) and light lifting (photo ops, TV appearances, moving into the new digs). However, there is now a type of heavy lifting that is comparable to moving mountains.
We are discussing real coaching here. At Gillette Stadium, training camp for the 2024 campaign has officially begun. Mayo, who seemed anxious to get going, began the scheduled 10 a.m. news conference at precisely 9:57.
But he is far more than just the new head coach. Mayo is taking over for Hall of Fame tight end Bill Belichick, who is best known for leading the Patriots to six Super Bowl titles in his 24 seasons as New England’s sideline manager. Belichick is currently a rising TV personality. Mayo is in for a treat because this is his first head coaching position after playing linebacker for the Patriots. To put it another way, Belichick has surpassed Mayo 333-0 in NFL coaching victories, including playoffs.
Keeping all of that in mind, I requested to speak with Mayo for a while following the press conference on Tuesday morning.
We discussed the differences in this man’s mental state six months ago and now.
“I just kind of dove in,” Mayo said. “There are a lot of things that happen on the back end that don’t happen on the field.”
And now?
“It is different,” he said. “It’s different when they put the pads on. Remember, I was out there with the whistle in the spring, those guys were out there practicing. But it’s going to be different when they put the pads on in training camp, because I’ll have to tame my excitement because I want to put the pads on still.
“Being out there for training camp is when it will really hit me.”
Now, regarding the whistle he mentioned: Was there some sort of Tiffany’s silver-plated whistle that his family had given him? Did Mayo order a pair from Amazon.com online? (I discovered one from Bsofing that “will not easily rust or corrode” and is “made of high-quality steel” for $3.99. Lanyard attached!
Turns off Mayo did not go cheap, and he did not acquire an expensive whistle.
“Oftentimes, I forget my whistle,” he said. “I just yell to the equipment manager that I need a whistle. It comes right out of the pack. I don’t have a gold Deion Sanders whistle. Didn’t happen. I have a normal whistle. I’m a normal guy.”
It was a mad rush for the Patriots’ new coach on Tuesday morning.
“I didn’t look in the mirror this morning,” he said. “I didn’t have breakfast. I did have a staff meeting. It was good.”
He entered the media room at 9:57, which was three minutes early, as there was still football to be coached on the practice fields beyond Gillette Stadium.
Mayo responded to the standard questions regarding the standard subjects, one of which will be asked daily from this point on until, well, until Mayo switches out the quarterback. However, as of Tuesday morning at 9:57—you have heard this a hundred times already—Jacoby (Brissett) is the starting quarterback at this time. We may examine the remaining quarterbacks on the team. It is also about competition at the same time. We will see how it all works out when we put on the pads and head out onto the field this summer. However, after the spring, I believe it is obvious that Jacoby is our most pro-ready player.
“It could absolutely happen.”
Despite Jacoby Brissett being the current starter, Jerod Mayo isn’t counting Drake Maye out to start opening day 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/os8bm6A8LJ
— NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) July 23, 2024
That answer had a hint of Belichick in it. Belichick was never one to show off his admiration for rookies who have never played in the NFL, and the other Bill from back then handled his affairs in a similar way to Parcells. It was therefore outdated coachspeak when Mayo first included first-round choice Drake Maye among “these other quarterbacks.”
For those keeping score at home, the news conference began with a mention of Bill Belichick at three and a half minutes in.
“The overarching message is about competition, and it’s also about building camaraderie and knowing what to do,” Mayo said. “I’ve learned a lot of principles here, obviously from Bill, and being tough, smart and dependable is something that makes a good team. That’s still part of my message to the guys. But in the end, it’s about competition and going out and beating the man across from you.”
That was the end of it. This is where the real coaching starts. Give this dude a whistle, please.
