Jerod Mayo was able to speak to the media and fans for the first time as Patriots head coach on Wednesday in his introductory press conference.
Mayo was certainly impressive in terms of managing people and how he views his role in the new regime, but it seemed a little light in terms of what he believes in terms of his vision and what the Patriots might look like on the field.
But was that really true? We looked back at the transcripts from the introductory press conferences for Mike Vrabel, Dan Campbell and Demeco Ryans — like Mayo they were all former players and somewhat light on experience. Comparing their comments in a number of areas, and then we'll get into what we think:
VISION FOR THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM
Mayo, who wasn't asked the question directly: "I don't want to just talk about offense, but that's across the board. Special teams, defense and offense. You want your players to have a sense of accountability. You want your players to have a sense of commitment. You want your players to, when they walk out the door, you're not worried about the decisions that they're going to make outside of this building. Once again, I think we have a good foundation. We have a good foundation, and my thing here over the next few weeks is to rebuild some relationships, knock down silos, and collaborate. That's what I'm focused on."
Vrabel: "We talk about the right 53, not the best 53. So when you talk about a vision, we want a big, fast, strong, smart football team that's disciplined. When you talk about disciplined, not jumping off sides late in the game. When you're disciplined you're able to take advantage of other teams' mistakes. We won't make critical mistakes. We're going to do everything we can not to make critical mistakes. We're going to try and be as disciplined as a football team as we possibly can.
Campbell: "We’re going to kick you in the teeth, and when you punch us back, we’re going to smile at you, and when you knock us down, we’re going to get up. On the way up, we’re going to bite a knee cap off, all right, and we’re going to stand up, and then it’s going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we’re going to take your other knee cap, and we’re going to get up and it’s going to take three shots to take us down. When we do, we’re going to take another hunk out of you. Before long, we’re going to be the last one standing. That’s going to be the mentality, darn it. We’re going to learn that any loss that we take, we’re going to make sure that we feel the full pain of it and not grow numb to it and learn from it and not to want to taste it again."
Ryans: "What we're looking for, what I'm looking for and the type of players that we're looking for are players who are looking to swarm. We want players that have a special work ethic and a relentless mindset in everything that they do. That's what you're going to see from Texans football. You're going to see fast, you're going to see physical, you're going to see toughness. We want smart players who truly are dedicated to being the best that they want to be and guys who are coachable and guys that want to go win. That's what we want to do. We want to do it in a first-class manner. We want to do the right way."
Bedard's scorecard:
1. Vrabel was very detailed in what he wanted.
2. Ryans definitely had a vision
3. Campbell was definitely passionate but lacked specifics (by the way, his press conference lasted an hour and a half).
4. Mayo wasn't asked about directly, but you normally put forth that vision in the opening comments.
LEADERSHIP STYLE
Mayo: "One thing I believe in, when I talk about leadership, most people think it's like a chess board and a guy moving pieces on the board. I really don't believe that to be correct as far as developing leaders. I think of it more as gardening. Gardeners really don't grow anything. They just make sure the soil is right. They grab the weeds out there, they water it, whatever, and that's how what grows, grows. That's how I approach leadership. We've talked about it before, but collaboration is huge. I want to just water seeds. Right now we're in the evaluation process where we are planting seeds. We are planting seeds, and hopefully that will lead to the next dynasty here with the Kraft family.
Vrabel: "I don't think that I have to go ahead and do anything special. When I stand in front of these guys on April 2 and they look at their head coach, I will have been every single one of those players in those seats. I've been the rookie that got drafted that was having a tough time, that maybe wasn't developing as fast as the coaches would've liked. I will have been a core special teams player. I will have been a starting linebacker that was expected to make some plays because he was a high-priced player. I will have been the aging veteran that needed to be a great leader, or I'll have been a team captain. I'll have a great opportunity to share my story and what I've been through with each one of those players. I'm not going to do anything special, I'm just going to tell them who I am and say, 'Where are you at in your career? This is what we need to do to make you better. Here's what I see. This is what you do well. This is what you don't do well. And we're going to work together to fix whatever you don't do well.'"
Campbell: "I want to understand what makes a player tick, and who they are, where they came from because there’s a reason why everybody – everybody has some things in their life they react negatively to or positively to, and I think when you can get into the nuts and bolts of it to who the human is, then you realize maybe the reason that guy showed up (late) was something very simple that’s going on in his life, as opposed to just reacting and blowing your top over the fact that he’s late. Maybe actually something is going on. Now, I would blow my top and have a problem – but I would sit down afterwards and say, ‘What’s going on? Is there something I need to know, and let’s find out?"
Ryans: "The reason I got into coaching was to help players. That's the only reason I got into coaching. I was able to get that opportunity out in San Francisco after playing. I sat out for a year, and I was able to go out there, and it was truly about just helping others. That's what I want to do here with our guys is just developing our young men, developing the players to be the best players they can be on the field, but also I want to develop men to be the best men off the field. Develop great husbands, great fathers, great community men. That's what coaching is to me. It's about the development and delivery of men."
Bedard's scorecard:
1. Mayo. Thought this was his strongest area by far, but most were in the same ballpark with similar beliefs.
2. Ryans. Very similar to Mayo.
3. Campbell. Similar to Mayo.
4. Vrabel. Kind of just said, 'I did it before, they should listen to me.'
GENERAL MANAGER/PERSONNEL
Mayo: "One thing with collaboration, also, there are experts. I believe in leaning on experts in their field. Now, will we always do what that expert advises us to do? No, absolutely not. But at the same time I'm going to go into this thing with no expectations, and I said this as a rookie, I wanted to be a sponge and learn as much as I can. We have a lot of people in this building that I can learn from in those regards."
Vrabel: "The role that I'm going to have in personnel is continued conversations with Jon (Robinson). Jon and I, again, it's no secret Jon has the final say over 53. But, if we don't agree on 1-52, it's not going to matter. Maybe we're going to have a conversation on the 53rd guy, and then Jon gets to pick who he thinks is the 53rd guy. But, if we don't agree on 1-52, you probably hired the wrong guy."
Campbell: "(Brad Holmes) and I are tied to the hip. This guy — he’s unbelievable. You want to talk about vision? We see the game very much the same way. We see players very much the same way. Last night we were talking — I don’t know. We finished each other’s sentences twice, one of them was about vision. More importantly, we’re not in the business of just stacking players. Let’s find a vision for this guy because when you find a vision for a guy, now you know how to play him and how to put him in your system. It could be the most athletic guy in the world, but if you don’t have a vision for him, what are you going to do with him? So, I think that’s important. Our relationship, man, up to this point, has been outstanding."
Ryans: "What I've learned about this part of it, the head coach, what I have learned the most about it, it's all about collaboration, and that's what I learned the most. And that's what excites me to be here working with Nick and being able to truly be aligned and build a team together. When we're scouting players, it's the scouts looking at a player, the coaches looking at a player, everybody having their opinion, but we all can come to agreement. If it works for us or not, it's okay. Everybody has a voice, and everybody will be heard when we talk about players."
Bedard's scorecard:
1. Campbell. Very strong.
2. Vrabel. He had a lot of similar comments and conveyed a deep understanding of the roster and working with Robinson.
3. Ryans. Fairly similar to Mayo's view.
4. Mayo. Definitely a weakness for him but he was the only one hired without a definite GM in place. Could just come in time.
OFFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY
Mayo: "I would say just the energy, the passion, the leaders on the offensive side of the ball. I think you have to get that stuff in place. Honestly, as the season starts to roll, this season when it ends, we start in the weight room. I think the weight room is one of the most important areas in the building to really evaluate the people you have on your team. One thing we don't want to do is have people who are complainers or finger pointing or things like that. The best teams I've really been a part of have been teams that -- whether I'm talking about high school, college or the NFL, teams that are not led by the players, but things are enforced by the players."
Vrabel: "I think that we're going to run the football. We're going to run it from the quarterback being under center, we're going to run it from the quarterback being in gun. We're going to give Marcus (Mariota) some easy access throws, whether that be RPOs or run reliefs. We're not going to run it into eight or nine guys, we're not going to be silly. I believe in screens, I believe in play action, things that he does well. We were scared to death, again, when we do the stats and we run the statistics, he's averaging 17 or 18 yards a completion in play action. Those things scare you as a defensive coordinator, those are big plays that change field position. Those are things that we believe in, but we're going to run the football and we're going to do it from different ways, different backfield alignments."
Campbell: "Here’s my philosophy on offense, and defense for that matter: We’re going to run a system that puts our best on your worst. That’s what we’re going to do because that’s what we did in New Orleans. We’re going to find a way to put our guys in one-one-one matchups, whether it’s run or pass. If you’re telling me that our left tackle is better than their right end, and we can run outside zone all day – we’re going to run outside zone, as long as we cut off the back side. Why not? If we can exploit a weakness, we’re going to do it.”
Ryans: "How I envision the offense looking, we want to play with precision. We want to play with effort. We want to play with physicality. We want to own the line of scrimmage. We want to establish the run game first, but we want to be balanced. We want to be able to operate with play-action pass. We also want to be efficient. We want to have explosive playmakers who we can get the ball to. If it's not down the field, we want to be able to throw a checkdown and put it in the hands of an explosive playmaker and see him create. Everything about our offense, we want to make sure that we're adaptable to the players that we have, making sure we're playing to the strengths of our players, getting the ball in our playmakers' hands and letting them make plays."
Bedard's scorecard:
1. Ryans. Clear vision.
2. Vrabel. Definitely conveyed his vision.
3. Campbell. A bit of a blunt instrument.
4. Mayo. Not sure he's giving it much thought or is just going to rely on his coordinator.
QUARTERBACKS
Mayo: (Didn't really touch on it nor was he asked specifically about it.)
Vrabel: "The vision is that we're going to do things that are going to help him. We're going to get guys around him that are going to help him. We're going to get him to play with confidence, we're going to get him to play energetic and bring the passion of football out that he's so capable of showing. That's my idea for him. There's not going to be a greater relationship that I need to foster and develop than the one with our starting quarterback."
Campbell: "I think the short answer to that (whether you need a franchise QB to win) is no, but I think your odds go way up of having success when you find one of those guys. So, I think, look, this is a passing league right now. It just is. The numbers that are being put up grow every year in the pass game. Look, I think that’s certainly an important piece that every team needs.”
Ryans: "We know everybody gets excited about the quarterback. The quarterback is one piece to a team. As I've seen in San Francisco, what happens when you don't have that one guy. Is the season over? Are you just booking it? No. How do you build around that quarterback? Yes, we want a great quarterback, but no, we need a great offensive line to protect the quarterback. We need great running backs, great tight ends, great receivers. We need a great defense, special teams. We all play together. That's the awesome part about football is it's not on one guy's shoulders to go out there and win the game for us. It's all about building around each other and playing together. That's how we'll win games."
Bedard's scorecard:
1. Vrabel.
2. Ryans.
3. Campbell. It really stands out how the top three talk about how helping the QB is huge. Very interesting.
4. Mayo. This goes with his lack of offensive vision ... he could have just stated what he believes about the QB and the modern passing game, but he didn't nor was he asked.
COACHING STAFF
Mayo: “Obviously, the staff that I've been working with isn't the staff that I have chosen, but everything is under evaluation. One thing I would say with all of my coaches, the number one thing is developing people, and with this generation -- back when I first started playing, most of the time Coach would say something and guys would do it. I think with this generation, you have to show them that you care about them before you get into competency as far as Xs and Os are concerned. That's one thing I feel like with all my coaches, they should know the players. They should know their room better than I do. They're closer. They're closer to those guys, and they have that day-to-day interaction. But to me, whether we're talking offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, all that stuff is under eval, and my number one thing is I want to bring in developers.
Vrabel: "They're going to be great teachers, they're going to have passion and energy for football, for making players better. I believe that players are more important than plays, and it's always going to be about that. It's never going to be about the scheme. Another thing I told Amy (Adams Strunk), my job is to make sure that the players know what to do and that they play fast and aggressive. If they go into games and we're not sure of things then it's my job as a head coach to take them out and say, 'they don't know it, they can't play fast and aggressive.' That situation, fourth down, yesterday and somebody's got to make a play, I'm pretty sure that Stephon Gilmore knew what to do and he played fast and aggressive and he was able to make the play to win the game and put his team in the Super Bowl."
Campbell: “Sean (Payton) is a big believer in compatibility is more important than coachability. I get it, you get it — the point is compatibility is important. It’s highly important. It doesn’t matter — you can put the best coaches in the room, and if they’re all a bunch of alphas, and they’re trying to eat each other alive, you’re never going to get anything done. ... That’s what I want to create here. It’s just a bunch of guys, they want to better themselves, they want to learn from the game, they want to learn about the game, but they want to grow together, and one man’s strength is another man’s weakness and vice versa. We know how to cover for each other."
Ryans: "We want a very diverse coaching staff, and that's not only diversity in race, but diversity in experience. We want experienced coaches, some coaches not so much experience. We want coaches who are great teachers. That's the one thing we are looking for most importantly is great teachers. We want guys who are positive, bring positive energy. We want guys who can connect with players. If you can connect with players, then you can lead players. If you can't connect, there is no way you can coach those guys. We want guys who are bringing energy, doing it in a fun way. Guys who are truly committed to working together as well. No egos allowed. No energy vampires allowed. We want a positive culture. We're going to work together to make sure we're giving the players everything they need. With that being said, you want a diverse staff because players learn differently, so we want to be able to present things in a different way to different players to make sure when they step on the field Sunday, they're clear minds. They're not thinking. They're playing as fast as possible."
Bedard's scorecard:
(All tied - 2.5 points). All gave similar answers and level of detail.
_______________________
Final tally
12.5 Vrabel
12.5 Ryans
15.5 Campbell
19.5. Mayo
I don't think Mayo was totally outclassed or anything, but it was fairly clear that he didn't have a many talking points to convey his vision in a lot of areas.
That being said, this is perhaps what happens when you haven't had to present your vision to teams in an interview setting. The last time Mayo did that was two years ago with the Broncos and Raiders.
Most of the time, candidates go into those interviews with a huge binder that addresses every possible subject: overall vision, offense, defense, special teams, staffing and personnel thoughts. It's been a while for Mayo and perhaps he has yet to update his feelings on a number of topics. It's doubtful he ever sat with the Krafts and conveyed those thoughts (if he did, Robert Kraft would have mentioned that).
At the end of the day, the other three hired coaches were well-versed on speaking about the big concepts. Mayo has just been out of practice.
(Adam Richins for BSJ)
NICKEL PACKAGE
1. What happened with Bill O'Brien, who departed this week to be Ohio State's offensive coordinator?
On Jan. 7th I reported: "I don't rule it out if staying at home is a priority for O'Brien, but there are rumblings that he hasn't immensely enjoyed his return to One Patriot Place (wouldn't blame him one bit) and would be open to change (with Mike Vrabel somewhere, possibly?)"
On Tuesday's Felger & Mazz, I mentioned how most coaches were on vacation and that O'Brien would likely to listen to the Patriots but the odds were low he would return. That night, a team source told me that O'Brien and the Patriots were facing off a bit, that neither side was really interested in continuing the relationship but the Patriots were open to it depending on O'Brien.
In his press conference, Mayo did not name O'Brien and said this about offensive coordinator: "Everything is still under consideration."
On Wednesday night, another team source confirmed that O'Brien wanted out but the two sides were doing a dance on whether or not the Patriots would be required to pay the final two years of O'Brien's contract. "They don't want to pay but I could see Billy saying, 'You brought me back here and this is your fault - you're paying.' And he'd be totally right."
On Thursday it was announced O'Brien was leaving for OSU.
2. BelichickWorld is not happy with the way things went down, and it will be interesting to see how many stay on staff.
Let's just say the texts were flying from Belichick loyalists after Mayo's press conference. A sampling:
"They didn't even have an answer on who has the final say. That collaboration thing is good to a point but that's only good when you have a boss. Who's the boss? That thing about they may or may not have a GM, like did you have a plan when you fired Bill? Doesn't that require a plan? ...
"I think Jonathan's going to be involved. That power structure knowing what it's probably going to be, I would not hang around to have them experiment with that. Who's in charge? With people who have never been in charge of anything before?" ...
"(Mayo and Robyn Glaser) were doing a lot of calls and information gathering even before the season was over. That was a big problem. 'Why are you asking these questions while Bill's the head coach? Why is this happening? So there were some red flags going up in the office with a bunch of us, where it kind of became very apparent that was already written on the wall to the point where it's like, okay, we're not gonna sit here and just experience this shit." ...
"That's the head coach. Whatever he says, that's what goes. There's no, 'I want to do it this way. I know, he said this, but I'm gonna do this instead.' That's the kind of thing that really rubbed a lot of us the wrong way. I know you think you know how this operates, but (the head coach) says, go, we go. He says, jump, we jump. The head coach says it and everybody else's job is to do what he says. (Mayo) didn't do that. As you kind of kept going further and further into the season, you saw more of the almost assumption of 'I don't have to do what he wants to do' because I'm next anyway."
"I think he's trying to keep the defensive staff but there are a couple who don't want to stay and want Bill to put in a request for them wherever he goes - they're stuck under contracts. ... There's a lot of guys who are tied to Bill, there's a lot of guys who resent the way this went down. ... I think that's kind of, 'Yeah, we're going to try to make it look nice, like with Steve and Brian, but the end of the day want to get everybody who's tied to Bill out.'"
3. Some things cleaned up.
Now that the season is over, team sources wanted to set the record on a few things.
On the reported Adrian Klemm-Matt Groh dust-up, one source said: "That was typical behavior, just people being frustrated and saying like, 'You're asking us to do A, but these guys can only do B. Klemm wasn't attacking anybody."
By the way, Klemm's situation was 100 percent a serious health issue, to the point that if he made the Germany trip, it could have been a threat to his life.
And on O'Brien confronting Belichick and storming out: "It was two separate deals. They argued about the run game, but it was just Billy voicing his opinion, nothing big. He left the room in a completely different meeting. He was voicing his own frustrations with the offense, how he felt he had to do a better job and walked out - I took it as he was more pissed at himself. It wasn't anything."
4. Robyn Glaser's close role.
It seems like Robyn Glaser is going to going to be assisting Mayo for many things, but to compare her role to that of Belichick assistant Berj Najarian would be overly kind. Najarian was more like Belichick's administrative assistant. Not only was Glaser helping Mayo with things even before the season started, but she has been on speakerphone with Mayo while talking to current and prospective staff. That's unusual.
"Never," said one team source when asked if Najarian was on staff calls via speakerphone. "She’s on there to help him figure out what to do and hopefully not say the wrong things."
I do think the Krafts realized Belichick did a lot of things they don't even really know, and Mayo will need a lot of help - and more than a few people - to assist him in many areas. Nothing wrong with that.
5. Mac Jones' appearance at the press conference drew a chuckle:
"He was in his workout gear which is ironic since he cleared his entire locker at the end of the season. Not a single hanger. Completely empty. ... I mean, come on man," said a team source. "Everyone's watched him play, they've watched him act like a prima donna. The team is sick of it, everyone's sick of it."