INSTANT REACTION: Patriots introduce Jerod Mayo as Patriots head coach

INSTANT REACTION: Patriots introduce Jerod Mayo as Patriots head coach

Uh Tom we’ll start with you I mean Tom Giles and I here were pretty impressed uh with what Gerard Mayo had to offer and couple of the things that may or may not have heard us that we took away but what did you guys take away from this this introductory press

Conference well the first thing I took away was maybe a different tenor I think that gerod immediately kind of punctured the seriousness of the event with a joke about one of his child’s names so I thought that that was amusing and and it shows a more relaxed approach to things

But I think for fans concerns right now they’re pretty well acquainted with gerro as an individual and as a player but what’s his vision as a coach you talked a lot about developing people but I do think that there is probably a curiosity among the fan bases they’re

Yearning for wins what’s the plan going forward and I think that as as a reporter that’s my main takeaway very impressive individual we knew that going in um has great vision for developing people but there is so much TBD right now is how I come out of this press

Conference today that’s the biggest takeaway is it pertains to personnel and I asked Dr Mayo how he views his role in Personnel is there any chance he might have the final say when it comes to the decisions that get made in building this roster and he said he’s going to lean on

The quote unquote experts does that mean you always go along with what the experts tell you no absolutely not is how he put it but he is really going to lean on those people in the front office that the Patriots have there right now mro and wolf that to me is still the

Biggest question Tom asked Robert Craft how ownership is going to be involved when it comes to building this roster I think that’s a key question craft of course said it’s going to be the same for us as it’s been for the last 30 years we’re not going to be involved

We’re going to empower the people that we like to do those things I do still have questions when it comes to that setup though he talked a lot about evaluation of those people in the front office and my question back to you guys would be how can you evaluate the people

That you have running the front office in the short term to me if you’re making draft picks you’re signing free agents that’s a two three maybe even four year evaluation process before you really know how well those guys did their jobs so that to me is still one big question

That’s looming over all this yeah Phil that was actually going to be my next question to you and Tom you know I said to Giles it sounds great right when we listen to Robert Craft and even J Mayo talk about how there are going to be a

Lot of evaluation trying to figure out how do we move forward um but you don’t have a lot of time and this is a pivotal offseason and with the amount of money they have in free agency but also the draft pick that they have at number

Three really how long can you take to evaluate this situation and how much of that do you think will be looking backwards at what this group has done before anything yeah they don’t have much time when it comes to evaluating the choices that get made and and evaluating the roster that they have

Right now right Tom you’re looking at the Players you talked to you heard gerod Mayo answer a question from Karen ggan where he said said I don’t really feel fully equipped to answer that question right now because she asked about the greatest challenge that he would be facing said we need to evaluate

The roster we need to evaluate the coaching staff all that has to happen in a pretty brief period of time before you get to the start of the new league year which is in March and the draft which is in April how do you think he goes about

Tackling that based on some of the things that he said today it’s fascinating to me because more and more as we look at this it’s clear that the Patriots after a 4 and13 season and the ultimatums late down to Bill bich were all about if you don’t deliver this year

Bill we’re going to move in a different direction which they now have but the plan seems to be remove Bill and wait and see how things go certainly there’s going to be attrition through coaching hires Bill might take staff with him there will be attrition in terms of the offensive coaching staff

As we look around the room there were some coaches here there were some players here there wasn’t representation from the offensive coaching staff so there’s going to be changes but by and large it seems as if this is take bill out and see how things go

Which to me we’re looking at a situation where with everything TBD it’s let it’s like let’s run it back without Bill and see how it goes Phil and that’s actually where I want to pick it up because he was asked about the coaching staff and what the plans are and whether or not

Gerard Mayo would would name an offensive coordinator and you know what the future of that role is did find it interesting that he did mention that he believes in titles which is obviously a departure from what we’ve had from Bill Bel certainly recently so what do you

Make of how this coaching staff is going to come together based on what we learned today wasn’t a fascinating big picture guys in terms of how Bill bellich factored into this press conference he was here the idea of bill bellich was here The Apparition of bill bich was

Still here because it was acknowledged by the people at the podium Robert Craft talking about the difficult decision he made all the way back in 96 it was that one time still irks him when he didn’t trust his instincts and he went with Pete Carol instead of Bill bich now he’s

Trusting his instincts and he’s going with d Mayo D Mayo meanwhile talking about how he still takes things from Bill bich that he learned from him as a as a head coach hard work Works he said it multiple times here today but he also said things Tom like titles do matter to

Him and he was very different in terms of his overall approach behind the microphone when it comes to that offensive staff you mentioned you didn’t see any offensive coaching staff members here today how do you think that gets filled out is that going to be somebody that J Mayo already has a relationship

With or is that the part of the team the one part of the team where you can’t just throw bill bich out and say we’re going to put something else back in there that’s similar to what we’re used to you got to start completely fresh

There I would think what do you think in some ways it’s a full rebuild on offense so what better time to bring somebody in who you trust offensively than right now because when you talk about running back there’s one under contract it’s from Andre Stevens when you talk about tight

End there’s none under contract you don’t have top tier tight ends we saw the results on the offensive line you need both tackle positions filled you have guards like Michael wenner who are up so there is the opportunity for a full offensive rebuild and a fullon new scheme installation gerro has defensive

Acumen he’s going to need to lean on individuals who have offensive Acumen so that could be to me if Bill O’Brien does not return the place in which there is the most drastic change but with all these opportunities around the league right now and staff’s being filled out

That’s a place where the Patriots have to act quickly we see the uh different interviews taking place across the league for different offensive coordinators the hot ones the cold ones the ones who have been discarded Pete carmichel for lack of a better example was with the New Orleans Saints since

2009 he’s a Medway guy would they be interested in hearing his vision for what the offense would look like under him here in New England so all those things need to be addressed really quickly offensively in particular Tom mentioned familiarity there are a couple names that you’d be familiar with that also

Might be able to completely revamp the offensive scheme here wouldn’t be the bill obrien scheme the Josh McDaniel scheme you might be able to install a Shanahan style a McVey style offense with guys who know it and have worked in it but also guys who have worked here

The two names I’m thinking of are Nick kayy who was most recently here as Patriots tight ends coach he spent last season doing the same thing for Shawn McVey tight ends coach out there for the Rams so now he has real familiarity with that offense with that scheme the other

Name would be Shane Waldren who worked here in New England in a variety of capacities it was a long time ago now most recently the offensive coordinator in Seattle but for a long time was MC Bay’s right-hand man on the offensive coaching staff out there in LA so

There’s two names where you might be able to completely change the offense but still bring in a name that you already know pH sticking with the coaching staff for just one more minute here um one other thing that stuck out to Tom and I was that gerod did

Acknowledge these are not his coaches this is not his staff um do you think that there will be maybe more or uh you know turnover um on the coaching staff and how much will the bellich Steve and Brian bich and their decision whether to go somewhere uh with their dad or stay

In New England how much do you think that will play into how they build things on the defensive side of the ball I think offensively is where you’re going to see the most turnover is there some turnover on the defensive side of things when it comes to the coaching

Staff Tom I think there’s a chance of that I think because there are some pretty highly respected guys on the defensive staff who might get great opportunities elsewhere Demarcus cumington is a guy who’s been talked about as a potential defensive coordinator for the last couple of years

Maybe he gets an interview to go somewhere else and really make a leap in terms of his professional career if that opportunity isn’t here for him and then when it comes to the bich Tom I don’t know how you feel about their potential uh and their odds for staying here in

New England but it might be best for their careers to get out from under their dad’s Shadow and again stay as part of a defensive core that’s had a lot of success where I I bet Gerard Mayo would really like to try to think keep things as consistent as possible yeah

And I think what’s interesting there is how is Bill’s disposition toward what happened here we saw a lot of smiling and handshakes last week but does he feel as if he was done wrong does he feel as if he was in any way had the rug

Pulled out from under him with Gerard in a position to succeed him if there is ranor or unease or even dislike from bich toward mayo and the way things worked out well then would the kids feel as if well my dad got hosed how am I supposed to

Stay here and work with gerod and not feel as if I’m betraying him certainly I think that they would need some kind of a blessing from Bill to stay now I think also we always have to understand is there are personal and family situations that exist for everybody in every

Job are Brian and Steve belich in positions where they have their families here and would like to stay here those are questions that also enter into this as well so I think all of these things are important but in offering bring those positions that got out there to

Steve and Brian bich there it does set up for a conversation of okay if they stay is it disloyal it actually will be more of an indicator too of what the relationship between Gerard and bill is to an extent as well do you agree with that yeah that would be really

Interesting to find out because I do think the relationship between gerro and Bill was more distant this year I think it was strange this year based on all the circumstances involved and yet you talked to people here in the building that were ship between Gerard and Steve

Belich was as close as it’s ever been and so I think there is an ability to compartmentalize relationship wise um that might allow for the belich to stick on stay in a place where they might have better chances at longevity in one spot if they go and follow Bill bich

Somewhere does Bill bich himself even believe that he’s going to be anywhere for more than two or 3 years and if he goes down to Dallas and he’s gone in 2025 are his sons then looking for another job and his family look or those in their families looking

For another place to live that’s that’s one part of a very complicated process here as they get this coaching staff sorted out yeah certainly a lot still to fall into place uh Tom Phil thanks very much as always

Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry share their thoughts on Jerod Mayo’s first press conference as the new head coach of the New England Patriots

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