Jerod Mayo On Replacing Belichick: Hard Work Works

Jerod Mayo was at pains to outline that he’s his own man in his introductory press conference on Wednesday.

In one fell swoop, Jerod Mayo became the first Black head coach in New England history and Bill Belichick’s replacement. 

The spotlight will be on him, particularly on how he handles coaching appointments and the offense. The Patriots’ worst season in 30 years, which led to Belichick’s firing, featured some off decisions.

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Matt Patricia, a defensive coach, was given responsibility for offensive play calling. It didn’t work, and former OC Bill O’ Brien was brought back in. Jerod Mayo says leadership from the offensive players is just as important as who calls the plays.

“Yeah, this organization has had a lot of success over the years, for a long time. And there have been many teams that, they have one good year and then they’re out for three years,” Mayo said. 

“One thing I learned from Coach is, and from Thunder (Patriots owner Robert Kraft), is about just surrounding yourself with good people.

“Now as far as our staff and things like that, we’re going to be good, we’re going to be a lot better. Now Bill always says this: ‘managing expectations.’ For me, I’m not trying to be Bill, I’m not trying to be Bill. I think that Bill is his own man, if you can’t tell by now I’m even a little bit different up here. But what I will say is, the more I think about the lessons that I’ve taken from Bill, hard work works, right? Hard work works. And that’s what we’re all about.”

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“Well first of all, just the energy, the passion, the leaders on the offensive side of the ball,” Mayo said. 

“I think you have to get that stuff in place, and honestly, as the season starts to roll, well 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. And one thing we don’t want to do is have people who are complainers, or finger-pointing, or things like that.