What Jerod Mayo Hopes To Learn From Patriots OT Loss

The Patriots had opportunities to win their second game of the season, but New England ultimately fell to the Seattle Seahawks in overtime on Sunday afternoon.

Even though it wasn’t necessarily a deflating loss, Jerod Mayo admitted during his Monday morning press conference that the team did not execute when it needed to and that the defeat was “disappointing.”

“It’s a true loss if we don’t learn anything from it,” Mayo said, per team-provided transcript. “We’re going to use this as a teaching experience. We talked about it at the beginning of the season, what success looks like for me, and that’s just getting better each and every week, not only the players but also the coaches and myself.”

After Sunday’s loss, Mayo said one key is for the Patriots to take care of the little things and stay on top of the details. He doubled down on that message and added that the team has to remain focused on every play.

“I continually preach that every single play matters,” he said. “… To me, it’s the average play being five, six seconds, whatever it is, you have to have the ultimate focus and maintain that focus as the game continues on.”

Mayo continued: “There were a lot of good things on the film, and look, I’m not into a good loss or anything like that. That’s not what I’m saying, but there were a lot of good things. I thought we were still able to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage. Even when we were down, I felt like we were in control of the game.”

The loss magnified the Patriots’ inability to move away from the one-dimensional run offense and the need to get the wide receivers more active in the play calling.

“We’ve got to find a way to get the ball down the field,” Mayo said. “We’ve got to find a way to get the ball in our playmakers’ hands so those guys can go out there and make yards. And that’s hybrid. It’s on the coaches – myself, starting with myself. That definitely is something that we have to continue going forward.”

The Patriots’ defense limited the Seahawks’ offense to a few three-and-out drives. Still, it couldn’t prevent Seattle from tying the game with less than a minute remaining in regulation and, ultimately, the game-winning eight-play, 71-yard drive in overtime.

“Defensively, those guys went out there and played hard,” Mayo said. “We had a few three-and-outs. We have to get turnovers. We have to find a way to get turnovers and get the ball back into our offense’s hands.”

The defense was delivered a huge blow late Monday when it was reported that Ja’Whaun Bentley suffered a torn pectoral muscle and is rumored to be out for the remainder of the season. New England’s defense is already down two stars from last year’s roster.  Defensive tackle Christian Barmore is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with blood clots, and veteran outside linebacker Matthew Judon was traded to the Atlanta Falcons before the season.

New England’s linebacker depth chart includes Raekwon McMillan, Jahlani Tavai, Curtis Jacobs and Christian Elliss heading into Thursday’s Week 3 showdown vs. the Jets.