Pats from the Past: Episode 31, Jerod Mayo

Tune-in as we are joined by former Patriots linebacker, and current Patriots defensive coach Jerod Mayo. Mayo discusses the origin behind "Jerod Belichick", the unusual role Mayo handled during his rookie season, As a 7-time captain, his thoughts on leadership. Plus, His frustrations behind the loss in Super Bowl 46.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Time for another edition of Paths for the Past podcast
Matt Smith alongside with Paul Perillo, and we were pleased
to be joined by number fifty one on your scorecard,
but number one in our hearts.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah, I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Thanks for having me, Thanks for being here, Gerard really
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
You know.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
We normally when there's an audience of Patriot fans and
that's who's listening to this, and you get somebody like
a Kevin Flock, people don't necessarily know what he's up
to these days. I think most Patriot fans know what
Garrod Mayo's up to these days. Do you like it?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Oh? I love it? I love it. You know.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
I feel like my calling is just to develop people,
and so whether we're talking about players, you know, to
help them become someone that they never thought that could become,
or an entrepreneur. I just like developing people. And that's
I feel like I'm in my calling right now.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
Did you know that you were going to get into that?
You know, even as a player.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Man, let me say you, I always knew I wanted
to be around the game to a certain extent. Uh,
when I when I first retired coach actually asked me
to ask me to coach, and I was like.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Nope, I remember that.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, I said, I need a break, and so that
break was good and that's when I went and worked
in business for a few years. I worked that Optum
for three years, which is a great experience. I'm always
looking for opportunities to be uncomfortable. Uh, you're never comfortable
in this building. And so, uh, it kind of called
me back, and you know, Bill called me. He actually
he actually convinced my wife first, uh, to get me

(01:30):
back into coach, well, to get me into coaching initially,
and then my wife and Bill kind of put the
pressure on me.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
Something about that position. The linebacker's matt right. You know,
Mike Vrabel always talked about being a coach, wanting to
be a coach. I know Teddy Bruski has talked about it.
He's you know, uh, toys around a little bit with
the high school level. What is it about the position?
It's it's so you guys are smarter than everybody, you.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Know what I think.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
So honestly, you know, obviously on the offensive side, you
can say the quarterback or center, but you know, when
you think about the linebacker position, you know, they have
to tie everyone together, they have to tie the back
end to the front end. And we've been fortunate enough,
you know, around here in New England to have you know,
great linebackers. You know before me you mentioned a few,

(02:14):
you know, Teddy Brusky, Mike Vrabel. Those guys did a
great job passing the torch off to me. And I
feel like I did a good job passing the torch
off to a guy like Dante Hi Tower who you know,
they've they've kept, you know, kept the tradition going.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
So, you know, I think when we talked to a
lot of people who played in your era, Gerrod and say, hey,
I have any interest in being a coach and everything,
Hell no, they can't tell me. You've got a young family.
You're certainly was much younger when you started than it
is now. It's a grind, man, that had to be
part of you know, if you're not all in, how

(02:47):
could you do this? That had to be at least
a significant point of your decision making.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Absolutely, you know, I wouldn't I wouldn't coach if I
didn't feel like I had the support of my wife
and kids. And so it is a grind and you know,
and saying that though I would say my family they.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Enjoyed the process.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
They enjoy you know, coming out to training camp, they
enjoy going to the games, and they understand I'm doing it,
you know, with a with a larger goal in mine.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
You know.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
With that being said, there's there's nothing else that really
gets my blood pressure up then going out, you know,
in a good way, is to go out in the field,
you know, in the practice field and just getting guys better.
So that's why I do it. My family supports me
one hundred percent, and you know, I have a good
time doing it.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
And you talked about, you know, Bruce Ki and Rabel
sort of laying the groundwork for you, And I'm just curious,
you know, Matt and I were talking before we started
just how quickly you became one of those guys like it.
It didn't seem like there was any transition at all
for a rookie. And you were kind of like, you know,
girod Belichick right away, like how did that happen so fast?

Speaker 1 (03:51):
I remember Brady said, you know, oh you mean Gerard Belichick, Like,
oh you mean Belichick?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Kevin fuck Belichick.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
That year, you know, honestly, it just comes down to
I think Bill enjoys the company of people who enjoy
football and not really what football.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Has to offer.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
You know, obviously a lot of the players, they get
paid a lot of money. You know, they can get
in front of the you know, in front of the
line at the clubs early. But if you love football,
if you love just to study the game, whether it's offense,
defense or special teams, then you have a good relationship
with Bill and you know all of those guys. Honestly,
when I came in, I just wanted to be a
sponge and learned as much as possible. The year prior

(04:29):
they won every game but won the Super Bowl, And
so I wasn't coming into an organization, even though it
was a top ten pick, I wasn't coming into an
organization where, you know, there is a whole overhaul of
the team. We had a bunch of leaders on that team.
You know, Rodney was on that team, Randy Malls, Tom
Brady Vrabel, Vince Wilford, Tye warn although Richard Seymour. I mean,

(04:50):
that team was loaded. And so for me to come
in it was more like, all right, let me just
learn from everyone else and not say anything unless.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
I have to.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
But I I will say this, The reason I would
say I gained the respect of the players is because
I would go in there when Bill was on the
computer and ask them, hey, man, the guys are tired.
You know, we don't want to be in pads today.
And you know, rookie in this year, no one really
wanted to go in there, right because, I mean, Bill's

(05:19):
a tough guy. And so for me, my mom, I
was always raised you know, if the worst thing someone
could say to me is no, then go ask. And
so I would go in there and I would say,
you know, I always joked around. I was batting three
hundred at the time. I'm bating, you know, two fifty
four hundred at a time. Because I would go in there
and sometimes, you know, the request would be granted, and
then other times he'd be like, hey, get out of here.

(05:41):
But when I would go back in the locker room
and tell guys, you know, we're not in pads today,
it was like a celebration and like literally like picking
me up on their shoulders. It's like this guy went
into the fire, went to the dragons the dragons layer
and asked for something and got it. And so That's
how the nickname, you know, Derwi Belichick and all those
things started to come up. But I think the guys

(06:02):
really realized that I cared more about them than myself,
than my ego or anything like that. Like I didn't
care about getting cussed out. Even to this day, you know,
I get cussed out. It's like, all right, whatever.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Do you think that you gained a little respect maybe
from Bill? Like who's this rookie that time asking me,
you know, can we not practice in pads this afternoon?
Like that's that's Rabel's job, that's bruised, this rookie's coming
in and doing it. Did you gain a little respect?

Speaker 2 (06:26):
I think so?

Speaker 3 (06:27):
I think so, And I would say even now to
this day, I feel like, you know, I tell Bill
I still call him coach, but for the purposes of this,
you know, I tell Bill what it is, like, this
is what it is. I don't sit there and agree
with everything he has to say. He doesn't agree with
everything I have to say. There's a mutual respect there where,
you know, I see things a little bit different. And

(06:48):
when we talk about diversity, not trying to segue or
jump ahead, but when we talk about diversity, most of
the time, people only talk about you know, black and white,
or they talk about skin color, but there's also, you know,
diversity of thought. There's also generational diversity, and I think
those things oftentimes get missed when people really talk about diversity.

(07:08):
I think Bill's done a good job getting guys around
him that can relate more to the players, because now,
you know, he's not getting any younger, he's getting older.
But at the same time, we're carrying the flag and
carrying all the things that he's instilled in us as
coaches and me as a player prior. But you know,
we're trying to disseminate that message to the rest of
the guys.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
You know, you brought up you know, your draft and
where as we're recording this, it's draft weekend. Just any
thoughts or memories of what draft night was like for you?

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, Draft night? Yeah, Draft night for me was it
was great. You know, I didn't go to the draft.
I wasn't even invited back then, they only invited like
the top you know, three or four. I wouldn't have
gone anyway. I'm more of a I want to be
around my family with things like that, and so I
was in Virginia with my mom and my grandparents, to

(08:00):
my brothers, my uncle, you know, and we were out there.
I was raking leaves with my mom. I was raking
leaves outside, and so my brothers, you know, when we
get together, we rarely get together, but when we all
get together, we like to have a drink or two.
And so one of my brothers he was like, all right,
we're gonna do a shot every pick that goes by

(08:20):
that you're not picked.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
And so I was.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
Like, whoa, Yeah, I know if I would have went twentieth,
I wouldn't be here today. And so and that's why
I don't drink Patron to this day now, because we
were drinking Patron and I was the tenth overall pick.
So you do the math. You know, it's a good time.
Though it was a celebration. You know, there are a
lot of tears because honestly, you know, these are things
you think about when you're a five year you know,

(08:44):
five six year old kid, Like, especially where I'm from,
you know, you don't really see too many people just
get out of there. And even though in Virginia we
have a lot of professional athletes, but you know, per
capita at the same time, you know, it's tough and
like there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears go
into it, you know, to any dream. And then when
you're finally able to realize that dream, it's it's a

(09:05):
very special moment. The hard part after that is resetting it. Right,
So now you get you know, you accomplish your goal.
You accomplish your dream. Now you got to move the flags, dick, right,
we got to move it again. Now what's the next dream?
And so that's kind of how I think about it.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Did you have any inkling that the Patriots were interested
in you?

Speaker 3 (09:23):
I had a little inkling because so funny story, I
wasn't even coming here on a thirty visit initially, and
I was on my way to another team. I won't
say the name of the team, but it's a huge rival.
They wear green. But I was on the way. I
was on the way with me and rhymes with Mets.
I was on the way out there, and the Patriots
called and said, hey, you know, can he swing through

(09:45):
here before he you know, just real quick before he
goes to New York. And I ended up coming here
spending a lot of time with Matt, Patricia and Dean
P's at the time. And then I was gone and
it was just that quick, you know, it was that quick.
And I went to New York and the rest was history.
That was the only thing, because when I went at
the Combine, this was the weirdest, weirdest Combine interview for

(10:06):
me that I had. I had a lot of them
as well, coming out as an underclassman. But I went
in the room and you know, everyone's in there. Bill
wasn't in there, I don't believe, but no one said anything.
So I go in the room. You remember how you
know the interview process works at the Combine.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Well, I've heard a little bit about it, Like you know,
there's a bloat horn that coach off in the hallway
to mad Dash with everybody that's going to everybody's room, right,
And you get in there and there's a clock.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
You're on the clock, the clock that's right. And so
I go. I go into the Patriots. So you know,
this is right before, this is right after the Giants
just won the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
So I go.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
I visit with the Giants. They're having a party because
they knew they weren't supposed to win that game either, right,
So like I go in their room and everyone's like
dancing like a ha ha ha ha, a whole bunch
of laughing and things like that. And then I go
to the Patriots room and it's like stone cold, like silence.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
For two minutes.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Now, if you ever, if you ever, just like set
your clock to two minutes and don't say a word.
It is a long time.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
It's uncomfortable.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Or do a plank. Do a plank for two minutes.
It is a very long time. Yeah, And no one,
like you said, we're on the clock. So I'm sitting
there like I just introduced myself and then no one
asked me any questions, and so I'm like, all right,
this is kind of weird. And then finally we got
into football. But I didn't know if they were trying
to figure out, like, you know, what I was thinking,
or you know, see how I dealt with uncomfortable situations.
But that I mean, I really didn't have like, all right,

(11:26):
the Patriots are really looking at me. I thought I
was going to go to Denver Detroit, you know, teams
like that.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
So and they originally had the seventh pick. Yep, they
traded down to ten. That's right, did that you know,
sort of put them more on the radar for you
or you still.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
Really still still had still wasn't thinking Patriots. You know,
it's crazy, you know they trade back and still have
a top ten pick, but at the same time, still
didn't really think about them. I thought I was gonna
go at twelve to Denver, and then Detroit had fifteen,
So okay, so we're gonna look at.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
This now, Matt. So I had a twelve at Denver.
The reason twelve Denver was twelve. Twelve for Denver was
pretty good, Ryan Clay, he had a really good career.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
But if you go up that list though, all right,
let me let me do it, all right.

Speaker 4 (12:10):
This is why I wanted to do this, because I
wanted to see how in tune you were.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
I was. I was.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
I was pissed because I can say that. Of course,
I was kind of pissed because Vernon Golston went at
six to the gym.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
Okay, before you continue, I'm going to have to make
an admission. I was a big Vernon Goldston guy in
that drafted man. Was I wrong? Well, not the first time,
it won't be the last.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
He absolutely looked the part.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
As he was couldn't play.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
He looked upon like they did everything they had, like
Lawrence Taylor working with him at one points, like he
went six, and then Keith Rivers went at nine nine. Yeah,
and so like when those two guys went, I was
just like, man, you know, no, no shot to those guys.
I just at that time, I had a little bit
of confidence in my game. And I love football. I

(12:58):
love studying guys. And you know, is what it is.
It all worked out.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Do you walk? Did you follow the mark at that time?
Like yeah, and everything going, hey, yes, we're hearing, we
think you're going in the top ten.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
The funny thing is the only person to get it
right was was Charlie Castley, Like the day before the draft,
Bill's favorite Charlie Hey, he was the only one that
got it right. Though Charlie Castlely got it right like
me going to the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
He had it at seven. And ye.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
This is it's a strange first round this two thousand
and eight year, because I think there are a lot
of good players like you and Matt. I mentioned Clady,
Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco. This this good Keith to leave
is part of this first round. And then there's some
real busts. It's like no in between, there's no like, oh,
but he was okay.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Like both Goldstein because of the team.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
Like Glenn Dorsey, Vernon Goldston, if you mentioned Keith Rivers,
you know this Brandon Albert wasn't wasn't great.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
It was okay.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
For Shad Mendenhall Pittsburgh. There's a lot of like guys
that these are first round picks, but you know there
is some good talent here to Dwayne Brown.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
Dwayne Right, Virginia Tech. And I would say there's a
gold jacket in there though. And Matthew Slater, I'm putting
it all.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
Well, now we're going down to the fifth round. He
did write that down. But another guy still playing, still
going playing, And how long you've been to coach now.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Man, I'm going into my fourth year, so still going.
And honestly, you know, I see Slaton there every single day.
And like you talk about a guy who takes you know,
takes care of his body, loves the game of football,
loves actually loves special teams, not like these other guys
who you know, they go on their visits and they're.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Like, oh, I love special teams.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Then you ask them like how many, I mean, how
many snaps of special teams you have last year It's like,
you know, coach didn't really want me on special teams.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
But when you think about a.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
Guy like Slater, a guy who who's really been the
glue for a long time around here, like I feel
like I was the bridge between like I only have
one super Bowl. Like I'm not complaining I have won
Super Bowl, but the bridge between that next generation. You know,
I was the bridge between you know, myself and in
high tower of that whole world when they won. Slate's
been through through you know, through it since two thousand

(15:12):
and eight and he's still going. So when you really
think about that, he's the glue and I was just
the bridge to go over there. But you know, he's
he's a Hall of Famer, in my opinion, a guy
you know, he doesn't go out there and play, you know,
thirty snaps a game, but at the same time he
makes a huge impact on the game.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
I would just want to follow up on that about Slater,
and I think I think I've heard RKK at least
talk a little bit about this. In an organization with
so many great players like Teddy Bruski, really only he
only played for the Patriots, but as Bill said when
he retired, the perfect Patriot guys like Troy Brown, Hall
of Famer's Richard Seymour, maybe the greatest ever play the
game in Tom Brady. Is here a better representative of

(15:50):
what the Patriots STANMD for than Matthew Slater?

Speaker 2 (15:54):
I don't think so. I mean, I think that's a
that's a great point. You know.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
He he embodies everything you want, not only as a
player on the field, but also off the field, giving
back to the community, also really caring about the guys
not as football players but as men and trying to
mentor the next generation. And who knows when his last
snap will be, you know, hopefully continues to play just
like Tom is doing. But you talk about a guy
who's just an all around great, you know, great man,

(16:20):
man of God and just a guy that I have
no problem following, it's Matt Slayter.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Does he make you and I don't mean necessarily you girodmeo,
But does he make the coaching staff's job a little
bit easier knowing that you can lean on, Hey Slate,
get this guy straight? You know, Yeah, I don't have
I don't have time to do it or however that goes.
But you know you can rely on him to help
keep that to make the messaging what it needs to be.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Absolutely and I would say, you know that that's also
done by committee, right, And so you also have a
Devin mccorty, you know, Devin McCarty of the world, who's
also able to do those things and slate on the
and then on the offensive side of the ball, you're
gonna have some guys emerge here, right, some guys emerge.
As far as you know, we don't usually talk a
lot about leadership, but at the same time, you hope

(17:07):
it happens organically and that guys will follow a particular individual.
Most of the time that happens to be, you know,
a linebacker or a quarterback. At the same time, it
doesn't have to be. And so you know, when I
think about leadership, you know, sometimes people get slapped with
the title of leader but really don't deserve it, or
people don't want to follow him. And coaching as well,
So you think about coaching, it's like, all right, if
this guy's a coordinator, he's a good leader. That's not

(17:29):
necessarily true. Or if this guy's a head coach is
a good leader. That's not necessarily true, and so like
to go you know, to go into it with that assumption,
I think is crazy. At the same time, having a
guy like, you know, bringing this back full circle, having
a guy like you know, Matt Slater and Devin mccordy
and those leaders like that, I mean they're second to nine.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
So when you think back to that rookie year, you
head into O eight, you and Matthew and you know,
but first drive of the season, ten minutes into the season,
you know, Tom goes down. What would do you remember
sort of what was going through your mind to like,
this is supposed to be this is the guy that
went to all these Super Bowls, you.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Know what, you know, personally speaking, you know, it hurt
me a little bit and I was just like, oh no,
you know, the season's over. But once again, that team
was so strong that the guys were like, doesn't matter,
next play and we ended up winning eleven games that year,
you know, with Matt Castle at the helm. But we
had a bunch of good players. And that's where I

(18:28):
really learned that next man up mentality because people talk
about next man up, but we kind of live it.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Here.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
We live the whole, you know, whether it's a coach,
whether it's a player, like next man up, be ready
to go. And you know, I try to prepare the
guys like that, Like it doesn't matter. I coach everyone.
You know, I don't want to say I coach everyone
the same. You know, I stole this quote, but I
treat everyone fairly. I don't treat everyone the same, like
I don't. I don't have to tell high Tower like yo.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Move over right here.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
But there are some younger players who are like, hey,
you got to move over and get into space.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
But you earned that. You earn that. And uh.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
But going back to that team, man, that team was loaded.
You think about the guys who came off the bench
on that team, you know, the Jarvis Greens of the world,
even the Mic Wrights of the world, guys who had
these these roles that they'll never you'll never hear about
them as far as you know, the impact that they
had on the game. But when you think about just this,
think about the defensive defensive front. All right, Ty Warren

(19:23):
never made a Pro Bowl, right, but unbelievable defensive end,
no question. Vince Wilford, young, Vince Wilford unbelievable talent always,
you know, doubled on every single play, Richard Seymour at
defensive end, the backers, myself and Bruski and then Vrabel
and then Dallas Thomas like that that front alone. Then
in the back end you had you know, Brandon Merriweather,

(19:45):
Rodney Harrison and those guys. But that team, and that's
only the defensive side of the ball, the offensive side
of the ball as well. It's just crazy, right, And
so you know, I look back on that team and
I'm just like wow. And then I look at the
twenty nineteen defense, where we had a very good defense
that year as well, And I always think about the
differences between those two defenses, and even though they both

(20:07):
were very good, they you know, did a lot of
good things. In twenty nineteen, we had a very good defense.
You know, the Boogeyman were going and you know, we
made a bunch of plays. But then I look at
the front. You know, everyone's like, how were you Rookie
of the Year in two thousand and eight? It had
nothing to do with me. They had everything to do
with No one knew who I was, right, They just
knew I was a top ten pick and we have

(20:27):
all these beasts around them, right, And so I was
able to go out there and really just free flow.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
You know what I remember about that twenty eighteen, and
I'm sure you've heard it is Belchick's busting your balls
and San Jose during warm ups and he's asking you
why you have two trucks, right, right?

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (20:44):
And Mass is sitting there going first round money, first
round money, right, And I just remember going, wow, like,
here's Bill busting your balls as a rookie and everything
like that. That to me really sort of said, you
know that you were in a different relationship at that point,
and you were probably I don't know, twelve games in
or something like that in San Jose between playing I

(21:05):
think it was between the Seattle and the Raiders West
Coast trips out there.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yep, and we had Sanford, we had two West Coast.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
But I remember that and going that's pretty interesting that
that here's this legendary head coach and he's busting this
rookie walls.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
And but you it was.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
It was normal, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
And I would say the thing about Bill, you know,
an interesting thing out there. I got benched going against
san Fran on third down, because he put me in
a position like I'm out there on third down and
I was messing up some calls. He's like, you know,
forget it, you're not even playing on third down. But
I didn't look at that as like a slap in
the face. Obviously, when you get benched it hurts at
the time, but that benching really made me into the

(21:47):
player that I was, because it was like, well, I'm
not as good as I really think I am. And
so like the way he's able to get the most
out of players, the way he's able to, uh, you know,
pull a lever here and there to get a guy
to respond. Everyone's everyone's different as far as what makes
him tick. Right, So some people, you know, intrinsic versus

(22:08):
extrinsic motivators. Right, So extrinsic being like the money and
all that stuff, you know, a pat on the back.
The intrinsic motivator is like, I'm just disappointed in myself,
like you know, getting a getting we call him at
a boys. Getting an at a boy from Bill was
like it was a huge because he didn't just patch
you on your back for doing your job. And we
always talk about doing your job. If you're just out

(22:29):
there doing your job and you make the tackle, make
it sack, you're doing your job. He's not patting you
on your back. It's expected. And so like it's just different.
And we've had we've had vets come to this team,
and you know, multiple vets come to me and like, man,
you know, I'm out here making plays and Bill's not
saying anything to me. I'm like, bro, just pump your brakes.

(22:50):
That's not how you know, That's not how it operates here.
And so now when I look at the generation coming in,
it's almost like, wow, all these kids get pats on
the back the entire time, and so when they come in,
that's how they grow up. Right, So whether it's you know,
AAU and then college and especially with the transfer portal,
now kids can just like bounce around. They're not playing
bounce around, and really that's like I don't think that's

(23:12):
you know, when I talk to my kids, I don't
want them to run away or shy away from adversity, right,
Like that can't be your first option.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Like I'm leaving, and I know.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
Everyone has their own reasons and doing things like that,
but at the same time, you only grow through pain,
And so when I talk about that, I'm not talking
about just physical pain. I'm talking about emotional and mental
pain as well. That's how you get stronger and build
the mental dexterity. That's how you get You know, your
muscles don't grow unless they're sore the next morning, right
if you go and work out. If you go and

(23:42):
work out, if your biceps aren't sore the next morning,
you didn't do enough. The same thing with your mind, right,
Like if you come in there, if you haven't really
pushed yourself or put yourself in an uncomfortable situation like
every single day, Like, how can you expect to grow?
It's just not going to happen if you're just sitting
there doing the same thing over and over and over again.
Like I mean, it's that's why I always talking about

(24:03):
like imposter syndrome, always feeling like you're not good enough,
because that's what really that's what really gets me going,
and hopefully it gets the guys going where you always
feel like you're not good enough and so I have
to do more, I have to do extra.

Speaker 4 (24:15):
I love the Atta boy stuff. I remember Bill at
a press conference. It was one hundred years ago. I
don't remember when, what year, but yeah, we're not really
big on positive. It's like one of those someone had
asked him, you know, a question about that would maybe
it was from a player. Yeah, maybe that's what sparked
the reporter to ask the question. Yeah, we're not we're
not really big on that around yet. And that that

(24:36):
falls right in line with what you're talking about the
three down. You know, you talked about sort of losing
some time on third down. How is that role changed
or is it changing with linebackers. Do you see as
many guys that can play on three downs or less
guys coming out of college?

Speaker 1 (24:52):
And do you expect it as one who did like
like I did it, Why can't you you know?

Speaker 2 (24:57):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (24:58):
Yeah, I think I think there's still players out there
that have the ability to play on third down, you know.
And saying that, I would say a lot of these
kids coming out of college just aren't being taught like
some like the some things that we consider base sation
at the professional level. No shot to the kids or
the programs around around the country, it's just that are

(25:18):
not being taught now. As far as you know, the
game is obviously started to expand horizontally, right, so now
it's like spread more spread, especially in the college ranks,
and some of that stuff starting to leak over into
the NFL. So I look at it as this, if
a guy can run, all right, if a guy can
run and stop, because that's another important thing, right, If
you can't stop, that's a problem, then I'll work with you.

(25:40):
And you have the ability to do it. Now, if
you have the want to and the ability, we got
to go out there and actually, you know, sharpen our
sword each and every day. But going back to your point,
I think there are two different buckets. Like if you
play linebacker on third down, either you can cover someone
or you can rush. I'll uh, you know, Dante Hi
Tower playing you know, in that buck role as a floater, right,

(26:01):
just floating around as that fourth fourth lineman. And and
so I think this year though, I think, you know,
just thinking about the guys that we have in the room,
we have some guys that can rush and cover. And
so we had you know, some guys that you know,
past nation, they haven't even heard of problems, right, and
so that's right, and so that and that to me
is the exciting part. That is the exciting part, the unknown,

(26:24):
and we're gonna go into it as a unit. We're
gonna going into it together. And I would say, you know,
even right now, not having some of those older guys
in the room, it's beneficial for the younger guys because
the older guys will be bored out of their minds
with some of the things we're talking about. At the
same time, it's forcing the younger guys to really take
that step forward and really grow and develop without being

(26:45):
hindered by any other uh, any other guys experience.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
When you became an older guy, Were you ever bored
in the room?

Speaker 4 (26:51):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Absolutely, because it's human nature.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
But I guess I would never I wouldn't have guessed
that that maybe you did a good job faking it.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
No, No, I would say this.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
I became more involved in the game planning, and I
became more involved in what was actually happening on the
field as a player. And so, you know, whether it
was Matty p or you know, Pat Graham or whoever,
it was like, we would have conversations, one on one conversation,
so I didn't get bored, and so we exactly I

(27:21):
got it in different places. Now, I was never disrespectful
in the meetings or anything. I've fallen asleep or anything
like that in the meetings. At the same time, like
I want to get into the nitty gritty. I want
to know the why. And so when a player is like, oh,
you know, when I got into coaching, you know, people
were like, you know, this guy, it was always a negative.
This guy asked so many questions, and I'm like, no,
that's a good thing. I want these guys to understand

(27:43):
the why, why we're doing it, Why I want you
to do it this way. Now, I always tell him,
you know sports and in sports, and I would say
football in particular is a very iterative sport, like you
have to go out there and try things. And so
I'm not saying to go out in the game and
try things, but during this time during the spring, during
training camp, like this is how I want you to

(28:04):
do it. But if you're hard headed and want to
try it that way, go out there and try and
see what happens. Now, you can make a play here
and there, but at the end of the day, like
we're trying to make as many plays as possible and
hopefully we come to some common ground. I'm not a
guy who's stuck in my ways. I'm not static. I'm
always looking for ways to grow. Even when I'm talking
to these college kids, like virtually, I'm like, so, what

(28:25):
did you guys call this?

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Right?

Speaker 3 (28:27):
I'm trying to listen to these guys and try to
pick up a few nuggets as well, because I'm not
sitting here saying like I have all the answers. I
know I don't or that even Bill has all the answers,
and I think he knows he doesn't have all the answers,
which is a good thing. And I think just learning from,
you know, other people outside this building is always beneficial.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
So you go.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Ahead just getting to that, you know, not being set
in your ways. You talked about maybe some of the
changes in the game, you know, more horizontally spreading out.
Have you seen a difference in the linebackers themselves? The linebackers.
There's a lot of talk about the Georgia kids, and
I'm not putting you on the spot boat. You know
what the draft is going to unfold over the weekend.

(29:07):
But you never would have thought of a two hundred
and twenty five and thirty pound guy being able to
play in the inside in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
You'd have laughed at that when.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
You were coming out, right, do you see that change?

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (29:17):
Is it something that is happening or is it something
that is just a fact?

Speaker 3 (29:20):
I think you're spot on. I think you're spot on.
I think where people get in trouble, I think good teams.
I also use the Titans as an example, like that's
almost a contrarian way of playing offense in today's world
by having the fullback in there by having a big
running back, and so it's all good to have small
backers that can run and do all this stuff. When

(29:41):
you're playing against spread offices. It's like, all right, now,
what happens when it's January in Buffalo or January and
you know wherever, and they're going to run the ball
fifty times with a twohundred and fifty pound running back,
Like you have to have some answer to that. So
I think that you know the answer is to have
a combination of know, bigger guys and also small guys

(30:02):
that can run. And you know, we say it all
the time. We're a game plan defense. We change each
and every week, and you know, should have changed for
that Buffalo playoff game.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
But that's either here there.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Okay, So you're talking about you're talking about difference of opinion,
and we're going to try things a different way. I
want to take you back to the super Bowl you lost,
and I have a fall up question about that. But
how against the grain is it? Because I'm going to
assume that this happened. I think that's what it certainly
looked like to the lay people. Heyg rod, we're gonna
let him score on this play. How difficult is that

(30:33):
as a player whose job it is to stop them?
How difficult is that from a you're just not brought
up to do that?

Speaker 3 (30:40):
That's right, But I would say here we talk about
situational football more than a lot of other places. And
the reason I know that is because when guys come here,
they have no clue what we're talking about. And we
had you know, that situation in particular, Like we talk
about that when there's no stress. So when there is stress,
it's not like why are we doing this right, It's like,
all right, we've talked about this in a low stress environment,

(31:02):
so when we get into a high stress environment, it's
not a huge panic attack on the sideline.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
But it's tough.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
It's tough to do that, but you also have to understand,
like we're trying to win the game at the end
of the day, we're trying to win the game. If
that's letting them score, then yeah, mean that's what you
gotta do.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Does that lost, Uh? Does that loss still bother you?

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Absolutely? Absolutely? You know.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
But honestly, when I when I think about that team,
we weren't even even really supposed to be there, Like
we probably weren't the bet. We were not the best
team and.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Lost to the You lost to the Giants that right,
And that's like a similar kind of game. I'm not
a I don't know anything about point spreads or anything
like that, but I remember like going into the game
and the Patriots were a touchdown favorite, and go, wait
a minute, didn't the Giants beat the Patriots in the wing?

Speaker 2 (31:48):
Like?

Speaker 1 (31:49):
How are they?

Speaker 3 (31:49):
How are they under The thing that heard about that
game is we had opportunities to win the game, as
you know, as you know, we were in a but
I would say we were a good team, just not
a weren't a great team like I've been.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
We're a good team.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
We're a good team, and you know, we had opportunities,
whether it was the cover two, you know, pot shot
over there, you know over on, we're chung and those
guys where, or you know, it's just a good throw
byt Eli. It was a great throw. It was a perfect.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
One of the great underrated plays in Super Bowl history.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
And like even the you know, west On the drop ball,
like everyone thinks about those plays. But at the same time,
it's like, man, there's so many plays like the forced fumble.
I forced the fumble on that game. We didn't get
it back. It was just the ball wasn't bouncing our way.
And I don't want to say it haunts me, but
I do. I do think about that game, and as
a player, you think about the next the super Bowl

(32:40):
that I was a part of, I wasn't a part
of I was.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
I was hurt.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
I got hurt in twenty fifteen, so lost to twenty eleven.
Now I have to win one as a head coach,
hopefully so.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
But you mentioned that I was going to ask you,
you know, was the was forty nine bitter sweet for you?

Speaker 4 (32:57):
It?

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Uh? I don't want to say bittersweet because you know.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
You're do you do you still feel like a lot
of people are injured, say men, I don't feel like
I'm part of it. I was still and one of
the rare things, correct me if I'm wrong in this. Like
most of the guys that are injured, you are dead.
You never see those guys.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Bill knew that there was something special about you, and
I was he one of the first people that this
guy was on the sideline during I remember travel. That's
a rarity at that point time, wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah, it was, And I would say, and I was
also a part of those you know, I was breaking
down film and you know, getting with Steve and you know,
you know, ever since I got heard it was and
I did it three years in a row. You think
about it, I was hurt three years in a row
at various at various times. But I never wanted to
be the guy who just bailed out on the team,
especially after being voted captain you know, seven out of

(33:46):
eight years, you know, by your peers. And so for me,
it was always like I'm here to support as much
as possible. I know, the coaches have a lot of
things to do. I know, the defense probably just as
well as some of these coaches, you know, not no
shot to anyone, but I've done it for a while
and you know, I would have those meet I would
run meetings with those guys. I would you know, talk
ball with them all the time. And it was it

(34:07):
was sweet, it was there was no bitterness. You know,
obviously I wanted to play the game, but it was
it was good to get one.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
How about some of the players that you you went against,
you know, some of the some of the teams, some
of the rivalies. Just when you were talking about the
eleven team, my mind went right to the Baltimore game. Sure,
you know, like, what are some of the games that
you remember the most? Some of the players that you
remember most going against?

Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah, the ball, you know, anytime you play a team
like that, whole division really is like Baltimore or Cleveland, Pittsburgh.
It's like, you know, it's going to be a physical game,
especially back then when teams have fullbacks. And that's that's
back when the Jets were pretty good as well. So
the Jets had great defense, they had you know, they
also had a full back as well, So you knew

(34:50):
that was going to be a tough game each and
every week. When I think about players though, where I'm like, wow, man,
that guy is very good. I think about Tony Gonzalez
all right, when we played him down in Atlanta and
we could not stop him.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
It didn't matter.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
It was like we put I want to say, we
put Jamie on him and couldn't stop him. I was
on him even when I'm in position, couldn't stop him.
And so yeah, Talip ended up having to check him
because this guy, this is I mean, he's an old
man at this point too, but he was just a
freak of nature. And at the if you watch the

(35:27):
end of that game, Jamie and I are pretty much
vising them like we're side by side.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
For That's why they changed the rule.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Now you can't have, you know, two sets of hands
on the guy at the same time. You can't just
vice the guy up. But we just straight doubled him
at the line of scrimmage on this at the same level.
And so they ended up changing the rule after that.
But man, that guy was. He was good.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Another guy who.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
People don't often talk about but had a had an
unbelievable year was Peyton Hillis remember that Cleveland and the.

Speaker 4 (36:01):
Pet It was I.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
Knew that was gonna be and look I played him
before and it wasn't the same. It wasn't like that.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
He had one of those one of those days.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
I don't know what he had one of those years.
He had one of those years.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
And you know, my thing was like, man, you know,
Brandon Spikes one of the hardest hitting guys I've ever
been around. Like if he was if he was gonna
get you, he was gonna get you. And so a
guy who wasn't strong in the weight room, but a
guy who had a lot of pop on the field.
And I still remember it was like the first quarter
and Spikes had a clean hit at him, and I

(36:34):
don't even think he saw Spikes. And I saw Spikes
just fall to the ground. I was like, oh, shoot,
it's gonna be along. I went in with a form tackle,
just rolled him up, just like, you know, forget it.
But I knew right there it was gonna be a
long day. Then we got hit with the fumble Rouski
in the same game. It was just that was tough.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
That was that was a bizarre game. It was very
It wasn't often that you got blown out ever, No
particularly by a bad team.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
I would say.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
All so, like anytime we played Peyton it was always like,
you know, that game was a big deal.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
You know, Peyton manning guys.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Just for you the quarterback on the defensive side and
him on the other side. Could you get geeked up
for that? Like, you know what, let me let me
see what I can do against him, because this guy,
he's the real deal on the other side. I want
to try to match up with that.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
And I would say I had the benefit of going
against Tom every day in practice, and Tom and I
had multiple battles of you know, talking crap across the
line of scrimmage and practice, and we had a lot
of fun with it.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
It springs up a great I don't know if you'll
remember this, but I know Tom does because Tom was
mad at me for like two years. So during training
camp one year, these two Gerard and Tom go ahead
to head and they're in each other's face and we
put it on the cover of the paper. You know, hot,
hot hot, you know training camp, it's you know, tempers

(37:54):
are flaring. Tom was not happy you you let I both.
I went to both of them, Aulie and I apologize
that I didn't mean nothing like that. You guys really fought,
Like if you read this like we never once, you know,
sort of implied that you guys were really fighting. It
was just it was a great photo. It was you
guys doing executly what you're talking about, getting the best

(38:15):
of each other. From a competitive standpoint, Tom was not
happening you. You did exactly what you just did. Right there.
When I said, hey, I apologize, don't, Tom looked at
me like he wanted to stab me, Like.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
He has he has that image to maintain the angel.
I'll tell you a funny Tom story. Like you know,
he's he's.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
A great competitor.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
And you know, the quarterback position is a very weird position,
like you're you're protected by five three hundred plus pound guys.
You're protected by play calls and you'll get the ball
out quick, and you're protected by the referee. So it's
a very interesting position. And usually those guys don't walk
around like headbutting. This guy's pregame And so I'm sitting there,

(38:56):
you know, and Tom and I always chatted up, you know, pregame.
I'm on the sideline. No, you know how we do.
We kicked the field goal at the end, yes, and
so we're just out there. I have my helmet on
this unbuckled, don't have my mouth pie saying I'm ready
to go in and Tom, I hear my name, Mayo.
I turn around and it's Tom and he head butts me,
splits my tooth right down the middle. Right, I'm talking

(39:19):
ten minutes before the game split. And I'm so pissed.
I'm so pissed because my tooth is split down the
middle and you know, going this way, going straight across.
And so I'm like, you know, I go out there,
I have a great game, right because I'm pissed off
the whole game. And afterwards, I'm like, Tom, you're buying
me a new set of teeth, and you're you're paying
for it. And I want to go to your Dennis.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
I haven't. I haven't cashed in yet. I will though soon.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
So this is before your time a little bit. And
I don't know if you've ever seen the footage. Paul
will remember this. I certainly in Super Bowl thirty nine,
and I think he did it for many regular season games.
It was Tom and Daniel pregame and Tom would grab
him by the face mask and they would repeatedly butt heads.

(40:02):
Now clearly, at some point times we said dude, what
are you doing?

Speaker 2 (40:05):
Like?

Speaker 1 (40:05):
This isn't like, this isn't great And he changed, but
it was a pregame routine.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
He and Graham would literally remember it.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Well, yeah, bang helmets before they read on the field. Man,
you've never seen anybody do that too.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
No, that's crazy. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
I wanted to ask you real quick. You mentioned the
games against Peyton being a little special, and I just
you talked about the situational stuff, the famous fourth and
two I think it was nine o nine. Just as
a defensive player. Was there even a part of you
that was like, Bill, what do you do? We can
we could stop them? What are we doing?

Speaker 2 (40:35):
Man?

Speaker 3 (40:36):
You know, honestly, like it's easy to second guess those decisions.
You know that decision, you know whether to take the
ball and not take the ball. It's easy to second
guess those decisions. Sometimes we would go out there, we
would you know, be on fire. It's like, this is
why this is my problem. I shouldn't say problem, but
this is like the pushback or other side of the
coin with the analytics thing, which is a huge piece.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Now all the owners want to talk about.

Speaker 4 (40:57):
Oh, everybody would go for it. Now, everybody would go.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
For that exactly, but there's also a flow to the
game that you have to feel like who's you know exactly,
who's playing well, who's playing poorly?

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Like where's the momentum? Like what's the weather? Like?

Speaker 3 (41:10):
All those things have to be taken into account on
those decisions. And honestly, I never really second guess. I
shouldn't say never, because there's always times when you get
together with the group you're like, man, I wish I
had the opportunity, especially if it didn't work out, like
I wish I had the opportunity to go out.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
There and you know, make a play. But is what
it is.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
So I got I got two here for you. Then
we can wrap this thing up. You know you said this,
you're going into your fourth year of coaching, right in
your first year. Maybe if you're checond year, I don't know,
maybe even today, when you see something go out in
the field, do you ever have an inkling like, damn, man,
I could still make that play.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Let me go out there and make that.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
Was there a tough transition when you first started coaching
to going I can give them fifteen snaps this morning
isn't where I needed to be. Let me do it.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
I always you know, those those thoughts always come in
my head. Then I'm like, man, I feel great on Monday,
so they quickly go out out.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
Not like your buddy, your heart old buddy Vrabel putting
the stuff.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
I do things like that.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
But as far as just you know, honestly, like on Mondays,
it's just like, man, I'm kind of sore, like.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
I feel great.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
I feel great, and I work out, you know how
I want to work out when I want to work out,
not worried about anything.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
So and you.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
Mentioned earlier in this conversation, Gerard, you were talking about diversity,
and you're saying, you know, it's not just a skin thing.
You know, it's a there's generational diversity, there's everything like that.
You're in a unique position where this is a big
topic of conversation on an enormous platform. Do you feel
this is my word so I don't want to put
words in your mouth. Do you feel encouraged that this

(42:43):
is being at least addressed and there's an attempt to
try to do this to fix wrongs where yes, the
focus might be on skin color at this point in time,
but I loved what you said about generational diversity. Diversity
of thought. Diversity of thought, like that phrase. We shouldn't
dislike each other. If I say it's cloudy and you go, no, man,

(43:03):
it's sunny. I'm entitled to my opinion. You're entitled to
your opinion. Do you see that maybe it's only in
the infant stages that progress is at least trying or
there's an attempt at trying to make progress.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
Yeah, I definitely think, you know, the thought is definitely there.
I think it's the top of mind, not only for
coaches but also owners. There's still a lot of work
that has to be done. And I would say some
of these guys, and you know, minority coaches in general,
even when they became head coaches, the stick was so short.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
That it was like the least was so tight.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
They really didn't have an opportunity like and this is
why you're starting to see a lot of people go
to this whole you know, forget the draft mentality, because
the pressure to win right now is so high, no
matter if you're white or black or it doesn't matter.
It's so high that people are like, you know, like,
forget the draft, we need to win now. But I
would say, look at what happened in Sensi, right, you know,

(44:01):
was Zach look at that situation versus whether like Vance
Joseph or you know, any of those guys, like one
year and it's like bum done. Now Zach, Zach's in
the Super Bowl. It was sincy and so he had time.
He had time and the expectation and Sensey obviously is
a little different than other cities in the country. But

(44:21):
at the same time, I would say the least was
just different. My heart goes out more to Look, this
is only my fourth year coaching, and I understand I'm
very fortunate to even get the interviews that I've had
to this point.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
I've had.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Three interviews. I've had three interviews, uh in three years, Right,
three interviews in three years. I feel very fortunate to
have those interviews. I learned a ton, I met a
bunch of great people. I feel bad for guys like
Leslie Fraser, you know, I feel guys. I feel bad
for guys even you know Todd Bowles. Now he's getting
the opportunity, but I was feeling bad for him as well.

(44:55):
Those coaches who it's like, what else do they have
to do to prove? And look, I don't know these men,
I've met them, but I don't know them off the
field or anything like that. But if you were just
to you know, strip strip the color all that stuff
away and just put resumes up, like their resume is
pretty sure they have some strong resumes, right, And so

(45:16):
if you think about it that, when I know some
Fortune five hundred companies, they have some you know, some
things to kind of remove biases from applicants, like whether
it's color or gender, age, they remove them from the resumes.
You guys heard about this before, yes, yeah, so they
remove them to try to, you know, try to remove biases.
You know, you would hope that the league would get
to a point where they're just going to hire the
best person. And honestly, I don't want to be hired

(45:38):
because I'm black. I've said this time and time again,
like don't hire me and don't bring me in for
an interview just because I'm black.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
Bring me in for an interview because you're curious. Bring
me in for.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
An interview because you think I can lead your team
to a super Bowl championship.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
And that's how I think about it.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
I feel like I feel like I'm a good coach now,
I feel like I have a long way to go.
I feel like I've long way to go as far
as you know, the exendy knows. But at the end
of the day, this game comes down to the players.
And I always say it. You know, players win games
and coaches lose games. So if you can't get the
players to really perform for you, then it's on us
as coaches.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
Did you enjoy playing? Did you enjoy your NFL days?

Speaker 3 (46:17):
Loved them? I loved my NFL days. Look I'm still
in the league now, you know as a coach player,
Oh yeah, yeah. As a player, I love those days.
I love the camaraderie. I love being in the locker
room with those guys. I love everything that we did
on the field together.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
You know.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Obviously there's sometimes where it's like, man, you know, it's
ninety five degrees, I am tired. But at the end
of the day, anytime you get a group of people
together that have one common goal, it's a beautiful thing.
Whether we're talking about selling, you know, on a sales team,
whether we're talking about you know, a football team, a
basket it doesn't matter. Anytime everyone is putting, you know,

(46:51):
their ego aside, right because remember, like ego is the
enemy of all this stuff, right if they put their
ego aside.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
And go after a common goal.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
And that's one thing around here, Like you can't have
an ego in this building, right, It's like one ego.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
You can't have an ego in this building. And and honestly,
we're like, you got to think about ego in general.
Ego lives in the past, and it lives in the future.
Like we have to live for today. And that's what
I'm all about, living for today and really just getting
the guys to go out there and perform.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
Give me one signature Girod Mayo play that you remember
as your.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
Favorite signature Jerrod Mayo play.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
That's a tough one. Man.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
There are so many plays where even if it wasn't
a tackle or anything like that, where I just, you know,
smack an offensive lineman because you know this guy was
a Pro Bowl offensive lineman. They've been hyping him up
the whole game, you know, knocking this guy like, you know,
hitting them very hard.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
Or I'm trying to think I've had.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
My favorite game was that Washington game in two thousand
and at Washington.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
And that's a game that I remember a specific play about.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
You, and ye I thought that, Hey, but but yeah,
but I would say this, it wasn't even the play.
The night before I signed my contract extension. Okay, so
that whole weekend it was like, all right, fly to Washington,
this is my hometown, like you know, the DMV area,
Fly down there. I signed my contract the night before
the game, I go out there and get a.

Speaker 4 (48:24):
Game, big hit to cause the turnover.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
I caught the pick. I caught the pick in the game.
So that was a great That was a great time,
you know, not just the game, but just that whole weekend.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Fantastic conversation. Gard really appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
I appreciate you guys having appreciate your curiosity. Appreciate your curiosity.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
Gerard may Or, our guest on this edition of the
Pats in the Past podcast.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Thank you for downloading this podcast. Subscribe on Apple, google Play,
and everywhere else you listen.

Speaker 4 (48:50):
Like the show, Please rate and review us. Listener comments
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Speaker 1 (48:58):
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