By admin 
The transition from Year 1 to Year 2 is often considered the most important phase in a young player’s career, and the same can be said for coaches.
As Jerod Mayo navigates his first season as a head coach, he has largely avoided mistakes. However, the New England Patriots’ head coach plans to make his own leap forward after this year.
“Just like a player, you expect players to make their biggest jump from year one to year two,” Mayo said on Friday. “My expectation for myself as a head coach is to make the biggest jump from year one to year two, and that comes from doing deep dives when you actually have time to do them.”
Throughout the season, Mayo has kept track of the things that have gone wrong for him or his team. When the season ends, he plans to revisit his notes to learn from his mistakes.
“It’s a combination of things,” he shared. “Look, you can start with X’s and O’s. Then there’s situational football. You can also look at structure and culture. Do I think I’ve done things right? Absolutely. Are there ways to improve? One thousand percent. Do I wish I’d done certain things differently? Yeah. But those are things that, when you get the chance, you reflect on.”
“I’m going to go somewhere where no one can find me—just by myself, no kids, no nothing—and reflect on the season. I think it’s important, not just for football players, but for anyone, to take those moments to reflect and see what you can do better.”
Last week, in the Patriots’ overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans, some of Mayo’s decisions may have contributed to the team’s downfall. These included a questionable personnel choice on the offensive line to start the game and a failed end-of-half situation.
At the end of regulation, Mayo faced the decision of whether to go for a two-point conversion to win the game. He opted for the extra point instead, before the team eventually lost in overtime. In hindsight, he admitted to second-guessing his choice.
“It’s very interesting,” Mayo said. “You’re always going to have people on either side, and I understand that. If it works, you’re a genius. If it doesn’t, then you open yourself up to criticism. It’s part of it. But there are so many factors involved. Whether you’re talking about analytics—alright, but analytics doesn’t account for everything. What’s the weather? How’s the game flow? What are the matchups? There are so many variables.”
“It’s easy to second-guess, but it’s interesting. It is interesting.”