Jerod Mayo knows his controversial two-point decision will be debated in the days ahead.
Mayo elected not to go for two points after Drake Maye brought the Patriots to within one point with a miraculous last-second touchdown pass against the Titans on Sunday. New England instead sent Joey Slye to kick a game-tying extra point and ultimately lost 20-17 in overtime.
Should Mayo have been aggressive and gone for two points? He addressed the situation during his postgame news conference.
Jerod Mayo Opts Against 2-Point Try After Drake Maye’s Absurd TD
First, let’s rewatch Maye’s last-second touchdown, which saw the rookie scramble for 11.82 seconds before finding Rhamondre Stevenson in the end zone.
DRAKE MAYE MAGICCCCCCCCC!!!!!!!!!
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— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 3, 2024
Drake Maye scrambled for 11.82 seconds before finding Rhamondre Stevenson in the end zone for a 5-yard, game-tying touchdown, the 2nd-longest time to throw on a TD pass in the NGS era (since 2016), trailing only Jayden Daniels' Hail Mary from one week ago.
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— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 3, 2024
With zero seconds left remaining, the Patriots could’ve gone for a game-winning two-point conversion or attempted a game-tying extra-point kick. They went with the latter and eventually lost after Maye, trailing by three, threw an interception to Amani Hooker.
It was an interesting decision, as the 2-6 Patriots had nothing to lose and could’ve walked off the field with one of the franchise’s most rousing victories in recent memory. Instead, Mayo risked losing the overtime coin toss and sending his exhausted, undermanned defense back on the field.
New England’s defense wound up holding the Titans to a field goal, but not before using both of its timeouts and allowing Tennessee to burn the first 7:28 of the 10-minute overtime period. The byproduct was Maye and the offense playing at a frantic, rushed pace as it looked to author a game-winning drive.
Mayo Defends Controversial Late-Game Decision
Mayo seemingly takes a case-by-case approach toward two-point attempts. Dan Campbell, he is not.
The first-year head coach leaned on analytics in Week 7 when he went for two earlier than needed while trailing the Jacksonville Jaguars. Stat-lovers agreed with the decision — the belief is it’s better to know how you’ll need to manage a deficit as early as possible — whereas traditional football fans hated it.
Mayo discussed his thought process on two-point attempts in a video posted by the Patriots before their Week 8 matchup with the New York Jets.
As for Sunday’s decision, Mayo began his postgame news conference by addressing the elephant in the room.
“It’s not just one play,” Mayo said in his opening statement. “It’s not the interception; it’s not going for two. … At the time, I felt like that was the right thing to do. It’s easy to make a judgement one way or the other, but I thought that was the right thing to do at the time.”
Mayo punted on a question about whether the length of the previous play — and Maye potentially being tired — factored into his decision not to go for two points.
“I don’t wanna get into that,” Mayo said. “It’s a good question; I just don’t wanna get into it now.”
Now let’s look at how Maye handled a similar question.
Maye Offers His Take on Mayo’s Decision
Maye’s 11.82-second scramble represented the second-longest time to throw on a TD pass in the Next Gen Stats era, which began in 2016. There’s no doubt he was tired.
When asked about Mayo’s decision, Maye wisely sided with his head coach.
“Shoot, I was just trying to catch my breath,” Maye said during his postgame news conference. “I couldn’t even think about it. I think just looking back on it, it’s easy to say — we’re out there that long, on such a high-intensity drive, I think it’s hard to go for two.
“I think it’s easy to look back and say that now. Our defense is fresh and coming out in overtime trying to get a stop. They did a good job of running the football today.”
Maye played a far-from-perfect game on Sunday. He lost a fumble, threw two picks, took four sacks, and threw multiple hospital balls. It was an uneven showing from the third overall pick.
However, Maye also completed 29 of 41 passes for 206 yards and a TD and led the Patriots with eight carries for 95 yards. A week after suffering a concussion, he played a tough, relentless brand of football that left his teammates singing his praises.
“He has the aura to him,” receiver Kendrick Bourne said. “You just know he’s going to go out there and do his thing.”
Maye and the Patriots will look to get back in the win column when they visit the Chicago Bears next Sunday.