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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 21, 2016Patrick MahomesJustis NelsonLubbock, Texas Q. What happened Saturday? PATRICK MAHOMES: It's hard. I never went through it before. It was bad overall, and no positive stuff happened in the game at all. It's something we try to move on past and work on getting ready for Baylor this next week. Q. Any sense of that kind of possibility in the locker room before you guys went out of the tunnel? PATRICK MAHOMES: No, in pregame warm-ups, everybody was energized. We were all pretty hyped up. And just got on the field and it's like no one really showed up as an entire team. Q. Was it more of a sense, you think, of when things started to go bad that helped feed into that or you struggled from the get-go and the energy wasn't there? PATRICK MAHOMES: From the get-go. For the -- offensively the last few weeks we haven't been starting fast, and it kind of happened again. But usually we pick it up. And we just didn't in this last game. I don't know what to blame. I mean, pretty much just all blame ourselves that we didn't really come to play that day. Q. Did you feel healthy in the second half? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, I felt fine, definitely. I went down, I think, in the first or second quarter, I went and got checked out. I was fine, and I went back and started playing. It's something where no one came to play, including myself. No one really showed up. Q. It's your left shoulder you hurt? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yes. Q. And you're saying you're healthy? You're okay? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, it's fine. It was a stinger of some sort. I just wanted to get it checked out before I kept playing. And everything seems fine. Q. TV showed the series before where you took a hit on your left shoulder? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, it was after I took the hit on the left shoulder and made the run, and I tried to fight through it. It just kind of felt funky, so I went and got it checked out by the doctors. And they said I was good to go, so I went back and kept playing. Q. How do you feel you guys responded? This is Monday, it happened Saturday, it's been almost 48 hours. The fan base, everybody is obviously upset about this. Do you feel like you guys have shared in that sentiment that you're pissed off, embarrassed and want to right the ship and at least go out with a win Friday? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, definitely. Yesterday everybody was a little disappointed, little embarrassed. But the feeling in the locker room today is more of want to get back out there and kind of prove to people that we're still here and we still have respect for the program. We still have pride, and we want to go out there and finish off the season on a good note. Q. (Indiscernible) how do you convert that into wins this week? PATRICK MAHOMES: I was just executing my job. Be a leader, be vocal, get everybody pumped up for the game. Go out there, run the system, get the ball out, complete easy passes and get the chains moving. Q. (Indiscernible)? PATRICK MAHOMES: They're still really talented. They have really good players. They're kind of like us where they're going through a down stretch of the season, but they're going to want to finish out the season on a good note. So we'll go out there and fight. We'll fight, and it will be a good football game. Q. You've obviously the last few weeks had scouts coming out and watching you. Do you feel like you've been pressing at all the last couple weeks with the attention you've gotten on the sideline with people coming to watch you? PATRICK MAHOMES: No, I don't. I feel like just the whole season I've just been trying to win football games. I've always said everything that comes after football or comes with football is all about wins and going out there and winning football games. So for me, it's trying to win games for my brothers. Trying to send these seniors out the right way and go out there and play as hard as I can and leave it out there. Q. (Indiscernible) how does it feel with Friday possibly being your last game? PATRICK MAHOMES: I'm going to focus on that after the season. Like I said, I'm going to go out there with these guys that might not play a football game again and try to get a win and finish on the right note. Q. What's Baylen Brown meant to this offensive line? I think I saw 34 consecutive starts. He's been shuffled around out there as well. What type of leader is he, and what does he mean? PATRICK MAHOMES: He's a true team player. He's been banged up throughout his career, but he's always out there. He's always giving it all he has. Like you said, he'll move around. He's played left guard, right guard, center, tackles, both tackles. He'll move around and play whatever is the best for the team. You love players like that and want to play with people like that. Q. Is there something out there in losing Murph? How has that affected you? PATRICK MAHOMES: For me, it's just going out there, trusting in it and just trusting in the process. They're young guys, but they're really talented. They're going to have some growing pains. They're going to have some mistakes they make. But just as long as they keep getting better and leaving it out on the field, there's nothing more you can ask for. Q. What did you tell the guys in a game like that the other day as you're going? You're hurt, you've come back, you've been battling through stuff all year. Obviously, there is no quit in you. What do you tell the guys in a game like that? PATRICK MAHOMES: You can try to be positive. You can get on people, but at the same time, you've got to be positive. Just tell them that you leave it all out there, take it one game at a time, do your job, leave it on the field, and that's all anyone can ask for. Q. Are you ever sitting there going in the third or fourth quarter on the sidelines, like good Lord, what's happening? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, you get these thoughts in your mind. But for me, it's one play at a time. All I can do is go out there, make one drive, score a touchdown and get ready for the next one. It's something where you never expect that to happen. You never expect them to get that up on you like that. But me and our team, we're going to go out there and leave it on the field, and whatever happens, happens. Q. Every team has different types of leaders. There's a lead-by-example guy and there's the quiet guy who says three or four things and there is a turn-over-the-table, watercooler guy. Does this team have that guy? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, we have guys that I feel all lead different ways. I try to be vocal and be a more lead-by-example guy, trying to be vocal. But it's something this season a lot of stuff has happened that hasn't gone our way. We're going to go out this last week and leave it all out there to try to get a win and really just get some pride back to the program, back to our football team. Q. Coach talked about blocking the outside noise. Even in Texas there is all the news floating out there, and they've already made a decision (indiscernible). How do you feel the players have done trying to block out some of the outside noise? PATRICK MAHOMES: I think we've been pretty good about that all season. People have been kind of negative towards us. But we're going to kind of help us build as a team and really have each other's back. We know the coaches love us, and I know the coaches are coaching as hard as they can. We love each other as a team. So it's just something we're playing for the guy beside us and playing for whoever's in the room with us. Q. How do you plan on doing a mental dump of Saturday's game so that you're not looking back when you play Baylor on Friday? PATRICK MAHOMES: When you get beat like that, you just want to get back on the field and get it out of your head. So I'm going to really focus in on learning the game plan. We have a short week. I'm about to study more and I'm going to be ready to play Baylor and try to go out there and get a win and move on past this last week. Q. Is the short week kind of what the doctor ordered? PATRICK MAHOMES: Yeah, I mean, it helps out that we have a Thanksgiving break at school, so you only have a couple days at school and then you get off and get focused in on playing Baylor. It's on a Friday right after Thanksgiving, so you'll be one of the only games on TV. So you want to get out there and get a win in front of the nation. Q. (Indiscernible) to the program after this year if you do possibly lose this last game and have a season like this when you guys were hoping for change? PATRICK MAHOMES: I mean, any way possible. Leaving the program early would be hard. I love it here. I love Texas Tech. Like I've always said, I want to win a Big 12 title here. And whatever it takes, I want to do that here and bring one here to Lubbock. It will be hard anyway to leave. Q. What happened Saturday? JUSTIS NELSON: Just didn't show up to play. It's as simple as that. Defense didn't show up. Offense didn't show up. And give credit to Iowa State, they took advantage. They played the best ball they could that day. We just didn't show up. Q. Everybody keeps saying the team didn't show up, but no one has said why. Why do you believe the team didn't show up? JUSTIS NELSON: I mean, if I could tell you, I would, but it's just how the game went on that day. Q. When you look at a week like that after a performance like that, how do you get that game out of your head when you've got a short week? JUSTIS NELSON: I mean, we've got a game Friday, so you watch what mistakes you made on film, but you have to get over it quick. You recuperate, you talk to your position groups, try and figure out what's going on and fix it as fast as you can. Figure out what mistakes you made, and then you game plan next week and try and fix those mistakes as quick as possible. Q. (Indiscernible) going back home to play? JUSTIS NELSON: Yeah, it's definitely hitting me now that it's the last week of my collegiate career. But it's rough, but I wouldn't want to play anywhere else but in Dallas. So, I mean, Cowboy Stadium, you can't ask for a better environment than that. So we need to go out with a bang. Q. (Indiscernible)? JUSTIS NELSON: Oh, we love it. Like I said, it's that NFL atmosphere. Cowboys got a great stadium, great locker room, everything like that. The fans show up, seeing all red on one side, all green on one side. It's just exciting. Q. Is there any talk for you guys, especially the seniors, of kind of making this your Bowl game? JUSTIS NELSON: Not really making it our Bowl game. I'd say just leave it all out there. If you can't leave it all out there for this last game, then something's wrong. So just going and playing your heart out. Q. What did you guys talk about or maybe not talk about? Was there much discussion? JUSTIS NELSON: No, there was definitely no talking. Not much to say. When we got back, Coach just told us, you know, you can't let it beat you twice, so you've got to move on as quick as you can and prepare for this week. Q. Every team has got different type of leaders. There's the lead-by-example guy and there's quiet guy who says one thing and everybody just stops and listens. And then there's, when things are going bad, the turn-over-the-watercooler guy, throws it one somebody, gets somebody to spark. Does this team have somebody like that? JUSTIS NELSON: Any of those three, or just the last one? Q. The last one. JUSTIS NELSON: I'd say Pat. He's been one of those guys. Whenever things are going wrong, he does come up and he speaks with a lot of conviction. I mean, Pat, Stice. We have a couple guys like that. Q. How is this year's Baylor team different from last year? JUSTIS NELSON: I don't see much difference. I mean, they have all the athletes they had before, if not better. They're just as efficient, I'd say. They're going to try and take the roof off the defense. So they have a lot of athletes that they like to get the ball out in space and just let them go to work. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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