Thursday night marked the beginning of a new era of New England Patriots football when the team kicked off preseason action with a 17-3 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

While preseason is about the players on the roster, especially the young ones, it was also the first NFL game that Jerod Mayo stood on the sidelines as a head coach for.

After the game, Mayo spoke to reporters and said how great it felt to coach in his first game.

"I just felt like I was just in my element. I felt great to be out there. Nothing else really mattered to me. When you don't have to worry about substitutions and things like that, you kind of see the game from a different perspective, which I thought was great for me today," Mayo said. "And it was the first time I really got a chance to experience that. Hopefully it keeps going the same way and we do a good job with the subs with our assistant coaches and I can focus on the game in totality."

Asked if he had any butterflies for the first game, Mayo said the feeling was more of excitement than of nerves.

"It was almost like you get on a roller coaster and you just hear that click, like, click, click. And then you get to the top and it kind of is go time. I mean, at this point you're so far along, we have nowhere else to go. I wouldn't say butterflies, just excitement and pure joy, honestly," he said.