We’ve reached the Patriots-legend-ripping-Patriots-legend phase of New England’s rebuild.
Head coach Jerod Mayo rightfully called the New England Patriots “soft” after Sunday’s embarrassing 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. Hours later, franchise legend Devin McCourty, who played with Mayo for six years, called out his former teammate during an NBC broadcast.
Let’s go over Mayo’s comments and McCourty’s harsh reaction.
Jerod Mayo Calls Patriots ‘Soft’ After Loss to Jaguars
The Patriots got out to a 10-0 lead in London but quickly folded like a cheap tent.
New England’s admittedly undermanned defense allowed Jacksonville to rush 39 times for 171 yards (4.4 average) and two touchdowns. On the other side, the Patriots averaged just 2.5 yards on 15 carries.
Missed tackles and poor run fits were aplenty. At one point, the Jaguars ran the ball on 16 consecutive plays. The Patriots also allowed a 96-yard punt return touchdown, something that only happens when players are out-leveraged and lack physicality.
Mayo began his postgame news conference by ripping into the same team he called “tough” just three weeks ago.
“We’re a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said. “We talk about what makes a tough football team, and that’s being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run and that’s being able to cover kicks. We did none of those.”
When asked how the Patriots have become a “soft” team, Mayo said he wasn’t sure.
“That’s something I have to think about,” Mayo said. “We have a long flight back. It’s not like all of a sudden we did something different and now we’re a soft football team. It’s just the mentality that we have to get back in the guys.”
Jerod Mayo: “We’re a soft football team.” pic.twitter.com/2zpnZYcBlg
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 20, 2024
While the Patriots look soft in nearly every area, it’s their run defense that’s been especially difficult to watch. Check out the stats from the last six games:
- Week 3 (Jets): 33 carries, 133 yards, 4.0 average, 1 TD
- Week 4 (49ers): 32 carries, 148 yards, 4.6 average, 1 TD
- Week 5 (Dolphins): 41 carries, 193 yards, 4.7 average, 1 TD
- Week 6 (Texans): 28 carries, 192 yards, 6.9 average, 2 TDs
- Week 7 (Jaguars): 39 carries, 171 yards, 4.4 average, 2 TDs
It would be convenient to blame the struggles on the losses of Ja’Whaun Bentley (torn pectoral), Christian Barmore (blood clots), and Jabrill Peppers (arrested/commissioner’s exempt list). And running attacks indeed have targeted the middle of New England’s defense as injuries have mounted.
The Patriots couldn’t have predicted what would happen to Barmore and Peppers, but they can blame themselves for going bargain-shopping for linebackers in recent years while neglecting the position in the draft. They don’t have any capable in-house replacements for Bentley, who’s only slightly above average anyway — and that’s on them.
Tank Bigsby with an ANGRY run to set up that Jaguars touchdown.
Bigsby today:
– 8 carries
– 39 rushing yards
– 1 rushing touchdown pic.twitter.com/3utRNQw7nE— Arye Pulli (@AryePulli) October 20, 2024
Besides, you won’t find a Patriots player who disagrees with Mayo’s assessment.
“Coach Mayo is not going to come in here and say something to you guys that he didn’t say to us in the locker room,” rookie QB Drake Maye said after his impressive second start. “He’s always preaching being tough. I think he does a great (job) relaying the message to us and the guys know.”
Linebacker Jahlani Tavai, who’s been increasingly exposed since Bentley’s injury, offered a similar reaction.
“He said it well, and we got to look in the mirror and understand what he’s saying,” Tavai said of Mayo’s comments. “If we’re OK being soft, then some people will fall off, and the rest of us who want to prove that wrong will step up and make sure this doesn’t happen.”
Mayo might be running out of buttons to push and levers to pull. But with the Patriots on their first six-game losing streak since 1993 and watching their season spiraling out of control, the first-year head coach needs to figure something out.
According to McCourty, Mayo can start by looking in the mirror.
Devin McCourty Calls Out Mayo During NBC Broadcast
McCourty hasn’t shied away from criticizing his former team since retiring, and he didn’t pull any punches when asked about Mayo’s remarks.
Here’s what McCourty said during NBC’s pregame coverage of Sunday night’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets:
“The first thing I think of is toughness isn’t a skill set. You don’t need to be fast or do anything special to be tough. The second part of that is: Why, Jerod? Why is this team not tough?
“When you hear a team isn’t tough and they are soft, you think, ‘What is the head coach doing? How is he getting them ready to go?’ Mayo and that staff have a lot of questions to answer going in the next week.”
The good news for the Patriots is they’ll have a winnable game this Sunday when they host Aaron Rodgers and the struggling 2-5 Jets. The bad news is the Patriots got blown out by the Jets in Week 3 and, as we learned Sunday, aren’t capable of taking advantage of teams similarly teetering on collapse.
Mayo likely isn’t in any danger of losing his job this season. But if New England suffers another ugly defeat on Sunday, his job status will become a major talking point on Boston airwaves.