How will Patriots respond after being called a soft team by Jerod Mayo?
BOSTON -- Jerod Mayo said he was going to bring different vibes to the New England Patriots when he took over as head coach. Unfortunately, his approach has already backfired less than halfway through his first season.
It was clear that Mayo wasn't going to be the hard-headed coach that Bill Belichick was for 24 years in New England. Mayo is much more of a player's coach, and was going to make sure players enjoyed coming to work.
But it doesn't seem like anyone on the team is happy just seven weeks into the season, and some players may be taking advantage of that friendly approach from Mayo.
We knew that Mayo's first season on the job was going to be a struggle, with a roster that is lacking top-end talent just about everywhere -- especially on offense. The low expectations hovered around 4-5 wins for the season.
But after seven weeks and a 1-6 record, even those expectations seem high. The Patriots lost their sixth straight game on Sunday with an embarrassing 32-16 loss to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars on the international stage in London. The Jags were a team in turmoil heading into Sunday's matchup at Wembley Stadium, and they went out and beat the Patriots with relative ease.
Jerod Mayo calls Patriots soft after loss to Jaguars
While we weren't expecting many wins, we were expecting at least two things from the Patriots this season: A good run defense, and a strong rush attack on offense. The Patriots have failed greatly in both areas over the last two weeks, and it had Mayo -- a run-stuffing linebacker during his playing days -- calling his team out after Sunday's loss.
"We're a soft football team across the board," Mayo said in London.
Maye clarified Monday morning that the Patriots are "playing soft" and not a soft team. But he was not as convincing Monday as he was Sunday in London.
Mayo calls out Patriots' rushing offense, run defense
For a team that is still searching for an identity this season, "soft" is not the title players are going to want to hear from their head coach. Mayo is at a loss for answers at the moment, and is putting it on his players to turn this mess around. He specifically called out to team's lack of a rush attack on offense and their inability to stop the run on defense on Sunday.
Drake Maye continues to be the lone bright spot on this team, and he's just a rookie with two starts under his belt. He's also been the team's leading rusher in each of the last two weeks, which isn't going to cut it for a team that was supposed to be tough on the ground.
Rhamondre Stevenson matched Maye's 18 yards on Sunday, but he did so on seven carries, averaging just 2.6 yards per attempt. (Maye got his 18 yards on three scrambles.) Antonio Gibson had just four yards on his three carries, and JaMycal Hasty -- who caught a touchdown pass from Maye -- lost two yards on his two carries.
New England running backs haven't done anything over the last two weeks. They picked up just 64 yards on 33 carries -- an average of just 1.94 yards per attempt -- in losses to the Texans and the Jaguars.
The team's run defense has been even softer. The New England defense was completely bullied by Jags running backs on Sunday, with Tank Bigsby and D'Ernest Johnson rushing for 156 yards on 35 carries. They averaged 4.5 yards per carry, and Jacksonville was essentially taunting the Patriots defense by running the ball 19 straight plays. This was just seven days after the Texans ran for 192 yards against the Patriots in Week 6.
"It's the front seven. We just have to be more disciplined and set up a wall and beat the blockers in front of us," Mayo said on Monday. "It's not the Xs and Os, we just have to be where we're supposed to be."
Losing Ja'Whaun Bentley certainly did not help the defense's cause. But if he was the only one that can get his fellow linebackers and others on the defense to line up correctly, play smart, and finish their tackles, then the Patriots are in a lot of trouble. And while Bentley is one of the best run-stoppers in the league, him alone wouldn't be filling the massive holes the defense has been allowing as of late.
So you can understand why Mayo is calling his team soft right now. They are in fact a very soft football team. And outside of Maye giving the offense a glimmer of hope, there are no reinforcements on the way to save the day.
Patriots players agree with Mayo's assessment of team
For their part, players agreed with Mayo's harsh assessment on Sunday.
"Coach Mayo's not going to come in here and say something he hasn't said to us in the locker room," Maye said at the podium. "We're not tough."
"He said it well. We've gotta look in the mirror and understand what he's saying," said linebacker Jahlani Tavai. "And if we're OK with 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 that doesn't happen."
"He kept it real with us and I'm glad he did," added captain Kyle Dugger.
Mayo calling his team out in such a way really highlights the desperate state of the New England Patriots. Maybe it will work, and the team will suddenly remember how to pick up yards on the ground and figure out how to bring opposing rushers to the turf. Maybe players will be a lot more focused this week in practice, and they'll play even harder next weekend against the 2-5 New York Jets.
"If you want to get to heaven, you got to go through hell sometimes," Mayo said Monday. "It may feel that way right now, but hopefully we turn this around."
Of course, it could go the other way too. Members of the team could fold after being hit with such harsh words and allow that to lead to even worse play on the field. Based on Tavai's comment, there seems to be a faction of the locker room that won't take too kindly to Mayo calling them soft.
It's only late October, and Mayo and his team are already at a pivotal crossroad this season. We knew this rebuild was going to be a long and bumpy road that wouldn't include many wins. But at the moment, Mayo is just desperate for his team to play a respectable brand of football.
He's now put it on his players to turn it around.