New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo was very critical of his players after a 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, declaring "we're a soft football team across the board" in a postgame press conference.
Calling a football team soft is a significant criticism.
Mayo tried to clarify his comments on WEEI's The Greg Hill Show on Monday morning. "Look, let me just go ahead and correct that. We’re playing soft," Mayo said. "If you go back to training camp, there was definitely toughness all around the place. We still have the same players, we’ve just got to play that way."
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One person who disagreed with Mayo's postgame comments is his predecessor, Bill Belichick. The former Patriots head coach was asked about the Patriots and Mayo's "soft" comments during his weekly Monday appearance on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show.
Belichick didn't mince words.
"Defensively, the Patriots led the league last year in rushing defense. Yards per carry (they were) No. 1 in the league, and this year they're way down in the 20s somewhere," Belichick said.
"It's the same guys. They re-signed (Anfernee) Jennings, they re-signed (Jahlani) Tavai, they re-signed (Kyle) Dugger. Marcus Jones and (Christian) Gonzalez have been healthy all year. They were both on injured reserve at this point last year. You got (Deatrich) Wise, you got (Davon) Godchaux, you got Keion White, you got (Marte) Mapu. It's a lot the same players, and in some cases I would say more.
"I'm kind of hurt for those guys, because to call them soft -- they're not soft. They were the best team in the league last year against the run, and those guys went out and did it even though we couldn't score many points offensively. I feel bad for the defensive players on that one because those guys, that's a tough group. Jon Jones, Godchaux, Wise, Jennings, Uche -- those guys are all tough players. Dugger. They're tough guys."
"The Patriots led the league in rushing defense last year and they still have a lot of those players..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 21, 2024
I'm hurt for those guys because they're not soft..
I feel bad for the defensive players because they're all tough players" ~ Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/wVN9ufcNMg
It's true that the Patriots were very good against the run last season and have struggled to defend the run this year. The Jaguars ran for 171 yards (4.5 per carry) and two touchdowns in their win over the Patriots on Sunday, and at one point they called 17 straight run plays.
But there's a huge difference between the run defense of 2023 and 2024, and it's that many players who were key to that success defensively last season are not playing for the team right now.
Defensive tackle Christian Barmore, who played near an All-Pro level in 2023, hasn't played a single snap this season due to blood clots. Veteran linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley hasn't played since Week 2 due to injury and will miss the rest of the campaign. Matthew Judon was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in August. Veteran safety Jabrill Peppers is one of the team's best defensive backs and isn't playing right now while on the NFL's Commissioner Exempt list. Peppers had a 90.7 run grade from Pro Football Focus last season.
Sure, a lot of the same players from last season are still on the roster, and Belichick named a bunch of them while on McAfee's show, but some pretty significant contributors have not been on the field, and that makes a real difference.
The Patriots have a lot of issues to correct right now, and running the football and defending the run should be near the top of the list. If Mayo and his staff are unable to find ways to improve those two areas, the results on the field likely will get uglier each and every week.