If winning cures everything, losing often does just the opposite.
After an encouraging start to Jerod Mayo's tenure as Patriots head coach -- a Week 1 upset of the Cincinnati Bengals and hard-fought overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2 -- New England has been outscored 54-16 in its last two games. And after Sunday's 30-13 shellacking at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, veteran defensive tackle Davon Godchaux made some eye-opening comments about his unit's struggles.
"Just being honest, we've got some guys being kind of selfish," Godchaux told WEEI's Jones & Keefe radio show on Monday. "I get it. I mean, we're down. Guys want to make plays. I get it. But everybody's got to play -- I'm talking about defense -- everybody has to play as 11. And everybody's got to sacrifice to do what's best for the team.
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"I know some guys want to make plays when we're down, try to get back in the game. But we've got to just keep going as a team and play team defense."
Godchaux suggested some of his fellow defenders were freelancing to try to garner sacks or interceptions instead of sticking to their assignment. While he didn't mention specific names or plays, there's evidence to support Godchaux's claims: San Francisco hit on six plays of more than 20 yards -- including four of 30 yards or more -- while gashing an uncharacteristically undisciplined Patriots defense.
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Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal also identified multiple "blown edges" Sunday in which Patriots edge rushers failed to keep contain and allowed 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy to escape the pocket.
"The amount of blown edges that I thought was a lot last week or end of (the) Seattle (game) on defense was even more -- was double, triple in this game," Bedard said Monday on NBC Sports Boston's Boston Sports Tonight, as seen in the video player above.
Godchaux insisted he just wanted to hold his teammates "accountable" and said he'd expect other Patriots players to do the same with him. Still, it was surprising to hear Godchaux publicly call out his teammates -- something we rarely saw in the Bill Belichick era.
Godchaux may have felt empowered by the precedent Mayo has set encouraging his players to speak their minds. But Bedard isn't loving what he's seeing and hearing out of New England.
"You have Davon Godchaux going on radio talking about how some of the players are playing selfish. You have wide receivers in (DeMario) Douglas and Ja'Lynn Polk who are throwing temper tantrums after plays. To me -- and I'm just telling you what I see on film -- I see a team that's unraveling at this point," Bedard said.
The Patriots can change the vibes considerably with a bounce-back Week 5 win over the Miami Dolphins, who have lost three straight and mustered just 184 yards of offense Monday night under recently-signed quarterback Tyler Huntley.
But if they want to turn their season around, it sounds like they need to get on the same page -- especially on defense.