When Bill Belichick scolded New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo for calling his team "soft" earlier this week, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington caught a stray.
“Defensively, the Patriots led the league last year in rushing defense. Yards per carry, No. 1 in the league. And this year they’re way down in the 20s somewhere,” Belichick said Monday on The Pat McAfee Show. “... It’s a lot the same players.
"... 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."
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Belichick didn't mention Covington by name, but by pointing out that New England's run defense has been significantly less effective this season, he's laying the blame on the first-year defensive coordinator.
Covington was asked what he thought of Belichick's comments Thursday morning.
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“I don’t really look too much into it like that. Bill has done some great things for me,” Covington told reporters. "He’s the one who brought me here. I learned a lot of good things from him. Obviously I was the defensive line coach for four years, and before that I was the outside linebacker coach and the inside linebacker coach.
"We’ve been to Super Bowls. We’ve not been to Super Bowls. We’ve been to the highest of the valley. Been to the lowest of the valley. So I don’t really focus on that."
Belichick hired Covington as a coaching assistant back in 2017 and promoted him multiple times over the next six seasons, so Covington isn't taking his former boss' critique personally. Especially since he's aware it's accurate.
“I do know that our run defense is going to get better," Covington added. "We’ll do a better job on that. I’ll do a better job on that. For me, we talk about accountability. I’ll take that accountability. I’ll take that and make sure that we do the right things to make sure the run defense is better, and really, our defense is better.”
Covington's unit has a long way to go: The Patriots currently rank 23rd in scoring defense, 25th in yards allowed per game, 24th in pass defense and 22nd in run defense. They've been hampered in part by the loss of several core defensive players -- defensive tackle Christian Barmore, linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley and safety Jabrill Peppers, to name a few -- but the unit's decline from last season is nonetheless eye-opening.
The Patriots defense faces another tough test this Sunday in Aaron Rodgers, new addition Davante Adams and the New York Jets.