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New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo didn't like the way his defense played in Sunday's Week 6 game against the Houston Texans, and he let the players know about it after the team's 41-21 loss at Gillette Stadium.
"Defensively I would say, just the fundamentals of tackling and our run fits have to improve. They have to improve," Mayo told reporters in his postgame press conference.
"I told all those guys, I said, 'You should feel like crap today. You should feel like crap.' You take away those two long runs -- we gave up two runs over 50 yards. That's just not winning football."
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The Patriots defense gave up touchdowns on the Texans' first two drives of the game. Each drive included a pass interference penalty by the Patriots secondary that set up a first-and-goal opportunity for the Texans, and they took advantage both times. Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter.
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Bad starts have plagued the Patriots defense for several weeks. New England has been outscored 30-7 in the first quarter over the last four games.
"Yeah, it's very disappointing, and I would say now at this time we're kind of up and down as far as starting fast," Mayo said. "We have to start fast whether we're on defense or offense, and we just didn't do that today.
"I thought they did settle down. But again, it goes back to every single play being important, and you can stop them, stop them, stop them, and then all of a sudden it's a 50-yard run. We can't live in that world."
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The Texans relied on their rushing attack for much of the remaining three quarters. Houston tallied 192 yards (6.9 per carry) and two touchdowns on the ground overall, and that production included several big plays. Texans running backs Joe Mixon (20 yards) and Dameon Pierce (54 yards) both had long touchdown runs. Mixon also had a separate 59-yard run.
The Patriots defense is dealing with injuries to a lot of key players, which made an already difficult task of slowing down the high-powered Texans offense even tougher. And it should be noted that New England's offense put the defense in some bad spots with four turnovers (two interceptions and two fumbles). Defending a short field isn't easy, and the Texans capitalized on these opportunities with 17 points off turnovers.
But there are still plenty of things this unit can clean up, and atop the list should be tackling and not committing so many penalties. Giving up big plays is another problem for the Patriots defense. Five different Texans players had either a catch or run that went 20-plus yards.
The good news for the Patriots defense is their Week 7 opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars, are a mess offensively right now. It's a great opportunity for this unit to get back on track and build some momentum as the halfway point of the season nears.
