New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo didn't mince words in his press conference after Sunday's demoralizing 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
"Disappointing game. We started fast, but what I would say is we're a soft football team across the board," Mayo told reporters at Wembley Stadium, as seen in the video player above.
"You talk about what makes a tough football team, that's being able to run the ball, stopping the run and that's being able to cover kicks. We did none of those today. They controlled the ball for most of the day. Their run game averaged over 4.5 yards per carry, our run game -- I'm not sure what the average was, but it wasn't good. It's back to the drawing board. We can't sit here and pout. We've just got to put our game together."
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Wow.
It's not often you see a head coach call his team soft, especially in Week 7. It's one of the most serious criticisms a coach can give his team. The real concern for the Patriots is that Mayo's assessment is pretty much spot on after their sixth straight loss.
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The Patriots led the Jaguars 10-0 early in the second quarter, which included their first opening drive touchdown of the season. And then the Pats got bulldozed by one of the NFL's worst teams, giving up 25 unanswered points and completely falling apart on both sides of the ball.
The Jaguars imposed their will on the Patriots with their rushing attack in the second half. At one point, the Jaguars called 17 consecutive run plays. Jacksonville finished with 171 yards (4.4 per carry) and two touchdowns on the ground. The Jaguars used their run game to march 84 yards on 17 plays and take 11:24 off the clock between the third quarter and early fourth quarter. Even though the Jaguars came up empty on that drive with zero points, it made the Patriots' chances of pulling off a comeback incredibly slim.
The Patriots, for the second straight week, couldn't generate much of anything running the football. New England ran for just 38 yards (2.5 per attempt) on Sunday. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson returned from injury and tied rookie quarterback Drake Maye as the team's leading rusher with 18 yards. Maye was the leading rusher in last week's loss to the Houston Texans with 38 yards.
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What's wrong with the rushing attack?
"I'm not sure. That's something we'll have to watch on film," Mayo said. "What I will say is it's a mentality, it's an attitude. As of late, our run game hasn't been able to do anything offensively. And then defensively, we've just got to play better -- better technique, have to lock our guy out in front of us and make a tackle."
The Patriots have a long flight back to Foxboro, where they will watch film and try to come up with adjustments ahead of next week's game against the rival New York Jets at Gillette Stadium.
As of 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, the Patriots are alone at the bottom of the league standings with a 1-6 record, and there's very little -- if anything -- to suggest that a bounce back is coming in the near future.