No team in the NFL ever wants tom be called “soft,” especially not by its head coach, but that’s just what Jerod Mayo dubbed the New England Patriots after watching them lose 32-16 to the Jacksonville Jaguars at London’s Wembley Stadium in Week 7.
Mayo used the humiliating adjective when he spoke to reporters, including ESPN’s Mike Reiss, shortly after game on Sunday, October 21. The first-year head coach put it plainly, “we’re a soft football team across the board. We talk about what makes a tough football team? That’s being able to run the ball, that’s being able to stop the run and that’s being able to cover kicks, and we did none of those today.”
Those words will sting the pride of Patriots players, not to mention sound alarm bells about the prospects of Mayo successfully rebuilding the team. Yet, there’s a strong basis for his brutal verdict after the Pats allowed a punt return for a touchdown and were bullied on the ground by a Jaguars team hardly known for a smash-mouth edge.
Patriots Justified Ridicule During Wembley Horror Show
A defense supposedly built to bully teams with a massive front seven and physical secondary was instead bludgeoned by the Jags. The AFC South club amassed an eye-popping 171 yards from a whopping 39 rushing attempts. All the running yielded two rushing touchdowns for second-year back Tank Bigsby.
Such was the success of their running game, the Jags ran the ball “on 16 consecutive plays” at one point, per Pro Football Network’s Dakota Randall. The Jaguars also tallied 13 rushing first downs in the English capital.
This isn’t supposed to happen to a New England defensive front underpinned by 330-pound nose tackle Davon Godchaux. He’s been leading the NFL in run stops while playing a new role this season, but Godchaux is hardly getting enough help from his teammates.
Another thing that’s not supposed to happen is the Patriots failing to establish their own rushing attack. As Chad Graff of The Athletic put it, “This is the second straight week where the Patriots don’t have a running game. Their leading rusher is Drake Maye with 18 yards.”
There were some excuses for the struggles on the ground against the Houston Texans in Week 6. Leading rusher Rhamondre Stevenson was sidelined with a foot injury, but New England’s RB1 returned to the lineup for the trip overseas.
Bizarrely, Stevenson had just seven carries and finished tied with rookie quarterback Drake Maye for the team-lead with a paltry 18 yards. This isn’t what the Patriots’ offense was supposed to look like on Mayo’s watch.
It’s another sign the Pats are losing their identity under a new regime.
Patriots Losing Identity Under Jerod Mayo
There was always going to be a complicated transition from six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick to Mayo. Yet, the fact Mayo played for and coached under Belichick ought to have at least made the process a little easier to endure.
Mayo’s appointment should have ensured some vital continuity in the key staples of the Belichick era. Things like tough defense, a physical running game and aggressive, competent special teams play.
The latter was nowhere to be seen when Jags returner Parker Washington went nearly the length of the field to make a house call.
Mayo’s team is losing too many battles in areas where the Patriots had long been victors. A soft underbelly is fatally undermining a team lacking the elite talent to make up for poor fundamentals.
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