The New England Patriots fell to 1-6 on the season on Sunday morning by way of a 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. While rookie quarterback Drake Maye once again showed enough flashes of talent to feel optimistic about his NFL future, it was another ugly defeat in a season full of them for New England.
The Patriots suffered regular self-inflicted wounds due to bad penalties and mistakes on both sides of the ball. Special teams gave up a 96-yard punt return for a touchdown when the score was still close. Drops and missed blocks marred much of the offensive execution. In other words, New England showed every sign of being a bad football team—not exactly surprising at this stage in the season, but still deeply frustrating for head coach Jerod Mayo.
The rookie HC let his emotions show while speaking to reporters after the game and slammed his roster as a "soft football team" after the bad loss, which marks the sixth straight for the Patriots.
"Look, disappointing game," Mayo said. "Disappointing game. We came out, we started fast. But I would say we're a soft football team across the board. Talk about what makes a tough football team, it's being able to run the ball, it's being able to stop the run, and it's being able to cover kicks and we did none of those today."
Jerod Mayo: “We’re a soft football team.” pic.twitter.com/2zpnZYcBlg
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 20, 2024
To Mayo's point, the Pats managed only 38 rushing yards on the day, a paltry number compared to the 171 yards the defense gave up to the Jaguars. New England's roster is rather devoid of talent at this point in time but coaches love to say stopping the run is all about effort and toughness. Clearly the Patriots showed little of either quality if Jacksonville managed that impressive total.
It'll be a long flight home from London for Mayo and the Patriots, it would seem.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jerod Mayo Slams 'Soft' Patriots After Sixth Straight Loss .
