Last year, under coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots led the league in opponent yards per carry.
That toughness still causes Coach Belichick to refer to his defensive staff as “tough guys.”
New England, which has first-year head coach Jerrod Mayo, enters Monday night's doubleheader tied for 17th place.
Because of that leak, Mayo labeled the team's run defense “poor.”
The legendary coach was hurt to hear the labels applied to his former players.
“It hurt a little bit for them, because to call them soft, they're not soft at all. They were the best team in the league against the run last year,” Belichick said in 2019. He talked about his former team on the Pat McAfee Show. Monday. “Even though we didn't score a lot offensively, they came out and did it. I feel sorry for our defensive players because it's a tough group.”
After the Patriots snapped a six-game losing streak Sunday against the Jaguars in London, losing 32-16 to a terrible team in Jacksonville, Mayo gave his team a mission.
Mayo made it clear Monday that he doesn't believe his team is actually soft, but they've been playing like it.
The Patriots allowed 171 rushing yards to the Jaguars, including 118 yards and two touchdowns from backup Tank Bigsby.
Conversely, New England rushed for 38 yards on 15 carries.
Belichick noted that the Patriots are retaining most of the players they had from last season's dominant rushing defense, which has led to the team's success.
Instead, the Patriots regressed.
“We're a soft soccer team overall,” Mayo said Sunday. “We talk about what makes a tough football team. It's being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run and being able to stop kicks, and today we're talking about which of those I couldn't do it either.
Despite the Patriots' success in stopping last season's losing streak, they went 4-13 last season and Belichick was forced out.
New England's rushing defense will look to get back on track in Week 8 against a Jets rushing attack that ranks second from bottom in yards per game.
Mayo believes his team can return to its past form.
“Last night, after the game, I felt like going out and playing soft. I'm playing soft right now,” Mayo said Monday. “When I say we played soft, I mean stopping the run, running the ball, covering kicks, and we couldn't do that. Now, with that said, this ship Do you think there are people who can change direction? 100 percent. But it comes from hard work, and hard work improves every day on the practice field and out in the field. ”
