New England allowed 41 points in a loss to the Texans on Sunday.
A Drake Maye-led New England Patriots’ offense scored a season-high 21 points on Sunday. According to defensive veteran Davon Godchaux, that should have been enough for New England to leave Gillette Stadium Sunday victorious.
“Even if you think we out the game, the offense gave us 21 points,” Godchaux said at his locker post game. “Usually our defense, the standard, the opposite offense doesn’t score 21 points.”
The opposite occurred, as New England allowed 349 yards to C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans’ offense en route to a 41-21 victory. That performance included 192 yards on the ground, marking the fourth straight game New England has allowed over 130 rushing yards.
“Guys just got to take accountability,” Godchaux said in the locker room. “If you thought the game was over in the third quarter, it’s really just about having pride. Just doesn’t look like we had pride. I mean, just really don’t know how to win. That’s what it boils down to. Really just frustrating.”
Similar issues from recent weeks continued to occur on Sunday, as Jerod Mayo pointed towards a lack of fundamentals on defense. While Godchaux would not blame the officials for a pair of early third-down penalties, flags and missed tackles continued to plague New England’s defense.
“These teams not really beating us, we’re beating ourselves,” Godchaux said. “It’s one thing I come up here and say, ‘Oh man, this team’s really good. We can’t do nothing about it. They’re good left tackle, good offensive line. They’re blowing us off the ball.’ But it’s not that. It’s just missed tackles, blown assignments, being where you’re supposed to be. And it’s too much of not doing that. I could go on and on, but it is what it is.”
Part of the early-season defensive woes have been due to injuries, as New England has lost key run defenders in Christian Barmore and Ja’Whaun Bentley. Elsewhere, Kyle Dugger has missed time while Jabrill Peppers currently resides on the NFL’s Commissioner Exempt List.
While that has led to defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington having to turn to younger players as replacements, Godchaux, however, is not willing to use the loss of talent as an excuse.
“Last year we lost big pieces too and we still were a great defense. That’s really just an excuse if anybody say that,” Godchaux said. “It’s always next-man up mentality. You get paid to do a job that you play at a high level that only a few people in America could do. That’s why you got to approach it like, when you’re not a starter, you are a starter because in reality you’re one play away from being a starter. I feel like people are not taking that approach. We got to do a better job as a team to figure out how to win games — close games.
“We prepare great… this the best place I’ve been at that we prepare great like this. We just got to take advantage of it and put it on the field. It’s too many excuses, too much lack of details. It’s not good enough.”
Despite sitting at 1-5, the veteran defender noted there are winnable games ahead for New England. That will begin next week in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars where Godchaux’s unit will look to get back on track.
“It’s just like defense, man, we got to just figure out a way to get back to the standard of playing great defense,” Godchaux said. “41 points is embarrassing.”