Mayo called his team “a soft football team across the board” on Sunday.
Roughly 12 hours after calling his New England Patriots “a soft football team across the board,” head coach Jerod Mayo clarified his comments Monday morning.
“I felt like we just went out there and played soft,” Mayo explained. “We’re playing soft at the moment, and when I say playing soft, that means stopping the run, being able to run the ball, and being able to cover kicks, which we weren’t able to do.”
Mayo later added on WEEI: “To correct what I said, it’s not that we have a softball football team. We are just playing soft over the past few weeks.”
In a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Mayo’s team continued to struggle in those three main categories (running the ball, stopping the run, and covering kicks). In total, New England ran for 38 yards, surrendered 171 rushing yards, and allowed a 96-yard punt return.
Despite those areas consistently plaguing the team for multiple weeks now, the first-year head coach believes the players have what it takes to turn it around.
“Look, do I think we have the guys in there that can turn this ship around? 100 percent,” Mayo said. “But, that comes through hard work, hard work on the practice field, and going out there, just getting better each and every day.”
Following six straight losses, frustration in the locker room was evident among players. Veteran wide receiver Kendrick Bourne questioned players off-field habits. Defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale called out players said that guys need to check their ego.
Mayo, who has made it clear that he values building relationships in addition to being a demanding coach, was then asked on Monday as to whether he has questioned his coaching style based off the results.
“That’s in my DNA. Once again, a lot of these things are about relationships and treating people as human beings, so that’s in my DNA,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we’re out there coaching these guys soft. I think the coaches do a good job of coaching them hard, and obviously it would be easy if we were sitting here at 6-1 to continue to have that message.
“But, at 1-6, I guess it’s a natural question from you, should we change up our coaching style? Right now I think that we need to continue to work hard and continue to push the players to get the results on the field.”
The Patriots will now return home to Gillette Stadium next week where they’ll look to right the ship against the New York Jets.
“For me, the messaging is we just need to get better. We have to do everything a little bit better,” Mayo said. “You look at the game yesterday. We started off fast. We talked about starting fast, and then, obviously, it was disappointing to end the half and really couldn’t get things started in the second half. That just comes through continuing to grind, continuing to push through.
“So, look, you want to get to heaven, you’ve got to go through hell sometimes, and it may feel that way right now, but hopefully, we turn this around.”