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The New England Patriots may not be a very good football team, but one thing they definitely aren’t is “soft.”
At least, not according to former head coach Bill Belichick, who ripped into current coach Jerod Mayo on Monday after Mayo called his players soft following a 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The loss continued a six-game losing streak for the Patriots after a Week 1 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Bill Belichick on Jerod Mayo calling #Patriots players “soft”:
“It’s a lot of the same players from last year. I’m kinda hurt for those guys because to call them soft, they are not soft. They were the best team in the league last year against the run. I feel bad for the… pic.twitter.com/T7sbq2iLZ3
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 21, 2024
Belichick’s comments came during an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” and he gave an impassioned defense of New England’s players.
“It’s a lot of the same players from last year. I’m kinda hurt for those guys because to call them soft, they are not soft,” he said. “They were the best team in the league last year against the run. I feel bad for the defensive players on that one.”
Belichick also tooted his own horn a bit by pointing out that New England led the league defensively last year in yards per carry allowed to opponents. They allowed just 3.3 yards per carry in 2023. This year, New England ranks 17th in the league and is allowing 4.6 yards per carry.
To Mayo’s credit, he walked back his initial comments on Monday.
“(We’re) playing soft. Look, let me just go ahead and correct that. We’re playing soft,” he said. “If you go back to training camp, there was definitely toughness all around the place. We still have the same players, we’ve just got to play that way.
“We’ve got to be able to run the ball, we have to stop the run and cover kicks, and we did none of those (against Jacksonville),” Mayo continued. “That’s what equals a tough football time.”
But the damage appears to be done. And Belichick seems to enjoy throwing fuel on the fire that is currently the Patriots organization.