Mayo was harshly critical of the Patriots' defense after the loss to the Texans

Mayo was harshly critical of the Patriots' defense after the loss to the Texans originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo didn't like the way his defense played in Sunday's Week 6 game against the Houston Texans, and he let players know about it after the team's 41-21 loss Gillette Stadium know.

“Defensively, I would say just the fundamentals of tackling and our running passing need to improve. They have to improve,” Mayo told reporters in his post-match press conference.

“I told all these people, ‘You should feel like shit today. You should feel like shit.' If you take away those two long runs, we gave up two runs over 50 yards. That's just not winning football.

The Patriots defense allowed touchdowns on the Texans' first two drives of the game. Each drive included a pass interference penalty by the Patriots' secondary, which opened up a first-and-goal opportunity for the Texans, which they took advantage of on both occasions. Houston quarterback CJ Stroud threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter.

Poor starts plagued the Patriots defense for several weeks. New England has been outscored 30-7 in the first quarter in their last four games.

“Yeah, it's very disappointing and I would say we've had a few ups and downs at the moment as far as getting off to a fast start,” Mayo said. “We have to start quickly, whether on defense or attack, and we just weren’t able to do that today.”

“I thought they had calmed down. But again, it comes down to every single play being important, and you can stop them, stop them, stop them, and then all of a sudden it's a 50-yard run. We can’t do that.” Live in this world.

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The Texans relied on their rushing attack for much of the remaining three quarters. Houston totaled 192 yards (6.9 per carry) and two touchdowns on the ground, and that performance included several big plays. Texas running backs Joe Mixon (20 yards) and Dameon Pierce (54 yards) both had long touchdown runs. Mixon also had a separate 59-yard run.

The Patriots' defense has struggled with injuries to many key players, which made the already difficult task of slowing the Texans' potent offense even more difficult. And it should be noted that New England's offense put the defense in some bad spots with four turnovers (two interceptions and two fumbles). It's not easy to defend a small field, and the Texans capitalized on those opportunities with 17 points behind the turnovers.

But there are still a lot of things this unit can clean up, and at the top of the list should be not giving out so many penalties. Giving up big plays is another problem for the Patriots defense. Five different Texas players had either a catch or a run of 20 yards.

The good news for the Patriots' defense is that their Week 7 opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars, is currently a mess offensively. It's a great opportunity for this unit to get back on track and build some momentum as we approach the halfway point of the season.