Bill Belichick 'hurt' by Jerod Mayo's comments about Patriots defense: 'They're not gentle'

Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick wasn't happy about Jerod Mayo calling some of his former players “soft.”

In an interview, the former coach and current analyst was outraged by his former linebacker's characterization of the Patriots' game, who was particularly committed to the defense The Pat McAfee Show on Monday.

“You know, defensively, the Patriots were tops in rushing defense last year. Yards per carry were No. 1 in the league. And this year they are way down in the 20s. They’re the same guys,” Belichick said. “They re-signed (Anfernee) Jennings. They re-signed (Jahlani) Tavai. Obviously (Kyle) Dugger. Marcus Jones and (Christian) Gonzalez were healthy all year, and both were on IR at this point last year. You have (Deatrich) Wise, you have (Davon) Godchaux, you have (Marte) Mapu… It's a lot of the same players, and in some cases I would say more.

“These guys are kind of hurting me. To call them soft, they are not soft. They were the best team in the league against the run last year. These guys went out there and did it even though we couldn't. “I scored a lot of points for the defensive players in this game because they're all strong players, they're going to step up and get going.