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Bill Belichick defends Patriots after Jerod Mayo criticism: 'They're not gentle'

Bill Belichick defends Patriots after Jerod Mayo criticism: 'They're not gentle'

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo wasn't happy with his team's performance in their 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in London.

Mayo described the team as “soft” as it lost its sixth straight game and fell to 1-6 this season.

“We’re a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said. “We talk about what makes a strong football team and that is the ability to run the ball, stop the run and cover kicks. We didn’t do any of that.”

The Jaguars ran for 171 yards, with Tank Bigsby recording 118 yards and two touchdowns and Parker Washington returning a punt 96 yards for a score.

One observer in the football world who disagreed with Mayo's description of his team and perhaps slyly pointed the finger at coaching is Bill Belichick.

The former Patriots head coach weighed in to defend his old team during his weekly spot on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday.

“The Patriots led the league in rushing defense last year, yards per carry, No. 1 in the league. This year they are somewhere way down in the 20s. They’re the same guys.”

“They re-signed (Anfernee) Jennings, they re-signed (Jahlani) Tavai. They obviously re-signed (Kyle) Dugger, right? Marcus Jones and (Christian) Gonzalez have been healthy all year, and they've both been on IR at this point, you've got (Deatrich) Wise, you've got (Devon) Godchaux, you've got (Marte) Mapu, it's a lot of the same players, and in some cases I would say more.”

“These guys kind of hurt me because to call them soft, they’re 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 could. “I didn't score a lot of points on offense because these guys are a tough group… They're going to put in the effort and go.”

Last season, the Patriots allowed 3.3 yards per rush attempt, which Belichick said is tops in the NFL. This season it's up to 4.6 yards per carry, which ranks seventh in the league.

Mayo clarified his use of “soft” on WEEI's “Greg Hill Show” on Monday, saying the team's play is soft, not the players'.

“Let me just go ahead and correct that. “We play soft, okay?” Mayo said. “Because when you first look at it – when we went back to training camp, it was definitely tough everywhere, and we still had the same players and we could just play like that.”

The Patriots, who have been bottom of the AFC East for seven weeks, face the New York Jets on Sunday and a seventh straight loss would only deepen their hole in the league.

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