Jerod Mayo calls out Patriots players postgame following Jaguars loss

During Sunday's 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New England Patriots got beat convincingly along the line of scrimmage for the final 45 minutes of the game. On offense the Patriots averaged just 1.7 yards per carry with their running backs while allowing Drake Maye to get sacked twice and hit three times. Meanwhile, Jacksonville ran for a season-high 171 yards and quarterback Trevor Lawrence was pressured just twice without getting hit one, never mind sacked.

Just watching the game, it was apparent the Jaguars were getting the initial push up front no matter who had the ball. Still, after the game head coach Jerod Mayo wanted to make it clear what happened.

"We’re a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said early in his postgame press conference. “You talk about what makes a tough football team - being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run, and being able to cover kicks. We did none of those today. They controlled the ball for most of the day.”

The Jaguars did win the time of possession battle controlling the ball for 33:15. That included an 11:24 drive - the longest in the NFL since 2022 - that was run heavy. After the first quarter, the Jaguars out-snapped the Patriots on offense 54 to 35. A lot of that is because the Patriots never established themselves up front. To Mayo's third point, they also allowed a 96-yard punt return touchdown.

"It's not like all of a sudden we did something different and now we're a soft football team," Mayo replied when asked what led to the team becoming 'soft.' "It's just the mentality that we have to get back in the guys."

Following Mayo's press conference, multiple players were asked their thoughts on his comments.

"He said it well and we've got to look in the mirror and understand what he's saying," linebacker Jahlani Tavai said. "If we're OK being soft, then some people will fall off and the rest of us who want to prove that wrong will step up and make sure this doesn't happen."

"Coach Mayo is not going to come in here and say something to you guys that he didn't say to us in the locker room," rookie quarterback Drake Maye noted. "He's always preaching being tough. I think he does a great relaying the message to us and the guys know."

"That wasn't what we want to be at all," tight end Hunter Henry added. "That was not the identity we want to be."

This is the second week in a row Mayo has been blunt in his assessment of his team's performance and shared part of his locker room message postgame. After a poor tackling effort by the defense last week, Mayo said in his postgame press conference "I told all those guys, I said, 'you should feel like crap today. You should feel like crap.'"

Will Mayo's messaging work? If the Patriots can turn it around they should have a chance to win some games over the next month with teams like the Tennessee Titans (1-4 pending Sunday's game), New York Jets (2-4), Los Angeles Rams (1-4), and Indianapolis Colts (3-3) ahead on the schedule.