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The message that he was trying to get across, he said, is that the team was playing soft in the moment and can change that with hard work.
Patriots coach Jerod Mayo clarified his comments about the Patriots being a soft football team on Monday.
The message he meant to get across, he said, is that they were playing soft in the moment and that they have the ability to change that through hard work and continuous improvement. He pointed to the team’s inability to run the ball, stop the run, and cover kicks as reasons for saying that they played soft in Sunday’s 32-16 loss to Jacksonville at London.
He also said, during his radio appearance on WEEI, that the team had played soft at times last year under Bill Belichick.
Mayo has offered pointed criticism both of the team and individual players in recent weeks. In the past, he had expressed a belief that coaches should be demanding but not demeaning.
On Monday, he was asked if the Patriots’ recent struggles had shaken that belief.
“That’s in my DNA,” Mayo said. “Once again, a lot of these things are about relationships and treating people as human beings, so that’s in my DNA. That doesn’t mean we’re out there coaching these guys soft.
“I think the coaches do a good job of coaching them hard, and obviously it would be easy if we were sitting here at 6-1 to continue to have that message. But at 1-6, I guess it’s a natural question from you — should we change up our coaching style? Right now, I think that we need to continue to work hard and continue to push the players to get the results on the field.”
The results have been subpar. The Patriots are on a six-game losing streak. They’ve lost the last five by an average of 15.8 points. A number of players have openly criticized teammates on issues such as selfishness and lack of discipline.
“I don’t think it creates a divide in the room at all,” Mayo said. “I think just how I use the media sometimes for messaging, I think some of the players do the same thing. I’m not going to tell them, ‘Say this, say that.’
“No, if that’s how you feel, if you feel like you’re the best player in the league, then go out and do it. If you feel like you want to challenge your brother beside you, I mean, go out and do it. Just, I think they use it as a tool to get guys going.”
The Patriots were anything but soft when Mayo was a player, and he led the NFL in tackles in 2010.
But knowing how to execute and getting others to do it are completely different things. It’s a learning curve that Mayo has yet to master.
“What I would say is these are professional football players in there,” Mayo said. “This isn’t college. My messaging to them is, this is a job. We play a game, but this is a job.
“We all get evaluated on a day-to-day basis and obviously on game day, and we just have to do better. I don’t really use that experience of me being a player. I try to coach everyone in their own unique style, but at the same time, we’ve just got to perform better.”
No regrets on QB call
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye has been a bright spot for the Patriots over the last two games, throwing for five touchdowns against two interceptions while completing 64 percent of his passes.
The 21 points the Patriots scored in Maye’s debut were a season high. Maye had more touchdown passes in that game than Jacoby Brissett had all season.
Mayo said he still feels that starting Brissett for the first five games was the right call.
“I don’t regret any of the way we handled the quarterback situation,” Mayo said.
Mayo said Maye’s play has been close to what the Patriots expected from the young quarterback.
“It’s kind of where we thought he would be,” Mayo said. “He’s progressing. The last game he had, what, three turnovers. This game, no turnovers. And that’s progress. And so we look forward to seeing that continue in the future.”
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