New England continues to struggle in three key phases.
Following a Week 6 loss, New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo noted how the Houston Texans challenged his team’s toughness in the kicking game — where they made the Patriots return six kickoffs.
New England did not answer the bell in that area, or in the ground game, against Houston. The same issues then plagued the Patriots in a 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, which again highlighted a key issue with Mayo’s team.
“We’re a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said post game. “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.”
That message was relayed too, and agreed by, his players in the locker room.
“We’re not tough. He always preaches being tough,” quarterback Drake Maye said. “He preached it today. Being tough is running the football, stopping the run, and covering kicks is what he said. I think he does a great job of relaying the message and the guys know.
As the coach and quarterback noted, the lack of production and toughness in the run game has been the main catalyst. New England’s backs continued to struggle on Sunday as they combined for just 20 yards on 12 carries against Jacksonville.
The same went for the Patriots’ defense, who allowed 171 total yards on 39 carries — which included a second-half stretch that saw the Jaguars run 18 consecutive times. The yardage marked the third straight game New England has allowed over 160 rushing yards for the first time since 1993.
“It’s a mentality. It’s an attitude,” Mayo said. “Here as of late our run hasn’t been able to do anything offensively. Defensively, the players just got to play better. Better technique, lock the guy out in front of you, dominating him, and making a tackle.”
In the third phase of the game, New England allowed a 96-yard punt return touchdown as part of Jacksonville’s 25 unanswered points.
“I saw guys getting out leveraged. I saw a punt down the middle of the field which is always difficult to cover,” Mayo explained. “[Baringer] has a strong leg and he out-kicked his coverage and we weren’t discipline in our lanes.”
The 1-6 Patriots will now take a long flight back home to Foxboro, one where the players and coaching staff must look in the mirror and figure out how to find a new mentality moving forward.
“Jon Jones gave a speech after the game,” said Maye, “saying ‘you got to find it. You got to find something. What we’re doing is not good enough and you got to man up.’”