There had already been warning signs — a 1-5 record the most glaring one of all — that the Patriots’ season had already started to spiral in the first year of the post-Bill Belichick era.
But after their latest loss, coach Jerod Mayo, who inherited the team from Belichick, didn’t hesitate to call his team “soft” following their 32-16 defeat against the Jaguars in London on Sunday.
“Look, disappointing game,” Mayo said. “Disappointing game. We came out. We started fast. What I would say is, look, we’re a soft football team across the board. You talk about what makes a tough football team, that’s being able to run the ball. That’s being able to stop the run. And that’s being able to cover kicks. And we did none of those today.”
Mayo has already tried using a quarterback change to spark the offense, flipping from Jacoby Brissett to Drake Maye last week.
But while he threw three touchdowns and topped 300 yards in Week 6 against the Texans, he threw a pair of interceptions and the Patriots still lost by 20 points.
Sunday’s game in London had a promising start for the Patriots, too, as Maye led an 11-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a touchdown on the opening possession.
The Jaguars, though, ripped off 22 points in the second quarter and took a double-digit lead into halftime.
Running back Tank Bigsby rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns, while Trevor Lawrence — whose mediocre play through the opening five games played a critical role in the Jaguars’ winless start — only threw five incompletions.
Near the end of the second quarter, Parker Washington returned a Patriots punt 96 yards for a touchdown, too.
And while Maye collected 276 yards and two touchdowns, while not turning the ball over, it wasn’t enough when paired with a New England running game that managed just 38 rushing yards — including just 20 by their running backs.
“They controlled the ball for most of the day,” Mayo said. “Their run game averaged over 4.5 yards per carry. Our run game, not sure what the average was but it wasn’t good. Look, back to the drawing board. I mean, we can’t sit here and pout. We just gotta put a game together.”
The Patriots will host the Jets — who’ve also struggled this season, dropping three consecutive games entering their contest against the Steelers on Sunday night — next week, before traveling to face the Titans and Bears.
