Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo called New England a “soft football team” moments after they dropped their sixth straight game Sunday.
The players weren’t exactly shocked when asked about being called out by the first-year head coach, but three-time Super Bowl champion Devin McCourty didn’t share his former teammate’s opinion on the current Patriots team.
“The first thing I think of is toughness isn’t a skillset,” McCourty said on NBC’s Sunday Night Football pregame show, per Ben Volin. “You don’t need to be fast or do anything special to be tough.”
McCourty continued: “The second part of that is, why, Jerod? Why is this team not tough? When you hear a team isn’t tough and they are soft, you think, ‘What is the head coach doing?’ How is he getting them ready to go? Mayo and that staff have a lot of questions to answer going in the next week.”
The two-time Pro Bowler was not the only former Patriot to take exception to the comments thrown out by Mayo. Coaching legend Bill Belichick didn’t hold back during his weekly appearance on ” The Pat McAfee Show.”
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Mayo’s predecessor pointed out how the defense has regressed under the new regime after ranking at the top of the league in rushing defense and yards per carry last season.
Having two all-time Patriots greats point the finger back at Mayo isn’t in the franchise’s best interest, but it does beg the question of whether or not Belichick truly was to blame for New England’s subpar performance the last few seasons.
Featured image via Eric Canha/Imagn Images
