The Patriots continue to find ways to reach new lows, but the most surprising aspect is their defense.
New England is one of the worst defenses in the NFL heading into Week 8, and its run defense really fell off. Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick took Jerod Mayo and his staff to task about the state of the team. Players weren’t too concerned about what Belichick said and neither was the coaching staff.
“I don’t really look too much into it like that,” DeMarcus Covington told reporters Thursday, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “Bill’s done some great things for me. He’s the one who brought me here. I learned a lot of great things from him. I was the defensive line coach for four years. Before that I was outside linebackers and insider linebackers coach. I’ve been to Super Bowls. I’ve not been to Super Bowls. Been to the highest valley, been to the lowest of the valley. So for me, I don’t really focus on that. I do know our run defense is going to get better. We’ll do a better job on that. I’ll do a better job on that. And for me, we talk about accountability, I’ll take accountability.”
Covington was viewed as a solid elevation and also was viewed as a potential candidate to be a head coach. The defensive coordinator will need to improve his unit to help provide optimism to the team. A matchup against a hobbled Aaron Rodgers could help that effort.
Featured image via Gregory Fisher/Imagn Images
