New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo blasted his players after their woeful 32-16 defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, labelling them a “soft football team across the board”.
The Pats gave up a 10-0 advantage as Jacksonville’s running game repeatedly made inroads, capped by Parker Washington’s 96-yard punt return for a touchdown.
First-year coach Mayo was unimpressed with the Patriots suffering their sixth successive defeat.
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He said: “We’re a soft football team across the board. We talk about what makes a tough football team, and that’s being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run and that’s being able to cover kicks. We did none of those.
“They controlled the ball for most of the day. Back to the drawing board. We can’t sit here and pout.”
As to why the team’s mindset had changed, Mayo was less forthcoming.
“That’s something I have to think about,” he added. “We have a long flight back. It’s not like all of a sudden we did something different and now we’re a soft football team. It’s just the mentality that we have to get back in the guys.
“First, it starts with me. It’s about just the mentality of going back to having a tough football team. I just have to do a better job.”
Tank Bigsby scored two touchdowns for the Jags at Wembley to the delight of coach Doug Pederson.
“This is what our team can do,” he said. “We were down 10 but nobody was like, ‘here we go again,’ or defeated or had negative thoughts. It was just one play at a time.”
