Devin McCourty the latest ex-Patriot to question Jerod Mayo’s ‘soft’ comments about team

"‘Why, Jerod? Why is this team not tough?’"

Devin McCourty pushed back against some of Jerod Mayo's comments on Sunday. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)

October 21, 2024

2 minutes to read

Jerod Mayo’s decision to label the Patriots as a “soft football team” following Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars quickly backfired.

The Patriots head coach backtracked on Monday morning about his postgame comments, but that hasn’t stopped many former Patriots — including some of Mayo’s former teammates — to question his choice of words after New England’s 32-16 loss to the Jaguars.

Speaking on NBC’s “Football Night in America” on Sunday evening, ex-Patriots safety Devin McCourty had a bone to pick with Mayo’s comments about the state of a 1-6 Patriots roster.

“Toughness isn’t a skillset,” McCourty noted, as transcribed by NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran. “You don’t need to be fast or do anything special to be tough. 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.”

McCourty was far from the only former fixture in Foxborough to question Mayo, with Bill Belichick firing off a salvo of his own Monday during his weekly appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show”.

“Defensively, the Patriots led the league last year in rushing defense. Yards per carry: No. 1 in the league. And this year they’re way down in the 20s somewhere,” Belichick said. “It’s the same guys. … I’m kind of hurt for those guys. Because to call them soft, they’re not soft.

“They were the best team in the league last year against the run. Those guys went out there and did it it even though we couldn’t score many points offensively. I feel bad for the defensive players on that one because those guys, that’s a tough group.”

While Belichick likely has a bone to pick with both Mayo and the Patriots after getting fired in January, McCourty’s comments are more surprising given his close ties to Mayo as a former teammate. McCourty admitted back in May that Mayo even tried to recruit him to join his coaching staff in New England for the 2024 season.

Still, McCourty’s criticism of Mayo’s comments holds some validity. Even with the lack of skill across New England’s depth chart, the Patriots have severely regressed in several areas since last year’s 4-13 showing.

The Patriots have now lost six straight games, and have relinquished at least 170 rushing yards three games in a row. According to Boston Sports Info, the Patriots have not coughed up that amount of yards on the ground in three consecutive games since 1993.

Speaking on WEEI Monday morning, Mayo pushed back against any concern that his comments might lead to a disgruntled locker room.

“I don’t think it creates a divide in the room at all,” Mayo said. “I think just how I use the media sometimes for messaging, I think some of the players do the same thing. I’m not going to tell them, ‘Say this, say that.’

“No, if that’s how you feel, if you feel like you’re the best player in the league, then go out and do it. If you feel like you want to challenge your brother beside you, I mean, go out and do it. Just, I think they use it as a tool to get guys going.”