Jerod Mayo didn't mince words when he assessed the New England Patriots' performance in their 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Sunday.

The Patriots coach questioned the toughness of his team, calling them “soft” after the decisive defeat.

“Disappointing game,” Mayo told reporters in his opening statement. “Disappointing game. We came out and we started fast. What I'd 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. We did none of those today.”

If there is any area that might have shown a clear difference in toughness between the Patriots and Jaguars on Sunday, it was in the run game. New England allowed Jacksonville to rush for 171 yards on 4.4 yards per carry and two touchdowns. The Patriots, meanwhile, rushed for just 38 yards on 15 carries (2.5 yards per carry), with their quarterback accounting for 18 of them.

“They controlled the ball for most of the day,” Mayo said. “Their run game averaged over 4.5 yards per carry. Our run game, I'm not sure what the average was, but it wasn't good. Look, back to the drawing board. We can't sit here and pout. We've just got to put a game together.”

As Sunday's loss dropped the Patriots to 1-6 to start this season, it marked the fourth straight week that they were gashed by their opponents' run game and the fourth time in five weeks that they were dramatically outgained in the run game. They've allowed at least 140 rushing yards on 4.5 carries in the last four games.

What Jerod Mayo said of the Patriots' issues in the run game

New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo at press conference at the Harrow School.
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Mayo didn't pinpoint an exact reason for why the Patriots' run defense has been poor as of late, but he knows that they need to improve in that area.

“I'm not sure,” Mayo said when asked what's gone wrong with the Patriots' running game on both sides of the ball. “That's something that we'll have to watch on both sides of the ball. It's a mentality, it's an attitude. Here, as of late, our run game just hasn't been able to do anything offensively. Defensively, the players, we've just got to play better. We've got to play with better technique. We've got to lock our guy out in front of us. That's really what it comes down to. Locking the guy down in front of you, dominating him and making a tackle.”

The Patriots' issues in the run game have coincided with the season-ending injury to standout linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley, who led the team in tackles last season, in Week 2. New England's linebackers have been underwhelming since, with starting linebacker Raekwon McMillan getting benched for Christian Elliss to open Sunday's game.

That decision didn't work, though. They only recorded two tackles for loss in Sunday's game while Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby's runs methodically tore the Patriots' defense apart. Bigsby rushed for 118 yards on 4.5 yards per carry and two touchdowns, but didn't have a rush that went for more than 13 yards, showing his overall consistency at moving the ball on Sunday.

Offensively, Rhamondre Stevenson only had seven carries in his return from a foot injury that caused him to miss last week's game against the Houston Texans.

The Patriots will hope to put their woes in the running game to rest when they host the New York Jets in Week 8.