Jerod Mayo catches more heat for "soft team" comments from legendary Patriots

The last thing the Patriots needed this season was another viral moment that created controversy within and outside the team. But that's exactly what happened with Jerod Mayo's post-game comments regarding the team's latest embarrassing loss to the Jaguars this past Sunday.

Although his description of the team as "soft" wasn't entirely false, given the context, he was forced to retract his statement and clarify his meaning. It seemed clear to most that he was speaking out of frustration about losing six games in a row primarily due to the same mistakes they have been making every week, but that's not how some interpreted his comments.

That opened the door for current and former players to respond, with most not taking too kindly to the label.

Current players were understandably caught off guard by Mayo's blunt assessment, while others felt it was befitting given their performance. However, some legendary Patriots weren't as understanding and have made their opinions known to the media in days since the Week 7 loss in London.

Patriots legends can't defend Jerod Mayo's controversial comments about the team

One of the first to comment on the controversy was Devin McCourty, who didn't think it was a good look for Mayo to make such a statement about the players on the roster. But the bigger point he wanted to make was what the coach should have taken away from what he said, as it was more of a reflection of poor coaching than it was having a "soft" football team.

“The first thing I think of is toughness isn’t a skillset. 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, ‘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 next week.”

To make matters worse, a few days later, we heard from Ty Law, who revealed his true feelings on the matter during an appearance on WEEI's The Greg Hill Show.

The biggest takeaway from all the criticism seems to be that Mayo needs to look in the mirror and see what he's doing wrong, leading to a "soft football team." A lot of it will come down to coaching and mental toughness, some of the most foundational parts of the New England Patriots over the last two decades, which seems to be lacking under the current regime.

It's great that Mayo has consistently taken responsibility for things when speaking to the media about the state of the team, but actions speak louder than words, and the losses continue to pile up. It's clear things need to change from the top to the bottom, not just from Mayo.

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