Bill Belichick calls out Jerod Mayo's comments on Patriots

The New England Patriots are once again in the basement of the AFC East, losing their sixth straight game Sunday 32-16 to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. Following the game, Patriots first-year head coach Jerod Mayo had some choice words about his team.

“Look, disappointing game,” Mayo said. “Disappointing game. We came out. We started fast. What I would 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. And we did none of those today.”

On Monday, Mayo clarified that he meant the team was playing soft, not that they actually are soft, but the damage was already done.

During an appearance on Tom Brady's 'Let's Go!' podcast, former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick called Mayo out.

"When you criticize your team publicly like that it doesn't always go over well," Belichick said. "Every coach has their own style and maybe sometimes that can be effective in all but ultimately I always felt like when a team played bad that was my responsibility too. We might have had bad playing, but we had bad coaching that led to bad playing, so I think it's always best to take a look at yourself and do what you can do to help the team."

Since opening the season with a 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Patriots have lost six in a row by a little less than 14 points per game. If the season ended right now, New England would have the No. 1 overall pick in the draft based on their record and low strength of schedule.

The Patriots play the reeling New York Jets on Sunday. New York is in its own losing streak, having dropped four in a row. Maybe playing an AFC East rival will give the Patriots incentive to not play soft.