New England Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones had a strong response to Jerod Mayo’s initial comments about the team being “soft” after the Week 7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Mayo’s comments came after the Patriots fell to 1-6 on the season after a 32-16 loss in London. He later clarified his comments by saying the team was “playing soft.”
The Patriots didn’t fare well across the pond in a game where the defense gave up 171 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. They also failed to get a single sack.
“That’s his opinion,” Jones said, when appearing on the “WEEI Afternoon Show,” as transcribed by NESN.com’s Adam London. “I always take the opinions of what our coaches say to heart. The opposite of a soft team is a tough team and we pride ourselves around here on being able to stop the run, run the ball and cover kicks.
“If you look at our last game, we didn’t do any of those. So, I don’t think we have any space to call ourselves a tough team based on our last performance. We weren’t able to stop the run, we weren’t able to run the ball and we weren’t able to cover kicks.”
We’ll see how the defense responds to the perception laid out there. They’ll have to continue to find a way to do so without star defensive tackle Christian Barmore and linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley.
And they’ll have to do so against an angry and desperate New York Jets team on Sunday.
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