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Bill Belichick may no longer be the head coach of the New England Patriots, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to let comments he disagrees with about the team he coached for 23 years simply enter the ether unscathed.

Following New England’s 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Sunday, the team’s sixth straight loss, head coach Jerod Mayo called the Pats a “soft football team across the board.” Mayo’s assessment came after New England rushed for just 38 yards, allowed over 170 yards on the ground, and gave up a 96-yard punt return on special teams in the ugly loss to the Jags.

If Mayo would have used a different adjective to describe his team – the word ‘bad’ comes to mind – his comment may not have caught as much attention as it has. Mayo’s “soft” opinion even caught the attention of Belichick, who didn’t agree with the assessment, to put it mildly.

“Defensively, the Patriots led the league in rushing defense last year, yards per carry, No. 1 in the league, and this year they’re way down in the 20s somewhere. It’s the same guys,” Belichick told Pat McAfee on Monday afternoon. 

“It’s a lot of the same players, and in some cases I would say more, so 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 even though we couldn’t score many points offensively.”

Patriots fans probably love hearing Belichick go to bat for players that he isn’t even coaching anymore, but the fact of the matter is that New England is in a rebuild year of all rebuild years and more losses are certainly on the horizon.

New England is currently in the bottom half of the league in every major defensive statistic and on the offensive side of the ball, only two teams (Tennessee and Cleveland) are averaging fewer yards per game.