Belichick remarks on Mayo's "soft" comments on Pat McAfee Show - "They're not soft"

[mike_usagisan]

Judon played 3 games last year.

Judon could have played this year but the brain trust decided it was better to move him than pay him.

 

[TommyD4207]

I'm not sure why you're bringing that up.

All those guys were old. They are gone. That was the entire point of the rebuild.

Yes, they were soft.

They lost in the playoffs.

Then they were off the team. All the guys who comprised last year's team were brought in here for the rebuild. Young and fast guys who played last year.

They're bringing that up, because they've literally got nothing else to bring up - and the house of cards has collapsed.

"BB needed to be fired" - virtually everyone agrees with that. Continuing to blame him nearly 10 months after he's been fired is some sort of coping phenomenon I've never seen before.

It's not a good one, but that's what it is.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

He said, about ten times, they're not soft, they're playing soft. Nice of Bill to throw his 2 cents in now, he was pretty quiet after the Cincy win.

 

[TommyD4207]

He said, about ten times, they're not soft, they're playing soft. Nice of Bill to throw his 2 cents in now, he was pretty quiet after the Cincy win.

No. He said that today. He didn't say that yesterday at the press conference, when that could have at least made sense.

 

[upstater1]

Judon, Peppers, Barmore, Bentley...

There's the problem - those are four (well. 3.5) in-the-box beasts.

Bentley is as good as any LB against the run. Barmore is a pure bear at the line. Peppers hits like a truck, and Judon was worth a couple of TFL every game.

That's a lot of talent off the field, right there.

Judon was hurt last year.

Peppers played when we gave up 190+ running yards to the Jets.

Barmore was in 2nd and 3rd down, not our run package. But he is obviously missed a lot.

 

[Ring 6]

People seem to have forgotten how football teams are built. They are not packed with superstars. They are packed with players who play well and you need depth. Across the board. You can't have weaknesses because weaknesses will be exploited.

I'm saying this because back in 2001, the NFL smart guys (GMs, scouts, media) all declared that the Patriots were the team with the least talent out of anyone.

If you roll that back to 1999 and 2000, one of the refrains was that Pete Carroll was a really good coach who had been saddled with an untalented roster. Bobby Grier was to blame because he was a horrible drafter.

But then you look at that roster and what do you see?

1. A QB who went on to throw for another 15,000 yards in his career.
2. Troy Brown
3. Kevin Faulk
4. Ted Johnson
5. Greg Spires (went to the Pro Bowl with Tampa)
6. Adam Vinatieri
7. Terry Glenn who went on to make another 370 catches in his career, 1 Pro Bowl
8. Ben Coates, though he wasn't part of the Patriots later
9. Damien Woody, made the Pro Bowl with the Patriots
10. Brandon Mitchell, a solid but average player
11. Willie McGinest
12. Tedy Bruschi
13. Lawyer Milloy
14. Ty Law
15. David Givens
16. Roman Phifer
17. Mike Vrabel
18. Matt Light
19. David Patten
20. Richard Seymour
21. Antowain Smith

When this team was losing under Carroll and won only 5 games under Belichick, it was called the most talent deficient roster in football.

Look at all those players. None of them a standout or superstar except for, possibly, maybe, Ty Law.

The point is you can have successful teams when you have great depth, a lot of good players, and people willing to listen and work. You don't need a roster of All-Pros.

Coates Spires and Givens were not on the 2001 Patriots

 

[lancerman]

The defense has gotten bodied by every good team they played the last few years. I guess their ranking is how Mr. "stats are for losers" coped with it.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

The defense has gotten bodied by every good team they played the last few years. I guess their ranking is how Mr. "stats are for losers" coped with it.

That may be true, but now they’re getting bodied by bad teams too.

 

[Huckleberry1]

They may not be soft players, but they sure as hell aren’t playing hard. And it’s Mayo’s responsibility to get them to play hard, if he can’t get effort then he isn’t doing a good job.

 

[Toofy]

At this point I would scour teams PS to find players like Ben brown to find the next depth piece.the moment you do that existing team members know they are on thin ice and start performing better. Fringe PS guy will be more motivated to perform than malcontent. This is where wolf and team of scouts need to work to earn paycheck.

 

[ahmed]

Wow - all the posters complaining about Mayo blaming Bill should now shut up.

If I am Mayo, this makes it open season on criticizing Bill's mess last couple years. Bill really was out of line here.

 

[Clonamery]

Wow - all the posters complaining about Mayo blaming Bill should now shut up.

If I am Mayo, this makes it open season on criticizing Bill's mess last couple years. Bill really was out of line here.

Don't be soft. It's a lesson.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Bill fires back, I love it!

 

[Grogan14]

Every time (5 times) he had a pick in the top of the first round, he didn't trade down. Seymour, Warren, Mayo, mac Jones, heck even Solder at 17.

Belichick always traded back why? Because we were picking at the end of the 1st round and all of the first round values were gone.

You mean like trading down to get strange when mcduffie was available at their original pick (23)

 

[203Pat]

They are not very good because they lost Bentley and Barmore to injuries? Why are they not very good this year?

Losing their best player at every level didn't help but they lost the greatest defensive game planner to ever live along with their play caller from last year is likely the main reason for the regression.

 

[signbabybrady]

Wow - all the posters complaining about Mayo blaming Bill should now shut up.

If I am Mayo, this makes it open season on criticizing Bill's mess last couple years. Bill really was out of line here.

Mayo was out of line for throwing his players under the bus.

Bill's job is literally to create commentary on this sort of thing. For the most part he's avoided the Patriots and I wish he didn't say what he said but he's not out of line.

 

[sb1]

So you think AVP will be sent packing next week?

Maye looks pretty good so far and he has elevated the offense as much as the reins on him allow so maybe he’ll get a short reprieve. Probably.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

The defense has gotten bodied by every good team they played the last few years. I guess their ranking is how Mr. "stats are for losers" coped with it.

I don't blame him for twisting the knife, Bill is one of the great grudge holders of all time and someone basically got hired to replace him 5 months after he'd won a Super Bowl which has been documented by Kraft he decided he was hiring Mayo in June 2019.

Mayo was swanning around the building last year for most of the season knowing he was going to be the guy in 2024, there was reports about him rubbing members of staff the wrong way last year.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Mayo was out of line for throwing his players under the bus.

Bill's job is literally to create commentary on this sort of thing. For the most part he's avoided the Patriots and I wish he didn't say what he said but he's not out of line.

Everyone has a different style, Parcells used to publicly throw players under the bus to motivate them. Works for some and doesn't for others.

 

[signbabybrady]

Everyone has a different style, Parcells used to publicly throw players under the bus to motivate them. Works for some and doesn't for others.

I suppose