“They’re in the Bottom Half of Almost Every Defensive Category”: Bill Belichick, Mike Lombardi and Matt Patricia Critique Jerod Mayo’s Patriots

Bill Belichick left the New England Patriots just one season ago, and they are still struggling. Especially defensively. The former head coach of the team pointed this out while sitting down with Mike Lombardi and Matt Patricia on the latest episode of The Coach Show.

Lombardi stated that the Patriots were ranking high defensively in popular categories up until last season.

“Yeah, they [the 2024 Patriots] are in the bottom half of almost every defensive category,” responded Belichick.

“And so, that’s its own issue. Kicking has been inconsistent as well… Where [coach Jerod] Mayo is or isn’t, certainly a good guy to work with, but he’s got a lot of work to do too,” he added.

Bill knows a thing or two about setting solid defensive units. That was the hallmark of his Patriots — defense would keep Belichick’s team in the game when the other units stuttered.

However, in Jerod Mayo’s first year, the Pats have simply rolled over at every turn.

Belichick on the current Patriots head coach

Mayo served as the team’s linebacker coach from 2019 to 2023 under Belichick. And, Bill had high praise for him when he took the head coach’s job. But a media spat quickly put distance between the two coaches as well as the style in which they run a team.

Mayo came out after a loss in London to the Jacksonville Jaguars, candidly calling his defense “soft”.

Belichick took offense to this and quickly defended the crew he built over years. He pointed out that the Patriots had the same personnel as last year when they finished first in rushing defense.

“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, and those guys went out and did it even though we couldn’t score many points offensively,” Bill had said.

Belichick has now expressed uncertainty about the team’s future and its direction under GM Elliot Wolf and Mayo’s leadership.

“We’ll see what the direction of this program, where that goes with Wolff with Mayo- or maybe somebody else is part of this too, I don’t know,” the former head coach added, while talking on The Coach Show.

Patricia, the former defensive coordinator, concurred with Bill. He also mentioned that the team lost some key veteran leaders at the beginning of the year to injury — players like David Andrews, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Cole Strange, and Christian Barmore.

Any team is going to struggle when they lose key defensive pieces. However, when that happens, young and unproven players often step in, elevating their game. But we just didn’t see that from the Pats this year.

All said and done, it is perhaps time for the Patriots to just crumple this season up, and look ahead to the offseason and the 2025 Draft. They can start by figuring out how to bolster their defensive unit.