FOXBOROUGH - Jerod Mayo didn't want to look too far ahead into his crystal ball Monday morning. Instead, he decided that after a mandatory three-day respite (CBA rules), his team would worry about themselves and not Sunday's opponent, the San Francisco 49ers.
"Today, it's all about NEP [New England Patriots]," he said. "It has nothing to do with anyone else. It has everything to do with self-scout and working on things that continue to show up on a game-after-game basis."
That reminds me of a line from the movie Miracle about the 1980 US Olympic hockey team. The coach, Herb Brooks, used to be brutally honest with his group of young players, and one of his favorite sayings was, "Worry about your own game. There's enough there to keep you busy." (editor's note: that line was backed up as accurate by players in the HBO documentary about the same team). Mayo knows that if the Pats don't take care of some self-inflicted wounds going forward, it won't matter who the opponent is, be it the 49ers this weekend, the Dolphins the next, or Foxborough High School.
"I tried to put some things into perspective," said Mayo. "You have a team that's picked to win the Super Bowl, gets blown out the next week. Right now, it's about who can get better the quickest. That's what we have to do.
"We have to get back to the fundamentals. When we talk about tackling, running and being able to move the ball - and also takeaways are definitely a huge part of it. The guys are ready to work. They're excited."
Excited wasn't the word I heard or felt in the locker room. Chastened was more of the vibe. At the end of last week, I went into detail about the game plan, the play calling, and the consistently poor execution that doomed a talent-deficient team that needs to play a certain way - physicality is huge - and limit mistakes. That didn't happen against the Jets, but a trend is emerging and can't be allowed to become a habit. Who had a porous pass defense on their bingo card?
After getting lit up for 327 yards passing versus Seattle - no team allowed more in week two - the Pats got scorched again Thursday night, surrendering 281 yards in the air to the Jets. Communication has been an issue, as is getting out-schemed in the moment. Throw in some poor play by players you're counting on, particularly Jonathan and Marcus Jones, and unexpectedly, the defense has more significant problems in that area than anticipated.
"I think just the preparation individually,' said Kyle Dugger as he reflected on the unit's performance. "You got to look in the mirror. You know myself; I had to look in the mirror. What could (I) have done better ...it has to be like that for each individual."
Clearly, what this team saw on film disgusted them all, but Dugger didn't want to paint broad strokes, choosing to shorten them by focusing on himself. He had a hand in the long touchdown pass to D.K. Metcalf, then appeared to be responsible for not carrying Ty Conklin down the seam for another big gain in week 3.
"It's not up to me to make an opinion for the team," he said. "For me, I didn't like what I saw for myself; that's all I'm gonna say. Each individual guy has their own opinion, but I'm not really gonna comment (on everyone else)..."
Mayo was asked about the pass defense, especially considering how much the Pats struggled defending the middle of the field. Between the numbers, Aaron Rodgers was 9-of-10 for 124 yards on throws, picking on whoever was out there, be it linebackers, safeties, or the stray corner.
"Some of those were based on zone coverages," said Mayo of the breakdowns. "When we're in man-to-man, we can get on them. When you play quarterbacks or offenses that do a bunch of different things, sometimes zone is the best way to go. We have to do a better job getting to our depth and making them take the check down. We got to go up and tackle those guys. I guess it's a combination of the two."
He doesn't guess. He knows. Mayo saw too many gaps on the second level, and Rodgers and the Jets were smart enough to exploit them. The issue was compounded by the terrible tackling (14 missed tackles per Next Gen Stats accounted for an extra 100 yards). The loss of Ja'Whaun Bentley was undoubtedly felt. His absence meant Jahlani Tavai had to play more inside, with Raekwon McMillan alongside. That duo whiffed eight times against the Jets, and Tavai led (not a stat you want to lead in) the way with five. To put that in context, PFF had Tavai down for just 11 missed tackles last season.
"There were a lot of missed tackles, myself included," said Tavai. "That's just not us."
Mayo better hope the Pats' defense is more like what we saw in week one when they limited Joe Burrow and the Bengals than what we've seen from his baby since. The path to being competitive and hard to beat for this team starts on that side of the ball. If they can't do what we thought they were capable of, even without the Judon/Barmore/Bentley trio, the road ahead will be even more difficult than imagined.