Rex Ryan Absolutely Destroys Jerod Mayo for Calling Patriots 'Soft'

He did not hold back.
Rex Ryan did not like hearing Jerod Mayo calling the Patriots soft after their Week 7 loss to the Jaguars.
Rex Ryan did not like hearing Jerod Mayo calling the Patriots soft after their Week 7 loss to the Jaguars. / @ESPN

The New England Patriots' first year in the post-Bill Belichick era has been a disaster. They have lost six straight games since stunning the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 and are big underdogs at home Sunday when they host Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.

Things took an even worse turn after last Sunday's loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London when first-year head coach Jerod Mayo called his team "soft" during his postgame press conference. That had Belichick sounding off a few times during the week.

Rex Ryan, who used to coach the Jets and the Bills, blasted Mayo during ESPN's NFL Sunday Countdown, saying:

"It’'s not a we thing, it's a you thing. It's your problem. If your team is soft, as you put it, that’s on you. Something's missing in your locker room. I don't know what the hell it is. You're sitting back thinking you're challenging your team. Challenge yourself first. Challenge yourself first. I think this is a comment that is better served in private than it is publicly. These are grown ass men and you're going to try to embarrass them kind of in public. Look, I get it—your team stinks by the way. This team stinks. So you can say soft, you can say this, you can say whatever to describe this New England Patriot team—the fact that you’re eight-point underdogs in your home building to a team that has won two freakin' games, that says a lot. But soft, I hate the word. I hate the word."

Here's that moment:

It will be interesting to see how the Patriots look Sunday vs. the Jets.


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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.