BOSTON (AP) — Jerod Mayo said he will bring a different atmosphere to the New England Patriots as he takes over as head coach. Unfortunately, less than halfway through his first season, his approach has already backfired.

It was clear that Mayo would not be the hard-nosed coach that Bill Belichick was for 24 years in New England. Mayo is much more of a player-coach and wanted to make sure the players enjoyed coming to work.

But it looks like seven weeks into the season no one in the team is happy and some players may be taking advantage of Mayo’s friendly approach.

We knew Mayo’s first season in charge would be difficult with a lack of top talent almost everywhere in his squad – particularly in attack. The low expectations were around 4-5 wins this season.

But after seven weeks and a record of 1-6, even those expectations seem high. The Patriots lost their sixth straight game with an embarrassing 32-16 loss to the weak Jacksonville Jaguars on the international stage in London on Sunday. The Jags were a turbulent team heading into Sunday’s game at Wembley Stadium, and they beat the Patriots with relative ease.

Jerod Mayo calls the Patriots soft after loss to Jaguars

While we didn’t expect many wins, we expected at least two things from the Patriots this season: a good run defense and a strong rush attack on offense. The Patriots have failed badly in both areas over the past two weeks, and Mayo – a run-stuffing linebacker during his playing days – called his team out after Sunday’s loss.

“We are a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said in London.

Mayo calls out the Patriots’ fast-paced offense and run defense

For a team still searching for an identity this season, “soft” isn’t the title players want to hear from their head coach. Mayo has no answers at the moment and is leaving it to its players to sort out this mess. He particularly pointed out that the team did not have a quick attack on offense on Sunday and was unable to stop the attack on defense.

Drake Maye remains the only bright spot on this team, and he’s just a rookie with two starts under his belt. He’s also been the team’s leading runner each of the last two weeks, which won’t be enough for a team that’s supposed to be hard on the ground.

Rhamondre Stevenson reached Mayes for 18 yards on Sunday, but did so on seven carries, an average of just 2.6 yards per attempt. (Maye got his 18 yards on three scrambles.) Antonio Gibson had just four yards on his three carries, and JaMycal Hasty — who caught a touchdown pass from Maye — lost two yards on his two carries.

New England’s running backs haven’t done anything in the last two weeks. They gained just 64 yards on 33 carries – an average of just 1.94 yards per attempt – in losses to the Texans and Jaguars.

The team’s run defense was even softer. New England’s defense was completely harassed by the Jags’ running backs on Sunday, with Tank Bigsby and D’Ernest Johnson rushing for 156 yards on 35 carries. They averaged 4.5 yards per carry, and Jacksonville essentially taunted the Patriots’ defense by running the ball 19 plays in a row. This came just seven days after the Texans ran for 192 yards against the Patriots in Week 6.

Losing Ja’Whaun Bentley certainly didn’t help the defense. But if he was the only one who could get his fellow linebackers and others on defense to line up correctly, play smart and finish their tackles, then the Patriots are in big trouble. And while Bentley is one of the league’s best run-stoppers, he alone wouldn’t fill the huge gaps the defense has allowed lately.

So you can understand why Mayo is calling his team “soft” right now. They are actually a very soft football team. And aside from Maye giving the offense a glimmer of hope, no reinforcements are on the way to save the day.

Patriots players agree with Mayo’s assessment of the team

For their part, the players agreed with Mayo’s harsh assessment on Sunday.

“Coach Mayo is not going to come in here and say anything he didn’t already tell us in the locker room,” Maye said at the podium. “We’re not tough.”

“He said it well. We have to look in the mirror and understand what he’s saying,” linebacker Jahlani Tavai said. “And if we’re okay with being soft, some people will fall away and the rest of us who want to prove we’re wrong will stand up and make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“He kept us serious and I’m glad he did,” captain Kyle Dugger added.

Mayo denouncing his team in this way really underscores the desperate situation of the New England Patriots. Maybe it will work, and the team will suddenly remember how to pick up yards on the ground and how to put opposing rushers on the turf. Maybe the players will be a lot more focused in practice this week and play even harder next weekend against the 2-5 New York Jets.

Of course it could also go the other way around. Members of the team might give up after being hit with such harsh words and allow it to lead to even worse play on the field. Based on Tavai’s comment, there appears to be a faction in the locker room that won’t take too kindly to Mayo calling her “soft.”

It’s only the end of October and Mayo and his team are already at a crucial crossroads this season. We knew that this rebuild would be a long and bumpy road that wouldn’t bring many wins. But for now, Mayo is simply striving for his team to play respectable football.

Now he has put it upon his players to turn things around.