It was the start of training camp, and the New England Patriots new head coach wasn’t happy.

He talked about, in so many words, how his team wasn’t that physical, not in shape, simply not ready or tough enough for the rigors of camp after he saw the first practice.

He didn’t use the word “soft”, but he may as well have.

That coach was one Bill Belichick, He wasn’t happy one bit that day, and lambasted his players as a group to the media in his press conference.

Of course, the next new Patriots coach, Jerod Mayo, used the S word on Sunday about his team, making headlines following a 32-16 loss in London to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jacksonville was without its best running back, Travis Etienne, yet powered its way to 171 yards and two touchdowns on 39 carries.

Look, this is nothing new. Jags coach Doug Pederson and his assistants saw how the Patriots have played up front lately on both sides of the ball, but how they’ve regressed defensively, and they went on the attack.

“They controlled the ball for most of the day,” Mayo correctly said. “There run game averaged over 4.5 yards a carry. … Defensively, the players, we just got to play better. We got to play better technique. Got to lock our guy out in front of us. That’s what it comes down to, locking the guy in front o you, dominating him and making a tackle.”

The Patriots are a long way from their season opening win over the Bengals, who were the softer team that day. That’s what made Mayo happy; his team dominated the line of scrimmage, was in better condition,etc. They ran the ball well and stopped the run.

That hasn’t happened since. Mayo said was going to think about why on the long flight back from London.

We warned you that the defense was fading. Two of its best players have spent more time talking to police than to coaches about game plans. Of course defensive tackle Christian Barmore likely won’t be back this season anyway as he tries to get blood clots under control, a serious thing. And neither will Jabrill Peppers, on the Commissioner’s Exempt list after being arrested for alleged domestic-type assault. Also a very serious thing.

Coaches all around the NFL deal with these headaches. Many have them under control, but it doesn’t mean they don’t deal with it. But what Mayo needs to do now is try to get a handle on teams feeling they can just manhandle the Patriots. And make it a miserable week for his players leading up to next Sunday’s home game vs. the Jets.

The worst thing a football player wants to hear is that they aren’t tough enough. Mayo told his team exactly what he told the media, so give him credit for that.

As rookie QB Drake Maye said, “Coach Mayo is not going to come in here and say something he hasn’t said in the locker room. He preaches being tough. He preached it today, being tough.”

Or, as safety Kyle Dugger put it, “Yeah, he kept it real with us.”

The Patriots don’t have enough high level skill on either side of the ball to overcome losing the battle in the trenches.

“That (soft) wasn ‘t what we want to be at all,” veteran tight end Hunter Henry said. “That wasn’t the identity we want to be.”

The ironic thing is the Patriots did accomplish one of their major goals Sunday by starting fast. With Maye strutting his stuff, they zipped down the field and grabbed a 10-0 lead. But then the Jags, who were desperate to get a win with their coach’s job on the line, took over. Doug Pederson didn’t have to swim back across the pond, and he came up with the right game plan.

“The run game was just something that, look, it’s a mindset to run the football in the National Football League,” he said. “It takes a lot of people, not just the offensive line…”

And it takes the defense to be weak enough to be pushed around. And that’s what the Patriots were on Sunday, and in many ways, the last few weeks.

“It’s my job,” Mayo said, “when we get there on Wednesday, is to change the page.”

It may be a slow turn, while Patriots fans, and perhaps the owner, do a slow burn. Just like the former head coach did back in July of 2000.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.