Jerod Mayo is heavily critical of the Patriots defense

The Patriots defense continues to be a liability as penalties and errors benefit their opponents. New England head coach Jerod Mayo didn’t hold back when he met with reporters after the ugly Week 6 loss to the Houston Texans.

“The penalties in the first half were just too many,” Mayo told reporters, according to a transcript provided by the team. “It’s the same story over and over again. We had three or four turnovers in the game. If you lose this fight, you can’t win.

“Defensively I would say just the basics of tackling, our running pass needs to improve. I told all these people, ‘Today you should feel like crap.’ You should feel like crap.’ Take away two long runs, we had two runs over 50 yards. I mean, it’s not about winning football.”

The Texans’ first two drives, which totaled 19 plays, 110 yards and two defensive pass interference penalties, resulted in two touchdowns and a 14-point lead for Houston.

“It’s very disappointing and I would say we’re up and down right now in terms of getting off to a fast start,” Mayo said. “We have to start quickly, whether in defense or attack, and we just couldn’t do that today. I thought they had calmed down. But here too it is important that every single move is important. You can stop them, stop them, stop them, and then suddenly it’s a 50-yard run. We can’t live in this world.”

The Patriots’ defense sacked Texas quarterback CJ Stroud twice for a loss of 16 yards and had an interception, but the offense managed just six plays and a first down before having to punt.