Davon Godchaux knocks Patriots teammates for ‘selfish’ plays

The Patriots’ defense was expected to be one of the few pillars of stability on a rebuilding roster in 2024.

But after dominating the Bengals in their season-opening win, New England has been shredded in three straight weeks by the Seahawks, Jets, and Bengals. 

A week removed from relinquishing 400 total yards to Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, New England had little answer for Brock Purdy and the Niners. San Francisco finished with 431 total yards of offense, including a 54 percent success rate on third-down opportunities. 

New England struggled to keep Purdy contained in the pocket, allowing the QB to either gain first downs with his legs or buy himself time to heave the ball down the field. Even though Purdy only completed 15 passes, they went for 288 total yards. 

The Patriots have been bitten by the injury bug throughout the season, with Christian Barmore (blood clots) and Ja’Whaun Bentley (torn pec) likely done for the year. 

But veteran defensive tackle Davon Godchaux took the rest of New England’s defense to task Monday as far as deviating from the team’s gameplan — often leading to critical miscues. 

“We just all got to be on the same page,” Godchaux said Monday during an appearance on WEEI’s “Jones & Keefe”. “We got guys — you know, just being honest — we got guys, some guys being kind of selfish.

“I get it. I mean, we’re down. Guys want to make plays. I get it. But everybody got to play, I’m talking about defense, everybody has to play as 11. And everybody got to sacrifice to do what’s best for the team. I know some guys want to make plays when we’re down, get back in the game. But we got to just keep going as a team and play team defense.”

On Monday, Jerod Mayo bemoaned New England’s lapses in execution on the defensive side of the ball, especially in regards to the pass rush.

“Defensively, we just haven’t tackled well. We haven’t kept the quarterback in the pocket. There have been times where we’ve covered well, and also times that it seems like receivers are wide open. That’s something that we just have to get better at,” Mayo noted.

Even with his candid comments, Godchaux, 29, stressed that he’d want his teammates to also hold him accountable if he wasn’t executing out on the field. 

“It’s coming from me as a guy who’s played a lot of football in the league, who’s been a starter in the league since Day 1,” Godchaux said. “It’s coming from me. I’ve seen a lot of football where I can tell when it — and I’m not calling nobody out. I know guys are just trying to make plays. And I get it. Everybody is trying to make a play to get us back in the game. 

“But it’s a time and a moment for that and yesterday we had too many plays where guys were just trying to do their own thing.”