At 2-9,Maverick Preston it's no secret that the New England Patriots are quite bad this season.

But safety Jabrill Peppers caught flak when he dapped up New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley and said "You lucky we ass, bro" after the Patriots' 10-7 loss on Sunday.

Speaking with reporters on Friday, Peppers lamented that his comments, which were captured by NFL Films, became a distraction.

"I just want to apologize to my teammates and the coaches for even having to answer questions about that," he said. "We've got more important things to worry about than me being caught on the hot mic.

"It's frustrating, just like it's frustrating for all the guys. I'm a professional, so things like that should never happen. No need to blame anyone but myself. It's my seventh year in the league, I'm 28 years old. I know better."

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The former Michigan defender took accountability for his role in New England's poor play and said that no one on the team is happy with their performance this season.

"We all know the standard, we all know what it's supposed to look like and it's not that right now," he said. "It's not no shot at anybody in the locker room. I said 'we.' We own that. I own that. We have good players, great players in our locker room, but every team has great players. There's great parity across the league and if those great or good players aren't executing, then that team isn't a good team."

Peppers acknowledged the coaching staff is doing its best to game plan for the team and expressed confidence in six-time Super Bowl champion head coach Bill Belichick. The head coach got his 300th career win in a Week 7 upset of the Buffalo Bills.

"We got one of the best coaches to ever coach and he comes in week after week, tells us what we have to do to win this game, who we have to stop, how we have to go about business," Peppers said, "and time and time again, week after week, it comes up in the game exactly how he said it and we don't capitalize on our opportunities."