FOXBORO — Jerod Mayo is the leader of the new school, the acknowledged chief of a younger generation of Patriots linebackers.
Over the course of the 2008 season and into the offseason, Mayo took the rest of the young linebackers, including Pierre Woods and Gary Guyton, under his wing. They were an inseparable group, developing an easy chemistry with each other that was expected to carry into their second full season together. In training camp, Mayo talked up his comrades, saying he was “trying to get all my guys on the same page”
But now, with Mayo expected to be on the shelf for an extended period of time because of a right knee injury he suffered in the season-opener against the Bills, the rest of New England’s younger linebackers will be counted on to raise their games.
For his part, Woods is confident that the next generation can get the job done.
“You’ve got to be confident,” Woods said. “I’ve been here for four years now. I’ve pretty much walked behind Mike Vrabel, Rosevelt Colvin and Adalius [Thomas], so you’ve got to have the confidence in yourself and in your teammates to go out there and perform and do good.
“Settle down, it’s OK. It’s not the end of the world. Just go out there and make good plays and execute.”
Mayo was injured late in the first quarter on a 16-yard run by Buffalo running back Fred Jackson. After spending a few moments on the sidelines — where it appeared the medical staff was examining his right knee — he was helped to the locker room. He did not return, and he wasn’t in the locker room when the media was allowed in after the game.
He was out of sight yesterday, the first day since the Monday night game the New England media was allowed in the locker room. In addition, he was the only player on the 53-man roster not present for the start of practice Wednesday. While Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday he wouldn’t classify the injury as a season-ender, reports indicate his injured right knee could sideline him for up to eight weeks.
Having Mayo, the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2008, miss any length of time would be a sizable blow to the New England defense.
“Jerod’s a good player — he does a lot of things for us,” Belichick said. “He’s right in the middle of the defense. He’s right in the middle of every play, run or pass. He’s right there. He calls the signals. If it’s a running play, he’s right in the middle of running play. If it’s a pass play, he’s right in the middle of pass defense.
“I don’t know how you can be any more involved than that.”
If Mayo is out for any length of time, expect the Patriots to lean heavily on Woods and Guyton. When Mayo went down Monday, the Patriots went exclusively to a 4-3 and used Guyton in the middle of that alignment, with Woods and Rob Ninkovich also seeing extensive time at outside linebacker. While Mayo had the green dot on his helmet throughout the preseason and through the early stages of the opener, after the injury that responsibility shifted to Guyton.
Guyton struggled at times in the middle and had issues defending Buffalo’s screen pass. There was one sequence where he was blocked clean out of the picture on a big play, an 18-yard pass that allowed the Bills to pick up a fourth-quarter first down. To his credit, Guyton responded two plays later with a nice hit on Jackson that broke up a pass play.
The Patriots do have some positional flexibility — if they are not as confident with Guyton in the middle, Thomas could move inside, which would free them up to use Woods and Ninkovich on the outside again.
While Thomas remains a veteran presence, the time has clearly come for Mayo’s guys to show what they can do.
“Injuries are part of the game,” Thomas said with a shrug. “Whoever is out there, whoever that may be, then their job is to go out there and make plays. Injuries are just part of the game, and unfortunately that’s part of it. Whoever is out there, whoever it may be, they have to step up and make plays, and we’re confident that they will.”
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