Report: Mayo Has Surgery, Could Miss Season with Torn Pectoral

[DarrylS]

Big loss.. more than just his knowledge of the defense, but a leader as well.

The meritocracy will now kick in...

 

[NYCPatsFan]

I think it would be a bigger loss if we were still playing a 2gap 34.
Will in a 43 could be the easiest position on the field to play run D from.
Now I'm now downplaying Mayo, I'm saying if you told me one guy who hasn't been on the field needs to be in run D and I can pick, I'd say Collins as the Will.
We may have lost our best defender but we may be replacing him with the best guy who wasn't getting on the field.

My mood this morning went kaput on seeing this thread.

Hope you are right Andy.

 

[dales804]

Big loss.. more than just his knowledge of the defense, but a leader as well.

The meritocracy will now kick in...

Speaking of leader, I didn't know until this morning that McCourty isn't a captain this year. Good time for his leadership to shine through as his two defensive captains are now sitting on the sidelines the rest of the year.

 

[Sicilian]

I think the biggest part of this loss is his organization of the middle defenders. He's the strategical captain of the defense. I've seen several plays so far this year where the D seems to be scrambling around last minute, adjusting to how the offense is lining up, and in the middle of it all is Mayo frantically getting guys into position (linebackers and DBs alike). What happens on those plays when he's not in there?

The optimistic thought though, is that I remember reading something about how Hightower basically took a green dot helmet right off the bat his rookie year. That shows me that even if he's not as good as Mayo, he has at least shown enough understanding of the defense that the coaches trust him with the calls. His role just became more important.

 

[Rob0729]

Well, I was hopeful for a return for the playoffs, but that is gone. Next man up time.

It will be interesting to see what the Pats do. Will Jamie Collins get in the starting line up? Will Ninkovich move to OLB and Buchanon move to the starting line up at DE? Or a mixture of both.

One thing for sure is that it is time that Hightower and Collins show their draft position was justified and Spikes shows he deserves a star contract after the season.

Although Mayo is not a player easily replaced, at least the position he plays has a lot of depth especially since this team plays a lot of sub-packages with only two LBs on the field. Mayo is a much bigger loss this season than Wilfork (Wilfork was not playing well prior to his injury). The LBs need to step up and minimize his loss.

 

[Kontradiction]

I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest someone could replicate his level of pass coverage (Fletcher, Collins). But no one is going to be able to replicate what he does against the run.

Alone, I think we could've survived the Mayo loss. But combined with the loss of Wilfork, it guts this team's run defense, which is the heart of the D, and what forces teams to be one-dimensional against us. In the rare occassions we've struggled to stop the run in the last five or six years, we have gotten our ***es handed to us.

Hopefully, he remains on the 53 and is back in the playoffs when stopping the run matters most.

Spikes is more than capable against the run. But any smart quarterback would audible out of a run play when he's on the field and send a TE or RB his way.

 

[Rob0729]

Spikes is more than capable against the run. But any smart quarterback would audible out of a run play when he's on the field and send a TE or RB his way.

The Pats may have to change strategy with Spikes on the field. They may do a lot more LB blitzes with him on the field. Spikes has improved a bit in coverage (which means he sucks less than he did last year), but he is disruptive through the line. Maybe with Spikes shooting through the middle of the line, it will force opposing QBs to get rid of the ball too quick.

 

[PatsSox363804]

The Pats may have to change strategy with Spikes on the field. They may do a lot more LB blitzes with him on the field. Spikes has improved a bit in coverage (which means he sucks less than he did last year), but he is disruptive through the line. Maybe with Spikes shooting through the middle of the line, it will force opposing QBs to get rid of the ball too quick.

The ironic part is that Spikes has shown he has great hands, if he could just keep up.

 

[BKBroiler]

Well its time to see what Hightower is made of. Yes Mayo's loss is huge, but if Hightower steps his game up a level or two the defense may not miss a beat. Most likely though, they will need to mix and match at LB the rest of the way behind Hightower to match the skills Mayo provides (Spikes on running downs, Ninkovich / Fletcher / Collins on passing downs with Buchanan or Collins moving to DE).

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

Man the injury bug is hitting pretty hard this year for a lot of teams.

I wonder does the absence of practicing in pads over the summer contribute to that?

Either way we are not alone in injuries, yes we have some key ones for sure, but that is where a GM and a coaches work in the off-season is supposed to pay off.

I am thinking the Butt Fumblers are gonna run the rock like they did last time.

Let's see what these kids got up front. If Talilb is gone for a week or two I think we have a chance to be competitive back there.

The Mayo loss is a tough one though as he is such a sound tackler...

 

[Patjew]

As my Oma used to say, we is porked verily.

 

[Ring 6]

The Pats may have to change strategy with Spikes on the field. They may do a lot more LB blitzes with him on the field. Spikes has improved a bit in coverage (which means he sucks less than he did last year), but he is disruptive through the line. Maybe with Spikes shooting through the middle of the line, it will force opposing QBs to get rid of the ball too quick.

Spikes is an excellent blitzer.

 

[juny]

@brian_mcintyre: With Jerod Mayo going on IR, Patriots now have $20.6M in cap dollars on IR, most in the NFL by over $4M.

 

[Uncle Rico]

@brian_mcintyre: With Jerod Mayo going on IR, Patriots now have $20.6M in cap dollars on IR, most in the NFL by over $4M.

Or put another way:

Ben Volin ‏@BenVolin 31m
Pats have 9 Pro Bowls on the sideline (Wilfork 5, Mayo 2, Gronk 2). Plus their No 2 RB (Vereen) & maybe No 1 WR (Amendola) & No 1 CB (Talib)


Looks like Volin didn't count Slater and his two Pro Bowls. And what the heck, let's just throw in Hernandez and his one Pro Bowl, because that kinda sorta counts. Crazy.