jerod mayo

Call me crazy but I don’t think losing Mayo for 4-6 weeks is the end of the world for the Patriots. Yes I know Mayo is the leader of the defense, the one who *should* be making all the tackles, he calls all the plays, etc. I get it.

But let’s look at a few things.

After a solid first two weeks Mayo was already battling a thigh injury that Belichick revealed had been limiting him in practice. Mayo did not look right in Buffalo or in Oakland before he went down. He was missing tackles and a step behind in pass coverage. With the time off to heal this MCL injury he’ll also be able to heal his thigh.

I’m not the world’s biggest Gary Guyton fan, but he’s an experienced player who’s filled in for Mayo before. He will be an adequate replacement, although I question if he’s even the second Will linebacker on the depth chart.

Because behind Guyton you have a player who I am big fan of, Dane Fletcher, who looked like a beast at Will in the preseason. It could be Fletcher-Spikes-Ninkovich in base, with Guyton and Fletcher in sub. Regardless, throw in Brandon Spikes and Tracy White and the Patriots have the kind of depth needed to get by without Mayo for 5 games or so. Much moreso than they had in 2009 when they lost him.

Statistically the Pats D is at or near the bottom of the NFL in multiple categories, so it’s not like they can get much worse. Clearly they need some kind of a spark, and often times teams will rally around each other when they lose a leader.

By the same token Mayo is everything you want as a leader, but he’s not a Ray Lewis fiery personality type who is going to rally his troops, and that is something I think this defense also needs more of.

What I’d really like to see is Brandon Spikes step up and take more of a leadership role. Now of course Spikes is not an ideal three down player, but he should see an increase in playing time and responsibility. Guyton is more of a quiet type like Mayo, so I’d really love to see the defense taking their cues from Spikes a little more.

Belichick and Bruschi gave Spikes some nice praise this week on WEEI, calling him “instinctive” and saying he’s really developing into a good middle linebacker and taking positive growth steps in his second season. With Mayo out it’s a chance for Spikes to add a little more of his personality and leadership to this defense, and I think it will be just the right kind of enthusiasm injection the team needs.

The good news is that this injury does not appear to be a season ender for Mayo. If it was it would be hard to spin it as being anything other than a huge loss. But losing him for a just handful of games in the middle of the season could really be a rallying point for the rest of the defense to work harder and pick up the slack.

Mayo should be back for the stretch run, and that is when the Patriots will need him most.