Defensive captain and play caller Jerod Mayo has reportedly undergone surgery for a torn pectoral muscle and may miss the rest of the season, though that is speculative at this point.
The pro bowl quality weakside linebacker is the latest in a long line of key players for Bill Belichick and the Patriots to suffer a significant injury. Already, the defense is without defensive tackles Vince Wilfork and Tommy Kelly - Wilfork out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon and Kelly day to day with a bum knee - and the team has been forced to rely on rookies on the interior line in their stead...
...and now they may have to rely on a rookie to replace Mayo.
This past spring, the Patriots drafted coverage linebackers in Southern Mississippi's Jamie Collins and Rutgers' Steve Beauharnais and already had Dane Fletcher on the roster - and while Fletcher is the most tenured - and therefore best known quantity of the potential replacements - he has been limited to mostly special teams' duties...
...as has Collins, though he has seen sporadic situational snaps. Beauharnais has been a healthy scratch in four of the six games played thus far in 2013, mostly due to the fact that the linebacker corps was the deepest unit on the team - but now all three could see situational work in a rotation.
Mayo was injured in the 4th quarter of last Sunday's epic comeback victory over the New Orleans Saints, a game that also saw cover corner Aqib Talib leave with what is being reported as a strained hip flexor while the offense lost both guard Dan Connolly and receiver Danny Amendola to head injuries.
Amazingly, the Patriots have managed to work through their injuries to post a 5-1 record through six games without five of last season pass catchers either through attrition, injury or felony - relying on stout defense to carry the day.
The severity of the Talib injury is unknown, as is Kelly's - but the rookies have performed admirably filling in on the line and the Patriots are hoping that their depth at linebacker can do the same. One just has to wonder how many straws the Patriots can load on the camel before they break it's back.
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