I was really hoping I'd never have to do this again.
Les Carpenter of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that Patriots captain LB Jerod Mayo had surgery today on a torn pectoral muscle and could miss the rest of the season. Mayo was removed from the game after safety Steve Gregory pulled a Sterling Moore tried to add some power into a tackle and instead caused friendly fire.
Mayo's value to this team is similar to Logan Mankins on offense- he's an extremely high quality player in his own right, but his value doesn't match that of Tom Brady or Vince Wilfork (or Aqib Talib). Still, he's a high character player who was the other leader on defense next to Wilfork. Should both of them be injured, that leaves safety Devin McCourty as the last remaining defensive captain (McCourty was stripped of his captaincy this season).
Mayo leads the team with 55 tackles and will likely pass the position down to veteran Dane Fletcher or rookie Jamie Colins.
We're pulling for you, Jerod. Stay strong.
UPDATE: Per Mike Petraglia of WEEI, Mayo is expected to out 8 weeks and is expected to be able to practice in 6. That places Mayo to be practices Week 12 and playing Week 14, just in time for the playoffs. The Patriots are deep enough at linebacker to be able to stash Mayo until late into the season. Having Mayo available for the potential playoffs would be a huge boon for the Patriots.
This is a similar time frame to what happened to Ravens LB Ray Lewis last season, who returned to give a boost (if not on the field, at least in the locker room) to the Super Bowl champions.
UPDATE2: Per Tom Curran of CSN, a close friend of Mayo, Mayo's return for 2013 is "not likely."