Jerod Mayo | Larry Brown Sports

Jerod Mayo reportedly had surgery, could be out for season

New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo had surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn pectoral muscle and could be out for the season, according to a report.

Yahoo! Sports’ Les Carpenter reported the news and noted that D.J. Williams was knocked out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle and that Brian Orakpo has also missed most of the last two seasons with pec injuries.

Mayo was injured during the second half of Sunday’s win over the New Orleans Saints after colliding with a teammate while trying to tackle Darren Sproles. He was seen leaving the stadium in a sling.

Mayo is one of the best players on the Patriots’ defense and was signed to a five-year extension in Dec. 2011. He has been the team’s leading tackler this year and his loss would be a huge detriment to the team’s defense, which is already without Pro Bowler Vince Wilfork for the rest of the season.

Super Bowl Banner in Indy Features Eli Manning and…Jerod Mayo? (Picture)

Over the next two weeks, it is the responsibility of the city of Indianapolis to host arguably the most important sporting event of the calendar year. Over 2 billion people will tune in to watch the Patriots and Giants do battle on Feb. 5 in the Super Bowl. Until then, banners and billboards like the one you see above will be popping up all over the city. But it seems like something is missing from this one. Oh yeah, where’s Tom Brady?

Until the people of Indianapolis are told otherwise, Indy is Peyton Manning’s town. We all know of the rivalry that exists between the Patriots and Colts — and more specifically the one the media has created between Peyton Manning and Brady. Unlike the folks over at Vigilant Sports, I’m not saying the people who designed this billboard chose not to include Brady because they didn’t want to celebrate him in Peyton’s house. However, you don’t put together a massive Super Bowl 46 billboard without carefully planning out every detail. The people who designed this chose Jerod Mayo for a reason. Eli Manning is the face of the 2011 Giants. Mayo isn’t even the face of the 2011 Patriots’ defense, as Vince Wilfork could tell you. On second thought, maybe I am saying the people of Indianapolis did this intentionally.

H/T The Big Lead