He’s only in his second season, but reigning defensive rookie of the year Jerod Mayo is clearly one of the budding leaders on New England young, re-tooled defense. In many ways that responsibility comes with being a middle linebacker, comes with being a top-10 draft pick and comes even quicker when a team turns over its roster on defense from one year to the next.

In that role as a defensive leader and spokesman, Mayo was asked to respond to the comments of one of his former teammates in the wake of Sunday night’s loss at Indy and the apparent message sent by Bill Belichick to his defense when he decided to go for the fourth-and-two rather than punt the ball away.

ESPN’s Tedy Bruschi, barely months removed from the Patriots locker room, said his blood would be boiling were he still a member of the New England defense.

“To be honest I have the ultimate respect for Tedy and everything he’s done for this organization, but he’s not in this locker room at this point in time,” Mayo said Thursday morning at Gillette Stadium. “So he doesn’t know the feelings that this defense or that this team has. We still have our confidence. We still have our swagger and we’re going to go out on Sunday and show the…media, I guess.”

Mayo said there was “never any doubt” in the defense’s collective mind that Belichick still has confidence in the unit, even if the coach’s Sunday night decision may have indicated otherwise. While many have postured in recent days that this could be a rallying cry for the unit to build upon moving forward, Mayo downplayed that angle when asked if he’d felt the need to address his teammates.

“Not really,” Mayo said. “Everybody was disappointed, especially the day after the game. It was a rough couple days for everybody but we’re over it now and we’re on to the Jets.”

While he isn’t yet inclined to address his unit, he does think it has something to prove.

“Of course. Any time you give up 35 points in a game you try to come back strong the next game. Hopefully we can get that done this week.”

Mayo has always been more about actions than words and says he will proceed as such at this seemingly tough time in the season.

“I try to lead by example. I’m not really a rah-rah guy or anything like that. I try to lead by example and hopefully the guys will follow.”

But if they don’t, and even if it doesn’t come as natural to him as it might for some other players, then Mayo has no problem voicing his opinions.

“I mean if something needs to be said, I’ll say it. I was the same way in college, same way in high school But false excitement and things like that is not the kind of person that I am. I’m a genuine person and guys that know me know that’s the way I am.”

Are you confident in the defense moving forward? Will Mayo and the group rally after Sunday’s disappointing finish? Let us know with a comment below?