Drake Maye, Jerod Mayo downplay quarterback's knee injury in London
LONDON -- The Patriots are working on getting their internal clocks set to London time, but Drake Maye and head coach Jerod Mayo were ticking in unison when it came to discussing the quarterback's knee injury on Friday. Both downplayed Maye popping up on the team's injury report the last two days, and shifted focus to Sunday's matchup with the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium.
Maye was a full participant on both Wednesday and Thursday in Foxboro, but appeared on the practice report with a knee injury. Neither Maye or Mayo would share any details on the ailment Friday morning at the Harrow School Sports Centre -- where the team spoke with reporters and will hold their lone overseas practice later in the day
"Feeling good," Maye said Friday morning. "These last two days felt good out there at practice. Feeling good now and ready to go on Sunday."
Maye was once again a full participant in Friday's practice, and didn't even have a game status designation on the final injury report of the week.
Maye wouldn't say if he underwent an MRI on his knee
Maye declined to share when he suffered the injury, and wouldn't even confirm if he'd undergone an MRI, as previously reported by The Boston Globe's Ben Volin.
"Injuries are something you don't really try to share with the media. Looking forward to Sunday." said Maye, who made his first career start in last week's 41-21 loss to the Texans.
Mayo said he wasn't going to discuss any "medical imaging" on players, and said he wasn't sure when Maye's injury popped up.
"I'm not sure if it was a residual from the game or not. He's looked good out there in practice and taken the majority of the reps," said Mayo. "I will say that I'm confident he'll play [Sunday]."
Patriots holding lone practice in London on Friday
The Patriots will hold their usual lighter practice on Friday, which Mayo said wouldn't be as active as Wednesday's and Thursday's sessions back in Foxboro. But he did say that communication will be a big focus, as the team hopes to be mentally sharp for Sunday's game.
While Friday's practice will be in a completely new setting for the team, Maye said the only real difference was that they still had to watch Thursday's practice -- which they couldn't do Thursday because of their international flight.
"Nothing new, just in a different spot," said Maye.
Then the team will work on adjusting to the five-hour time difference between London and New England. Mayo said that a lot of the team slept on the plane Thursday night into Friday, and added that both he players had a good level of "juice" after their flight.
His advice after Friday's practice: Enjoy some sun.
"Don't stay in your room all day and sleep. Get outside and walk around," said Mayo. "Just get your energy ready for the game."
Both Maye and Mayo stressed that this is a business trip for the team and the focus is on winning on Sunday. But Maye added that it's pretty neat that he's getting ready to play an NFL game in London.
"There are a lot of fans are over here – fans of the Patriots – so looking forward to playing in front of that fanbase," he said. "I don't think we've lost over here yet, so trying to keep that same motto and come out with a win on Sunday."
The Patriots won both of their previous games at Wembley Stadium, with Tom Brady leading the squad to big wins in both 2009 and 2012. Maye is also hoping to lead the Patriots to similar results and pick up a few more fans on Sunday.
"It comes with the team name – New England. Easy for U.K. fans to be attracted to that," said the rookie. "Our colors represent a lot of things, and the excitement with the team. A lot of bright futures ahead. Shout out to all the fans who are already Patriots fans over here, hopefully we get many more."
Get ready for Sunday's Patriots-Jaguars game in London with WBZ-TV -- your flagship station of the New England Patriots. Coverage kicks off Sunday morning with Patriots GameDay at 8 a.m. (which you can also stream on CBSBoston.com), and switch to TV38 after the game for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!