Keeping nose out of trouble

Wilfork knows he's being watched

FOXBOROUGH - As the Patriots' nose tackle, Vince Wilfork lines up directly over center, in the middle of the field. He's hoping to find a similar middle ground when it comes to his emotions during a game.

In the wake of his $35,000 fine for unnecessary roughness against Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler, Wilfork said yesterday he's aware that his next fine is likely to lead to suspension, which he's determined to avoid.

"Sometimes I get hot-tempered out there, hotheaded out there, because of the love I have for the game," he said, noting that he feels fortunate to avoid a suspension and will pay the fine. "I'm going to have to find something in the middle to keep me with that same passion but at the same time pretty focused throughout the whole game, from the start of the play to the end of the play. If there is pushing and shoving in a game, it won't be me. I'll be running away from that stuff."

Wilfork explained that was a significant part of the message NFL commissioner Roger Goodell delivered to him during a Tuesday meeting in New York. Wilfork was fined four times last season, for a total of $35,000, and two of those fines came because of incidents after the whistle.

"That's the one thing we talked about, just basically backing away toward the whistle, toward the end of the play, just calming down," Wilfork said. "That's something I can control."

Wilfork also detailed that his first fine last season - for a low hit on Bills quarterback J.P. Losman - was a big part of the meeting.

"That's something that really bothered me, because I think that's the one that led me to being looked at last year. That play right there really labeled me," Wilfork said. "They told me and showed me what they were thinking. They looked at how long the ball was out [of Losman's hands] and my elbow. I could understand that and I said, 'The last thing I want is for you to judge me as a dirty player. That's not me.' I think I got through to them, but at the same time, I understand what they're thinking about.

"It's hard to slow down the play when you're playing. We watch film all the time afterward, and you can always slow a film down afterward and say, 'Why did you do this? Why are you not doing this?' But at that moment, your mind is not slowed down. The game is moving fast. That's what I was trying to explain to them. We can sit back and you guys can slow it down and everything, but in the heat of the moment, nothing is slowed down. We're moving at a fast pace. They understood where I was coming from.

"I think I got through to them what type of player I am and what type of person I am."

Wilfork hopes others have a chance to see the person he believes he is.

"People who deal with me on a regular basis see me around my teammates, with my family, off the field, what I do, they know," he said. "They're the most important people in my life."

Mayo's moment

Linebacker Jerod Mayo was humbled by his recognition as NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month.

Mayo, a first-round selection (No. 10 overall) from Tennessee, earned the honor after leading the team with 24 tackles as the Patriots posted a 3-1 record in October. He has started all seven games this season and leads the team with 55 tackles.

"It's a great honor to get an award like that from the league," Mayo said. "I just thank the coaches for putting me in position and for the players around me for helping me get that."

Asked to what he attributed Mayo's sudden impact, defensive coordinator Dean Pees pointed to two things. "No. 1, I think he works very hard off the field as much as he does on the field," Pees said. "To me, that's the biggest part of being a total football player and total package: not just relying on your talent, but relying on your head and your talent and working hard off the field in the meetings, in the classroom, and all that kind of stuff and studying and trying to get better and really trying to understand and be coached and take coaching. He does that very, very well.

"The second part of it is I think he also, as a rookie, has done a very good job of being with the right guys like [Tedy] Bruschi and [Mike ] Vrabel and Adalius [ Thomas] and listening to what they have to say. Not having the answers, but just being quiet and listening to what they [say], because you've got a bunch of good, smart, experienced players around you."

Said Vrabel, "He came in and right from Day 1 he wanted to learn. He's a real excitable kid and he just likes to come to work, and it shows and it carries over right out on the field. He wants to be good."

Out-of-pocket expense

Rookie running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis was fined $5,000 by the NFL for a hit on Rams cornerback Fakhir Brown after an interception in last Sunday's game . . . What a long, strange trip it's been for Mike Richardson. The sixth-round draft choice out of Notre Dame wound up missing his rookie season last year when he suffered a broken left thumb in camp. "It was just a freak thing at the end of the Carolina game in preseason," Richardson explained. "I came up to make a tackle and just hit somebody the wrong way and ended up breaking it. I just tried to keep a positive mind-set and focused on trying to get better for this season." Well, Richardson is now one of the healthier bodies in the Patriots' nicked-up secondary that will have to defend against the Colts' trio of receiving threats - wideouts Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne and tight end Dallas Clark - tomorrow. "It was tough having guys go down [against St. Louis last Sunday]," Richardson said. "But we're all coached to be ready to go in and perform to the level that coaches expect us to. They wouldn't have us out there if they didn't think we were capable." . . . Tight end David Thomas was not about to get goaded into making a wager with receiver Wes Welker over tonight's Big 12 showdown between their respective alma maters, No. 1 Texas and No. 6 Texas Tech. "He's scared to bet anything. He won't even bet pushups," Welker said. "So I've tried to get him, but he's wanting points and everything else and I'm like, 'You're the No. 1 team in the nation.' " Thomas wasn't biting. "I always think they're going to win, but I just don't bet," he said. Thomas also wanted to set the record straight: "He's the one who asked for points, so that means he has no confidence. I think we're going to win." Said Welker, "I'm definitely trying to squeeze something out of him. He's scared. So, with a night game in Lubbock, Texas, I like my chances."