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FOXBORO - Here's a very good reason why you should like this Jerod Mayo kid.

While most observers believe that the Patriots' rookie inside linebacker had a strong debut during Thursday's 16-15 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Mayo didn't share that opinion.

"I've been watching a lot of film, and I left a lot of plays out there, so I'm trying to get better this week," he said.

Mayo was credited with three tackles during his stint in the Patriots' preseason opener, and he appeared to make a near-seamless adjustment to the pro game after a few initial struggles in his first series. But as he said Monday after the Patriots' walkthrough inside the Dana-Farber Field House, it wasn't seamless.

"Not really," he said. "There's a lot of things I have to work on. I made some good plays out there, but at the same time, there are things that I have to work on. And that's what I'm focusing on out there." He said he didn't get a lot of satisfaction from a highlight-film hit in the first half, which took the helmet off Ravens' running back Ray Rice.

"Not yet," he said. "Maybe during a regular-season game, but right now, I'm just trying to focus on the little things, the technique issues that I have, and try to get better each and every day."

So, while Bill Belichick gave the players the weekend off, Mayo spent a majority of the time in the Patriots' film room, breaking down his performance and making mental notes of how he can improve.

Film study is something he particular enjoys.

"All the time," he said. "Especially at this level everybody's good at this level so you have to be up to par on your film and things like that. I enjoy the ins and outs and the x's and o's of the game."

Special guests

Bill Belichick and the Patriots were visited Monday morning by a group from AccessSport, which helps handicapped children participate in sports. Belichick has had a longstanding involvement with the organization.

"Part of the proceeds of 'The Education of a Coach' (the 2005 book about Belichick written by the late David Halberstam) went to them," Belichick said. "It was good to see those kids out there and it certainly gives us an appreciation for some of the things we are fortunate to have."

After finishing the no-pads walkthrough, the team (led by Tedy Bruschi) went en masse to the stands where the group was seated and spent several minutes with them.

Valuable week With a full week of preparation available to them leading to their next preseason game, Sunday at Tampa Bay (8 p.m.; NFL Network, Ch. 4), the Patriots should be able to get a lot of work done.

"I don't want to say it is stuff that we are behind on, just things we haven't had a chance to cover," Belichick said. "We're going to make sure we get those done, then we're going to get ready for Tampa. After that, we have two games back to back and there are not a lot of extra days in there. This is more of a teaching week and it's a week to catch up on some things that we are behind on, or to get ahead on some things that we know we're going to need to address."

The Patriots have scheduled practices at 2:30 p.m. every day through Friday, when the "training camp" portion of the preseason will come to an end.