Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo was on "The Herd" with Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio on Tuesday morning and discusses how the Patriots can keep an even keel even after blowing out the team with the best record in the NFL.

While the Texans were strutting around in their letterman jackets and talking about this being the biggest game perhaps in franchise, the Patriots were much more ho-hum about it.

"We always talk about managing our expectations," Mayo said (listen to the podcast HERE). "That's one of the things we obviously don't do. If this was one of their biggest games, hey, that's how they felt about it, but we went out and performed well and I'm happy about that."

He said Bill Belichick and the coaching staff play a big role in keeping the team humble even after performances like Monday's.

"We always talk about ignoring the noise, not listening the media not listening to the hype of the game, things like that," Mayo said. "Then after a game, even after a win, sometimes you go into the meeting rooms and they're showing all the bad plays of the week. We're always striving for perfection, and that's a good thing."

The Texans locker room was somber Monday night after a loss that ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky writes taught them what it takes.

“I think they showed us what it takes to be a champion,” inside linebacker Bradie James said.

Defensive lineman Antonio Smith agreed.

“I sensed it from the coin toss. It was business, straight up, to them,” he said.

“You can see just how serious they were. They’ve been here before. I’m a movie buff, you know. It reminded me of that movie, ‘Troy,’ when Achilles told Hector, ‘Now you know what you’re dealing with.’ That’s what it was like. No love. ‘We’re coming in here to show y’all who the big dogs are.’”

Editor's note: Jerod Mayo is scheduled to stop by ESPN.com for a brief chat starting at 12:45 p.m. You can check it out here.