Brandon Spikes wishes Ray Rice Happy Birthday on Twitter. Reason number 4,243 why I loves me some Spikes.
The last few games of the regular season, the Pats had trouble stopping the run. Once Spikes and safety Patrick Chung returned to the lineup, the holes got plugged.
During the postseason, Spikes (27) and Mayo (32) led the team in tackles. Spikes had 11 in the Super Bowl loss to the Giants.
“He has big-play capability. He’s a physical player. He’s strong. He’s around the ball a lot,” McGinest said. “If he can just pick up and understand everything, which would allow him to play faster and not think, sometimes I see him thinking a lot out there, or trying to figure it out. If he could just react and play fast, he’s going to be good.”
Spikes, of course, wears No. 55, the same number three-time Super Bowl winner McGinest wore during his dozen seasons with the Patriots. All kidding aside, McGinest said we should know the true direction of Spikes in the coming year.
“He should be full steam ahead coming into next year. That will tell it all. This next season,” McGinest said. “He should make a lot of big plays for them. He should be one of the leaders as far as making plays on that defense along with Mayo.”
And here’s the full shot! Spikes also wore this suit before the 2007 and 2009 BCS Championship Games.
The Spikes lovefest keeps on rolling this week. Nice to see him getting the recognition. Him and Mayo will form a formidable inside backer duo for the foreseeable future.
What has he brought to the defense?
“A ton of energy,” fellow linebacker Rob Ninkovich said Thursday. “He’s one of those guys on game day that you want to be around, because he’s so amped-up and ready to roll. So I love him out there and it’s great having him out there. … His physical play is just at a higher level. He’s just very physical, and he’s just great at stopping the run and really getting after people.”“He’s tall like Pepper was. You don’t see a lot of inside linebackers with that kind of height, that 6’4”ish height,” Belichick said. “Most guys are a little more compact than that. He’s a pretty powerful guy for being that tall like Pepper was, but a lot of those explosive hitters are six feet, 6’1”, that type of guy. [Brian] Urlacher’s another. I’m just saying there aren’t a lot of them and I think that’s a problem for the quarterback in terms of the passing game because of their length, their height, their range. They get their hands on a lot of balls, but again kind of like Pepper, Brandon has power. He’ll go up and strike with a good thump whether it tackling or taking on blockers, that kind of thing. He’s done a good job for us, he gives us a little bit of a different presence in there.”
Here’s a little nugget from Tom E. Curran on Spikes:
Brandon Spikes played well against the Ravens. He also did stupid things like throwing a punch during one post-play scuffle and shoving Marshal Yanda from behind after another.
I have no problem with Spikes playing like this. You need a guy on your defense with this kind of attitude. It’s only “stupid” if you get a penalty for it. Otherwise it’s just Spikes being Spikes which I think takes a lot of players out of the game.
Spikes was all over Ray Rice the entire game, and it looked to me like Rice was affected. Spikes is the exact antidote to the kind of malaise we saw so much of in 2009. I think he’s a major building block on this defense and alongside Mayo forms one of the best young inside linebacker tandems in the NFL.
What a game for Spikes. He played 52 of 73 snaps, and was ProFootballFocus’ second ranked Patriots defender behind Vince Wilfork. He had positive ratings in both run defense (his specialty) and pass coverage ( his supposed weakness).
Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes returned to a non-walkthrough practice on Thursday for the first time since suffering a sprained MCL in his knee on Nov. 6 against the Giants.
While his status is still unclear for Sunday’s game in Washington, Spikes’ presence at the practice, which was held in light shoulder pads, signals that his return to game action could be near.
With Dane Fletcher practicing for a second straight week, Spikes’ return brings the Patriots’ linebacker corps back to full strength. Every defensive player was present for Thursday’s practice.
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