Spotlight: What Spikes brings to D – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

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.”