PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Brandon Spikes

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“He missed so much playing time – practice time and play time – during training camp and the preseason, so this is almost, these last three weeks, kinda almost been like his preseason, unfortunately,“ Belichick answered.

"I think that practicing on a daily basis, playing on a regular basis, that’s what he needed to do. I think he’s still got a long way to go, he’s probably where a lot of our guys were in September, just because he missed all of August. His timing, his overall reaction, execution, all those things, are OK. They are coming along, but I like to think they’ll be better now that he’s starting to get into game shape and reacting like you have to react on the football field, both mentally and physically.

"He’s doing some good things, but he’s still got a long way to go. The fact that he’s been out there, finally, on a consistent basis to practice and play, nothing’s helped him more than that.”

Belichick on the conundrum wrapped in an enigma known as Brandon Spikes.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/he-missed-so-much-playing-time-practice-time/

Getting by without Jerod Mayo will benefit Patriots long term

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Call me crazy but I don’t think losing Mayo for 4-6 weeks is the end of the world for the Patriots. Yes I know Mayo is the leader of the defense, the one who *should* be making all the tackles, he calls all the plays, etc. I get it.

But let’s look at a few things.

After a solid first two weeks Mayo was already battling a thigh injury that Belichick revealed had been limiting him in practice. Mayo did not look right in Buffalo or in Oakland before he went down. He was missing tackles and a step behind in pass coverage. With the time off to heal this MCL injury he’ll also be able to heal his thigh.

I’m not the world’s biggest Gary Guyton fan, but he’s an experienced player who’s filled in for Mayo before. He will be an adequate replacement, although I question if he’s even the second Will linebacker on the depth chart.

Because behind Guyton you have a player who I am big fan of, Dane Fletcher, who looked like a beast at Will in the preseason. It could be Fletcher-Spikes-Ninkovich in base, with Guyton and Fletcher in sub. Regardless, throw in Brandon Spikes and Tracy White and the Patriots have the kind of depth needed to get by without Mayo for 5 games or so. Much moreso than they had in 2009 when they lost him.

Statistically the Pats D is at or near the bottom of the NFL in multiple categories, so it’s not like they can get much worse. Clearly they need some kind of a spark, and often times teams will rally around each other when they lose a leader.

By the same token Mayo is everything you want as a leader, but he’s not a Ray Lewis fiery personality type who is going to rally his troops, and that is something I think this defense also needs more of.

What I’d really like to see is Brandon Spikes step up and take more of a leadership role. Now of course Spikes is not an ideal three down player, but he should see an increase in playing time and responsibility. Guyton is more of a quiet type like Mayo, so I’d really love to see the defense taking their cues from Spikes a little more.

Belichick and Bruschi gave Spikes some nice praise this week on WEEI, calling him “instinctive” and saying he’s really developing into a good middle linebacker and taking positive growth steps in his second season. With Mayo out it’s a chance for Spikes to add a little more of his personality and leadership to this defense, and I think it will be just the right kind of enthusiasm injection the team needs.

The good news is that this injury does not appear to be a season ender for Mayo. If it was it would be hard to spin it as being anything other than a huge loss. But losing him for a just handful of games in the middle of the season could really be a rallying point for the rest of the defense to work harder and pick up the slack.

Mayo should be back for the stretch run, and that is when the Patriots will need him most.

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They said it couldn’t be done.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/they-said-it-couldnt-be-done/

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I think the Twitter is kind of fun for the outside world to just kind of see how we are,” said Spikes, who often follows up his tweets with the hashtag #Powwwwwww. “I just kind of say what’s on my mind. Some stuff, you can’t really look all into it. I know people get mad at me when I put Lakers stuff up, but I’ve been a Lakers fan for years, so it’s no disrespect. I know the fans here are pretty tough, but I kind of like it, and they get a kick out of it, too. So it’s cool. … I like to play around. I have a decent sense of humor, and stuff like that. That’s why I say, don’t read too much into it.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/i-think-the-twitter-is-kind-of-fun-for-the/

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Spikes was back at practice today. #POWWW for the Patriots defense.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/spikes-was-back-at-practice-today-powww-for-the/

Top 5 injured Patriots that are needed back asap

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You go to war with the army you have—not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. – Donald Rumsfeld

I look at the NFL season as a 17 week series of skirmishes that all lead up to the real battles that take place in the playoffs. Some weeks you lose soldiers, some weeks you get guys back healthy, but ultimately it’s about persevering through all the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs for the four month regular season and going into the playoffs firing on all cylinders.

As the final weeks of the preseason wind down the army that the Pats will have for the 2011 campaign is beginning to come into focus, but there are some Pats that haven’t been seen at camp in weeks; Pats that are part of the army I want.

Here are the ones they most need back:

1. Brandon Spikes – You probably saw this one coming. Who knows what exactly is going on with Spikes. Maybe it really is just an ankle injury and all his weird tweets are just totally related to something outside of football. But the fact is that the Pats will have a pretty big hole in their 4-3 defense without Spikes. If Spikes is in there, look out. Playing behind Haynesworth* and Wilfork would enable Spikes to have a potential break out year, but he has to get back on the field first. Without him or Fletcher they could be forced to put Gary Guyton at MLB and that’s definitely not the best spot for him.

2. Leigh Bodden – It was sounding like Bodden had returned to form before sustaining an unknown injury last week that has held him out of practice. I was extremely excited to see how the Pats used McCourty, Arrington and Bodden this year. We saw various looks with Bodden and Arrington both taking turns inside at slot corner and outside at boundary corner in the first two preseason games. We don’t know for sure what BB has planned, but having to go back to last year’s corner lineup could be scary unless Ras-I Dowling is ready to step in and contribute after missing most of training camp.

3. Mike Wright – The Pats are in better position to get by this year without Wright if they need to given all the defensive line depth they have, but he remains their best interior rusher. Myron Pryor especially would help ease the blow of losing Wright for any significant period of time, but it look like the Pats are finally set up to use Wright as he should be used. Hopefully that will keep him healthy, if he can get back on the field. Wright has the ability to make life for the edge rusher a lot easier.

4. Dane Fletcher – I said all off-season that I expected Fletcher to challenge Gary Guyton as the top coverage linebacker next to Jerod Mayo this year and his performance in the Jaguars game only reinforced that. Fletch looked primed to break out before sustaining a thumb injury against the Buccaneers. It doesn’t look like it should hold him back for long, hopefully he’ll get a chance to knock the rust off before the games start to count. If he and Spikes can return to the field it will give the Pats multiple options especially on passing downs.

5. Ryan Wendell – As we saw with Gerald McCoy’s hit on Tommy last week Dan Connolly still has his moments that make you wonder if he’s really that entrenched as the starting right guard. Not to say that I’m entirely confident that Wendell is a much better option, but choices and competition are good. Ideally I’d like to see Marcus Cannon end up there once he’s 100% cleared, but it might be 2012 before we see that. I expect this to be a spot the Pats could look to address over the Labor Day Weekend cutdown madness.

NESN/Howe: Wassup with Brandon Spikes

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NESN/Howe: Wassup with Brandon Spikes

I haven’t made much mention of it here on the blog but if you follow Brandon Spikes on Twitter you’ve probably been scratching your head a bit. Jeff Howe breaks down some of the weirder posts below:

Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes tweeted Tuesday that he missed the earthquake by 30 minutes, and I really wonder if that means he wasn’t with the team in Foxboro at that time since, you know, the epicenter was in Virginia.

Spikes’ Twitter account has taken some controversial twists and turns over the last couple of weeks. His location reads “Hell on Earth” and he has written some things that have been construed as anti-Patriots. He hasn’t outright said anything directly against the organization, but it’s easy to read between the lines.

It’s obviously dangerous to overreact to a Twitter account, but until we hear from Spikes himself, all we can do is wonder. He has missed 13 consecutive practices with an ankle injury, and I think he’s only spoken to the media once or twice since the start of training camp. This has definitely grown into a situation worth monitoring.

I agree it’s worth monitoring. Greg Bedard spoke with an NFL scout last week who said the Pats really need Spikes at MLB to make the 4-3 defense work, and while Spikes was a beast in the early parts of training camp he hasn’t been seen since last signing every last autograph after the in-stadium practice.

Now I’m wondering if it’s even Spikes who is tweeting on his account. We saw some twitter shenanigans this summer when a friend of Spikes said they were taking him to a hospital after a pick up basketball game. Who knows. Maybe I’m way overanalyzing this and we’ve sucked the mainstream beat writers in with us.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Spikes gets back on the field, but if he really had no one to blame but himself for all his off-the-field troubles last year. Hopefully he’ll get back out there and have a quiet off-the-field season and a loud on-the-field one.