PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Brandon Spikes

Today in things Patriots fans can feel good about…

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It was a rough year for Brandon Spikes off the field. First you had the leaked video chat footage of him, his lady, and a huge black snake, then he got suspended four games for taking ADD medication just as he was starting to hit his stride.

On the field however it was a pretty good season for Spikes. He filled a role that the Pats badly needed, that of Mike linebacker in the 3-4. As you can see in the video below Spikes comes downhill hard, often blowing up offensive lineman into the backfield. He slowly got better at recognizing play action, culminating with a great interception of Mark Sanchez in the 45-3 game that basically ensured it wasn’t even going to be close.

It should be a great offseason for Spikes to get refocused off the field and start anew on the 2011 season. His run stopping presence should be felt for many years.

Pryor back, Brace headed to IR for Patriots?

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News came via Ian Rapoport today that pass rush specialist Myron Pryor is set to return tomorrow while it looks like Ron Brace is done for the playoffs with an elbow injury.

Losing Brace does hurt the Pats as depth along the line was already thin, so basically they’re becoming a little stronger in pass rush and a little weaker in run stopping.

If the Patriots face the Ravens in the divisional round they probably could use Brace, since the 3-4 defense will surely be used a lot to stop Ray Rice. Although in the first meeting between the two teams the Patriots went with a Deaderick – Warren – Wilfork front. But we haven’t seen much of Deaderick lately.

The good news is that the return of a healthy and rested Brandon Spikes should be a boost to the 3-4 base.

As for Brace it was an up and down season for him, beginning when he couldn’t pass his physical and stayed on PUP for much of training camp. He showed some signs of life at times, namely the fourth down goal line stop against Adrian Peterson, however the games he played most in were the only two losses this season (@ Jets 67%, @ Browns 71%). 

With the return of Ty Warren, Brace will likely be in a stiff competition with Deaderick in 2011. For now he can worry about getting his elbow healthy.

Did you know Myron Pryor had a 71-yard fumble return for a TD in college?


Football Outsiders: Run Rankings Of Remaining Patriots Opponents

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Shame on me for simply looking at the NFL.com rushing rankings when stating my claim that the Patriots would face lowly rushing offenses in their final four games and wouldn’t miss Spikes that much.

Here’s what the run of the mill stats say: 

  • Bills 17th
  • Dolphins 18th
  • Bears 22nd
  • Packers 23rd

But when we look over at the far more insightful Football Outsiders rankings things look a little more difficult.

  • Packers: 10th
  • Dolphins 15th
  • Bills 19th
  • Bears 26th

If you’re not familiar with how Football Outsiders do their rankings it’s based off this simple theory.

If it’s 1st and 10 and you get 2 yards it’s a bad play.

But if it’s 3rd and 1 and you get 2 yards it’s a good play.

So really, yards per carry isn’t really a telling stat. So Football Outsiders looks at the situation, the down/distance and then the result and assigns a grade. So basically their rankings are better and tell you more.

So from these rankings it looks like the Pats run defense will definitely be tested in these final games without Spikes.

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Brandon Spikes versus the Baltimore Ravens. This video doesn’t really make me feel better about losing Spikes for four games. He’s making some plays here, his impact in the run game will be missed for sure. At least he’ll have some time to overcome the rookie wall. Making lemonade, y’all…

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

https://www.patspropaganda.com/brandon-spikes-versus-the-baltimore-ravens-this/

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I’ve been contacted by the NFL and informed that I will be suspended four games for the detection of an illegal substance in a drug test. The substance was a medication that I should have gotten clarification on before taking. It was not a performance enhancer or an illegal drug. The integrity of the game is very important to me. I understand the league’s ruling and apologize to my teammates, the fans and the Patriots organization for this mistake.

Brandon Spikes

https://www.patspropaganda.com/ive-been-contacted-by-the-nfl-and-informed-that/

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As you can see above the games where Spikes was used most was against heavy running teams (or teams that were attempting to be run heavy against us as was the case in Cleveland).

Though he showed some great signs of improvement and is currently number two behind Jerod Mayo in tackles he’s seen less playtime as of the last four games. Against the Jets he only played 23 snaps yet recorded 7 tackles. That’s impressive. What it shows is that Spikes comes in when teams are going to run, and almost 33% of the time against the Jets he was in on the tackle.

The good news? The Patriots four remaining opponents are ranked 22nd, 23rd, 17th and 18th respectively in rushing offense. Of course stopping the run is always one of the first and most important things for a defense, but with this upcoming slate of opponents it looks like the effect of losing Spikes can be minimized to an extent.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/as-you-can-see-above-the-games-where-spikes-was/

Brandon Spikes Suspended Four Games

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Brandon Spikes (seen below making the biggest play of his young career against the Jets) was suspended today per Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald. It’s a four game suspension for violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy. We’re not sure what the substance was… Steroids? Weed? Sex Tape Juice?

This is a significant loss for the Patriots. Spikes has been an excellent run defender and just seemed to be hitting his stride when he made pretty much the play of the game by picking off Mark Sanchez. Ouch…