Brandon Spikes; Week 6 vs Baltimore Ravens (by FloridaGatorPros)
Here’s a great cut up of Brandon Spikes from the 2010 Ravens game. One of the biggest problems in the ‘09 playoff game was obviously run defense, but specifically Gary Guyton playing middle linebacker on run downs. Guyton never had the physicality needed to take on guards and blow them back.
Spikes was the perfect player to bring in after that loss because he’s exactly that kind of middle linebacker. And as you can tell from these highlights, he had a huge effect in shutting down Ray Rice this time around.
The Patriots were in their base 3-4 defense for 75% of the snaps against the Baltimore in 2010, which is similar to their game plan last week against the Broncos. I expect the Pats will go to their sub-packages a little more this week, and Dane Fletcher should return to his role as Ray Rice spy, something he excelled at in 2010.
