PFF: Secret Superstar: Brandon Spikes

[crowell33]

For all of the Pro Football Focus haters, feel free to move along. For the rest of us, PFF projects Spikes as a potential future superstar:

Secret Superstar: Brandon Spikes, New England Patriots | ProFootballFocus.com

"early indications is that he is a superstar in the making"

 

[Sciz]

It has been fairly obvious he was going to be the guy. They go crazy over LBs whose job is taking on blocks. That is something that Spikes excels at.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Brandon Spikes brings something to ILB that has been missing since Tedy Bruschi's prime. That is the ability to be a feared inside, delayed, or timed blitzer, who collapes the interior pocket and prevents the QB from stepping up and away from the edge rushers. Wilfork can't do it all alone.

I really think he will bloom in his sophomore and junior years.

 

[andrewgarrr]

Brandon Spikes brings something to ILB that has been missing since Tedy Bruschi's prime. That is the ability to be a feared inside, delayed, or timed blitzer, who collapes the interior pocket and prevents the QB from stepping up and away from the edge rushers. Wilfork can't do it all alone.

I really think he will bloom in his sophomore and junior years.

I think this part of his game will really shine more once the defensive line is shored up. A-gap blitzes from the second level are always easier when big Vince is at the zero.

 

[Patspsycho]

Brandon Spikes brings something to ILB that has been missing since Tedy Bruschi's prime.

His efficiency at this will be defined by his ability to shade rather than use brute power (except when shooting gaps), which was what Bruschi was good at- Bruschi used to hide behind the DL and follow their wake on run plays. One thing I'll be looking to see if he's made that critical 2nd year leap is to see how he reads play-action which was one thing he had problems with.

 

[BradyManny]

Yeah, and PFF also thinks Mayo is a mediocre linebacker and that Spikes had a better season than him.

I love Spikes, but he was also responsible for some of the biggest mistakes defensively this season. Including the back-breaking 60 yd reception right after our score in the Jets game.

I'm afraid as much as I like Spikes, all PFF's support of him indicates is that their "Spikes is better than Mayo" crap is just another one of their contrarian views that suckers people into spending $100 on their analysis.

 

[DarrylS]

I like Spikes and believe he will be very good.. but this article is somewhat of a stretch as evidenced by:

The fact that Belichick was upset about Spikes’ unpreparedness to play, however, can only be taken as a sign of how valuable the defensive guru believes Spikes to be.

But will follow this source as they can now read BB's mind

 

[Husse]

I like Spikes and believe he will be very good.. but this article is somewhat of a stretch as evidenced by:



But will follow this source as they can now read BB's mind

That is some absolutely hilarious and twisted logic. :singing:

 

[WelshPat]

Maybe BB was thinking, "Oh **** I have to start Guyton now" :bricks:

 

[Rob0729]

Brandon Spikes brings something to ILB that has been missing since Tedy Bruschi's prime. That is the ability to be a feared inside, delayed, or timed blitzer, who collapes the interior pocket and prevents the QB from stepping up and away from the edge rushers. Wilfork can't do it all alone.

I really think he will bloom in his sophomore and junior years.

Let's not jump the gun on him. I like Spikes, but he is on the sidelines on most passing plays. He was more of run down specialist. He was lost quite a bit in the passing game last year, which obviously PFF glosses over and diminished even implied he was very good in coverage.

Now if they improve the d-line this offseason and another year under his belt, he might turn into the player you described. But he hasn't shown much of that yet.

 

[Kasmir]

Spikes may surprise in the passing game as well, once he gets up to speed. He had 6 INTS at Florida, 4 for TD's, which led the nation. He showed excellent ball skills and great anticipation in college. Last year for the Pats, he clearly was off in his reads, which is deadly for him as he has no recovery speed. He has a surprising amount of upside versus the pass as he will make plays if he's in position.

 

[patsfanboy]

He needs to work out on the passing game and in the play action, if he start to develop in those departments, he would hopefully become a 3 down player. Helping this team and his status a lot.

 

[Hudson Pats Fan]

Hopefully the delay in working with the coaches this off-season doesn't slow down his growth in learning the system and it's reads too much. Like said above once he gets more comfortable with the system and can play more instinctively he'll be OK in pass coverage with his good anticipation skills. Not saying he'll be super coverage LB, but he'll be a playmaker.

 

[Sciz]

Let's not jump the gun on him. I like Spikes, but he is on the sidelines on most passing plays. He was more of run down specialist. He was lost quite a bit in the passing game last year, which obviously PFF glosses over and diminished even implied he was very good in coverage.

Now if they improve the d-line this offseason and another year under his belt, he might turn into the player you described. But he hasn't shown much of that yet.

Two of my biggest problems with PFF are that they don't penalize players enough for bad plays (meaning Brady was very low in their scoring because other QBs weren't penalized much for their INTs, Spikes doesn't lose a lot when he gives up a 60 yard TD, etc.) and that they don't take into account snap count. They reward LB1 for only having 100 passing play snaps with a -2 pass rating compared to LB2 having 500 passing play snaps with a -3 pass rating. LB2 was "less bad" per play, but is still the worse rated player. Run specialist LBs tend to score exceptionally well with them for that reason.

 

[Patriot Missile]

That Dungeons and Dragons site is 94.8% full of $#@!.

 

[satz]

Ravens did this last year to some success.
the scount tape is let spike chase.

1) Doube vince out
2) Put a gaurd on Mayo
3) Once in the hole try to run from spikes and let him chase.

sadly mayo is excellent ILB sideline to sideline machine but spikes is not.you run away from him as he is not that fast.

 

[BradyManny]

Ravens did this last year to some success.
the scount tape is let spike chase.

1) Doube vince out
2) Put a gaurd on Mayo
3) Once in the hole try to run from spikes and let him chase.

sadly mayo is excellent ILB sideline to sideline machine but spikes is not.you run away from him as he is not that fast.

So did the Browns - they abused Spikes and Mayo, but mainly b/c Spikes was so predictable. He shoots gaps to make big plays, all they needed to do was run away from Spikes and get a big man on Mayo. The rest was one of our worst run defending performances in the Belichick era. The way Spikes played that day, he made it 11 on 10 for the Browns.

But don't let that get in the way of PFF trying to provide analysis.

 

[Mike Procopio]

Spikes will make a sophomore surge this year. Also Kyle Love will be a big surprise as well. Heard it here first!

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Spikes will make a sophomore surge this year. Also Kyle Love will be a big surprise as well. Heard it here first!

Sounds more like the echo in my head.

 

[mcgraw_wv]

Ive been saying this since Ive seen him take the field, even as a rookie, he looks like a man among men out there. His size and presence on the field stood out, in a way that said, he belonged here...

He's going to be a hybrid Brian Cox meets Willie McGinnest IMO