Gresh & Zo: Do The Patriots Miss Brandon Spikes?
BOSTON (CBS) - With the upcoming matchup against the Buffalo Bills, the Patriots will be facing a familiar face in Brandon Spikes, who spent the first four years of his career in New England.
On Thursday afternoon, 98.5 The Sports Hub's Andy Gresh and Scott Zolak discussed just how much the Patriots miss the linebacker.
The numbers don't exactly jump off the page. In Buffalo, Spikes has one sack and 19 combined tackles through five games this year. However, it's the mental edge that Spikes brings that Zolak is a fan of.
"He plays with an edge, plays with anger, plays with attitude, plays with a pissed off sense of urgency," Zolak said of the former Florida Gator. Zo appreciates his swagger, and went on to say he loves defensive players like that. Zo isn't convinced the Patriots have that tone setter on defense just yet.
Despite not having that big time emotional player anymore, Zo thinks it could be more beneficial to have balanced guys. Even though Spikes made plays often, his anger and over-committing sometimes took him out of position to make the smart play.
We all know that Spikes was limited in pass coverage with the Patriots, and from a game-planning standpoint, Zo would love to see Spikes try and cover Shane Vereen on passing downs.
"You use Brandon Spikes to your advantage this week," said Zolak. "I'm not saying staying away from him, but you go right at him."
Andy Gresh says the Patriots don't miss Spikes that much, not necessarily for his style of play, but more for the team's current scheme on defense. He believes that if the team kept Spikes it would have been difficult to have the right personnel in at all times, because subbing in and out Spikes and Jamie Collins would have been hard against up-tempo offenses.
Spikes is a liability against the pass, whereas Collins looks like a liability against the run. Gresh doesn't think it would have worked and he explained they wouldn't have needed him or used him properly.
What do you think? Do the Patriots miss Brandon Spikes?
Listen below for the full discussion:
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