Patriots' Spikes Ready To 'Go Hard Or Go Home'
BOSTON (CBS) - After putting up career numbers during the regular season, New England Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes is ready to get the playoffs started on Sunday.
"Postseason, this is what it's all about. Go hard or go home, it's that simple," Spikes said from the Patriots locker room on Tuesday. "I'm definitely looking forward to this."
Spikes played in 15 games this season, staying relatively healthy minus a knee injury that held him out of the Patriots Week 16 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. With nearly a full slate of games, the third-year linebacker put up career numbers with 92 tackles, five forced fumbles and a sack -- and countless bone-rattling hits to the opposition.
The hard-hitting Spikes was able to get a final tune-up in two weeks ago during the Patriots Week 17 matchup with the Miami Dolphins, though he only saw the field for a limited number of snaps (just eight according to ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss).
While Spikes, who has formed a devastating linebacking trio with Jerod Mayo and rookie Dont'a Hightower, says he isn't 100-percent, it won't keep him from taking on the Texans come Sunday afternoon.
"I feel great. I've been feeling great," he said. "But like I said, it's postseason, it's been a long year, and nobody is healthy, nobody is 100 percent. I've just got to deal with it and try to get better every day."
The Patriots blew out the Texans 42-14 in their Week 14 showdown at Gillette, but Spikes knows they will be coming into Gillette this time with a bigger chip on their shoulder.
"That game, I'm happy the way that turned out, but that's in the past," said Spikes, who recorded one tackle in the blowout win. "Any given Sunday you've got to come out and play your best. But we know they're going to have a chip, we know the intensity is going to be there, and we're expecting the unexpected. We're definitely going to be prepared, no matter what."
And though Spikes doesn't like to look in the past, it was brought up on Tuesday afternoon. He was asked if he and his teammates draw any motivation from their Super Bowl loss to the Giants last February, and while Spikes wasn't too happy with the wound being reopened, he admitted it is in the back of their minds.
"Why you got to bring that up?" he said with a smile. "I'm trying to forget about that. Of course. Everybody just feels like we came up short, but that's part of the game, that's part of football. We've just got to do whatever we can to not let that happen again."
Spikes On Using Super Bowl Loss As Motivation:
"We had a great day today and I'm looking forward to tomorrow and trying to get better every day," he added. "No matter what, we're just going to come out and play hard for the whole four quarters."
Tune in to Sunday's Patriots-Texans playoff game on 98.5 The Sports Hub and WBZ-TV. Kickoff is at 4:30pm, with pregame coverage beginning at 1pm on 98.5 with Patriots Preview, and 11:30am on WBZ-TV with a special hour-long edition of Patriots Gameday. Following the game, tune in to three hours of postgame coverage on the Hub, and Patriots 5th Quarter on myTV38!
