Ryan Fitzpatrick calls Brandon Spikes a “punk”
Buffalo Bills starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick didn’t like a hit he received from New England Patriots middle linebacker Brandon Spikes, and I don’t blame his frustrating. Spikes took out Fitzpatrick’s helmet on the play with a vicious blow in the third-quarter, but Fitzpatrick may have gone overboard with this quote.
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Fitzpatrick said, “I think the biggest thing is we’re not going to back down from anybody. I think that Spikes is an emotional player. I think that he’s a punk, at times. (He) took a cheap shot at Scott (Chandler) in the first game (the teams played this season). He was doing a lot of jabbering and talking and hitting out there. (He’s) not one of my favorite players, not high on my list.”
If you are a Patriots fan, then this is good. You don’t want Fitzpatrick to have Spikes high on his list. You don’t want him to talk about how nice Spikes is. You want him to call Spikes a punk. In fact, you want every quarterback in the league to call Spikes a punk. Why? Because he’s supposed to be just that to offensive players.
Listen, Brandon Spikes is the most vicious, explosive linebacker in the league, and I’ve heard top analysts like Greg Cosell say something along those lines before. His job is to jabber, talk, and hit out there. If you are an offensive player, he isn’t supposed to be one of your favorites. You should hate him.
I agree wholeheartedly with Fitzpatrick’s assessment that Spikes “is an emotional player”, because he is. He’s probably the most emotional player on the New England Patriots.
Was that hit a cheapshot? Was the hit on Scott Chandler earlier a cheapshot? I don’t know, but I do know that Chandler thoroughly beat Spikes in coverage when both players were matched up on each other. It’s a good thing Spikes was nasty in this game, because his coverage was anything but commendable.
Oh, and thanks to Brandon Spikes for being a punk to quarterbacks around the league. We sincerely need that edge on defense. Fitzpatrick calls it being a “punk”, but I have another way of putting it. Spikes is a beast.
You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.