eball Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 The difficulty with bringing back Spikes all boils down to one thing -- how he views himself as a player vs. how the Bills view him as a player. My understanding is that the Bills would love to have him back, but his role would be very limited. Spikes sees himself as an every down player, and therefore wants to be paid as such. Unless those differing perspectives converge, I don't see how a deal would get done. To the Bills, Spikes is depth and a "thumper" for obvious running downs, and they're not going to allocate serious cap $$ for that role. I do love the attitude Spikes brought to the team, but I really doubt he'll be a Bill this season.
YoloinOhio Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) The difficulty with bringing back Spikes all boils down to one thing -- how he views himself as a player vs. how the Bills view him as a player. My understanding is that the Bills would love to have him back, but his role would be very limited. Spikes sees himself as an every down player, and therefore wants to be paid as such. Unless those differing perspectives converge, I don't see how a deal would get done. To the Bills, Spikes is depth and a "thumper" for obvious running downs, and they're not going to allocate serious cap $$ for that role. I do love the attitude Spikes brought to the team, but I really doubt he'll be a Bill this season. unless another team sees him as an every down player, he won't have a deal anywhere unless he realizes his role. Some team might simply be desperate for LBs (like SF) and give him more money than the bills to go there, but that doesn't mean they see him that way. I still think he could return if he doesn't find what he's looking for. Edited March 23, 2015 by YoloinOhio
eball Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 unless another team sees him as an every down player, he won't have a deal anywhere unless he realizes his role. Some team might simply be desperate for LBs (like SF) and give him more money than the bills to go there, but that doesn't mean they see him that way. I still think he could return if he doesn't find what he's looking for. Hence my comment, "unless those differing perspectives converge"
BillsFanForever19 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 Just because he's spotted in town doesn't mean anything. He could be moving stuff out of his place and/or showing Percy around town. We currently have just over 5 million in cap space. I don't think they're spending any of that on a guy they view as a two down linebacker. I love the guy but the writing's been on the wall for a while now.
4BillsintheBurgh Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) Early on he was used in some passing coverage schemes. I was horrified at the first site of him dropping back. A couple of times against SD, a couple of times against the Pats and I think it was against the Vikes in the red zone he was there for a key break up or something that lead to that turnover on downs or to the 4th down. He actually surprised me as not totally sucking in coverage. He held his own for the average MLB. He is not Keuchly, but Keuchly can't get downhill the same was Spikes can, nor can he bring the wood like Spikes can. Keuchly is faster and draws a lot more penalties in coverage (and even more no calls). But Spikes at MLB was consistently a factor for keeping the middle together. You do not remember him because he: a) had to be accounted for by a lead blocker, trap block or other OL on run plays up the middle, which freed up Bradham or Brown to make the tackle b) closed the hole and caused the runner to bounce to the outside or get to another tackler 3) was in on a bunch of tackles He had 3 pass deflections, 1 forced fumble and 32 tackles. Bradham and Brown both had 66 tackles, while Graham, mostly playing nickel had 65. Hughes, Mario had 36 and Dareus each had 35 while KWilliams had 31. Here is list: Brown 66 Bradham 66 Graham 65 A Williams 50 McKelvin 45 Searcy 44 D Williams 39 Robey 38 Gilmore 38 Hughes 36 Dareus 36 M Williams 35 Spikes 32 K Williams 31 Brooks 31 Lawson 16 Charles 12 Rivers 11 Wynn 10 Powell 10 Many years you see MLB's get about 80+ tackles. They're usually a 43 D with a true MLB, but if you remember and stats support it, we did not allow for big runs. The reason for the DB's having high tackle rates were that a lot of teams passed on us a lot with short pop passes and that our entire D swarmed to the ball and the DL and box players consumed all bodies there leaving the DB's to come in and take what was left in the middle or to take what couldn't be gotten as they bounced outside. Spikes played very well for us. Don't ever doubt that. I did enjoy seeing a lb get to the hole with a bad attitude. For too many years we had folks catching blockers on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage. Edited March 23, 2015 by 4BillsintheBurgh
bg17 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 Early on he was used in some passing coverage schemes. I was horrified at the first site of him dropping back. A couple of times against SD, a couple of times against the Pats and I think it was against the Vikes in the red zone he was there for a key break up or something that lead to that turnover on downs or to the 4th down. He actually surprised me as not totally sucking in coverage. He held his own for the average MLB. He is not Keuchly, but Keuchly can't get downhill the same was Spikes can, nor can he bring the wood like Spikes can. Keuchly is faster and draws a lot more penalties in coverage (and even more no calls). But Spikes at MLB was consistently a factor for keeping the middle together. You do not remember him because he: a) had to be accounted for by a lead blocker, trap block or other OL on run plays up the middle, which freed up Bradham or Brown to make the tackle b) closed the hole and caused the runner to bounce to the outside or get to another tackler 3) was in on a bunch of tackles He had 3 pass deflections, 1 forced fumble and 32 tackles. Bradham and Brown both had 66 tackles, while Graham, mostly playing nickel had 65. Hughes, Mario had 36 and Dareus each had 35 while KWilliams had 31. Here is list: Brown 66 Bradham 66 Graham 65 A Williams 50 McKelvin 45 Searcy 44 D Williams 39 Robey 38 Gilmore 38 Hughes 36 Dareus 36 M Williams 35 Spikes 32 K Williams 31 Brooks 31 Lawson 16 Charles 12 Rivers 11 Wynn 10 Powell 10 Many years you see MLB's get about 80+ tackles. They're usually a 43 D with a true MLB, but if you remember and stats support it, we did not allow for big runs. The reason for the DB's having high tackle rates were that a lot of teams passed on us a lot with short pop passes and that our entire D swarmed to the ball and the DL and box players consumed all bodies there leaving the DB's to come in and take what was left in the middle or to take what couldn't be gotten as they bounced outside. Spikes played very well for us. Don't ever doubt that. Spikes was on the field for 46% of defensive snaps last year. I like Spikes but he should not be mentioned in the same breath as Kuechly.
The Real Buffalo Joe Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) That's it, Leroi is out, jletha is in as our new inside info guy. Right above Luke Russert's mom, right below anybody at Tempo. Edited March 23, 2015 by The Real Buffalo Joe
K D Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 That's it, Leroi is out, jletha is in as our new inside info guy. Right above Tim Russert's mom, right below anybody at Tempo. don't forget my friend of a friend whose cousin works in TSA at the airport
Jamie Nails Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 More importantly, seems like our pal in this thread SexyRexy has a little source for some inside info.
stony Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 I liked Spikes last season but can't think of any plays that stood out other than a couple of 15 yard penalties.
eball Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 I liked Spikes last season but can't think of any plays that stood out other than a couple of 15 yard penalties. Yeah, but those bathrobes! The rest of the LBs loved them!
K D Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) i've seen a few people on twitter saying Spikes is going to sign a 1 yr deal with us. i'll wait for more credible sources though. at this point it's just rumors and chatter. would love to have him until we find a young guy to step in *edit* I think they are just reposting what 1 guy said was his prediction Edited March 23, 2015 by kdiggz
Jim in Anchorage Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 That's it, Leroi is out, jletha is in as our new inside info guy. Right above Luke Russert's mom, right below anybody at Tempo. And the name is forgotten of the poster that correctly called the Incognito deal. Only strike outs get fame.
BillsFanForever19 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 i've seen a few people on twitter saying Spikes is going to sign a 1 yr deal with us. i'll wait for more credible sources though. at this point it's just rumors and chatter. would love to have him until we find a young guy to step in Could you post them (even if unreliable) - I searched 'brandon spikes' and couldn't find anything like that.
ndirish1978 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 Interesting. Did you guys see the video in which Arrington interviews Spikes? Cause Arrington quite aggressively and repeatedly tells Spikes he should be signing in Buffalo and Spikes keeps pushing back, not in a "let's move on to the next thing" but more in a "that door is closed" way. I dunno, I could be reading it completely wrong, but it didn't feel like it at the time.
3rdand12 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 I did enjoy seeing a lb get to the hole with a bad attitude. For too many years we had folks catching blockers on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage. Truth brother! we forget quickly how horrible our line backers were. If the offense goes pass just blitz him or let Hughes drop back and have Brandon fill a gap. Its not that hard to work around when the D is pressuring the QB. even if he just gets his hands up in the lane. Spikes almost always knew the play coming. Made up for his slowness. excellent anticipation.
Jamie Nails Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 Could you post them (even if unreliable) - I searched 'brandon spikes' and couldn't find anything like that. there was one post yesterday from a dude with 70 some odd followers. #notevenremotelyreliable
BillsFanForever19 Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 Interesting. Did you guys see the video in which Arrington interviews Spikes? Cause Arrington quite aggressively and repeatedly tells Spikes he should be signing in Buffalo and Spikes keeps pushing back, not in a "let's move on to the next thing" but more in a "that door is closed" way. I dunno, I could be reading it completely wrong, but it didn't feel like it at the time. Yeah - it was pretty obvious to me watching the NFL Network visit that Spikes wasn't going to be coming back. But everyone fell in love with him so much last year, no one wants to admit it.
Screwball Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 The impression I received from that interview was that Spikes felt like there wasn't an option for him to return to Buffalo. Almost likes he wishes he could - but has already been informed otherwise.
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