For the second time in a week, a former New England Patriots player called out his old team for sketchy dealings with injury designations. This time it was Brandon Spikes, a former Pats’ second-round draft pick who recently signed with the Buffalo Bills.
While Spikes expressed warm feelings towards owner Bob Kraft and some of his former teammates, the ex-Florida Gators linebacker defended himself during an interview with John Murphy on WGR in Buffalo on Monday when the subject of his knee injury was brought up.
Spikes was asked about the “nagging knee injury” that led to him being placed on IR at the end of the season.
“I know, I heard they put me on IR and stuff like that. That was just a false report,” Spikes told Murphy. “That’s just how things go there. Almost like what happened with (Aqib) Talib and his hip.
“That was just from the labor throughout the season, man. It was just — you know how it is — it’s a tough 16 games. All I needed was rest and rehab.”
Last week, Talib, who signed with the Denver Broncos, said the team listed him as having a hip injury last season when he really had a quad problem.
Maybe Spikes was looking to brush asides any concerns about a knee injury and behavior problems when he made the comment, but that’s two former players who have talked about some shady Pats practices recently. This is nothing new; we’ve known for a long time that Bill Belichick doesn’t give anything away and oftentimes intentionally misleads people. I mean how many times have Tom Brady’s injuries been hidden by the team? He’s listed as probable with a shoulder injury almost every week, but when he has real injuries, those are never listed.
I guess that’s just one aspect of the “Patriot Way.”
For more background on the story, recall that at the time that a report said Spikes was placed on IR for both disciplinary and injury reasons. Spikes’ agent denied that a mutual agreement between the team and his client was reached regarding the IR tag. Like I said, if you don’t believe Spikes was telling the truth, then you can figure he was saying that to protect himself and make himself look better.
[Previously: Brandon Spikes quotes Martin Luther King Jr. after signing with Bills]
