Bills linebacker Brandon Spikes is nothing if not uniquely creative.
So, when word came out this week that he's always called Tom Brady "The Pharaoh," our interest was piqued. Brady said we'd have to ask Spikes about the origin of the nickname, and since Spikes spoke to the Herald yesterday, there was no chance of passing up on that question.
"I feel like there’s levels to this game, and he’s achieved the maximum of them all," Spikes said of Brady. "I mean, what do you want? You’ve got a beautiful wife, a beautiful family. He’s one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. He’s got the rings that prove it. He’s got the MVPs. What more could you achieve at this level? I just feel like he’s in a league of his own. He’s still going. I always admired him because of the edge he had each and every year coming into the season. He always would tell me, ‘Hey B, they drafted me in the (sixth) round, man.’ That was a long time ago, and he’s still got that fire burning in him. As a player, you’ve got to respect that man."
Spikes also defended the absurd criticism of Brady this season.
"They’re always waiting," Spikes said of the critics. "They’re waiting patiently, waiting for somebody to do something. In my opinion, that’s how you measure a man. When he gets punched in the face, what does he do after that? Does he lay down? Does he get up? That’s how I feel like you measure a man throughout his career. How does he respond to adversity and things like that? It doesn’t surprise me that he came back out with (what) looks like a whole different offense. That’s the last thing I expected him to just fold and buy into all of that bullcrap everybody was speaking at the time."
Oh, and when asked later about the Patriots' tight end tandem of Rob Gronkowski and Tim Wright, Spikes casually dropped a Pharaoh reference like it was nothing.
"I think it’s going to be extremely difficult, but first off, we’ve got to definitely get The Pharaoh off the spot," Spikes said. "We’ve got to pressure him. Secondly, we need to be prepared for all the formations. They do a lot of moving around, the multiple formations, multiple personnel groups. It can get tricky, and that’s one of the reasons they do that, to get the defense off track and get them discombobulated. But if we can keep our composure and make sure we communicate and tackle well, because they’ve got a lot of dynamic guys that can make some plays. If you miss a tackle here and there, they can turn a 3-yard play into a big gain. We want to just swarm to the ball, get all 11 guys to the ball and try to make plays."
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