Former Patriots Aqib Talib and Brandon Spikes call out their injury report practices
By Mike Dyce
The New England Patriots have always had suspect injury report practices. Now two former Patriots players are calling them out, starting with Buffalo Bills linebacker Brandon Spikes.
“I heard they put me on IR and stuff like that. That was just a false report,” Spikes said Monday during a radio interview with WGR in Buffalo, via ESPN.com’s Mike Rodak. “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.”
He wasn’t the only one to comment on it, Talib weighed in after signing with the Broncos.
“The Patriots have their way of reporting stuff, but I haven’t had a hip problem since Tampa,” Talib said Wednesday. “The injury I had was actually a quad injury. It was reported as a hip injury, but that’s how they do things.”
I imagine we’ll get a lengthy explanation from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.