re: Brandon Spikes and Aqib Talib taking shots at Pats

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Now Indys GM that was drunk driving and had drugs. Throw the book at them

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With former Patriots players Aqib Talib and Brandon Spikes making comments about the Patriots' injury reporting procedures -- Talib regarding his hip, Spikes about why he was placed on season-ending injured reserve in January -- it has sparked headlines that create a perception the club might be skirting league rules.

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To which we'd offer an emphatic response: Come on, man!

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In Talib's case, the story was about the club listing his quad injury as a hip injury. This is common practice around the NFL, and has been for years, as most coaches will acknowledge they are actually trying to protect the player. As former Steelers coach Bill Cowher once said, "Sometimes when a guy had an ankle [injury], I might list it as a knee, just because I didn't want people knowing where to take shots at my players."

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Meanwhile, in Spikes' case, he seemed to be saying that he could have played through a knee injury in the playoffs. That's fair, as he gutted his way through the 16-game regular season even when it was clear that he was hampered by the injury, providing an emotional charge to his teammates in the process. But that was never really the main question with Spikes at the time. The bigger issue was that the team placed him on injured reserve due to a combination of the injury and not showing up for practice one day during the playoff bye week, as reported by ESPN NFL senior analyst Chris Mortensen.

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