Just so you don't think I'm being unfair, here's a critique of Spikes' tape.
Play 1: Has his feet moving and uses his arms before the block, on the move.
Play 2: Same thing as McClain, doesn't get his arms up to keep the blocker off his body. He's got his eyes on the ball, not dealing with the blocker properly.
Play 3: This one still confuses me. He does everything proper from the standpoint of handling the blocker, delivering the blow, using his hands, keeping on the move, etc...and he's effectively setting the edge of the defense. But, at the expense of straight up choosing not to make a play on the ball carrier? This kind of shows his role in the defense a little bit. He's more of a disrupter than a collector of tackles.
Play 4: I didn't fault Rolondo for doing this and I won't fault Brandon for it, either. He moved beyond the block and into a gap, forcing the runner to the inside where there should be more help. But, #40 and #94 didn't really do an adequate job backing him up. There is some question of whether he overran the play, depending on his responsibilities, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable saying for sure.
Play 5: He does a good job of keeping an eye on the ball, recognizing a blocker and delivering the blow. He didn't use his hands as well as he could have in his blow, but he delivered the first strike and that's why he was able to stay free enough to come at the ball.
Play 6: This is really an excellent job dealing with a blocker. There's no hesitation and he keeps his feet moving, uses his hands to get beyond the blocker on the move and give himself the best chance of getting into the play.
Play 7: He tends to strike the first blow on blockers but if there's a complaint, it's that he's not using his hands well enough and relying on shoulders instead.
Play 8: Another fantastic job of moving into the block, extending his arms, making first impact, being aggressive and keeping an eye on the ball. As many have noticed in the past, he plays a little out of control sometimes with his aggression and in this case once he saw the ball go down, he shouldn't have thrown the blocker to the ground so blatantly, and he also has to watch his hands to the facemask.
Play 9: Leans into the block well and gets his arms out before contact, keeping his spot and forcing the ball inside to where there is help (unfortunately the help doesn't do so good a job again). Doesn't do a good enough job disengaging as the ball came through the gap.
Play 10: Another example of him choosing to set the edge instead of making a play on the ball. This has to be schematic. It's so out of sorts. I really do disagree with the notion that he's a freelancer. What you see on this play and the other play isn't the mark of a selfish player. It's the mark of a selfless player, erring on the side of setting up his teammates to make the play. Spikes does more things that are selfless in nature, which basically means accomplishing something so that someone else can make the play on the ball, than Rolondo McClain. No doubt in my mind.
Play 11: Really an excellent job keeping his eye on the ball through a block, disengaging and making a play on the ball. Fine job.
Play 12: This play might not really belong in this section, he only dealt with traffic at the very end of the play as he was making a play on the ball.
Play 13: He found the gap and he ran to it, didn't allow an OL to move him out of it, leaving the blocker looking like a shovel that ran into a rock.
Play 14: Confused as to where the blow was coming from. He thought he had a blocker identified but then someone else got him and Spikes allowed the OL to get right into him. He had to, not unlike McClain, rely on his natural talent to get off the contact but in the pros if you let a guy get into you first, you're often just plain done, regardless of your physical ability.
Play 15: Truly an excellent job. Stays on the balls of his feet, extends his arms, delivers the blow, and then runs by the blocker to make a play on the ball.
Play 16: Negotiating heavy traffic, he ends up leaving himself open for a blocker to get right into him and deliver the first blow. This happened because he had to knife close in on an engaged blocker and defender and he used his arms to swim by the two without losing speed, but he couldn't recover in time to get a good plan going on the next obstacle.
Play 17: Gets his hands up adequately as he moves into the first strike, but most importantly he keeps his arms fully extended, keeping the blocker off his body, and his feet moving, which allows him to dominate the block.
Play 18: Another example of finding the right gap and filling it, then not allowing a blocker to move you out of it, forcing the ball carrier away from where he should be and (hopefully) into help. Problem is his first strike is more of a shoulder blow which only guarantees that you're not going to have much maneuverability out of the block. He gets the blocker on the ground of course but that's just his physical gifts doing the talking.
Play 19: The story here isn't how he dealt with the blocker. That was actually really tremendous work. The story here is about false steps. Try as I might, I can't figure out what he saw that made him take a few steps to the left. He barely missed making a play on the ball but it was a function of his false steps at the beginning of the play, not his dealing with an OL who was aiming to pummel him...he dealt with the OL fantastically but he was already just a little too far out of the play.
Play 20: He lets I believe it's Vlachos get right into him without using his hands, which again is a pet peeve. But, much like McClain, physical gifts will get you out of fully engaged blocks that a lack of technique got you into in the first place.
Play 21: Truly a superb job when you consider he had to deal with two OLs that were separately aimed at him during this play. He really kept his head on a swivel, his feet moving, his arms extended, and he got around both blocks. What's the rest of the defense doing? Two OLs lock onto one LB and someone else can't make a play?
Play 22: Only an adequate job keeping his feet moving before the block and getting his hands up, but excellent use of hands and feet after the initial strike. That's sort of a bad/good overall grade.
Play 23: Much like the play where McClain found the hole and took on the FB in the hole, that is what Spikes does on this play. Except where the FB dominated McClain and eventually got him on the ground, Spikes is physically dominating the lead blocker (which happens to be a TE) in the hole. Unfortunately, he doesn't do a very good job getting his hands extended.
Play 24: A really good job here keeping his left arm extended in traffic to keep everyone off him, allowing him to stay off blocks and get after the ball. He overpursued a little which left his tackle looking a little speed bump-ish, but that's really a separate issue from dealing with blockers.
Play 25: Doesn't do a good job of getting his arms up before this block, but met the blow with an aggressive blow of his own, for sort of a stalemate, which allowed him to keep one hand free to get after the ball. Not a good technique, but not a total fail.
Play 26: I sort of knew someone was going to bite on this one. He actually did a really good job dealing with the blocker on this screen play. He kept his arms extended and his feet moving, had a plan to deal with the blocker, everything you could ask for IMO. Two things you have to keep in mind on this play. One is, he started out on the back side of this play with coverage responsibility on the left side of the field. That's a long way to come over, from the middle of the hash marks to the sideline, to chase a screen, while negotiating an aimed OL on the way. I think he did a good job even threatening the play to begin with. The second thing is, he was blatantly held on the play! The OL has his shoulder grabbed, and turns it from Spikes' side, and then to top it off he dives straight at the back of Spikes' legs and clips him. Should have been a penalty.
Play 27: Again, excellent work here. He's poised on the balls of his feet, leaning into the blow and delivering with his hands and arms extended, keeping his feet moving and this allows him to get off the block and head toward the ball.
Play 28: On this play, he does a little bit more of avoiding traffic and blocks than he does taking them on. He gets to the side of the blocking and lunges at the runner from the side, making the tackle.
