Brandon Spikes Busts a Move

And other notes from Sunday's big Patriots win.

The Patriots beat the Texans 41-28 on Sunday, setting up a rematch of last season’s AFC Championship Game. But before we move on to next week’s Patriots-Ravens match-up, let’s revisit the greatest thing to come out of the divisional round: New England linebacker Brandon Spikes dancing.

As his teammates appeared to be in the process of recovering a fumble early in the third quarter, Spikes busted out what looked like a modified Michael Jackson impression. Or a less regimented version of the robot. I’m actually not quite sure how to classify it. He’d done similar things in the past, but there was something bizarrely hilarious about his latest attempt to turn the Gillette Stadium turf into his own personal dance floor. About a foot away, a pile of the planet’s most massive human beings were violently wrestling for the precious football. But Spikes felt the need to dance. Bless his heart.

brandon spikes dance

Via BuzzfeedSports

As it turns out, the play had been dubiously ruled dead. The ball carrier, Owen Daniels, was ruled down by forward progress. The fumble wasn’t a fumble at all, Houston kept the ball, and Spikes’ celebration was all for naught. Still, though, the dance was the most enjoyable part of an afternoon that was chock full of heavy moments. Let’s see: tight end Rob Gronkowski reinjured his forearm and is out for the remainder of the playoffs, running back Danny Woodhead hurt his thumb, rookie defensive end Chandler Jones tweaked his ankle, quarterback Tom Brady broke Joe Montana’s record for career postseason wins, and oh right, the Pats delivered another tremendous offensive performance that helped them advance to the seventh AFC Championship Game in the Belichick-Brady era.

And now, another week of nauseating hype begins. If you’re already sick of the Ray Lewis farewell tour, then stay away from ESPN (or really any national sports coverage). Also, if, like me, you’re tired of the bluster that envelops the NFL, you may have to avoid electronic media all together. On Sunday, Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo spent the afternoon trolling Patriots fans on Twitter, saying, among other things, that New England’s abnormally fast hurry-up offense was “a gimmick.”

So for now, instead of getting riled up, I’m just going to enjoy Spikes’ dance moves. Sunday night, I asked SB Nation’s Spencer Hall, the internet’s best college football writer and also a big University of Florida fan, if Spikes’ spontaneity was often on display while the linebacker was a member of the Gators. Hall’s answer? “All the fucking time.” He even provided video evidence: