Next step? Making his mark in the postseason, after two years in which he has yet to play up to his own expectations.
“I feel like I was just OK,’’ Spikes said of his first two years in the NFL. “Me, personally, I always want to just ‘ball out’ - that’s the word I use for it, just ‘balling.’ Obviously, this is the NFL and there’s going to be some ups and downs, but I just feel like I haven’t played my best game yet. I’m just striving to do that.’’
Why hasn’t he been able to put it all together?
“I don’t know,’’ Spikes said. “That’s a good question.
“When I get the opportunity, they call my name, I’m going in the game and I feel like I’m going to make plays. I always look at the game, since I was 4 years old, the same way - I just feel like I haven’t played my best game yet.’’
Spikes played in only eight games this season, the result of a sprained medial collateral ligament suffered Nov. 6 against the Giants. He missed the next seven, returning to the field against Buffalo, the final game of the season.
“It was tough,’’ Spikes said. “It was my first time really ever, my first injury ever in my life, and it was totally different. But with my teammates’ help, guys just motivating me, always on my back just trying to get me back out there, it kind of made it easier.
“It hurt me just to see them playing every Sunday and I couldn’t be out there.’’
It was frustrating for him, of course, especially after he missed time in the preseason because of an ankle issue. He hadn’t ended his rookie season the way he wanted, hadn’t started his second year the way he wanted, wasn’t finishing the 2011 season the way he wanted. And, still, he said, “I just think everything happens for a reason.’’
He’s back now, in time for the postseason, though he will have to integrate himself into a defense that has struggled with missing personnel all season. Safety Patrick Chung and Spikes (among others) have sat out significant portions of the second half.
