Two former Patriots say the team put false information about them on official injury reports.
Brandon Spikes and Aqib Talib have both said since leaving New England in free agency that when they were on the Patriots last year, the team gave them injury designations that weren’t accurate. Spikes ended last season on injured reserve with a knee injury, and there were reports that Patriots coach Bill Belichick actually put Spikes on IR because Spikes had shown up late to practice. Spikes seemed to confirm that in an interview on WGR in Buffalo.
“I heard they put me on IR and stuff like that. That was just a false report,” Spikes said, via ESPN.com. “That’s just how things go there. Almost like what happened with Talib and his hip.”
Talib was on injury reports last season with hip injuries, but after signing with the Broncos he said he never had a hip injury.
“The Patriots have their way of reporting stuff, but I haven’t had a hip problem since Tampa,” Talib said. “The injury I had was actually a quad injury. It was reported as a hip injury, but that’s how they do things.”
That’s not how the NFL wants teams to do things. The league office may look into the possibility that the Patriots are playing fast and loose with injury reports.