05-09-2018, 11:43 AM
(05-09-2018, 08:01 AM)McC Wrote: No, it won't.
I feel confident in that. Kinda hard to get worse than last year. Before the scheme switch, we were averaging less than 3 YPC IIRC.
Dalton was also getting sacked/hit/pressured at a ridiculous rate. We can only go up.
(05-09-2018, 10:59 AM)fredtoast Wrote: Mathis was fat and out of shape in 2010. He even made a video of himself getting back in shape before the '11 season.
When Mathis became a free agent after '10 he had 22 career NFL starts and everyone had raved about how well he played in 2009. But he still had to settle for a league minimum contract to be a BACK UP for the Eagles. He showed up in shape and got a chance to start due to an injury. He went on to become an All Pro, but after the '10 season Alexander had the exact same opinion as every other coaching staff in the league. He was not a starter based on his '10 season.
I've seen those before/after pics, and tbh he looked like a typical lineman in the before pic. He just got himself ripped up in the offseason. I've read that was his routine every year. This doesn't mean he was "fat" or out of football shape for 2010, and I won't believe that until I see a quote from a Bengals coach saying he was out of shape.
As for the Eagles, I'm not surprised he had to work his way up. He was coming to them as someone who had been a backup. His reputation was at a low point, thanks to that benching. Thing is, once they got a chance to see him in action, they stuck with him. PA saw him, saw how talented he was, and stuck with the objectively inferior player.
That was a whiff by PA. He had a Pro Bowler in his midst and stuck with the inferior guy. That isn't hindsight either. Mathis outplayed Livings as a Bengal.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
