Eagles realease Mathis

[L.Freamon]

Here is another opinion from a guy who should know....

Tra Thomas: Eagles Are Better On Left Side Without Evan Mathis - GCOBB.COM | GCOBB.COM

You mean the guy that co-signed Shady's mcoy's "Chips a racist" sentiment? Please tell more!

 

[DutchBird]

That is what I thought you meant.... I didn't understand why everyone started talking about off-field drunken stupidity. The discussion had been about talent. Cutting talent and yet Cooper is still here. I like Cooper's work ethic - but he doesn't have the talent to justify the contract he was given, and he certainly proved it last year. Meanwhile Djax has made 4 different QB's look good, and embarrassed us last year and ended our season. How has our long passing game been since he left? Chip certainly buys into work ethic more than talent, and thus believes scheme trumps talent. I can see that being the case more so in college, but not so much at the pro level. Time will tell.

Based on most others sports you could not be more wrong. Prime example being soccer, where - even when they have millions more to spend than most competitors - the most spending team (as in buying players) rarely if ever wins. Chelsea, Man City, Paris Saint Germain and even Real Madrid are consistent examples of such failure. Focussing purely on talent only gets you so far in (most) team sports. Work ethic and team spirit matter a whole lot more than most people think, at all levels.

- DJax: Disruptive, apparently did not want to do much of what was asked of him. And also known under Andy Reid to not always putting forward his best effort.

And FTR, the long passing game not functioning was as much Foles' and Sanchez failing dismally (as well as somewhat the O-line) as anything else; at least based on a number of All-22 blog posts on various sites; posts which consistently show people being either (a) (wide) open deep, or (b) the QB's timing/direction being off, enabling defenders to break up the pass/catch up to the WR/leading the WR into the defender or OOB - if the ball did not end up as an over-/underthrow or INT in the first place.

I do agree with you on Cooper's contract though.

- Apparently things with McCoy where somewhat similar, where McCoy danced to much, and allegedly (according to some metrics/sites) ranked badly (much lower) for added value/blame-worthiness of failure of running plays (compared to O-line). And he even did so in the 2013 season!


Mathis, who knows. In this case my opinion echoes some BGN pundits - the Eagles might not have expected things to escalate to this point, and something was the proverbial final drop in a bucket that made it overflow and someone deciding 'enough is enough'. Some argue it was the '$1 million offer' story leaked last week. Allegedly notice as well the commonality of Drew R with TO, Mathis and IIRC DJackx.

BTW, DJackx lighting the Eagles up is as much an indictment of the Eagles secondary as well as Jackson himself (he tends to disappear in games of for whole games - IMO at least in par a motivation issue).

 

[DutchBird]

You mean the guy that co-signed Shady's mcoy's "Chips a racist" sentiment? Please tell more!

Did you read Tra's comments and why he comes to the opinion he has (BTW, allegedly/apparently the O-line as a whole performed no better, and in some ways worse when Mathis came back in than when he was out).

And who knows whay Tra said what he said (p-ed off by being let go as a trainer, simple brain fart?). And not too sure, but the Eagles might have (or might have had at the time of Tra being let go) one of the whitest coaching staffs and front offices (especially in higher positions) in the NFL, and in fact becoming 'whiter'.

 

[deerpathdave]

You mean the guy that co-signed Shady's mcoy's "Chips a racist" sentiment? Please tell more!

Um yeah. The guy with a reasonable axe to grind with Chip and watched every practice last year and was an all pro offensive lineman. That guy.

 

[deerpathdave]

So to recap opinions that matter as opposed to those of us yahoos on message boards....

Herremans (4 year teammate now not on the Eagles)..."I think it's kind of unfortunate for Evan. I think he kind of brought it upon himself, though, by not showing up. We expect them to stick to the contract that they offer us, that they sign us to, and they expect us to do the same. If you're going to violate some of the things that are expected out of you then you have to be able to deal with what comes next."

Tra Thomas (former coaching intern for the Eagles and all pro offensive lineman)....
“Evan is taking his guy right on the line and Jason Peters is about three yards behind him. He’s setting back and that puts them on two different levels which creates issues and problems when the rushers run games against them. Lot of times if you saw the film, you saw issues. They were on different levels.”

Thomas believes there will be noticeable improvement with the insertion of Barbre into the lineup.

“When you bring in Allen Barbre on that left side, Big Al and Jason. They kind of move the same. I think you will see a better rapport and better chemistry. These two will play better together. Just because Allen sets more at a 45 degree angle and he punches his guy.”

“When you go back and review the film and and look at how he has been playing I know he made the Pro Bowl, but when you look at his style of play. He doesn’t the play the way I would want my guards to play. I know it’s going to fit somewhere. But when you look at what was going on back out there on the field you could see Jason didn’t trust him. He creates a problem when it comes to protection. Evan Mathis likes to jump his guy on the line so if you have a guy that’s setting. It’s one thing if you have both the tackle and guard jumping at the line. When you’re on different levels so it creates problems.”

“You know exactly what they’re going to get out of Allen Barbre. They already know what they’re going to get out of Allen Barbre. He’s exactly what you want out of a guard. He’s got the right mentality for a guard. You’re going to see. The left side is going to be a little more firmer up especially when it comes to games. He likes to set a 45 and it makes a true U form. — It makes switching off the game a lot easier.”

“I think Coach Kelly is going back and watching the film. There were issues when it comes to protection. Now, I think the left side is good.”

Jason Peters (Current all pro Left Tackle and 4 year teammate)...."No, not really," said Peters. "I've been playing beside different guys every year, so it doesn't really matter who's beside me to get the chemistry with them, and then get ready for the season. "We've got a group of guys out there putting in work who have been here since April. Right now Allen Barbre is the starter. Don't know if Evan shows up, he'll get his spot back, I don't know."

Zach Ertz (Eagle Tight End)...."If you go against Chip, I’ve think we seen … if you don’t buy in, we’ve seen what happens," Ertz said. "Not to say that as a threat in any way, but we want guys that love the process each and every day, whether its June 1 or January 1 or February 6, whatever day the Super Bowl is. "We need guys that are going to come in each and every day and work and I think that’s what we’re building right now."

 

[Rey]

What I'm reading is that players weren't happy with the moaning about the contract and skipping practice time. That doesn't automatically translate to better play from the backups when the bullets start flying. If looking good in OTA's meant anything Na Brown would be a HOF'er.

 

[deerpathdave]

TE="Rey, post: 6770963, member: 8649"]What I'm reading is that players weren't happy with the moaning about the contract and skipping practice time. That doesn't automatically translate to better play from the backups when the bullets start flying. If looking good in OTA's meant anything Na Brown would be a HOF'er.[/QUOTE]
From a football perspective Thomas comments were the most interesting.

 

[deerpathdave]

Also Peters comments were before he was cut and he says he doesn't think Mathis will get his job back when he reports. Backs up the idea that Mathis was cut because he lost his job.

 

[deerpathdave]

Kelly with surely be asked about this today. With the union watching he should be less than forthright. I expect alot of praise for.Mathis the great guy and wanting to give him the chance to look around as he requested and that he was cut for football reasons. Then talk about how impressed they are with Barbre.

 

[eaglesnut]

Eagles were already out of playoff contention and the Eagles had arguably the worst secondary I have ever seen. Noticed you did not mention the game the Eagles won in week 3.

Desean Jackson is a one trick pony IMO. I expect him to light up horrible secondaries like the Eagles. When you have a receiver with that much speed and shit for corners and safeties what do you expect.

That is the second incorrect thing you have said in this thread now, PG.

No I didn't mention week 3. Was I supposed to? The Redskins were a terrible team all year and we went .500 against them. And in the do or die game, we died and desean had a lot to do with it.

 

[L.Freamon]

 

[deerpathdave]

Yep. I got seasoned in the know professionals that form my opinion. You got the funny papers.

 

[eaglesnut]

I don't think you'll find anyone here who doesn't think Mathis should have been happy with his current contract. But that's not the issue here. Winning football games is. More turnover is. Less Oline depth is. I don't care that Chip Kelly wants his type of culture here. He should. But that also needs to jive with winning Super Bowls, not just 10 games every year and no playoff wins because you've put an upper limit on the talent available to you.

 

[deerpathdave]

I don't think you'll find anyone here who doesn't think Mathis should have been happy with his current contract. But that's not the issue here. Winning football games is. More turnover is. Less Oline depth is. I don't care that Chip Kelly wants his type of culture here. He should. But that also needs to jive with winning Super Bowls, not just 10 games every year and no playoff wins because you've put an upper limit on the talent available to you.

Really is there anyone's opinion we should trust on this more than Tra Thomas? He is a former All pro Offensive lineman who was in the Eagles Organization for the last two years as a coaching intern. He saw everything up close and personal. Is he biased toward Kelly? Given that he was let go by them and what he had to say about the McCoy thing than obviously not.

And what did he say? That this was all about football and the line cohesion and having a guy at LG that had a style that meshed well with Peters. So in Thomas's opinion this was all about winning football games.

Would Mathis have made nice depth? I think from a football perspective Kelly would have loved to have him on the team. But here is a guy not happy with his current salary, now your going to ask him to sit on the bench and back up another player? And how do you explain paying $5M to a backup offensive lineman? And do you really think Mathis is going to be at all happy with this situation? Quite a recipe for being a locker room distraction.

So you treat him like a man, and give him his freedom. Bit of a shame to simply release an all pro offensive lineman, but that seems to be where they were at.

 

[L.Freamon]

Really is there anyone's opinion we should trust on this more than Tra Thomas? He is a former All pro Offensive lineman who was in the Eagles Organization for the last two years as a coaching intern. He saw everything up close and personal. Is he biased toward Kelly? Given that he was let go by them and what he had to say about the McCoy thing than obviously not.

And what did he say? That this was all about football and the line cohesion and having a guy at LG that had a style that meshed well with Peters. So in Thomas's opinion this was all about winning football games.

Would Mathis have made nice depth? I think from a football perspective Kelly would have loved to have him on the team. But here is a guy not happy with his current salary, now your going to ask him to sit on the bench and back up another player? And how do you explain paying $5M to a backup offensive lineman? And do you really think Mathis is going to be at all happy with this situation? Quite a recipe for being a locker room distraction.

So you treat him like a man, and give him his freedom. Bit of a shame to simply release an all pro offensive lineman, but that seems to be where they were at.

Because it's outside the realm of reasonable credibility that the two lone back ups to Mathis, who weren't remotely close to supplanting Mathis as of week 17, could have equaled or surpassed his level of talent...through limited workouts in the offseason & without playing a game. Further, you're asking me to believe Barbre finally figured out how to play the position....AFTER 10 YEARS!?!?! I know there's slow learners, but that's just ridiculous.

COM'MON MAN. I'd like to think you're better than that, dpd.

 

[deerpathdave]

Because it's outside the realm of reasonable credibility that the two lone back ups to Mathis, who weren't remotely close to supplanting Mathis as of week 17, could have equaled or surpassed his level of talent...through limited workouts in the offseason & without playing a game. Further, you're asking me to believe Barbre finally figured out how to play the position....AFTER 10 YEARS!?!?! I know there's slow learners, but that's just ridiculous.

COM'MON MAN. I'd like to think you're better than that, dpd.

So you disagree with Tra Thomas. Okay. Its fine to have your opinion. Forgive me if I trust a pro bowl offensive lineman that spent the last two years in the room with these guys more than you.

 

[deerpathdave]

I played cards with Malik Rose (color commentator for the 76ers) last night and we talked Eagles football. He was pretty down on the Eagles overall, but perked up when I mentioned what Tra had to say. FWIW, Evidently Tra has a reputation as a straight shooter at least in the ex-athlete club.

 

[deerpathdave]

Eagles are in the clear after NFLPA investigates the release of Evan Mathis - Bleeding Green Nation

NFLPA has no issue with the Mathis release...

 

[L.Freamon]

So you disagree with Tra Thomas. Okay. Its fine to have your opinion. Forgive me if I trust a pro bowl offensive lineman that spent the last two years in the room with these guys more than you.

But I'm not asking you to trust ME. I'm simply asking you to evaluate your own common sense and logic. So many Eagles fans are all too willing to throw common sense out the window because Chip Kelly.

Until Chip starts changing water to wine, i can't do that.

 

[deerpathdave]

But I'm not asking you to trust ME. I'm simply asking you to evaluate your own common sense and logic. So many Eagles fans are all too willing to throw common sense out the window because Chip Kelly.

Until Chip starts changing water to wine, i can't do that.

I'm not trusting Chip so much here as Herremans, Thomas and Peters.