robert mathis

[jim scheurich]

I was just reading an article on the colts website. it says that mathis is going to be a major part of the pass rush defense for next year. While Robert has done a phenominal job during his career, wouldn't it be wise to limit his plays (try to prevent injury) and focus on a younger pass rusher?

[Introspect]

He is getting close to the end. Run him til he can't run no more!!

[Jdubu]

I'd say this has to be the last season here regardless of how good or bad he is. It's time for the youth movement and he is most likely not gonna get any better than he was last season at best and will drop off majorly after the season if not sooner. He has some high mileage on those tires. 

[COLTS449]

I think he may come in next year and have a great year. But we cant count on that happening. We have to bring in 2 OLB's. We'll probably sign one and draft one.

[NewColtsFan]

 

I think there's a somewhat reasonable chance that Mathis will be better in '16 than he was in '15.

 

The further out from the surgery you are,  the better/stronger his Achilles should be.     I thought he looked better in December than he did in November.     Thought that was a good sign for his future.

 

Don't get me wrong,  I'm not predicting he'll even be close to what he was in '13.      But he might get to a level where we might look for 7-9 sacks next year.     That aint terrible....

 

 

[will426]

I bet Mathis is our lead sacker next year 

[Goatface Killah]

I'm actually expecting big things from Mathis next year. He missed a year and a half and had 10 surgeries then proceeded to lead us in sacks with 7 in only 9 games. I'm expecting 10-12 next year for sure.

[achcolts]

i say that he wasnt going 100% this year reserving himself to full go off next season.

[GoColts8818]

6 hours ago, jim scheurich said:

I was just reading an article on the colts website. it says that mathis is going to be a major part of the pass rush defense for next year. While Robert has done a phenominal job during his career, wouldn't it be wise to limit his plays (try to prevent injury) and focus on a younger pass rusher?

Who do you have to focus on?  I am sure the Colts would love another guy to go to but the only real option at the moment is Newsome who showed a lot of promise as a rookie but didn't do anything last year.  Unless something changes this off-season (and it could and really needs to) Mathis is the only proven pass rusher they have.

[Chucklez]

Once Mathis was starting games, which is when you have to assume that he was finally fully back in game shape and recovered from his injury, he had 6 of his 7 sacks on the season. Those 6 sacks (and another FF) came in the final 10 games of the season. Btw 2 of those sacks were against Carolina's stout offensive line.

Average that out over a whole season and you have about 10.5 sacks with 2FF. While those aren't megastar numbers like you'd get from JJ Watt or Von Miller, our defense will sorely need that production next season.

[coltsfeva]

A healthy Mathis is a must. I was wondering about this yesterday: Do they start 
Walden and a FA/Draft guy  and bring in Mathis, only on 3rd and long? Whatever they do (including getting rid of Cole and Werner), they need to get a pass rusher as a top priority. 

[lollygagger8]

Just like Luck needs an O-Line to help him succeed, 

 

Mathis needs another good pass rusher on the other side to help him out. He can't be our only option and expected to do everything. 

[TheRustonRifle#7]

Our new DC said that he wants to use his players to accentuate their strengths. I hope that means using Mathis on 3rd and obvious passing downs and moving him around to rush the opposing QB?

[Vinatieri4]

He definitely looked slower last season, what is terrible is that he was coming off a league leading sack season I believe and then tore his Achilles..  That's rough

[RollerColt]

1 hour ago, lollygagger8 said:

Just like Luck needs an O-Line to help him succeed, 

 

Mathis needs another good pass rusher on the other side to help him out. He can't be our only option and expected to do everything. 

Part of what helped Mathis do his thing in the past was having Freeney on the other side. Yes please, we really need multiple threats on our defense. That was blatantly obvious this year.

[BullsColtsFan1]

If Mathis is healthy, he'll get his fair share of sacks.  The end is near but I hope he's got another great year left in him.  He's one of the greats for sure.

[ProblChld32]

15 hours ago, jim scheurich said:

I was just reading an article on the colts website. it says that mathis is going to be a major part of the pass rush defense for next year. While Robert has done a phenominal job during his career, wouldn't it be wise to limit his plays (try to prevent injury) and focus on a younger pass rusher?

 

Limit him for what? the man wants to play every down. let him play to solidify his legacy. he knows that he doesn't have many years left. 

[ProblChld32]

2 hours ago, Vinatieri4 said:

He definitely looked slower last season, what is terrible is that he was coming off a league leading sack season I believe and then tore his Achilles..  That's rough

 

I dont think who looked that much slower honestly, 

[ColtsFanMikeC]

16 hours ago, jim scheurich said:

I was just reading an article on the colts website. it says that mathis is going to be a major part of the pass rush defense for next year. While Robert has done a phenominal job during his career, wouldn't it be wise to limit his plays (try to prevent injury) and focus on a younger pass rusher?

 

He's the only pass rusher we really have right now.  Hopefully Newsome turns it around and can improve on the glimpses he showed as a rookie.  We need to improve at OLB for sure, but I think we desperately need Mathis next year.  Mathis looked to get stronger as the year went on, and he is a workout warrior, so I'm sure he'll be back in better shape next year.  That said, he is at his best when he is pinning his ears back and going after the QB -- it would be nice to be able to limit him mostly to passing downs, but that will depend on how we approach improving at OLB this offseason.

 

15 hours ago, Jdubu said:

I'd say this has to be the last season here regardless of how good or bad he is. It's time for the youth movement and he is most likely not gonna get any better than he was last season at best and will drop off majorly after the season if not sooner. He has some high mileage on those tires. 

 

He got better and better as the season went on last year (IMO).  He's getting further away from the injury and I think he still has at least 1 good year in him (he tweeted the other day he wants to play 15 -- I'm assuming that means 15 seasons and he just finished his 13th).  Anyway, you're right -- we need to get younger across the board on defense (not just at LB) -- but we also don't have anyone we can count on to be a pass rusher this year besides Mathis -- again, maybe Newsome will turn it around, but who knows.  I'd not mind seeing us draft a young guy early, having Mathis mentor him this year and then come back a following season in a limited role (kinda like Freeney was used in AZ this year).

 

2 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Part of what helped Mathis do his thing in the past was having Freeney on the other side. Yes please, we really need multiple threats on our defense. That was blatantly obvious this year.

 

You are correct, part of what helped Mathis was Freeney.  However, part of what helped Mathis and Freeney (more than anything, IMO), was they played on a team with the best (or one of the best) scoring offenses in the league during the majority of their tenure together. 

 

Our offense last year was pretty awful most games and other than a couple of Luck's better performances (e.g., Denver), we were never really a scoring threat.  It is hard to rush the passer and get sacks when other teams have no need to rely heavily on the pass.  If Luck comes back healthy and this offense can get going early in the season (and early in games), it should allow for our defense to be much more aggressive rushing the passer -- if we are putting up numbers like 7, 10, 16, 18 points on the board it will be very difficult for our defense to have high numbers of sacks as other teams simply don't have to rely on dropping back and becoming pass-first against us.

[COLTS449]

It'd be nice if we could sign Bruce Irvin and draft Noah Spence in the 1st. Those 2 paired with Mathis and Walden would give us a really good OLB corps. We'd have 3 guys capable of putting up 10plus sacks next season.

[Jason_]

1 hour ago, ProblChld32 said:

 

Limit him for what? the man wants to play every down. let him play to solidify his legacy. he knows that he doesn't have many years left. 

 

Who cares about his legacy...or what he wants?  If his best role in terms of what's best for the team is to be a limited pass rush specialist (much like Freeney was with Arizona) then that's the role he should be in.  

[jskinnz]

2 hours ago, ProblChld32 said:

 

Limit him for what? the man wants to play every down. let him play to solidify his legacy. he knows that he doesn't have many years left. 

 

Limit him early in the year so he has gas in the tank at then end of the year.

 

Mathis may want to play every down but that does not come close to meaning that is what is best for the team. And this legacy nonsense is just that - nonsense.  Mathis' legacy of what he meant to some really good Indy Colt teams is set. 

[RockThatBlue]

5 hours ago, coltsfeva said:

A healthy Mathis is a must. I was wondering about this yesterday: Do they start 
Walden and a FA/Draft guy  and bring in Mathis, only on 3rd and long? Whatever they do (including getting rid of Cole and Werner), they need to get a pass rusher as a top priority. 

Walden and Mathis don't play the same position.

[throwing BBZ]

18 hours ago, jim scheurich said:

I was just reading an article on the colts website. it says that mathis is going to be a major part of the pass rush defense for next year. While Robert has done a phenominal job during his career, wouldn't it be wise to limit his plays (try to prevent injury) and focus on a younger pass rusher?

 

 Yes, to Another effective rush OLB. We spent $7M on one for last season didn`t we? lol
 Very wise to limit his snaps, predominately but not limited to passing situations.
 Kind of a given at his age.
 He did come on later in the season, and the way it looks now, we will need him

[jim scheurich]

16 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

Who do you have to focus on?  I am sure the Colts would love another guy to go to but the only real option at the moment is Newsome who showed a lot of promise as a rookie but didn't do anything last year.  Unless something changes this off-season (and it could and really needs to) Mathis is the only proven pass rusher they have.

they need to look for someone else, a 35 yr. old pass rusher, as good as he is, is extremely risky to count on to finish the year uninjured.  kind of reminds me of an unhealthy freeney trying to play in the super bowl.

[jim scheurich]

4 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 Yes, to Another effective rush OLB. We spent $7M on one for last season didn`t we? lol
 Very wise to limit his snaps, predominately but not limited to passing situations.
 Kind of a given at his age.
 He did come on later in the season, and the way it looks now, we will need him

I never said we wouldn't need him. we will, excellent leadership, and this is "how you do it "attitude. i'm just saying he's not a young man anymore.

[JetLife_XCVI]

I think you milk a guy like him while he can still go. He's one of the all time great pass rushers. The Von Miller before there was one. 

[Dark Superman]

The guy is still a monster, but we really need to get some younger and more productive guys who can get to the QB. Hopefully we can draft someone early and have #98 take him under his wing for a year.

[SteelDragon]

I think we would be pragmatic and try to preserve him as much as possible, in case we make a deep run into the play-offs. It's situational, but he presently is one, of only two, game-wreckers we have on defense. 

Remember Dwight Freeney and the lis franc injury suffered in the play-offs? We might have throttled Drew Brees in the Superbowl had he been more healthy.  Stay healthy Robert!

 

[ÅÐØNϧ 1]

On 2/2/2016 at 7:43 PM, jim scheurich said:

I was just reading an article on the colts website. it says that mathis is going to be a major part of the pass rush defense for next year. While Robert has done a phenominal job during his career, wouldn't it be wise to limit his plays (try to prevent injury) and focus on a younger pass rusher?

 

IMO the mindset has to be on younger players especially a couple of pass rushers Mathis will IMO do real well could led the team with sacks but his age is a concern I hope he's up to the test .

When we had bookends  Freeney & Mathis the 2 created many problems for the offenses they faced they had to be accounted for we need a new Freeney clone if possible 

 

[jim scheurich]

30 minutes ago, ÅÐØNϧ 1 said:

 

IMO the mindset has to be on younger players especially a couple of pass rushers Mathis will IMO do real well could led the team with sacks but his age is a concern I hope he's up to the test .

When we had bookends  Freeney & Mathis the 2 created many problems for the offenses they faced they had to be accounted for we need a new Freeney clone if possible 

 

I think colts were hoping werner was going to be quite a bit better than hes turned out to be.

[MR. Blueblood]

I don't care if (insert player name here) is young or old or somewhere in between, just so long as they get to the QB and get to them often.