Did Byron Pringle save our season?

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Still not sure how Kelce didn't bring that in.

That was the most shocking turnover of the season, and there have been many. It seemed like Kelce had the ball, and then all of a sudden the Cowboys guy had it. Smh.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by DRM08

That was the most shocking turnover of the season, and there have been many. It seemed like Kelce had the ball, and then all of a sudden the Cowboys guy had it. Smh.

Hope the week off allows him to heal/refocus. He needs it as much as anyone.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Hope the week off allows him to heal/refocus. He needs it as much as anyone.

Yeah - he's looked like he's playing at 80% since about week 3. He's just getting beat to hell and it's clearly taking a toll on him.

And hell, he's just a little older than he used to be. If the game's requiring him to expend more energy to stay at the same level he was once able to cruise at, he'll have a few more errors as a result.

But yeah, more than anyone, Kelce could use a break. Seems like he gets up slow and trudges back to the huddle on every snap at this point.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yeah - he's looked like he's playing at 80% since about week 3. He's just getting beat to hell and it's clearly taking a toll on him.

And hell, he's just a little older than he used to be. If the game's requiring him to expend more energy to stay at the same level he was once able to cruise at, he'll have a few more errors as a result.

But yeah, more than anyone, Kelce could use a break. Seems like he gets up slow and trudges back to the huddle on every snap at this point.

Yep

He's 32 years old, and has been playing an average of about 17 games per year (including playoffs). He gets the really tough assignments over the middle taking a pounding game after game. That shit eventually catches up to you. I'm absolutely amazed at how resilient and consistent he has been over his career. Dude is a bit of a freak.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

Yep

He's 32 years old, and has been playing an average of about 17 games per year (including playoffs). He gets the really tough assignments over the middle taking a pounding game after game. That shit eventually catches up to you. I'm absolutely amazed at how resilient and consistent he has been over his career. Dude is a bit of a freak.

I mentioned it after I watched the Aaron Hernandez documentary. The shots these TEs take are just unreal.

I'm not going to excuse anything Hernandez did - guy was all about that life as far back as High School and I don't think football turned him into who he became. But man, watching that documentary and the dozen or so clips they showed of him over the middle - plays that seem benign from TV are just absolute trainwrecks for those guys.

They're in that unhappy middle where they're moving fast enough to generate momentum but not fast enough to get into space. And invariably TEs are big men getting hit by other big men at fairly high speeds.

I can't think of a position that takes the kind of abuse those guys take. And the ones that are able to just keep ticking like Kelce and Tony Gonzalez just amaze the hell out of me. Even a tank like Gronk seemed to always miss a game or two a year simply through getting the shit beat out of them. But Kelce just keeps chugging along, averaging right at 90% of his teams offensive snaps over the 7 years since he's become a full-time starter. That's awfully impressive.

The league sees guys like George Kittle have huge years then struggle to stay healthy and duplicate that every few years. Guys like Zach Ertz come and go all the time. But guys like Kelce, Tony G, Greg Olson and Jason Witten are pretty rare birds. The game's designed to grind guys like that into a fine powder but some of them just refuse to sit down.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I mentioned it after I watched the Aaron Hernandez documentary. The shots these TEs take are just unreal.

I'm not going to excuse anything Hernandez did - guy was all about that life as far back as High School and I don't think football turned him into who he became. But man, watching that documentary and the dozen or so clips they showed of him over the middle - plays that seem benign from TV are just absolute trainwrecks for those guys.

They're in that unhappy middle where they're moving fast enough to generate momentum but not fast enough to get into space. And invariably TEs are big men getting hit by other big men at fairly high speeds.

I can't think of a position that takes the kind of abuse those guys take. And the ones that are able to just keep ticking like Kelce and Tony Gonzalez just amaze the hell out of me. Even a tank like Gronk seemed to always miss a game or two a year simply through getting the shit beat out of them. But Kelce just keeps chugging along, averaging right at 90% of his teams offensive snaps over the 7 years since he's become a full-time starter. That's awfully impressive.

The league sees guys like George Kittle have huge years then struggle to stay healthy and duplicate that every few years. Guys like Zach Ertz come and go all the time. But guys like Kelce, Tony G, Greg Olson and Jason Witten are pretty rare birds. The game's designed to grind guys like that into a fine powder but some of them just refuse to sit down.

Agreed. And what he was doing against the Faid looked like it sucked worse. Get up, give a hard blow to the DE, keep your balance, turn around quick as hell because the balls coming right now so Mahomes doesn't die, catch the ball, run 8 yards, get blasted by a LB.

**** I was tired just watching that.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Agreed. And what he was doing against the Faid looked like it sucked worse. Get up, give a hard blow to the DE, keep your balance, turn around quick as hell because the balls coming right now so Mahomes doesn't die, catch the ball, run 8 yards, get blasted by a LB.

**** I was tired just watching that.

And it was the only game where he still seemed to have any energy left when the clock hit zeroes.

I agree - that game had to be brutal for him.

It just shows you how much of it's a mindset thing for these iron horse types. He had to be exhausted but he was involved and active in the game, the Chiefs were feeling it and he walked off the field like he was fresh as a daisy.

The mind over matter that has to take is pretty incredible.