I have to take my hat off to veterans Sheldon Brown and Jeremiah Trotter for the jobs they did on Sunday night against the Bears.
They were like professors giving lectures to their young teammates. They taught them a lesson on being there for you team despite being injured and they showed what you do after not playing well and getting benched.
You’ve got to be tough both physically and emotionally to have a long and productive career in the NFL.
What Brown and Trotter did on Sunday night is the difference between winning teams and losing teams.
Your teammates and coaches should be able to depend on you to play through pain and injury. It’s not a game for the weak.
Brown showed us what you have to do if you want to be regarded as a true “Pro”. You find a way to get the job done.
The cornerback used his toughness and smarts against Jay Cutler and his receivers in order to get the job done on Sunday night despite playing with a strained hamstring.
He played farther off the receivers and he used his help in the coverages. He tried not get in any foot races. He held the receivers at times.
Brown came up and jammed the receivers when he could. He moved around before the snap so that he could fool Culter and dissuade him from throwing his side.
He was like a crafty MLB pitcher in a game without his best stuff. He used every trick in his control to manufacture production.
I don’t know it for a fact but I believe Brown’s comment early in the week that he was going to play had an effect on Jason Peters who found a way to play with his high ankle sprain.
Peters came from a Buffalo organization which has been losing for years, so he needs to be taught how players on a winning team deal with minor injuries.
Professor Trotter also contributed quite a lesson to his younger teammates.
You can see that Trotter hasn’t been sitting around moping about what happened in the Raiders game. He’s been working hard and setting an example for his younger teammates.
Trotter has kept his head down and ignored all of the talk about how ridiculous an idea it was to bring him back.
All of the younger players have seen the way he’s gone about his business. They know what you do when the noise begins here in Philadelphia.
You keep your head down and you focus on your work. The only way you handle the noise is by playing better and handling your business.
On Sunday night, Trotter looked faster and quicker. Bears halfback Matt Forte wasn’t able to run away from him on a key second day play and that’s going to mean more time for Trot on the field down the stretch.
That’s bad news for NFL running backs because Trotter is going to be delivering some knockout shots down the stretch.
