Matthews Told His High Ankle Sprain Would Linger Throughout The Season

[theProf]

vaughn mcclure ‏@vxmcclure23

Jake Matthews was told his high ankle sprain would linger throughout the season. He's just going to keep fighting.

http://es.pn/1xCm0lA

Jake Matthews shaking off ankle injury; still adjusting to NFL pass-rushers

By Vaughn McClure | ESPN.com

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Atlanta Falcons rookie left tackle Jake Matthews was missing from the open locker room for quite a while and was obviously preoccupied with getting treatment on his ailing left ankle.

The bye week at the start of the month gave Matthews a little more time to recover. One can tell the sense of relief in his tone.

``I'm ready to get that behind me,'' Matthews said during a locker room appearance on Thursday. ``They told me, right when the sprain happened, it was going to be something that I'd have to deal with the whole year. It's been getting a lot better. It's a lot more manageable now. I'm going to keep building on it and keep getting that treatment and getting it right.''

Matthews refused to use the injury as a crutch despite the severity. He suffered a high-ankle sprain -- typically a 4-to-6 week injury -- in the season opener against New Orleans and missed just the Cincinnati game.

``Man, it sucks, but that's the nature of the game,'' Matthews said of playing through the pain. ``Everyone's got something that's bothering them. Unfortunately, I had to learn that Week 1.''

That's not the only lesson Matthews learned. The transition from college to the pros figured to be an easy one for the sixth-overall pick and son of Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews. A switch from right to left tackle threw off the timing of his development. Then came the injury. Then Matthews was asked to contend with the likes of Terrell Suggs and Jason Pierre-Paul while playing basically on one leg.

``Every week, I've feel like I've learned something from who I've played against,'' Matthews said. ``[Pierre-Paul] was definitely a good player, and I felt like I learned a lot from him. Like I keep saying, every week, you're going up against a good player. It's one of the biggest things I've picked up from since I got here.''

[birdz4i]

injury prone bust

[zekeyboy1]

High ankle sprain is no joke. Especially for a 300 lb olineman.. Tough kid..

[g-dawg]

This is why RODDY sucked last year. I had so many people argue with me on the messageboard when I told them Roddy should not have played in opener and first four games last year with only two weeks to heal. A high ankle sprain is a major injury that takes about six weeks to heal.

I have had multiple high ankle sprains and my ankle will never be 100% again. Jake and Roddy should have been benched rather than play hurt. Playing on the injury makes it worse in short and long term

Mike Smith is stupid and he does not learn from his mistakes. I know we needed Jake but you have to make the right choice with injured players and he consistently makes the wrong choice.

I still have not forgiven Smitty for playing ABRAHAM and all of our starters in meaningless game in 2012 season in the 16th game....different situation and circumstance but same poor decision skills on display.

[Drunken Minotaur Zebra]

This is why RODDY sucked last year. I had so many people argue with me on the messageboard when I told them Roddy should not have played in opener and first four games last year with only two weeks to heal. A high ankle sprain is a major injury that takes about six weeks to heal.

I have had multiple high ankle sprains and my ankle will never be 100% again. Jake and Roddy should have been benched rather than play hurt. Playing on the injury makes it worse in short and long term

Mike Smith is stupid and he does not learn from his mistakes. I know we needed Jake but you have to make the right choice with injured players and he consistently makes the wrong choice.

I still have not forgiven Smitty for playing ABRAHAM and all of our starters in meaningless game in 2012 season in the 16th game....different situation and circumstance but same poor decision skills on display.

Smitty is a cancer to this team at this point. It was apparent when he played Abe in a meaningless game like you said. He refuses to change.

[Tribal Chief]

As long as it don't break

[Guest facelessman07]

We played Jake in games that we were destined to lose

Makes a lot of sense, Smith

[theProf]

This is why RODDY sucked last year. I had so many people argue with me on the messageboard when I told them Roddy should not have played in opener and first four games last year with only two weeks to heal. A high ankle sprain is a major injury that takes about six weeks to heal.

I have had multiple high ankle sprains and my ankle will never be 100% again. Jake and Roddy should have been benched rather than play hurt. Playing on the injury makes it worse in short and long term

Mike Smith is stupid and he does not learn from his mistakes. I know we needed Jake but you have to make the right choice with injured players and he consistently makes the wrong choice.

I still have not forgiven Smitty for playing ABRAHAM and all of our starters in meaningless game in 2012 season in the 16th game....different situation and circumstance but same poor decision skills on display.

I agree totally. Both Roddy and Jake should have taken sufficient time off from the regular season games following their high ankle sprains. However, rushing them back too soon caused both to perform far below their capability, plus it probably caused their injuries to linger longer than they should have.

[FalconFanSince1969]

This will shut a lot of people up, or in TAFT fashion, they'll still claim that he's not hurt and they're right.

[Dizzle]

atleast he plays, unlike Clowney..He will be fine, relax.

[likeriver]

Honestly, from what I've gathered, he's feeling a lot better after the bye, so I'm not particularly worried about his injury at the moment.

His PFF grade Sunday was like -1.5 for something, which is closer to what it was in the first few weeks. Whereas, after the Giants game his PFF started plummeting to like -9 or something.

Edited November 15, 2014 by likeriver

[Pacific_Falcon]

I think the Georgia Dome was built by the Grim Reaper. Even perfectly healthy players come here and within a month they're a fukn china doll. Hopefully the new stadium gives us some better luck with these injuries.

[SyCo]

We played Jake in games that we were destined to lose

Makes a lot of sense, Smith

Lol that's not fair. I'd be pretty upset if smith decided to sit people because he thought we'd lose anyways

[Guest facelessman07]

Lol that's not fair. I'd be pretty upset if smith decided to sit people because he thought we'd lose anyways

It was clear the ankle was bothering him by his level of play, severely. I just don't see how you take a risk like that with the #6 overall pick. Let him sit a couple games and get healthy

I'd go on record to say that Holmes at LT and Schraeder at RT could've sufficed for a few games. Before Holmes got injured that is...

[TheFatboi]

This is why RODDY sucked last year. I had so many people argue with me on the messageboard when I told them Roddy should not have played in opener and first four games last year with only two weeks to heal. A high ankle sprain is a major injury that takes about six weeks to heal.

I have had multiple high ankle sprains and my ankle will never be 100% again. Jake and Roddy should have been benched rather than play hurt. Playing on the injury makes it worse in short and long term

Mike Smith is stupid and he does not learn from his mistakes. I know we needed Jake but you have to make the right choice with injured players and he consistently makes the wrong choice.

I still have not forgiven Smitty for playing ABRAHAM and all of our starters in meaningless game in 2012 season in the 16th game....different situation and circumstance but same poor decision skills on display.

The problem is these are grown men and once a doctor gives them clearance to play it's hard to sit them down. A player will lie and tell you they feel great. Others have contract incentives that are driving them. If it were high school or college it's MUCH easier to sit a broke kid that's TRYING to get to the nfl, but a grown man with a family and bills is harder. I'm sure smith wants to sit these guys but doc says he can play? That player is playing. They are also scared of someone coming in and out performing them like most ppl at their job whatever it is.

Curtis martin talks about him hurting and told parcels he was hurt and wants to sit out. Parcels told him ok rest your body. But remember, if you come out of the huddle, you never know who's going in the huddle and curtis never took himself out of the huddle after that. That's the mindset of Roddy, Jake and every fierce competitor. Add that with I get paid to play and there is your problem.

I know you don't agree but you're looking at it through fan eyes and those guys are looking at it through this is my job eyes.

Edited November 15, 2014 by TheFatboi

[TheFatboi]

atleast he plays, unlike Clowney..He will be fine, relax.

Clowney's injury was much worse.

[mc]

I thought injured was different than pain? Players play through pain all the time.

[Lornoth]

What? Everybody told me he was fine after a week or two's rest. You mean to tell me everybody on here isn't a doctor that knows what they're talking about?

[insight]

The problem is these are grown men and once a doctor gives them clearance to play it's hard to sit them down. A player will lie and tell you they feel great. Others have contract incentives that are driving them. If it were high school or college it's MUCH easier to sit a broke kid that's TRYING to get to the nfl, but a grown man with a family and bills is harder. I'm sure smith wants to sit these guys but doc says he can play? That player is playing. They are also scared of someone coming in and out performing them like most ppl at their job whatever it is.

Curtis martin talks about him hurting and told parcels he was hurt and wants to sit out. Parcels told him ok rest your body. But remember, if you come out of the huddle, you never know who's going in the huddle and curtis never took himself out of the huddle after that. That's the mindset of Roddy, Jake and every fierce competitor. Add that with I get paid to play and there is your problem.

I know you don't agree but you're looking at it through fan eyes and those guys are looking at it through this is my job eyes.

I generally agree with this statement but the coaches have to understand the big picture. The season is a marathon not a sprint.

Micheal Turner was rushed back prematurely from a high ankle sprain never was the same player. When we needed him the most in the playoffs, he was not the same player.

John Abraham got hurt in a meaningless game, when we already locked up the #1 seed. His injury was huge reason our defense came up short that year.

Roddy White was rushed back for the 1st game of the season against the saints and he never seemed to overcome the injury all year.

[1989Fan]

We played Jake in games that we were destined to lose

Makes a lot of sense, Smith

I would love to see a comparison of how many complaining posts vs non you have made.

[Guest facelessman07]

I would love to see a comparison of how many complaining posts vs non you have made.

That wasn't complaining, that was the truth

Now you're complaining about me "complaining." That makes sense...

[AndySG]

Bit of a relief, to be honest. I had full confidence in him to turn his form around eventually, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned by his form.

[TheFatboi]

I generally agree with this statement but the coaches have to understand the big picture. The season is a marathon not a sprint.

Micheal Turner was rushed back prematurely from a high ankle sprain never was the same player. When we needed him the most in the playoffs, he was not the same player.

John Abraham got hurt in a meaningless game, when we already locked up the #1 seed. His injury was huge reason our defense came up short that year.

Roddy White was rushed back for the 1st game of the season against the saints and he never seemed to overcome the injury all year.

I feel you. Again these are grown men that are telling the coach they want to go. Not that black n white to sit a grown man diwn. Seems easy the way you put it but in reality it's not. Especially when you got a guy like Roddy that gets incentives for not missing games and for consecutive games with x number of catches. If it's me I'm not sitting down if I'm cleared. You just can't tell a grown man to sit that easily. Especially when a hurt player STILL gives you the best opp to win.

[1989Fan]

That wasn't complaining, that was the truth

Now you're complaining about me "complaining." That makes sense...

First, it was complaining about Smith.

Second, i didnt complain. It was inquiring.

I noticed that you make a post in a majority of threads complaining or just being negative, nothing to get upset at me over...they're not my posts.

[Guest facelessman07]

First, it was complaining about Smith.

Second, i didnt complain. It was inquiring.

Truth.

Inquiring?

You need to spend the rest of your weekend with a dictionary. Maybe a thesaurus as well