bigal0303 said:
Tough break I've had mayo for the last 3 years he's been great. I do know in the past when he's been out a couple weeks here and there spikes received almost all mayos reps. In fact spikes went from a 6 or 7pt player to a 16-17pt average. But this was also before they had Collins.
all these guys really play different roles, and things have changed a bit with the more recent lb additions.
dane fletcher is basically the ilb back up, and that's just how they used him when mayo went out.
so, prior to the wilfork injury, you'd have spikes losing a lot of coverage snaps to hightower, with mayo as a constant on the field.
more recently, maybe because the wilfork injury weakened them up the middle, or maybe because hightower had a little hammy issue a couple weeks ago, spikes had regained the bulk of his snaps (alongside mayo), and was pretty much a mason foster to mayo's david, coming off in dime.
jamie collins is really a subpackage guy who plays on the edge.
I went and looked at each play after mayo came off the field, and here's what they did:
3rd+20 - hightower in dime
4 plays where they just loaded the box vs an obvious run, and fletcher subbed in for mayo
2 pass plays where they lined up in a 3-4 with fletcher subbing for mayo --- spikes split out wide to pick a guy up in coverage on one play, with fletcher shifting to traditional mlb.
fletcher is basically the new mayo, but I can't swear he'll stay on the field as often as mayo did, and might lose a few snaps situationally, in dime, or whatever.
a couple years ago gary guyton had a couple productive weeks filling in for mayo. and fletcher was credited (by NEP stat crew) as being in on 3 tackles in about 7 plays