Aug 24, 2012; Cleveland, OH, USA; Philadelphia Eagles guard Evan Mathis (69) against Cleveland Browns in a preseason game at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-US Presswire

Ever wonder what former Cincinnati Bengals offensive guard Evan Mathis was up to?

Apparently, he’s just been himself since he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 when he signed a five-year, $25.5 million contract. Since then, Pro Football Focus has rated Mathis as the best guard in the NFL for the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and he is now regarded as one of the NFL’s top guards, but is quickly becoming one of the league’s most disliked players.

Mathis’ most recent headline came when he posted on Instagram a photo of himself in the universal standing pee position by an IRS sign, with the message “Audit this.”

Bengals fans know all too well how Mathis likes to voice his displeasure on social media, as this tweet was posted when he became a free agent in 2011:

Free agent = choices. 2 winning seasons since 1990 = next.

Bengals record since 2011: 19-13, 2 playoff berths

Eagles Record since 2011: 12-20, 0 playoff berths
How were those two “Dream Team” seasons since you left Evan?

Want more Bengals news? Like Stripe Hype on Facebook, or grab our RSS feed.

Follow @StripeHype

Follow @UK_Fans

The Bengals sterling offensive line struggled to protect Andy Dalton. He traveled from one end of the spectrum, in which Dalton was criticized for getting rid of the ball too quickly, to the other end in which he seemed indecisive. Very often opportunities for big gains presented themselves. The red-zone hesitation was the most memorable, but in the brutal second quarter, both blocking and decision-making took a play off.

Cullen Jenkins stunts around the edge to strip-sack Andy Dalton

At the snap, left guard Clint Boling (circled) pitches in to help Trevor Robinson. At the right guard, Kevin Zeitler reaches to block Cullen Jenkins, who feints inside then stunts towards his right past left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who was tied up with the defensive end.

Aligned in the slot, Brian Leonard sees that his defender is staying in coverage, so he releases to the flat. They appeared to be in a man-blocking scheme, because Boling bales off of his block to follow Jenkins around the edge.

Boling stumbles on Whitworth while Dalton holds the ball.

As he Boling dropped, Whitworth was bull rushed backwards and into Boling. Boling then lunges for the defensive end, so maybe Boling thought Leonard was staying in to block. Either way, the Cover 2 man defense that the Eagles ran most of the night is set up well for this route scheme.

In the slot to the right, Hawkins is going vertical, holding the safety inside. On the far outside to the right, A.J. Green has managed to muscle his way outside Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who would want to funnel him in to the safety help in that coverage.

With his release, Green has already beaten Rodgers-Cromartie, and Dalton should have noticed an unaccounted for pass rusher. He unfortunately held onto the ball a beat too, long, and Jenkins slapped the ball away mid-windup. With a decent throw, a big completion down the sideline to Green could have jump-started a slumbering offense.

Andre Smith gets caught holding Brandon Graham

Not that it is ever easy to miss a man tipping the scales at over 330 pounds, but Andre Smith spent quite a few minutes on camera with Brandon Graham beating him like a drum. Graham’s sudden explosiveness exposed Smith’s bad habit of letting his feet stop moving.

On this play, Smith picked up a holding penalty because his feet were in quicksand and was still beaten. Graham stopped like he would reverse direction to Smith’s inside shoulder, then took off towards the edge again. Smith had lunged inside, then lunged back outside, all without moving his feet.

Notice how far bent at the waist Smith is, there is no power that even a man his size has in that position.

But I will give credit where credit is due, and the offense did enough to not give cause to abandon all hope.

In Hall’s case, he used his eyes to help himself to an interception in a situation that causes many cornerbacks to pick up a pass interference call. Against Jeremy Maclin on the outside, Hall was playing off man coverage. Crocker rolls towards the middle of the field, and Hall has the outside. Maclin releases to the outside and runs a vertical route.

When playing off coverage, the defensive back should give about seven to nine yards of cushion in order to be able to break on a quick, three-step drop throw, but enough cushion that the receiver does not eat it up right away. That opens up the cornerback’s hips too early to commit to the downfield throw, then the receiver can break off the route.

Hall, the masterful technician that he is, lines up eight yards off Maclin. That allows him to keep strong leverage at the top of the stem.

Hall sinks back and, when Maclin gets past the top of the stem at ten yards, where a receiver would make the break if he were running a breaking route, Hall opens his hips to run downfield, still on top of Maclin with no safety over the top.