Carter's starting spot might not be secure

[xwalker]

could Carter be used as a Nickel Rusher.....instead of WLB.....?

Maybe both. There are only 2 LBs on the field in the Nickel. I'm guessing that those might end up being Holloman and Durant.

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

May the best man win. Carter has had chances... One more season to prove himself imo.
His instincts need to catch up with his athleticism.

 

[BAT]

If McClain stays motivated to play football, that makes Durant available to replace Carter if Carter doesn't play well.

Durant at this stage of his career, is what he is, a good journeyman 4-3 OLB. Marinelli needs a stud at the WILL, it is one of the key positions in his D. Cowboys need to bite the bullet and trade a 3rd to JAX for Telvin Smith. Smith may be undersized NOW, but he has more fight in him than Bruce Carter ever will. Smith has the speed, smarts, nasty attitude and coverage ability to excell as a WILL in Marinelli's 4-3 Under even at only 220 lbs. Smith will only be available because he is currently sitting behind bigger and more experienced vets, on a D that is based on Seattle's and covets size as well as speed.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Saturday cannot get here fast enough. I need to see more Cowboys football.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

Blow the defense up? I'm sorry did I miss something by letting Ware, Hatcher etc. leave? Look at all the defensive starters and last all the players in their 20s...... better yet just name the players over 30 it's a shorter list. Guys look when you have young players it takes a couple years for then to develop, every player doesn't make all pro in first couple years.

We have good building blocks in Church, Wilcox, Hamilton, Heath, Holloman, Hitchens, Lee, Carter, Coleman, Bishop, Scandrick, Mitchell, Lawrence, Crawford, Wilber, Melton, Durant, Rolando, Terrell. Let these guys play the season first.

It's preseason people. New England went 0-4 in preseason when they went 16-0 and Detriot went 4-0 in preseason when they went 0-16 in the season. Wow, can't believe the fans are ready to blow up everything and jump off a cliff because of one preseason game that most of the starters sat out.

Check back week 17 and we will revisit this conversation

 

[big dog cowboy]

Saturday cannot get here fast enough. I need to see more Cowboys football.

We do need someone new to complain about. Unfortunately I suspect we will get a bunch of defense bashing threads again next week. Probably end up marinating in that all year so I might as well get used to it.

 

[Plumfool]

I think this was written with an agenda. Nothing in the quotes about Carter seemed lukewarm. Imo

 

[Gaede]

Carter's issues are mental. He can play football; we've seen it. I personally don't think he's just that into it. I don't care how bad the defense is, there's no excuse for just jogging around. A guy like Jeff Heath, not the most talented or experienced or valued player, at least tried to play football. Carter just gave up last year.

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

Durant at this stage of his career, is what he is, a good journeyman 4-3 OLB. Marinelli needs a stud at the WILL, it is one of the key positions in his D. Cowboys need to bite the bullet and trade a 3rd to JAX for Telvin Smith. Smith may be undersized NOW, but he has more fight in him than Bruce Carter ever will. Smith has the speed, smarts, nasty attitude and coverage ability to excell as a WILL in Marinelli's 4-3 Under even at only 220 lbs. Smith will only be available because he is currently sitting behind bigger and more experienced vets, on a D that is based on Seattle's and covets size as well as speed.

they should have just drafted Telvin Smith the first place. They drafted Hitchens instead.....
I was a bit disappointed in that.
Telvin Smith is an animal... very intense... would have brought the right attitude to town as well.

 

[xwalker]

Durant at this stage of his career, is what he is, a good journeyman 4-3 OLB. Marinelli needs a stud at the WILL, it is one of the key positions in his D. Cowboys need to bite the bullet and trade a 3rd to JAX for Telvin Smith. Smith may be undersized NOW, but he has more fight in him than Bruce Carter ever will. Smith has the speed, smarts, nasty attitude and coverage ability to excell as a WILL in Marinelli's 4-3 Under even at only 220 lbs. Smith will only be available because he is currently sitting behind bigger and more experienced vets, on a D that is based on Seattle's and covets size as well as speed.

There really would be a meltdown around here if Jerry traded a 3rd to for a player that was just drafted in the 5th.

It would be good to see Telvin Smith in coverage, but Bruce Carter is having issues shedding blocks. Shedding blocks seems like it would be an issue for Smith at his current size.

 

[Alexander]

Whoever it was that thought he was the perfect WLB in the Tampa 2 should be fired.

How about just being drummed down to consultant and still on the payroll?

 

[morasp]

could Carter be used as a Nickel Rusher......?

There was some speculation about it earlier based on a comment made on talkin cowboys that he could be a nickel pass rusher. Garrett didn't seem to be lukewarm on his abilities in that area so maybe it is just a matter of finding the right fit for his particular skills. We need to generate pressure no matter where it comes from so it's good to see they're looking at all of the possibilities.

 

[dfense]

Asked about Carter's camp, Garrett was lukewarm. In the last two practices Carter took turns in pass-rush drills as an outside rusher. He's also been practicing on a lot of the special teams' units.

"Bruce has done some good things," Garrett said. "I think Bruce like the other guys needs to be a consistent player day in and day out. I think he is getting more comfortable in the scheme and he is certainly in the mix of it. He has got a lot of ability. He's got a lot of strengths. We have been using him as a rusher a bit more. He does that well. Again, you try to figure what the guys do well and who the best ones are and put them out there and give them a chance to do what they do best. Be good at things that happen a lot in games. It's our job to make sure to give them a chance to do those things."

A year ago, Carter was viewed as a foundational piece in the Cowboys' transition to the 4-3 scheme. This year he might be a reserve.

"There are a lot of ways to do this and we've just got to figure out who the best three guys are and who deserves the playing time," Garrett said. "We'll make those decisions as we go."

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas-cowboys/post/_/id/4731755/carters-starting-spot-might-not-be-secure

I like Garrett's approach.

 

[jterrell]

I would be moving back to a 3-4 team next year.

I wasn't a fan of the 4-3 before we moved to it because I argued it was a terrible fit for our best players and I think we have seen that in spades.
Since we've only really Melton as a top of the line 4-3 player I'd try to get Carter and Lee back playing side by side where Lee can help Carter with the mental part of the game.

 

[jterrell]

Carter's issues go beyond the scheme. Generally, 3-4 ILBs have to take on more blocks than 4-3 OLBs. He did a good job of shedding blocks in the 3-4. He had problems shedding blocks last year. Shedding a block is the same regardless of scheme.

If coverage were his only issue, then I could see blaming the scheme, but it's not the only issue.

coverage is the biggest issue and it got in his head.
he has not been the same since asked to cover woodhead and other RBs on those wheel routes.
no safety help and he was eaten alive.

carter attacking a gap int he 3-4 was actually very good.
he was able to take on blocks doing so.
as a read the play 4-3 LB he is dogmeat.
he has to use his physical gifts and be the aggressor because he processes things too slowly.

soooo... yes it is very much a scheme issue imho.

 

[Plankton]

coverage is the biggest issue and it got in his head.
he has not been the same since asked to cover woodhead and other RBs on those wheel routes.
no safety help and he was eaten alive.

carter attacking a gap int he 3-4 was actually very good.
he was able to take on blocks doing so.
as a read the play 4-3 LB he is dogmeat.
he has to use his physical gifts and be the aggressor because he processes things too slowly.

soooo... yes it is very much a scheme issue imho.

There's no question that Carter looked far worse in 2013 as a WLB in a 4-3 versus how he looked in 2012 as an ILB in a 3-4 scheme. I do think his performance was a bit overrated in 2012, but he was considerably better in 2012.

That being said, the whole thing that had Carter considered a potential first round pick in 2011 prior to his knee injury was his play at North Carolina, coupled with his physical gifts. He played as a WLB in a 4-3 at North Carolina. He was a top level talent in this scheme in college, but it's a bad scheme for him in the pros? I don't buy it.

I think Carter is a player lacking confidence.

 

[jterrell]

There's no question that Carter looked far worse in 2013 as a WLB in a 4-3 versus how he looked in 2012 as an ILB in a 3-4 scheme. I do think his performance was a bit overrated in 2012, but he was considerably better in 2012.

That being said, the whole thing that had Carter considered a potential first round pick in 2011 prior to his knee injury was his play at North Carolina, coupled with his physical gifts. He played as a WLB in a 4-3 at North Carolina. He was a top level talent in this scheme in college, but it's a bad scheme for him in the pros? I don't buy it.

I think Carter is a player lacking confidence.

Tim Tebow was a Heisman winning QB in college.
What a player can do in college versus the pros are hardly similar.

Carter could cover much slower collegiate players while weighing much less.
As a pro LB where he is physically able to handle OL he can not cover guys.
That is not in doubt or question. He simply isn't able to do so.
Asking him to do so has robbed him of confidence to do what he does well.

As a 3-4 ILB he was very good in 2012 after Sean Lee was injured.
He claimed a defensive player of the week birth and was arguably as good as Sean Lee for a 2-3 week stretch as the primary inside LB in the 3-4 before he followed Lee into injured purgatory.

Carter may be able to play a 4-3 at some point but he is not going to get more athletic as he ages.
If he is struggling in coverage now he is likely always going to.
I don't know if the ACL injury robbed him of coverage ability but we have not seen it since.
He is listed now at about 246 after playing at probably 230 or so at UNC.
Because of injury we didn't see him cover at the NFL combine.

 

[xwalker]

Tim Tebow was a Heisman winning QB in college.
What a player can do in college versus the pros are hardly similar.

Carter could cover much slower collegiate players while weighing much less.
As a pro LB where he is physically able to handle OL he can not cover guys.
That is not in doubt or question. He simply isn't able to do so.
Asking him to do so has robbed him of confidence to do what he does well.

As a 3-4 ILB he was very good in 2012 after Sean Lee was injured.
He claimed a defensive player of the week birth and was arguably as good as Sean Lee for a 2-3 week stretch as the primary inside LB in the 3-4 before he followed Lee into injured purgatory.

Carter may be able to play a 4-3 at some point but he is not going to get more athletic as he ages.
If he is struggling in coverage now he is likely always going to.
I don't know if the ACL injury robbed him of coverage ability but we have not seen it since.
He is listed now at about 246 after playing at probably 230 or so at UNC.
Because of injury we didn't see him cover at the NFL combine.

He might be a little bigger than in college, but his official weight prior to the draft was 243.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

Claiborne and Carter are the two biggest surprises/disappointments I've seen in a long time. I thought they would be decent players at a minimum, and most likely leaning towards excellent... it's not too late for them to turn it around but it sure doesn't look encouraging.

 

[jterrell]

He might be a little bigger than in college, but his official weight prior to the draft was 243.

UNC listed him as 235 for his final season. He was a high school safety.

He's probably playing 20 pounds above that now.

Whatever the case he clearly can't cover NFL caliber skill athletes and hasn't since he entered the NFL.
His last good coverage tape was when listed at 235 and before he tore his ACL.