DC: Broaddus: More Than Just Injuries Troubling LB’s

[jobberone]

Broaddus: More Than Just Injuries Troubling LB’s
Posted 14 hours ago

Bryan Broaddus Football Analyst/Scout Follow BryanBroaddus on Twitter All Bryan Broaddus Articles

Much like the defensive line, this group of Cowboys linebackers had their share of medical issues that cost them playing time during the season. You have to give Matt Eberflus a great deal of credit for the way he was able to hold this group together.

Sean Lee struggled with a hamstring injury, then injured his neck in the Chicago game and missed the final three games of the year. Justin Durant ended his season up on the injured reserve list after also suffering a hamstring injury, while Ernie Sims missed games with a groin injury.

As the season wore on, it was never a group that appeared settled in their personnel with various players in and out of the lineup and young players having to fill in at spots that they had never played before. With all that being said, it was also a position that was wildly inconsistent in their play.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/a...ing-LB’s/58db4f96-c191-4041-895d-e7e05e0924b2

 

[jobberone]

Good read. I agree about Carter. I'm glad to know everyone seems to be as confused about him as I was. I started thinking personal problems were the cause or injuries or both. This team needs this guy to figure out what's going on.

I know as a coach you can get so wrapped up with all the injuries that you lose the time to address each player individually as you strive to keep the ship afloat. I have no way of knowing how much individual coaching he got but it must have been tough on the position coach to address him when he was likely overwhelmed with trying to get the new guys on the field and up to playing as well as possible.

We did find a player in Wilbur and found the right place for the guy. He's a NFL LB.

And I agree about Sims. He cannot play LB well enough. I though he might be able to play the Will but he can't.

They likely will cut him before camp but if he does go to TC then I'd like to see him lose some weight and get a spot in special packages. I'd have to see him in practice and work him out but I keep thinking this guy is a SS who needs to weigh 210-220.

 

[Doc50]

We've all seen Carter looking lost at times.

Here's hoping father time and mother Marinelli will educate him, and he'll finally realize the potential he had when drafted.

Remember, he was up for the Butkus Award (Vonn Miller) before tearing his ACL.

 

[jobberone]

We've all seen Carter looking lost at times.

Here's hoping father time and mother Marinelli will educate him, and he'll finally realize the potential he had when drafted.

Remember, he was up for the Butkus Award (Vonn Miller) before tearing his ACL.

I can't help but think it is more than injury that is causing the problems. We'll see. He'll have a starting job when TC opens. I thought this might be the brightest part of the defense but we didn't get a decent chance to look at that over a season and at times Carter and Lee looked less than optimal esp the former.

 

[Alexander]

To me, it seemed Carter just could not handle the mental responsibilities of playing weak side LB in the scheme.

He was not the Lance Briggs or Derrick Brooks. Just like there needs to be the DT (the Warren Sapp), this is just as vital. It is an area I would make sure is addressed in the draft. That chase LBer is so important. Even moreso than the MLB, where Lee is.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The entire front 7 needs to be figured out. Between FA and draft picks I expect a lot of resources spent trying to fix our very broken defense.

Watching street free agents who don't belong playing in the NFL is painful. I'd like to avoid that at all costs next year.

Concerning Carter - it appears to me that most of his problem is between his ears. Hopefully he can get it figured out this off season.

 

[Future]

Carter doesn't seem to have the hear to be a great LB. I don't think its much more than a job to him, to be honest. There isn't really a cure for that.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

Carter doesn't seem to have the hear to be a great LB. I don't think its much more than a job to him, to be honest. There isn't really a cure for that.

^^^This. There are some guys that are just happy to be in the NFL. You hear cases like this all the time. You hear about guys who did not grow up watching football. You hear about guys who don't watch football when they are not playing. I am going to go out on a limb and say the best players eat, sleep and breathe the game. Heck there are FANS who do that. Not going to say whether it is right or wrong...but I prefer guys who are INTO the sport they are playing. And for football....that means checking out high school, college and other pro games. Just LOVE being around the sport!

 

[jrumann59]

I think that carter will be the Doug Free of the defense, it took a year for him to get locked in when he was a 3-4 ILB, I think next year he will lock in the 4-3 WLB role. I think maybe he does not have the head to change schemes like we have.

 

[Doc50]

^^^This. There are some guys that are just happy to be in the NFL. You hear cases like this all the time. You hear about guys who did not grow up watching football. You hear about guys who don't watch football when they are not playing. I am going to go out on a limb and say the best players eat, sleep and breathe the game. Heck there are FANS who do that. Not going to say whether it is right or wrong...but I prefer guys who are INTO the sport they are playing. And for football....that means checking out high school, college and other pro games. Just LOVE being around the sport!

I hear you.

They get to the "show", cash in, and lose the drive and passion that they had in college.

I don't know for sure that Carter fits that description, but anyone who does needs to be on the asthma field and out the door.

 

[JD_KaPow]

I think that carter will be the Doug Free of the defense, it took a year for him to get locked in when he was a 3-4 ILB, I think next year he will lock in the 4-3 WLB role. I think maybe he does not have the head to change schemes like we have.

This is my guess too. I just think he's a slow learner, or at least slow to internalize what he's learning and make it second nature. He was slow to get up to speed in the 3-4 and it looks like the same thing here.

 

[jrumann59]

This is my guess too. I just think he's a slow learner, or at least slow to internalize what he's learning and make it second nature. He was slow to get up to speed in the 3-4 and it looks like the same thing here.

Though what is disturbing is he played 4-3 in college. You would figure some percentage would have carried over.

 

[Bullflop]

I think OLB will be a position that is targeted in the middle rounds or thereabouts in the upcoming draft. Carter will be subjected to some stiff competition in TC. He'd better do his homework and get some fire in his belly in the meantime. If not, he'll be riding the pine and wishing he'd handled things differently.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

IMO, I would give Barry Church a shot at playing linebacker. I think he's big enough in the 4-3 and tackles well enough. He doesn't have the skill or ability to cover like a safety and it would add speed to the defense






YR

 

[morasp]

When George Lynch called one of our games he said the tampa 2 linebacker responsibilities are pretty complex and take a lot of experience to master. That's one reason I was so impressed with Holloman making the improvements he did for week 15 to 16.

 

[CooterBrown]

When George Lynch called one of our games he said the tampa 2 linebacker responsibilities are pretty complex and take a lot of experience to master. That's one reason I was so impressed with Holloman making the improvements he did for week 15 to 16.

Was that the announcer who worked with Tony Aikman?

 

[casmith07]

IMO, I would give Barry Church a shot at playing linebacker. I think he's big enough in the 4-3 and tackles well enough. He doesn't have the skill or ability to cover like a safety and it would add speed to the defense






YR

Funny enough, Barry Church covered just fine as a safety the previous season when we had some semblance of a pass rush early on.

I wouldn't go switching positions so quickly. You don't just switch a guy who's played Safety for four years in college and four years in the NFL to linebacker and start holding opposing QBs to 185 yards passing.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

Funny enough, Barry Church covered just fine as a safety the previous season when we had some semblance of a pass rush early on.

I wouldn't go switching positions so quickly. You don't just switch a guy who's played Safety for four years in college and four years in the NFL to linebacker and start holding opposing QBs to 185 yards passing.

I agree. Barry Church can be a solid safety in this system but he needs help from the LBs and the d-line.

 

[LatinMind]

Good read. I agree about Carter. I'm glad to know everyone seems to be as confused about him as I was. I started thinking personal problems were the cause or injuries or both. This team needs this guy to figure out what's going on.

I know as a coach you can get so wrapped up with all the injuries that you lose the time to address each player individually as you strive to keep the ship afloat. I have no way of knowing how much individual coaching he got but it must have been tough on the position coach to address him when he was likely overwhelmed with trying to get the new guys on the field and up to playing as well as possible.

We did find a player in Wilbur and found the right place for the guy. He's a NFL LB.

And I agree about Sims. He cannot play LB well enough. I though he might be able to play the Will but he can't.

They likely will cut him before camp but if he does go to TC then I'd like to see him lose some weight and get a spot in special packages. I'd have to see him in practice and work him out but I keep thinking this guy is a SS who needs to weigh 210-220.

Carter had a complete change in what he was asked to do from inside LB in a 3-4 to a weakside LB in the tampa 2. In the 3-4 he was asked to tackle the RB, hit the gap. And on passing down he was either on the sidelines in the dime packages or hovering the middle, with occasional covering the flat with TEs and RBs when teams ran 3 wide. And he excelled at it. This yr for whatever reason Kiffin decided to play very little to zero Zone in 15 of 16 games. Why? Because in that single game Bruce Carter and Sean Lee were both out. So he played alot of zone.

In Kiffins scheme He wanted Carter to cover scat backs and WRs in situations where the Dime shouldve been in. Broaddus would get heated with this every week. This is why teams keep 4 CBs on the team ready to play. This was Jerry Jones biggest mistake this yr. Cutting Sterlin Moore because BW had a good rookie camp. Dallas plays a zone where CBs release players inside . Teams knew this and took advantage of these faster players crossing in front of Bruce. He had a bad yr, but he had a bad yr mostly because his DC didnt protect him. The guy is incredibly fast for a LB, but thats word he is a LBer. He might have good speed straight ahead to tackle, but no way does he have the agility and speed to cut and change direction with these faster WRs and Scat backs.

This team isnt built to play zone all the time. From Lbers to CBs. Theyre better in a man defense as its base. This was about a stubborn man set in his ways and trying to get people to fit his scheme instead of adjusting his scheme to the talent he had. It happens to every coach. But now he has a offseason to correct it.

 

[EPL0c0]

This shows poor coaching IMO. Dallas forever trying to force players to fit a scheme instead of being intelligent enough make the scheme fit the players' abilities.