News: Miller: Cowboys LB Bruce Carter on Why He Struggled in 2013

[AsthmaField]

I really hope that Carter comes around, but I have my doubts. I would have liked to see it click for him late in the season, and we didn't seem to see that.

I'll keep my fingers crossed though.

What I would love to see is somebody like Shazier (only with our second pick though), or Smith brought in to play on the weakside (if they aren't going to move Church), and then move Carter to the strongside to battle Wilber and Holloman.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I got high hopes for our D this year, especially the LBers.

if we make it to low 20s on defensive rankings, its a great leap.

 

[Future]

Not being able to shed blockers is a problem for carter. That's a fundamental skill he needs to work on. Regardless of scheme.

I don't think he's tough enough to do it consistently, to be honest.

 

[xwalker]

he and Mo need to reallly step up this year, if the defense is to have a chance

Just based on averages, when you switch schemes, there's probably going to be a few players that are slower to adapt than others.

I think Claiborne and Carter will be much better this season; although, I think Holloman is going to push Carter for the WLB spot. I reviewed Holloman im the final game of the season when he played MLB. He was very good. He just seems to have the "it" factor of being a football player.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

if we make it to low 20s on defensive rankings, its a great leap.

For some reason being able to make great jumps (or take great falls) seems to go hand & hand with defensive rankings.

New Orleans for instance went from arguably the worst defense in NFL history to like #4 (or whatever is was).

Every season defenses seem to bounce around like Ping-Pong balls. Offenses not quite as much mainly I think due to QB's guiding most of the action. And if you have a good QB who remains healthy, then you have a good chance of having an offense that is consistent from year to year.

Defenses aren't like that... There is no ONE GUY who is going to dictate the direction of the defense. The result being much more opportunity for being good one season and lousy the next or visa versa.

 

[DBOY3141]

Just based on averages, when you switch schemes, there's probably going to be a few players that are slower to adapt than others.

I think Claiborne and Carter will be much better this season; although, I think Holloman is going to push Carter for the WLB spot. I reviewed Holloman im the final game of the season when he played MLB. He was very good. He just seems to have the "it" factor of being a football player.

I think Holloman has a bright future. If Carter picks it up and Lee stays healtly, that could be quite the trio.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I don't buy the "He has to learn how to take on blocks" thing.

I mean he played well in the middle during the '12 season and it wasn't like he wasn't seeing a lot of blockers there. He play over 600 snaps in 2012.

 

[Gaede]

Thing I didn't like from Carter was his hustle. He appeared very disinterested last year and that bothers me. No doubt over his ability.

 

[TheCount]

People love to bag on Carter, but they forget that it took Lee a while to adjust too - and he's a student. There was a while there where Lee looked absolutely horrible, particularly in coverage.

 

[xwalker]

I think Holloman has a bright future. If Carter picks it up and Lee stays healtly, that could be quite the trio.

I really expect those 3 to be the starters. The WLB spot is the premium spot over SLB. The loser of the WLB battle is probably the SLB.

Even if Carter wins the WLB spot, I think Holloman will be one of the nickel LBs.

 

[TheDude]

Church is fat







(10 pages...thank me later)

 

[xwalker]

I don't buy the "He has to learn how to take on blocks" thing.

I mean he played well in the middle during the '12 season and it wasn't like he wasn't seeing a lot of blockers there. He play over 600 snaps in 2012.

Yes, he was good at taking on blocks in 2012.

Normally, you might expect a 4-3 LB to struggle taking on blocks if he moved to a 3-4, but not the other way around.

 

[TheDude]

Thing I didn't like from Carter was his hustle. He appeared very disinterested last year and that bothers me. No doubt over his ability.

I singled him in about 3 games in an ALL-22 review post. He loafed ALOT. Other players were out of position, especially Sims, but he always ran full speed to the ball and tried to make contact. You could see the body language from Carter that if the play looked dead or he was "out of the play" he stopped - Even when he was 3-5 yards away, if the opponent "looked like he was going to be tackled" he pulled up.

 

[Doomsday101]

I like Carter but whatever his reason was for poor play last season he needs to get it workout and ready to go for this season. Spend extra time in film room, spend more time after practice working on improvements. Whatever it takes he needs to show up and get the job done

 

[jnday]

I agree. I didn't really understand the switch to the 4-3. Not only that, but that switch to zone coverage. We had Ware and Spencer, possibly the best 3-4 OLB combo in the league, and just spent a 1st and 2nd and big free agency money on two man corners.

Good point. It is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. The defense should fit the players talents and the good coaches in the league knows that. It was a bad move considering the investment in the CBs and it will be a struggle for them to ever fit in a zone coverage system.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Good point. It is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. The defense should fit the players talents and the good coaches in the league knows that. It was a bad move considering the investment in the CBs and it will be a struggle for them to ever fit in a zone coverage system.

Next, we'll probably draft Donald and then switch to a scheme that doesn't suit him.

 

[J_Allen]

So you just gonna forget that Jeff Heath was right there too?

Isn't this thread about Bruce Carter?

 

[Crown Royal]

I said last offseason before we had switched to Kiffin's 43 that I would move Church to WOLB. I think he'd be very, very good there. He would go from being one of the slower players at his position (safety) to one of the fastest LB's in the league. Not just that though. The guy has great instincts, toughness and is a tackling machine.

If Dallas has two viable players at safety, I would hope that they made that move. He's as big as some of the guys in this year's draft that will be picked as OLB. He would be all over the place, and he'd be great in coverage.

I still think it would be a very good move.

He used to come down and play LBer on passing downs, but just not enough good safeties to do it.

I don't think he could be an every down Will, but I would love to pair him with a great FS and let him be the robber a lot in Cover 3.

 

[JD_KaPow]

Every season defenses seem to bounce around like Ping-Pong balls. Offenses not quite as much mainly I think due to QB's guiding most of the action. And if you have a good QB who remains healthy, then you have a good chance of having an offense that is consistent from year to year.

Defenses aren't like that... There is no ONE GUY who is going to dictate the direction of the defense. The result being much more opportunity for being good one season and lousy the next or visa versa.

From Football Outsiders Basics: (this was written a while ago, obviously)

Offense is more consistent from year to year than defense, and offensive performance is easier to project than defensive performance. Special teams is less consistent than either.
Nobody in the NFL understands this concept better than Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian. Both the Super Bowl champion Colts and the four-time AFC champion Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s were built around the idea that if you put together an offense that can dominate the league year after year, eventually you will luck into a year where good health and a few smart decisions will give you a defense good enough to win a championship. (As the Colts learned in January 2007, you don't even need a year, just four weeks.) Even the New England Patriots, who are led by a defense-first head coach in Bill Belichick, have been more consistent on offense than on defense since they began their run of success in 2001.

 

[OhSnap]

Are we starting to see a pattern of guys playing soft to try to make it to that nest level of contracts? In the words of the great D. Sanders making a "business decision" ?