Audio: Norm Hitzghes: Earth to Bruce Carter

[Fredd]

Not a big fan of Norm, but one line that he said resonated with me (paraphrasing) "Carter needs to play his way on to the 2015 roster"
....agreed, the team can't just play him because of where he was drafted, they can't play him because he has "freakish" athletic ability...he needs to play in 2014 because he earned a starting gig and with the competition there, if he earns the spot, we may be seeing him wearing the star in 2015 if he can sustain good play or better...

...btw, norm repeated himself several times in his rant...

 

[CaptainCreed]

Zordon is right that Carolina has turned out more than its share of these types of guys at least since Butch Davis got there.

You guys are creating an agenda that can be applied to any school...You are failing to mention the recent players from UNC like Robert Quinn, Giovani Bernard, Johnathan Cooper (know he was hurt but no chance he flops with the Cardinals), etc. Every school has their flops in the NFL, it is the most competitive sports league in the world.

 

[Bullflop]

If Carter still doesn't know his assignments after a full offseason, minicamps and TC to bring him up to date, it's time to cut bait and fish for a better catch. Granted that some players are slower than others to catch on but there's a limit to every waiting period. No matter how physically gifted he may be, it's of little value if his play recognition isn't able to communicate to his body. The End.

 

[Rockport]

Norm can stick his narrative up his rear. I have watched most of the games and have seen two instances where he showed poor effort.

There was the Chargers game early in the season. He had inside leverage and good coverage against the RB but a good QB can beat single coverage and with deep throws to the outside, Carter was unable to make a play and if effected his play. He was demoralized and taken off the field.

The AM media has taken this narrative and have continued to talk about it ever since.

Now he did have issues in pass coverage especially early. LB in their drops are supposed to be aware of the shorter routes like curls and comebacks that will happen in front of them. The OLB are also supposed to get deep enough in their drops to attack routes over them too like ins and posts. A lot of the poopooing that Brandon Carr would get was based on inside routes and who was it there are the inside to help him?

When it was Lawrence and Sims there might as well have been nobody at all. If the ball wasn't out by the time they got to their drop they were worthless. Sims only knows how to chase the ball and Lawrence is the rookie special teams ace and 7th LB. So when Lee went out the entire middle of the field opened up.

But even Lee struggled early too. They were ill prepared for the way Manning used his backs to pound sprints into their coverage but as time went by they did get better. Carter did as well.

The weeks following San Diego, Eberfuls put Carter back out there and teams tried to get behind him again. They ran several wheel routes tot he weakside but Stafford and co could not make the throw. He is very rangy with those long legs and his drop is sweet to get under throws and he attacked the underneath stuff snuffing out completions for short games.

His recognition improved in the run game and he was meeting blockers in the hole even if things worsened as Hatcher and Ware got beat up and their play worsened in front of him. Watching him play I see him taking on tons of blocks and while sometimes especially if they got a free release off the line they got the better of him, as often he was winning those battles by either stoning his guy or shedding to make the play himself. His ability to chase stuff from the weakside when the blockers had to stay in was impressive.

Then the second Giants game happened. The Giants offensive line sucks and Carter was physically dominant out there. Hynovski their FB was also out and our guys dominated the line of scrimmage. The size of both Carter and Wilber shined and we beat up their blockers and smothered receivers.

Then in the second half, Coughlin uncorked a play specifically designed to exploit Carter in single coverage. They run the slot across the formation and with him on the run snap the ball. It was an arena football play and Myers ran a good route up the sideline. Carter lets him get behind him and allowed a 20 yard completion. He pulls up in disgust, fails to down the receiver and Myers runs into the end zone.

Aikman called it unacceptable and sport 'journalists' had their story.

Thing is that Carter did not allow it to effect his play. He went back out there and continued to play a good game.

He continued to play a good game against games from that point people claimed he dogged it. I have hear that he dogged two weeks earlier against the Saints which is not true. I have heard it again against Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia. I am not waiting for some ninny to make the claim against Green Bay. It just is not true.

Now you see writers asking coaches about it and fabricating a story. He is not lazy and Norm needs to speak for himself and not the coaching staff. He hates losing and failure. You should be able to work with that.

It's not an effort thing, it's an ability to play the LB position thing. He didn't play well last year period.

 

[Rockport]

You guys are creating an agenda that can be applied to any school...You are failing to mention the recent players from UNC like Robert Quinn, Giovani Bernard, Johnathan Cooper (know he was hurt but no chance he flops with the Cardinals), etc. Every school has their flops in the NFL, it is the most competitive sports league in the world.

They watch too much ESPN then come here and emulate the talking heads there. Make bold statements with little or nothing to back it up.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

The scheme change excuse is so lame. Carter was a 43 LB in college and the big question with him coming out was supposed to be could he adapt to the 34 where he'd have to take on blockers more often. So now we go back to the defense that should be better suited to him and that he's played most in his life and he needs a multi-year adjustment period? Come on.

And one of the big selling points in going to the 43 was that it was a lot easier to learn anyway.

I also find it funny that some would blame Norm for imagining some phantom lack of effort and focus when every Cowboys observer saw it for themselves. Give me a break.

Let's just call him what he is, a talented athlete who didn't play to his potential. Zordon is right that Carolina has turned out more than its share of these types of guys at least since Butch Davis got there.

I totally agree with this, and if he played so well last year, why was he benched several times in favor of journeymen players?

Gil Brandt has said it many times that everyone knew coming out of college, that Carter was supremely talented, but he did not love football and it was not important to him.

 

[coogrfan]

Arian Foster was tweeting about cats and poetry. I guess Houston should start looking for another RB.

Foster gets a pass because he has actually done something in the league. Carter, since he has done jack squat, does not..

 

[coogrfan]

Carter's natural position should be in the middle.....Why the Cowboys keep that piece of glass Lee there is beyond me. The only thing that is keeping Carter from being a star is being in the right position...and that is MLB

To date I have seen nothing that leads me to believe Carter will ever be anything more than a JAG. Hopefully you're right and I'm wrong.

 

[DFWJC]

You guys are creating an agenda that can be applied to any school...You are failing to mention the recent players from UNC like Robert Quinn, Giovani Bernard, Johnathan Cooper (know he was hurt but no chance he flops with the Cardinals), etc. Every school has their flops in the NFL, it is the most competitive sports league in the world.

Yeah, stereotypes come too easily.

Look at Alabama players....one sure could easily say on average they are overrated at the next level.

It'd be easy to name a half a dozen without much thought.

Pick any team randomly...Oklahoma, for example.

But we'd probably have to take a much more detailed look to know the reality...and when we did the results may be much different.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

It's not an effort thing, it's an ability to play the LB position thing. He didn't play well last year period.

Sorry I have watched all the losses and 4 of the wins in the last weeks and do not agree with your take at all.

He was bad against San Diego. No doubt about it. He had one bad play against the Giants. At the end of games and in some of our bad losses when our dline was getting blown off the ball and teams were running it 2 out of three down he had 'trouble getting off of blocks like against the Saints but Brees wasn't completing passes on Carter.

We went down a score early against Oakland and he played great and helped shut them down for a come from behind victory. Similar story against the Giants at MetLife where both he and Wilber played great games.

I know you have heard that he was dogging it at the end versus Washington and Philadelphia. That is what got me started looking. I wanted to see what was beating us. Well I kept looking for the shoe to drop and it never did. I kept waiting for him to be a sieve in the run game. He wasn't. Frankly if you think Carter is bad then you must think Holloman and company were godawful then.

All of his bad plays are well documented because of how he carries on when he makes them.

The media is fabricating crap to keep a story going. I really do not know what else to say. The media said that they had heard his issues were with confidence and got Marinelli to go off about it. Well they have turned that conversation into a conversation between the two parties when it was always them.

Now his bad play has angered the coaching staff. . . It's asinine.

 

[Rockport]

Sorry I have watched all the losses and 4 of the wins in the last weeks and do not agree with your take at all.

He was bad against San Diego. No doubt about it. He had one bad play against the Giants. At the end of games and in some of our bad losses when our dline was getting blown off the ball and teams were running it 2 out of three down he had 'trouble getting off of blocks like against the Saints but Brees wasn't completing passes on Carter.

We went down a score early against Oakland and he played great and helped shut them down for a come from behind victory. Similar story against the Giants at MetLife where both he and Wilber played great games.

I know you have heard that he was dogging it at the end versus Washington and Philadelphia. That is what got me started looking. I wanted to see what was beating us. Well I kept looking for the shoe to drop and it never did. I kept waiting for him to be a sieve in the run game. He wasn't. Frankly if you think Carter is bad then you must think Holloman and company were godawful then.

All of his bad plays are well documented because of how he carries on when he makes them.

The media is fabricating crap to keep a story going. I really do not know what else to say. The media said that they had heard his issues were with confidence and got Marinelli to go off about it. Well they have turned that conversation into a conversation between the two parties when it was always them.

Now his bad play has angered the coaching staff. . . It's asinine.

I watched every game as well. He played like he had no clue where he was suppose to be on many plays. The coaches, who know much, much more about his ability than you or I do, wanted to draft a LB in the 1st to replace him. Nuff said in my book.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I totally agree with this, and if he played so well last year, why was he benched several times in favor of journeymen players?

Gil Brandt has said it many times that everyone knew coming out of college, that Carter was supremely talented, but he did not love football and it was not important to him.

He was benched once in San Diego. He was hurt and came out against Chicago. That was when things got really bad and they started attacking both sides of the field. They lined Jeffrey up out there and started attacking Orlando Scandrick who was also out there. That didn't work out very well. I am pretty sure it was Lawrence they replaced him with.

The next game was versus GB and he didn't play. They got stomped defensively in historical fashion. The following week against Washington he comes back and lo and behold we can play defense again after giving up 40+ ppg multiple times.

Were there other benchings I missed?

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I watched every game as well. He played like he had no clue where he was suppose to be on many plays. The coaches, who know much, much more about his ability than you or I do, wanted to draft a LB in the 1st to replace him. Nuff said in my book.

You don't know that he was drafted to replace him. Shazier played the mike a lot but when he did shade outside it was usually to the strongside unless he was blitzing. You have no idea what they planned for Shazier so quit acting like you do.

Can you point out any plays in particular outside of the 3 long completions and him behaving like a child versus SD? Or is that all you go by as well?

 

[Rockport]

You don't know that he was drafted to replace him. Shazier played the mike a lot but when he did shade outside it was usually to the strongside unless he was blitzing. You have no idea what they planned for Shazier so quit acting like you do.

Can you point out any plays in particular outside of the 3 long completions and him behaving like a child versus SD? Or is that all you go by as well?

The insiders at Valley Ranch said they wanted Shazier to replace Carter. I'll take their word for it over you. I'm not going to go play to play for you. He had a horrible year and was benched in favor of Ernie Sims. What further evidence do you need that he was horrible?

 

[Mr Cowboy]

He was benched once in San Diego. He was hurt and came out against Chicago. That was when things got really bad and they started attacking both sides of the field. They lined Jeffrey up out there and started attacking Orlando Scandrick who was also out there. That didn't work out very well. I am pretty sure it was Lawrence they replaced him with.

The next game was versus GB and he didn't play. They got stomped defensively in historical fashion. The following week against Washington he comes back and lo and behold we can play defense again after giving up 40+ ppg multiple times.

Were there other benchings I missed?

Bruce Carter, OLB. No one had a tougher transition to the 4-3 scheme than Carter. He looked unsure of himself on many occasions and was benched multiple times. Carter’s size and athleticism make him a good fit on the weakside, but he’ll have to regain his confidence to make an impact

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http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sports/...rojections-for-cowboys-defensive-starters.ece

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The insiders at Valley Ranch said they wanted Shazier to replace Carter. I'll take their word for it over you. I'm not going to go play to play for you. He had a horrible year and was benched in favor of Ernie Sims. What further evidence do you need that he was horrible?

The insiders at Valley Ranch? By that I assume you mean Broaddus?

I had not watched the Minnesota game yet but I will now. That was the game that he was benched in. They brought him back in the second half. I take it they did not like his effort against the Lions. I need to rewatch that game as well.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

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http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sports/...rojections-for-cowboys-defensive-starters.ece

Thanks. I had completely forgotten about the Minnesota game.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

https://soundcloud.com/user289781886/1400725387a

It is a testament to our horrific Defense that we debate the merits (or lack of) of the Carters and Meltons of the world.
When these are the guys we pin our hopes on, I just hope that Romo can ease up on the dinky passes to Witten and the low percentage passes to Dez give the ball more and more to Murray or whoever steps up.
We will need sustained drives all season long. It is either that or teams scoring 40 points on us ever Sunday.
Please, Romo, take the reins because your defense is a work in progress and we'll need you and your boys on the field longer, much longer.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

He stopped tweeting b/c people were dogging on him after the season.

So Carter cannot tackle AND HE IS THE SENSITIVE TYPE?
sigh. Carter needs to take a year off and work on fundamentals. Then he needs to grow a thicker skin and maybe a pair.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Bruce Carter is the new Dallas 'problem child' along with Mo Claiborne.

Mo Claiborne is a problem child now?