12th's Five Reasons To Be Encouraged

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Again, I think Carter is off to a nice start and has consistently applied good pressure, and I think Washington has done a nice job rushing as well. Has the problem been fixed completely? No, but it's been improved.

I don't think Carter has consistently applied good pressure.

He's got 2 sacks, on pace for ten, and one great strip of Manning. But going over the stats last year, I noticed a disturbing trend. Carter had one third the hurries of Phillip Daniels. Yeah, hes going against better tackles, but he also takes himself out of a lot of plays with his speed rush. Sure 2-3% of passing plays he beats the LT clean and gets there for the sack. But what about the 90% where he's nowhere near the passer? I personally would trade 4 sacks for 20 hurries from the DE position.

One thing I have to give him, he's been a LOT better against the run this season. You can still beat him by running straight at him, but in general he's doing a better job not overpursuing and taking away cutback lanes beautifully. He's just nothing more than an average pass rusher at best.