Carstens

http://community.heraldonline.com/?q=blog/darin

 

Somewhere right now, Larry Allen is smiling.

 

He joined the 49ers, so he wont be smiling long.

 

Ya have a point there, CC.

Honestly, he played fairly well in spots last year. Was never exceptional, but was never expected to be. It's always good to keep around some depth at DT. Hell, we managed to win 13 games with Carstens as a starter. But, yea, that Dallas game still burns my ass. And it wasn't all JC....much of it was Buckner.

 

Carstens really did get his ass whipped in a few games the past two years, and it cost us. Not to mention he had trouble getting off the snap if you watch enough film - sometimes he was with everyone, sometimes he was way off.

With Rucker and Witherspoon's playing styles, you really have to have a guy who keeps gap integrity. That said, he exceeded expectations.

Also, he was ERFA, so this signing's just a formality.

 

What does this mean, specifically to Rucker? Do you mean freelancing? If so, I'd never heard it of Rucker.

 

Rucker tends to play the outside shoulder, but doesn't outright rush as if it were the pass. Kinda tenative between blowing outside and hanging back to catch contain, it leaves a little space. Witherspoon's only real weakness, IMO, was that sometimes he'd try to cover someone else's gap and get suckered out of his. Not that Carstens should be covering 3 gaps, he should be covering one, but generally the other two were doing their jobs.