james carpenter

[sedrohawk]

People have been speculating that carp was benched for a few plays. since i happen to have nfl game rewind i went back and watched the coaches film and basically focused on carp.

Im not going to get into to much detail, but carp probably had his best game against tampa. he was very effective in pass pro and is learning to watch his gap when no one is lined up over him. unlike games past when he would help unger or mquistan the other team would blitz through his gap. this game if he helped i noticed he was always watching his gap looking for the blitzer he did a way better job in this regard.

his run blocking this game was very effective if not dominate in most cases. I think i counted 3 minor negative blocks on run plays but for the most part he did very well. alot of times in this game tampa didnt line up anyone across from him and he did way better in space this game. his second level blocks were sometimes decent.

i have noticed all season that when a lineman is lined up in front of carp he usually handles him in run blocking or pass pro. its when he has to think about who to block when no one is in his gap that he has struggled in the past , but in this game he did good so maybe he is making progress. remember he hasn't played alot of games in his career.

overall i think that carp had an excellent game and if he was taken out it was to give him a breather. i hope he continues to improve his conditioning and his awareness, and if he does i think he can be a dominant guard especially when okung returns.

 

[Seeker]

Carp's issue has always been his conditioning. it isn't until about the second quarter where you see him huffing hands on hips, requesting oxygen/water, then you start seeing the mental lapses on plays, completely whiffing on guys and getting pushed out of plays. when he isn't out of gas he can be a monster on run plays. interested to FINALLY see what a fully operational carp and okung look like on the left. This is the only reason I hold out hope for this guy. people get frustrated because he should have had all issues with his conditioning fixed considering the fact that he took heat for coming in out of shape his rookie season.

 

[CalgaryHawk]

I see us being more affective at Left Guard one Okung returns, and we can alternate McQ, Carpenter, and perhaps even Bailey at the position and keep them all fresh.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Pete said he was rotating ALL his O-Linemen in and out of the game against Tampa in order for all the guys to get experience. So I wouldn't put too much stock in Carp coming off the field.

 

[jlwaters1]

Pete said he was rotating ALL his O-Linemen in and out of the game against Tampa in order for all the guys to get experience. So I wouldn't put too much stock in Carp coming off the field.

I agree I think the ESPN reports of him being benched were completely overblown. He wasn't benched as one would typically think. A "Benched" played isn't playing late in the 4th quarter and into OT- which Carp did. He played the majority of the game.

 

[Trenchbroom]

I haven't watched the game since it was live--did his "benching" coincide with bringing Bailey in at LT and putting McQ back at LG?

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I haven't watched the game since it was live--did his "benching" coincide with bringing Bailey in at LT and putting McQ back at LG?

Yep. So Carp coming out probably had more to do with Pete wanting to see how Bailey did at LT more than Carp doing anything wrong. God knows we know how McQuistan is at RT, terrible.......so why not slide him back to guard and put Bailey in to see if he can do any better.

 

[rastahawk]

I think Carp is at his best when there is good talent around him. When Okung and Unger are in form Carp tends to continue that trend. But when things break down around him he tends to follow suit. Never really a stand out. He needs to stand on an island and just own it. Not depend so much on what's around him.

 

[Happypuppy]

Seeker IMO is right. His conditioning is not very good. He plays well and gets gassed. That contributes to injuries as well. The guy needs to off season hire an personal chef and trainer like Okung.

I think we see the rotation all year. We do it with the DL and I see it extended.

 

[sedrohawk]

he didn't looked as gassed to me in this game. even towards the end of the game. the o-line as a whole played a pretty decent game. I did notice a couple times the line pass pro was good , but lynch missed his blitz pickup.

 

[DavidSeven]

Maybe this rotational approach could work (until Okung/Breno come back). The results really couldn't really be any worse than they've already been.

 

[Tech Worlds]

If Carp's conditioning isnt up to par at this point in the season it will never be.

To bad because he really is holding himself back from being as good as he could be.

 

[Tech Worlds]

I think Carp is at his best when there is good talent around him. When Okung and Unger are in form Carp tends to continue that trend. But when things break down around him he tends to follow suit. Never really a stand out. He needs to stand on an island and just own it. Not depend so much on what's around him.

This is true of all players and people. We are better with talent around us.

That is why BestFightStory and Riley12 always want to hang with me.

 

[bestfightstory]

I think Carp is at his best when there is good talent around him. When Okung and Unger are in form Carp tends to continue that trend. But when things break down around him he tends to follow suit. Never really a stand out. He needs to stand on an island and just own it. Not depend so much on what's around him.

This is true of all players and people. We are better with talent around us.

That is why BestFightStory and Riley12 always want to hang with me.

i got skillz!

 

[kidhawk]

Honestly, I thought this said more about their frustration with McQuistan at tackle. They are getting desperate to get better protection out of the tackle position. McQuistan is a better guard than Tackle by far. I was more inclined to believe that Pete or Tom wanted to see what we could do by getting Bailey in there and putting McQuistan back at his better position. In theory, if McQuistan is better than Carpenter (which I believe he is) and Bailey can be close to as good as McQuistan at Tackle then in theory we should get improved line play.

I just wish Okung would get and stay healthy. We are so much better with him out there.

 

[CortezKennedyfan]

Maybe this rotational approach could work (until Okung/Breno come back). The results really couldn't really be any worse than they've already been.

I don't know why this isnt done more often.

The Rams started doing it too this season.

Keep those guys fresh.

 

[bestfightstory]

I'm just surprised we haven't caught Carpenter eating a hot dog on the sidelines like that other notoriously out of shape Seahawk....

:stirthepot:

 

[Tech Worlds]

Maybe this rotational approach could work (until Okung/Breno come back). The results really couldn't really be any worse than they've already been.

I don't know why this isnt done more often.

The Rams started doing it too this season.

Keep those guys fresh.

Yes and you can see how well that's worked for them.

 

[hawk45]

I'm for the anybody-but-McQ at LT approach. Decent guard, cover your eyes bad at tackle.

 

[sc85sis]

From what I've been told (or read on message boards) by guys who played o-line, it's the position group that most relies on continuity. That's probably why you tend not to see as much rotation there.