James Carpenter still a fat out of shape slob?

Just wondering if anyone else noticed how absolutely terrible Carpenter was against the Rams? He was missing so many blocks, and had several penalties if my memory serves correct.

The camera zoomed in on Carpenter on the 1st play of one of our drives and Carpenter had his head down, panting deep like he couldn't breath, sweaty as heck... looked like he was about to collapse on the field from exhaustion. AND THAT WAS BEFORE THE FIRST PLAY OF A DRIVE AFTER A LONG REST...

THIS WAS A GAME WHERE CARPENTER WAS DIVING AT GUYS AT THE START OF PLAYS AND THEY JUST CASUALLY SIDE STEPPED HIM AS HE FACE PLANTED AND THEY RUN PAST HIM...

He was absolutely terrible, and our Offensive Line needs to improve as well as our Defense if we want to pull some heroics to win the NFC.

I think both he and Okung wont' be on the team next year. Left side of our line is horrible.

Hawkfish":r4rdkezj said:

I think both he and Okung wont' be on the team next year. Left side of our line is horrible.

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Agree though not as certain about Okung. Dude CAN play when healthy. He just never seems to be.

Our guard play this last game was not good. Carp was crap and Sweey wasn't much better.

Nobody has been complaining about Carp all year. This is the first I've heard of it.

We need to give some props to Donald. Few, if any, can ragdoll Carp but Donald did. He'll adjust for round 2.

The line is instant pressure allowed. They had the one niner thread where they asked if Wilson can throw from the pocket. My first thought was Russ on stretcher for trying. There has been many here banging the drum for O-line draft
picks, I-Ro to name one and I agree. Seattle has a top notch QB and I would like to see him play for a while. The D- line can also use some attention especially up the center.

Yes, Tok, he is a slob, and more than likely...a mouth breather.

I agree with giving the Rams some credit. If you thought going into the game that their D-Line had a big advantage over our O-Line then watching it play out like that shouldn't change your opinions very much.

The problem to me with Okung is value; his cap hit is $11.2m this year. As much as we complain about Percy's money or complained about McQ's blocking it sure would be nice to have McQ instead this year if we could also have Tate, Bryant, Clem, McDonald, etc. It's down to $7.2m the following year so the best outcome for us is that he gets healthy over the offseason and plays well in a contract year.

Okung also doesn't fit with our QB. New Orleans prioritizes inside OL over tackles. It'll be the same here; OL moneys will be spent at RG, LG and C.

Okung was never going to get resigned, sans a HUIGE paycut.

It should also be noted that Okung had an awesome game against St. Louis, which allowed the downfield passing game to open up for the first time this season.

MontanaHawk05":2g94cq60 said:

Nobody has been complaining about Carp all year. This is the first I've heard of it.

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And IIRC, didn't Carp leave the game for a bit and come back in? I think it was after that he started getting destroyed. If so, the injury may have played a factor

yeah I was going to say, I didn't notice carpenter much until after he was down on the field and limped off, then he was back in but didn't seem to be playing well or comfortable, in fact might even be the play you're referring too - after the injury I remember seeing a close-up of him in his stance and I was like, yeah that dude hurtin.

Carpenter has 3 penalties on the year. He's fine.

He was flagged for a hold, but that didn't affect the team, as we converted and on that drive scored a touchdown.

In fact, all of Carpenter's penalties didn't ultimately prevent us from scoring this year. The only questionable penalty to affect us (the unnecessary roughness call) was IMO bogus. Harvin had scored a TD on that play. But subsequently, Harvin would have scored his touchdown otherwise (were it not for his own false start penalty). We kicked a field goal ultimately. On Carpenter's other penalties (holds), Seattle ultimately scored touchdowns on. So his penalties had zero effect on the outcome of those drives.

I don't see the cause for the concern on Carpenter. Honestly, other than Okung -- our OL is not committing many penalties on the year. At least not more than league average.

I get it, that the team isn't performing as it should. To be perfectly honest though, our offense is not even close to the problem. We've been scoring in the 20s with regularity. The defense is not performing up to the standard of 2012 or 2013. That is the core root of our struggles. Simply put, the stars on this team aren't producing like stars.

It's simply the nature of the OL group that any quality play they produce goes unnoticed. The only time they are highlighted is when they make mistakes. So there is only really negative reinforcement for the group as a whole. Carpenter gets slammed/guilted by association for the mistakes of the OL as a whole. Looking at the group -- and comparing it to other OL groups -- we aren't faring poorly in the least.

The offensive line and Carp in particular are easy targets. It always misses the obvious factors contributing to their perceived inefficiency; Wilson's style, Pete's reluctance for throws across middle, their purpose (maul over backpedal), etc. They have their moments, but they're not as bad as this place would lead one to believe.

Seanhawk":3ejho1tz said:

MontanaHawk05":3ejho1tz said:

Nobody has been complaining about Carp all year. This is the first I've heard of it.

Click to expand...

And IIRC, didn't Carp leave the game for a bit and come back in? I think it was after that he started getting destroyed. If so, the injury may have played a factor

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This!

I remember specifically wondering if he'd be ok, then on a subsequent play, they did that zoom in on him and I was thinking that he must really be playing hurt. It looked to me like the camera zoomed in just as the line was getting set and he was bracing himself for the upcoming play. He really didn't look good and I was surprised he made it through the rest of the day and even more surprised that Pete didn't seem to make much of a deal about any injury to him on Monday.

Because he was selected higher than anyone wanted (remember the Seahawks tried desperately to trade down) and he played a position the Seahawks never wanted him at anyways (he was always going to be a guard) the good things about Carp get overlooked. Toughness being the biggest, IMO.

To be fair to Carp.. he was matched up with Aaron Donald (a future perennial All-Pro) and compensating for a hobbled Okung and 3rd string center.

Unger needs to come back ASAP.. and I think that will immediately remedy half of Carpenter's problems.

The scene of which you describe, seems about when Carpenter limped off the field for a couple of plays, then returned on the same drive, sure he looked fatigued but he could of also been in pain as well. Maybe he got his junk smacked around.

Carpenter had a bad first half as much of the line. But its not like he's getting a lot of help these days with injured Okung to his left and a green center to his right.

The line did play much better in the 2nd half though.

The Rams IMO have one of the best D lines in the game. The players that cable likes are all heavily biased to be road graders and not pass blockers. That said he had a bad game. Didn't help we had a 3rd string TE , a backup center getting his welcome to the NFL as a center moment as well.

So many false claims on this thread. First off, the Rams rank dead last in pass rush going into the game and still rank dead last in pass rush after the game. That's using advanced metrics. Going by just sacks, the Rams had ONE going into the game and now have FIVE.

So no, that is not a good Dline we were facing, that is the worst the NFL has to offer.

Our oline, meanwhile, was ranked dead last in 2013 for pass pro. This year they're ranked in the mid 20's. That's only because they've been facing teams like the Rams, with horrible pass rushing units. Unlike last season, when they faced top 10 defenses in 11 of 16 games, this year they've yet to face dominant defensive fronts.

God help Wilson when they do. This oline is possibly the worst at pass protection I've ever seen in my lifetime going back to when I first started watching football the season of SB V.