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Redskins.com recently posted the latest on Andre Carter's health and move to Outside Line Backer:
Carter said the Redskins' 3-4 is different from the one he played in San Francisco in that there's less responsibility to read offenses at the line of scrimmage.
"I felt that in San Francisco there was a lot of reading, especially when we were in Cover 2," Carter said. "You had to jam a receiver and then get in a certain position between the two hash marks so that when the ball was thrown you had to be in the way of the receiver.
"In this scheme, there's no comparison. Sometimes you line up against a tight end and attack, sometimes you're outside doing a wide rush, forcing the ball back inside or forcing the ball outside depending on the call."
I think it's safe to say all of us here said at the beginning of the off-season, "Trade Andre...he'll never be able to play the 3-4." Should we be changing our tune? Andre is still rehabbing his torn biceps. This means he has yet to take any reps in the new scheme, but should be ready by the June minicamps. Andre of course loved to be a hand in the dirt guy but will be a "stand-up [defensive] end." Haslett claims he plans to rush Orakpo "800 times," but how long will it take opposing offenses to figure this out? 1 quarter? Dink and dunk over the middle? I was exchanging e-mails with KC Joyner of the Football Scientist and he mentioned the move from Blache to Haslett is more of a lateral move:
Haslett's troops (his last stint with STL) racked up 9, 15 and 11 scheme sacks respectively. Blache's 2009 Redskins racked up 14 scheme sacks, or a very similar total to Haslett's Rams.
Personnel obviously plays a role, and Blache corner-blitzed less than 10 times all year if I recall correctly. Either way, it seems Andre may be OK in the LB role.
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