The status of DeCastro?

I just have a couple of questions about the status of DeCastro. First of all, does the new cba say that IF a player can make it back by week 8 then they can be reactivated to play? Or do they just have to be ready before the end of the regular season? I was thinking there is something in there about week 8. Also does anyone know when DeCastro will be ready? I've been glad to see him on the sidelines during games doing some paperwork ya know? Also another question that gets raised about Mendy and Dwyer is "IF Mendy gets back will Dwyer lose his job?" But should we be asking the same question about DeCastro? Will it be safe to say that Foster will lose his job as soon as DeCastro is back? IF this line gels in its current state do they break it up just to get DeCastro out there? Just a few questions I had and thought some folks might have some input on it. But mainly the question I would like to know is his status as far as getting to play this year.

 

The 8 week thing is not about really about the CBA/etc. Its a new Special "Designated for Return" IR...a team can designate ONE player to this special IR...but they must be on it for a minimum of 8 weeks. And DD was designated that player. And there hasnt been any news since the thread that I think was posted here a little while ago. He was running on the sidelines and getting better pretty much.

As far as Dwyer/Foster automatically loose their starting jobs...Dwyer...possibly (though he may still get a lot more playing time in a reserve role). Foster...unless he starts sucking or an injury to him or Colon I would be surprised if he does. DD would probably just be there in a reserve role and learn and such until next year.

 

i agree but if foster play like this next year too would be hard to find the starter spot for decastro , for that in another thread i asked if he can play lt

 

After a few rough spots, to me, this line is doing a decent job. It would be really hard to pull someone, at this point, just to plug in DD. It could be one of those, "its a nice problem to have" kind of things. As for Dwyer, I am a Mendy fan, however, Dwyer deserves to be the man and, in my opinion, Mendy is the one that needs to come back and earn his playing time. Good questions to think about though!

 

Why would you drive a Chevy when you can drive a Cadillac?

 

DeCastro is such a beast getting to the second level and never quitting. I'm just sad he won't be de-cleating Ray Lewis this year.

 

Because we're a blue collar team?

 

A Cadillac is a Chevy w/ all kinds of fancy and superfluous additions that break and make it less reliable/dependable?

 

The line has been solid for the last 3-4 games. No reason to rush him back, make sure that knee is fine to go. But as you know injuries happen, so who know's maybe Foster or Colon go down, Decastro might be in their quicker than you think, but I think Legursky can do anybody's job to keep the flow going if Decastro isn't ready.

 

I don't want anyone to get hurt and I definitely want us to keep this running game going but MAN I wanna see what DeCastro can actually do too! It's such a dilemma! If you had told me, or probably ANY of us, at the start of the season that DeCastro would be on the bench and our line would STILL be playing solid I would've been on the floor laughing. It also makes me wonder if some of what we perceived as a problem under BA might not have been as bad as we thought because now that we have an offense where we get rid of the ball quicker we aren't giving up the sacks like before. I mean DRASTICALLY not giving up sacks like we did before. I know our line hasn't been truly great since Cowher but all I'm saying is that it might not have been as bad as it looked ya know? Whatever the case I'm glad we're looking as good as we are.

 

if DeCastro comes back and hes 100% than hes starting. a lot of people felt he was the best olineman in the draft right there with Kalil.

you dont sit that guy on the bench. hes a difference maker. hes the difference between a tough 5 yard gain and a td run.

Foster has been solid, but he will become a nice backup.

 

Foster played well last year too and they were going to put DD in there over him this year....so yeah....i take that with a grain of salt, haha.

Regardless of what happens...I just want him 110% healthy with no lingering effects/etc...I dont want what happened to Mendy to happen to DD.

 

I said that several times in the past. That BAs offense and Ben holding the ball so long waiting for the BA pay to develop made the line look way worse than they were. I would typically point this out when people would say Brady, Brees, Manning etc. could not play with our O-line. I would say they would make the line look much better by Making quick reads and fgetting the ball out fast.

 

DeCastro will be back at some point, as will Gilbert. It is a good problem to have that we have 3 guys who could start and won't be....(add in Legursky)....and that is true if Foster or DeCastro start and Gilbert or Adams start.

 

You know, reading this and thining about it I had to laugh at myself. I realized it has been quite some time since I have heard myself (or my family/friends having to endure) my moaning about the line. I always felt there was some validity to those that argued Ben made the line worse than it was because there was no arguing that he held the ball for a long time. However, I felt that he had to hold the ball longer, at times, to avoid the rush that the line let through. In the end I blamed it on BA and now, it would seem, there was more truth to that than I thought. Even if we still have some issues on offense I really like the flow that it has going now. What we do seems to make more sense and the guys on offense seem to have more...rythm, I guess.

 

He will be a difference maker, I was so disappointed when he got hurt
that I was about ready to take the bridge, he was going to be that important to this offense,
THIS year. Now we will have to see how he has recuperated. If he could have stayed healthy
he would now at this point been DOMINATING his position thruout the NFL.

 

I was also distressed when he went down. My wife was like "why are you so mad about a game that doesn't even count"? And I was like "BECAUSE THAT'S OUR NUMBER ONE DRAFT PICK AND OUR LINE SUCKS AND NOW BEN'S GONNA GET HIS BRAINS BEAT OUT AGAIN AND THE NEW OFFENSE ISN'T GONNA WORK AND IT'S GONNA BE THE SAME OLD CRAP AND I WANNA DIE NOW!!!!!!' LOL. But I didn't really think that DeCastro was doing a super job at that point. I just thought that we needed him out there based on the poor excuse we've had to endure for the past few years. I think he really was having some growing pains even by his own admission. I just hope this doesn't stunt his growth and he can quickly assume the mantle of the next Fanneca. I also really like the way he carries himself. He's sorta like an o-line version of Heath Miller I guess. So hopefully he pans out and we get to watch him, in your words, "dominate" for the next 12 or 13 years.

 

Man that's so lame that it's taking longer than expected. But at least Foster is playing good. I just wanna see what DeCastro can do. I think as long as we keep Marcus Gilbert in a quarantined area our o line should be able to hold up the rest of the year. Some have been observing that Mike Adams has picked it up too so hopefully once DeCastro gets back we'll have the start of something special.

 

If I was Tomlin, I wouldn't just hand the job over to DeCastro because he's the future of the position and has more potential (that's for next year). And I wouldn't just let Foster keep it because he's doing a decent job. Once I was convinced DeCastro was 100% healthy, it would be an open competition, just like if it was training camp or preseason. I rotate them in practice and let the best man win. Whoever loses will be an upgrade at backup swing guard. Our line has been doing better the last couple of weeks, but let's not kid ourselves: we have lots of room too improve.

 

Definitely we have room to improve. One thing I would like to know though is this. Is Haley not only making BEN look better but is he also making the WHOLE LINE look better as well? I'm telling ya dude when this defense gets to where it needs to be our 7th Lombardi will soon be lifted. Can you even IMAGINE if we had this offensive scheme with the Troy and James in their primes? It hurts me to think what we might have been. I know we got a ring anyway but I gotta believe if we could've kept Rodgers on the bench in '10 we'd have another trophy.

 

The thing is, we DID have this offense when Troy and JH were in their prime. Problem is we had the biggest boneheaded OC in the NFL. I have always said that the OL got unfairly lambasted because BA refused to use or players to their strengths and Ben free wheeled way to much. Not many OL would look good holding off defenders for -10 seconds while the WR's are running 50 yds downfield and then the QB has to leave the pocket and the OL doesnt know where he is cause they have their backs to him. They playcalling under BA and Ben's play had way more to do with how our OL performed than most people want to acknowledge.

 

Yeah I think the only players that benefitted from BA's scheme were wide receivers. Also I agree that BA didn't play to the strengths of all players. Just ask Heath what he thinks about it and get back to me. He really didn't even play to the WHOLE strength of Ben if you think about it. With our ground game as non existent as it was that pretty much eliminated play action which is something that Ben is REALLY good at. I usually am against owners making personnel decisions that are gonna affect what happens on the field but I think in this case the Rooney's ABSOLUTELY done the right thing by making Tomlin get a new OC. I love them even more for it really.