At least the linebacker part of it. Carroll likes elite speed in his linebackers. Elite by NFL standards and that means very fast. The problem with wanting the fastest linebackers is that you usually end up with small linebackers. Wagner and Irvin are small for their positions. All things are tradeoffs and the danger in this approach is that a power running game can push you around. Carroll counters this by putting massive humans in the middle of the line. Brandon Mebane and even more so Red Bryant before him are big even by NFL standards.
I got nervous when Mebane went down but his smaller replacement Hill seemed to hold his own in the run and even added better pass rush. With Hill out I'm having high anxiety. Mebane would have done a much better job of clogging up Eddie Lacy's running lanes.
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