People howl and scream when McCarthy shuffles the O-line around; then, when it finally seems to be gelling, they're clamoring to bring in replacements -- replacements who haven't even been proven to be reliable yet? You want to throw a guy onto the field who hasn't played in almost a year in potentially the biggest game of our regular season?
The question isn't why is Tauscher not starting? The question is, why on earth would you want him to?
"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:
Because he's not making these constant mental errors and was still an elite tackle up to next year. I mean, Clifton is/was getting hit hard by his age, Tauscher, not that much.
Don't get me wrong, he's declining as well, but he's still not getting burned (a lot).
It's just getting annoying to see the DE stunt inside, an ILB blitzing and Barbre standing there blocking no one. Or just gambling on the LDE rushing up field, kick-sliding 5 yards deep and the DE just spins to the inside. He just seems lost half the time. He might have all the physical tools, but I just don't think that he has the intelligence to play tackle.
Lang, on the other hand, is making plays on insight already (See McCarthy show, as well). He might not have the physical tools to play LT, but makes up for it with intelligence.
We'll see what's more effective in the end. Smarts won't shut down a guy like Allen, but physical tools alone won't even shut down a guy like Ray Edwards. Tauscher would.