Donatell is at LB and Castillo is at CB. You're comparing a bit of apples to oranges there, but I thought this was one of Castillo's better games. I specifically recall him breaking up a deep ball. I also thought Donatell had a very solid game tonight and made a lot of solid tackles in space and held up well as an undersized LB...but I'm not sure what the story is w/ taking him out and putting Alston in the middle, unless they felt NW was getting too much on the ground and wanted more beef in the middle.
Nielsen is a LB covering Ebert, a WR. If the WR can't beat the LB, that WR sucks or that LB is a stud. Nielsen's coverage isn't terrible for a LB, but he will almost always have trouble staying w/ WR's. He usually does a decent job and while the pass catcher (WR, RB or TE) often catches the ball, they seldom get any YAC. It's frustrating to watch, but he's competent in coverage.
Lowery also got significant minutes in nickel and looked rusty. Interesting seeing Alston at MLB. I don't have any memories of Alston doing anything particularly good or bad, but could definitely be wrong.
Is McCall hurt? Doghouse? Was he in and I just didn't notice? Hate to harp on it, but if you're going to burn the RS, it would be good to see him on the field. I understand he fumbled and they may be leery, but eventually they need to stick him in there.