xwalker
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The All-22 is not available yet, so this is from the broadcast view.
I focused primarily on Bernadeau, Collins and Randle but I did watch the others also.
Bernadeau was not the worst player ever as I've seen people claim; however, Collins was definitely better.
Collins did have a few whiffs and they didn't throw many stunts or blitzes at him which was something he struggled with in the preseason. He did pick up the few stunts that he did see with no problem. Most of his whiffs were in the running game and were probably due to being overly aggressive and going for the kill-shot type block. He did have a couple of run plays where he started in one direction and then realized he should be blocking the guy on the opposite side but overall for his 1st ever real NFL game he was quite good.
I don't really think the goal line run was a problem with Collins as claimed by the announcers. He did take a step back but he drove his man sideways out of the hole. It was not his man that clogged up that play. They defender that Free was blocking slammed into Martin's legs preventing Martin from maintaining his block and his man was the primary tackler on that play.
Bernadeau has always had a tendency to be late off the snap while playing Guard. He had two false starts probably because he was trying to improve this problem; however, on several snaps he was still late off the snap. I can go frame by frame and see all other offensive players move before he moves which gives the defender an advantage. They can win games with Bernadeau playing but Collins is better and Leary is obviously better.
Randle was actually very good. He got something out of nothing multiple times and got "dirty yards" on many plays. He didn't have a good average because he was hit in the backfield often.
McFadden appeared to get what was available not more, not less.
Overall the run blocking was not that good. I didn't see any 1 obvious reason for it. The Eagles sometimes run blitzed and seemed to have a good feel for when and where the Cowboys were going to run. The Eagles have a very good DL. As mentioned above, both Bern and Collins had some issues. Fred had some issues with their NT at times. Free is very limited and can't even get movement when blocking a LB. People said that Martin struggled, but I didn't notice it. There was 1 play where it initially looked like he was terrible but on review the defender appears to yank his face-mask and get him off balance.
The pass blocking was OK but not as good as last week. The play where Romo was injured was NOT Bernadeau's fault. They blitzed both LBs and Bern blocked the 1st one. There was no blocker available for the 2nd one. Romo needed to get rid of the ball on that play. Free is still not very good and completely whiffed more than once.
One run play failed because of a terrible block by the FB. The TEs need to be better blocking in the run game. I didn't count but they seemed to run from sets with a FB or multiple TEs more often than normal. I actually think they run better in general from 3 WR sets which spreads out the defense. Even Witten had some failed run blocks. They missed Hanna although, I don't think he was 100% last week either. It would be nice to have a big nasty run blocking TE but they obviously don't want one of those. They did use the OT Brown a couple of times.
Obviously not having Dez allows defenses to use the defender that would normally be in double coverage on Dez to drop down and defend the run. Also, once Weeden was in the game, the defense loaded up against the run and dared Weeden to beat them.
I still wish that Collins could play RT. Having him at RT would really open up the running game.
I focused primarily on Bernadeau, Collins and Randle but I did watch the others also.
Bernadeau was not the worst player ever as I've seen people claim; however, Collins was definitely better.
Collins did have a few whiffs and they didn't throw many stunts or blitzes at him which was something he struggled with in the preseason. He did pick up the few stunts that he did see with no problem. Most of his whiffs were in the running game and were probably due to being overly aggressive and going for the kill-shot type block. He did have a couple of run plays where he started in one direction and then realized he should be blocking the guy on the opposite side but overall for his 1st ever real NFL game he was quite good.
I don't really think the goal line run was a problem with Collins as claimed by the announcers. He did take a step back but he drove his man sideways out of the hole. It was not his man that clogged up that play. They defender that Free was blocking slammed into Martin's legs preventing Martin from maintaining his block and his man was the primary tackler on that play.
Bernadeau has always had a tendency to be late off the snap while playing Guard. He had two false starts probably because he was trying to improve this problem; however, on several snaps he was still late off the snap. I can go frame by frame and see all other offensive players move before he moves which gives the defender an advantage. They can win games with Bernadeau playing but Collins is better and Leary is obviously better.
Randle was actually very good. He got something out of nothing multiple times and got "dirty yards" on many plays. He didn't have a good average because he was hit in the backfield often.
McFadden appeared to get what was available not more, not less.
Overall the run blocking was not that good. I didn't see any 1 obvious reason for it. The Eagles sometimes run blitzed and seemed to have a good feel for when and where the Cowboys were going to run. The Eagles have a very good DL. As mentioned above, both Bern and Collins had some issues. Fred had some issues with their NT at times. Free is very limited and can't even get movement when blocking a LB. People said that Martin struggled, but I didn't notice it. There was 1 play where it initially looked like he was terrible but on review the defender appears to yank his face-mask and get him off balance.
The pass blocking was OK but not as good as last week. The play where Romo was injured was NOT Bernadeau's fault. They blitzed both LBs and Bern blocked the 1st one. There was no blocker available for the 2nd one. Romo needed to get rid of the ball on that play. Free is still not very good and completely whiffed more than once.
One run play failed because of a terrible block by the FB. The TEs need to be better blocking in the run game. I didn't count but they seemed to run from sets with a FB or multiple TEs more often than normal. I actually think they run better in general from 3 WR sets which spreads out the defense. Even Witten had some failed run blocks. They missed Hanna although, I don't think he was 100% last week either. It would be nice to have a big nasty run blocking TE but they obviously don't want one of those. They did use the OT Brown a couple of times.
Obviously not having Dez allows defenses to use the defender that would normally be in double coverage on Dez to drop down and defend the run. Also, once Weeden was in the game, the defense loaded up against the run and dared Weeden to beat them.
I still wish that Collins could play RT. Having him at RT would really open up the running game.
