So Confused - Why Bernie over Livings?

[JohnnyHopkins]

Oh man, debating which pig looks better with lipstick. Well, here is my opinion:

Consider the 2013 emphasis on zone blocking. Berny is a little better fit for a zone blocking scheme than Livings due to his better lateral movement and faster recognition of stunts/misdirection. Livings' advantage over Berny is in the straight ahead power game where he engages an assigned player. Livings' weaknesses even going back to Cincinnati was disengaging/passing off assignments to keep his area clean and moving laterally. It is the reason why Cincy fans were just fine with him leaving.

Berny seems to have been the better pass protector as the season went on. Nearing the end of last season, Berny was much better at passing off his man on stunts and playing within the called assignments. Livings doesn't seem to have a really good feel for defensive misdirection at all and he seemed to get his feet tied up alot because of it.

Last reason: Flexibility. Berny can play any of the three interior spots in a pinch (played Center in college). That could help with roster spots on game day. Having him as one starter and Kowalski as an active gameday back-up means a ton of flexibility should they have an injury along the interior of the line on gameday. Livings could conceivably go from starter to not even active on gamedays.

I just feel genuinely unclean after sticking up for either one of them

 

[ethiostar]

Livings is older and wore down as the season progressed. Bernadeau actually improved the second half of the season and was playing at a higher level.

Injury might be the reason Livings' play slipped, but Dallas is probably wary that he's at the age where injuries happen more and skills erode.

This.

 

[unionjack8]

Putrid signings give you putrid play. End of.
Having said that bernardeau is maybe the worst OL I have seen in Dallas since Phil pozderac.

 

[dmq]

According to reports, Bernie was playing hurt last year.

 

[Idgit]

Putrid signings give you putrid play. End of.
Having said that bernardeau is maybe the worst OL I have seen in Dallas since Phil pozderac.

Our OL problems last season weren't even primarily at OG.

 

[theogt]

No, he said the team did.

Good god, almighty. No wonder we can't draft or sign good linemen. In no way whatsoever did Bernadeau outperform Livings last year.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

Who cares? It looks like there will be serious competition at 4 of the 5 OL positions this year. Last year's performance is pretty much meaningless. Whoever is out there at guard this year will be the players who performed best at camp this year. Barring injury, we even have Costa, Kowalski, Leary, and even Frederick in serious contention for the guard spots this year along with Livings and Bernadeau. No one is getting anything handed to them. You have to earn it. And once you earn it, you have to keep earning it every week of the season.

What fan would complain about that situation?

 

[TheSport78]

According to reports, Bernie was playing hurt last year.

I'd be hard-pressed to find a player in the NFL that doesn't play hurt. Being injured is a totally different situation though. If he had a legit medical diagnosis with an injury and he shouldn't have been on the field, then that's on the Cowboys organization.

 

[xwalker]

I'd be hard-pressed to find a player in the NFL that doesn't play hurt. Being injured is a totally different situation though. If he had a legit medical diagnosis with an injury and he shouldn't have been on the field, then that's on the Cowboys organization.

In your scenario, D-Ware shouldn't have been on the field for the last few games. He was basically playing with 1 arm and required surgery to repair it after the season.

 

[TheSport78]

In your scenario, D-Ware shouldn't have been on the field for the last few games. He was basically playing with 1 arm and required surgery to repair it after the season.

Maybe he shouldn't have. I'm not a doctor, but I think he was hurting the team by being on the field in his condition.

 

[Crown Royal]

Our OL problems last season weren't even primarily at OG.

Can't agree with this. We allowed FAR too many A-gap blitzes, and too often because of missed assignments.

In the running game, it was embarrassing how often Cook and Bern were on the ground. In a zone run, the absolute worst thing the OL can do is lose it's feet.

 

[xwalker]

I pulled up games from week 1, week 2, and week 17 from 2012 on the Coaches Film and watched Livings in the 1st half of each game.

He was good in week 1 and week 2 and terrible in week 17. In weeks 1/2 he had good power even against big DLinemen. His quickness was decent and he often made a primary block and then released to get a 2nd block. He covered for screw-ups by Cook and a few occasions.

In week 17, he just didn't have much physically. He lost both power and quickness. Where he had previously been powerful even against large DLinemen, now he couldn't get any push against a 240 lb linebacker. He had no quickness either.

I assume that Livings' decline was from a reported knee injury which I believe occurred mid-season.

 

[lwehlers]

Livings is older and wore down as the season progressed. Bernadeau actually improved the second half of the season and was playing at a higher level.

Injury might be the reason Livings' play slipped, but Dallas is probably wary that he's at the age where injuries happen more and skills erode.

I would rather keep livings. I did not see any improvement in bernadeau at all. he was terrible in the last game against the skins. i hope that kk and arkin can play well enough in preseason to get rid of either livings or bernadeau.

 

[lwehlers]

I pulled up games from week 1, week 2, and week 17 from 2012 on the Coaches Film and watched Livings in the 1st half of each game.

He was good in week 1 and week 2 and terrible in week 17. In weeks 1/2 he had good power even against big DLinemen. His quickness was decent and he often made a primary block and then released to get a 2nd block. He covered for screw-ups by Cook and a few occasions.

In week 17, he just didn't have much physically. He lost both power and quickness. Where he had previously been powerful even against large DLinemen, now he couldn't get any push against a 240 lb linebacker. He had no quickness either.

I assume that Livings' decline was from a reported knee injury which I believe occurred mid-season.

i saw the same thing when i re watched the second skins game. both livings and beradeau were awful in that game.

 

[xwalker]

I would rather keep livings. I did not see any improvement in bernadeau at all. he was terrible in the last game against the skins. i hope that kk and arkin can play well enough in preseason to get rid of either livings or bernadeau.

Check out the week 11 game against Cleveland where Bernadeau played Center. He was decent in that game. He was decent in a couple of others but I can't remember which ones.

Bernadeau was injured all season. It was originally his hip, then knee and then shoulder. He had surgery on the hip last year and had surgery on the shoulder this off-season. It's possible that he could be better if completely healthy.

 

[Staggerlee]

If I'm remembering this correctly, on talkin cowboys broaddus said that, even though it appeared livings was superior to bernie, the team went back to the film and said livings gave up more sacks than bernie and thus they saw him superior to livings. It was a long time ago so I may be mistaken though.

 

[xwalker]

I just finished watching Bernadeau in his 2nd start at Center (Week 12, Commanders).

He was good in this game also.

 

[gimmesix]

I would rather keep livings. I did not see any improvement in bernadeau at all. he was terrible in the last game against the skins. i hope that kk and arkin can play well enough in preseason to get rid of either livings or bernadeau.

You need to watch both players the second half of the season. Livings' play regressed (probably because of his undisclosed knee injury) while Bernadeau's progressed (which is also understandable since he played injured early in the year and also was playing catchup in learning the blocking scheme).

I don't have the season ender against Washington taped anymore, but the progress was clear from about midway through the season.

Of course, I could do without either, since I think they are no more than stopgaps.

 

[xwalker]

After review of 4 games on the Coaches Film, I have the following for Bernadeau:

Week 10: good
Week 11 (at Center): good+
Week 12 (at Center): good
Week 13: not good, obvious right shoulder injury, he can't really use his right arm

Livings:
Week 1: good
Week 2: good
Week 17: terrible