Sturm tweet on Collins vs Berny

[Hoofbite]

glad to know your at practice watching the players and your a pro-evaluator

Not even sure what you're trying to say here. Not sure you understood my post.

 

[waving monkey]

Not even sure what you're trying to say here. Not sure you understood my post.

maybe I didn't

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Should have kept Callahan. That would have helped the running game more than a RB IMO.

Did he want to stay? I was under the impression he was upset when they brought in Linehan

 

[theogt]

Christine Michael was replaced on the Seahawks by a 34 year old has-been running back that has only had a single 1,000+ rushing season in his entire career. I'm pretty sure there is a BIG reason for that happening.

Seahawks with C-Mike on the roster - two straight Super Bowls

Seahawks without C-Mike - 0-2

Hmmmmm....

 

[AsthmaField]

Seahawks with C-Mike on the roster - two straight Super Bowls

Seahawks without C-Mike - 0-2

Hmmmmm....

 

[conner01]

Christine Michael was replaced on the Seahawks by a 34 year old has-been running back that has only had a single 1,000+ rushing season in his entire career. I'm pretty sure there is a BIG reason for that happening.

The legend of CM lives on

 

[xwalker]

I would argue I merely "evaluated him" as opposed to "hyped him". He is really good. And the best option for the spot when he proves to pass all mental tests. I wrote this tonight at the Morning News - I think Collins is a significantly better talent than Bernadeau and already better than him. For that matter, I also think he is a better talent than Leary by a large margin, too. But, it is important for him to demonstrate that he is dependable and knows where to be and what to do. Leary has done that well and while he is not as strong a player, he is a better student of the game right now. As soon as Collins can ace those mental tests, he will be in the lineup each week. I thought he played quite well on Sunday and had no major issues. But, he had some minor ones and even went the wrong way on 1-2 zone plays. He has to get those out of his game quickly.

Pet cat might simply mean that after watching the OL all play 200+ college plays in the draft, he was the most impressive by a large margin.

Sorry, nothing personal, I've just found that if people liked a player in the draft they tend to see everything that player does in training camp and his first year or so with a slight bias towards that player. IIRC, you said he was the best OL in the draft.

Are you saying that Collins is stronger than Leary?

I did say that Collins was good and better than Bernadeau against the Eagles in my review:
http://cowboyszone.com/threads/quick-review-ol-and-rbs-focus-on-collins-bern-randle.331747/

Here is a copy of my review:
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. The 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.

 

[jterrell]

various:
The Cowboys had zero qualms starting Frederick or Martin as rookies so if Collins isn't; there is a reason why.
Larry Allen he may well eventually be but it takes time for some of these guys to get the mental stuff down.
I think it fair to say LSU has not been producing the Rhodes scholar type athletes as much as they have insane physical specimens.

The Cowboys OL needs to play better as a group and individually they need to stay onside. The biggest issue with the running game week 2 was just that.
I'll take less dominant for more steady and consistent right now. We are hunting a Super Bowl.

If Martin needs a couple weeks to get right, give it to him. Collins, Leary and Bern can get you by a couple weeks.

DMC has had all of 16 official carries here, his 2.9 ypc is poor but it's not like he's had much chance yet. He is tied for the most first downs rushing even with just 16 carries so he has gotten what he had to often enough.

Not sure why I bother here as daft is catching but it is seldom a huge difference regardless the RB. The difference in rushing attacks are based on a ton of factors.
DMC has neither lost his speed nor went blind from when he had big seasons. But he is also not an evasive guy, he needs holes and to get past the DL where his speed and power make him scary. The Raiders let him hit free agency because he isn't cheap or young. They have that in Latavius Murray.

CMike is a good short yardage option but so are Randle and DMC. They all 3 run hard and bring weight with them. Christine will hopefully get a shot but any success will start with the OL not committing penalties and putting the team in bad situations.

 

[LocimusPrime]

maybe I didn't

Lol

 

[Merlin]

various:
The Cowboys had zero qualms starting Frederick or Martin as rookies so if Collins isn't; there is a reason why.
Larry Allen he may well eventually be but it takes time for some of these guys to get the mental stuff down.
I think it fair to say LSU has not been producing the Rhodes scholar type athletes as much as they have insane physical specimens.

Both were first round picks and had little competition. Leary doesn't want to lose his job and he has talent. Good problem for the Boys to have.

 

[Hoofbite]

Seahawks with C-Mike on the roster - two straight Super Bowls

Seahawks without C-Mike - 0-2

Hmmmmm....

I'd say this settles it. Now if the team could just find out where Jobu gets his rum they'd be a lock for the Superbowl.

 

[gdogg24]

In the running game yes, in pass protection. That's a real question. Collins had issues in pass protection, but I'm going to guess he is improving daily. The question really is, how quickly will he become better than Frenchie? Based on the fact that they were in rotation, I think Collins is getting close. Probably just not close to Leary yet, but then again. I could probably play guard better than Frenchie at 205lbs than he does at 300+

I think if Collins is good enough to start learning on the go like the rest of the guys on the O-Line did they might as well start developing him now. Get him game experience, start building continuity with the rest of the O-Line and what this group can really do together. I know since Collins wasn't a high draft pick so there wasn't pressure to start him early, and maybe they wanted to take there time with this one but in the end I just think it's better long term, and it's already worked well with Fred, Martin, and Smith.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I think if Collins is good enough to start learning on the go like the rest of the guys on the O-Line did they might as well start developing him now. Get him game experience, start building continuity with the rest of the O-Line and what this group can really do together. I know since Collins wasn't a high draft pick so there wasn't pressure to start him early, and maybe they wanted to take there time with this one but in the end I just think it's better long term, and it's already worked well with Fred, Martin, and Smith.

Learning during real game situations is something all players do. The issue is, you need to ensure doing this isn't going to put your game (or even worse, your QB) in jeopardy. If they don't think Collins pass protection is good enough to not get the QB killed, then they insert him as the starting guard. I'm sure they would be willing to take a calculated risk if his protection was almost as good, but his run blocking is heads above. That is a risk the coaches are paid to make. Let them make it.

 

[gdogg24]

Learning during real game situations is something all players do. The issue is, you need to ensure doing this isn't going to put your game (or even worse, your QB) in jeopardy. If they don't think Collins pass protection is good enough to not get the QB killed, then they insert him as the starting guard. I'm sure they would be willing to take a calculated risk if his protection was almost as good, but his run blocking is heads above. That is a risk the coaches are paid to make. Let them make it.

I think all of our rookies started out with a little bit of growing pains in pass protection, but I mean they all were skilled enough to kind of cover up each other's mistakes for the most part. With Collins I think the same would basically happen, growing pains sure, but playing between Fred and Tyron will help I don't think keeping him from starting was an issue of Collins' skill it's just they didn't have to start him right away so they didn't. I just think they might be better off if they just break the piñata open already since if Collins is worth that first round grade he's the long term guy.

 

[jobberone]

Who were responsible for the breakdown that caused Romo to get hurt or was the OL asked to block more people than blockers?

Bernie is at times slow off the snap but his biggest problem is his feet. The guy is one of the strongest persons on the team. And he blocks pretty well in the run game. It's pass protection because of his feet primarily and recognition of the different stunts that is his issues.

Collins is too inconsistent. He looks All-World at times but struggles with blocks on the second level at times as well. His pass protection is off and on. He also has problems with stunts etc and more than Bernie. Garrett has said he does things well at times and not well which is the consistency problem.

If they are platooning them it is because they have problems even if different but are close in weaknesses and strengths. And they want to develop Collins. It says a lot that they think enough of him to put his out there

Why people think they know more than Pollack and all about who should play I don't understand. I do recognize the right for anyone to give their opinion and that's why we're here.

 

[jobberone]

Please, don't essentially bump old posts by putting them in a new one. You can however put a link to them in your post.

 

[JIGGYFLY]

I would argue I merely "evaluated him" as opposed to "hyped him". He is really good. And the best option for the spot when he proves to pass all mental tests. I wrote this tonight at the Morning News - I think Collins is a significantly better talent than Bernadeau and already better than him. For that matter, I also think he is a better talent than Leary by a large margin, too. But, it is important for him to demonstrate that he is dependable and knows where to be and what to do. Leary has done that well and while he is not as strong a player, he is a better student of the game right now. As soon as Collins can ace those mental tests, he will be in the lineup each week. I thought he played quite well on Sunday and had no major issues. But, he had some minor ones and even went the wrong way on 1-2 zone plays. He has to get those out of his game quickly.

Pet cat might simply mean that after watching the OL all play 200+ college plays in the draft, he was the most impressive by a large margin.

Love your stuff, you are the best writer of overall football analysis in this market.

But yeah you had Leary on the bench since they signed Collins and you have been beating the Collins drum pretty hard ever since.

I am not saying you are wrong, but I have not seen him do anything Leary has not done in the past, I just don't see what you do that says he will be starting over Leary sometime this year.

If he does great because he is truly a special player and will have proved it.