Ducks4ever

Thanks again Charles, just some counterpoints that maybe could help. I get that going to a separate site for discussions purposes isn't as "authentic" and it could be annoying for some. Just proposing a workable alternative that might get you 85% of the way there without asking for even more from you. Anyways, I will let you be and let others opine. Thanks again for everything and all the years of work you put into this site.

Charles, first off thanks so much for putting all of your personal resources into this forum (and really this entire website for the last decade+). I don't want to be a jerk or anything but what if you just moved the forum element to reddit and we had discussions there? That way we can officially appoint moderators. Downsides to reddit: less personalization of personal profiles, and user profiles could be meshed with other personal life usernames so that could get confusing. Other downside is that we could get weirdos who try to join but we can always make a private subreddit. For purposes of just discussion, I think this option takes care of that and it's free. If the counterargument is that not enough people will want to post enough stuff to discuss on reddit because there are a couple other duck fan sites/forums, then perhaps this isn't worth putting the money into either. Just looking at it from a cost/benefit perspective and as always I really appreciate everything you've done.

1. They might be able to pull Coach Peterson out of retirement since he still has close ties to the school 2. I'm not sure how the current coach was chosen but I would imagine they'll have Peterson weigh in on a new hire and he's not a dumb guy in my book.

This is giving the OL and RB's way too much credit. Dye can't create yards for the life of him. He might do well if the OL creates giant holes for him but the OL isn't capable of doing that. I stand by what I've said before and he's best suited in a Charles Nelson role, not the backup running back. He fumbles way too much... what else would you expect from someone who is undersized for an RB. Verdell... he'll play well for the first few games every season and then he will disappear... probably because of injury. I'm waiting for Verdell and Dye to move on so we can see what we have in Benson and Dollars. The OL isn't good either. I remember Verdell fumbling the ball in the backfield in one of the games last season and he got benched for the rest of the half. My only thought after seeing him get benched was "it's not his fault the opposing DL was living in the backfield." I think it should also be noted that the Pac-12 doesn't have great DL's and the OL still struggled at times. The KT's and other 4 star recruits are on our roster... not that of our teams (minus USC). Yet it still got exposed frequently last season. This team still has a ways to go. I am optimistic about next season and believe that we will have a multi-year starter by the end of the season.

That said, at the collegiate level, there is still a lot of QB development so the lack of QB development could be pinned on the QB coach who I think is Moorehead.

I am of the opinion that an elite QB/RB can compensate for an inadequate offensive coordinator but an inadequate QB/RB cannot make up for a brilliant offensive mind. You can toss in the OL too Please see exhibit A - the NFL. I'll form a judgement of Moorehead when we know we have elite talent at either position (which we didn't last year and may or may not have it this year).

I'll be happy for Mariota if he can pick up a few mill in backup money every year and not ever have to see the field (and risk injury). Then he can happily ride off into the sunset and do whatever he wants to do. His contract apparently doesn't make him very tradeable. Teams are trying to rip him off by making him starter without paying him starter money. That obviously shouldn't fly so things on his front are at a standstill.

Can't stress enough how a good running back can really advance this offense. We don't have one (at least between Dye/Verdell) and a good powerful running back will make this team so much harder to defend against. Stack the box -> opponent secondary won't get any help against elite WR's. Inability to pick up meaningful yards last year made us non-functional at times last year. At the end of the season, the coaches could neither trust the QB's, nor could they rely on a running game. The Pac-12 game was won by the defense. It's annoying that we haven't been able to pick up an elite RB. Can it be Benson or Cardwell? Time will tell.

They key games will come down to how the defense develops. If Anthony Brown looks good, I think we have a fighting chance in that one. Ohio State has also dropped head scratching games at the start of the season before they round into post-season form later in the year. Would be good if we can pick up some yards on the ground against them.... perhaps it will be from Anthony Brown himself. Defense will also be difference maker against UCLA.

I will never forget his heroism against ASU. I was convinced that we lost that game on the last play in regulation.... that was magical.

Mastro, Big Joe, and Bobby Williams (ST coach) all got slight raises and extensions too. None of those three have been all that impressive if I'm being completely honest. Mastro is a very average recruiter in my eyes and Big Joe is only slightly more impactful at recruiting. Neither the RB's nor DL impress me from a development standpoint either (KT was a monster to start with). We saw some glimpses of the younger DL at the end of last season so perhaps I should withhold judgement. Now Bobby Williams.... I don't see what merits him a raise. Special teams last year and really the year before that was sub-par. Those errors on ST during the Fiesta Bowl eliminated any chance we had of a comeback. Perhaps the talent is not there but kickoffs and PAT's/FG's were a struggle this year too. Not sure how much that goes on him though, or maybe we write last year's struggles off based upon the young roster. Still, I would think that the unit overall should be better especially at the end of the season (even if it's a really messed up one).

I'm fine with this strategy but you have to have the ability to convert in 3 downs or it's just handing the ball back to the opponent which is a useless strategy when it's outside 5 minutes and the opponent still has timeouts. That typically worked at Alabama when they had one of the best RB's and offensive lines to run out the clock.... not quite there yet here. I feel that if we can get a good QB/RB combo, it'll cover up whatever discomfort we have with the current play calling. Speaking of which, the last good QB/RB combo we had was ___? Last good combo in my memory was big play VA and Rolls Royce... that was half a decade ago!

Unless you have an absolutely killer arm, I don't think PRO Qb's will get much run in this offense.

Patriots OL was bad last year. Billicheck can't turn everyone into an MVP

It doesn't matter where you start the season, only where we finish. I think we're given this high ranking to boost hype for the OSU matchup. Which will also really suck for us and continue a false narrative about Pac-12/Oregon football if things don't go right that game. There's literally no justification for putting us this high up when we don't even have an established QB yet. We should start in the 10-15 area at best imo.

Yeah it was definitely a problem last season. I don't want to be a downer but even if Ty is a generational talent, he's still not going to take over until halfway through the season. Look at Tua, Trevor Lawrence, and DJ U. I'm sure all of them could have played earlier but in this case they would be ironing things out on the field vs executing the offenses. Again with a full spring/fall practice schedule along with a year of experience in this offense for everyone, I don't think the QB play will be as bad as it was this past season.

This!!! My belief is that this offensive production was mostly driven by scheme and a really talented crop of WR's (who are about to get even better). Those guys created separation and had the ability to track down the balls. The rest of the pieces to the offense didn't seem to be there and it's still a work in progress (especially at RB) next season. Unfortunately this will probably disappoint some fans. TOP isn't the greatest stat. The teams you listed ranked high in TOP all had total offense and YPG stats just inside the 50% mark (looking at all FBS teams on ESPN). This likely reflects the lack of explosive plays that scored or set up our scores this year for us.

No kidding. ST was the nail in the coffin against ISU.

It's not that complicated. No matter how good your OC is, an offense needs a good/reliable running back, a competent QB, and a serviceable OL to be good. We didn't have a lot of those pieces last season and it remains to be seen if we can get those pieces together this year. Get the raw material together and then we can talk strategy. Running back: Verdell? He disappears as the season goes on - unreliable. You know things are bad when Dye is the backup. He's not dependable at all and too easy to take down. (Dye is a fine athlete and might actually thrive in a DAT/Nelson type role.) The upper classmen are still hanging around this season so that's a bummer - the problem won't get solved this season. QB - Last year wasn't good but I'm actually not worried about it this year. Everyone has another year under their belt and Thompson is pretty talented. We should at least get serviceable play this year. OL - entire OL combined for maybe 1 start at the beginning of the season yet they're all upper classmen. In fairness some of those guys were JuCo guys but still, that just screams "limited ceiling" at me. They also didn't do the QB's any favors. I have hopes this unit will be better than last year especially with all the talent coming in. This stuff adds up to a rose bowl win this season at best. I doubt we get any further with the lack of a scary ground game. Notice that all the teams you listed that recently won the Natty all had a dominant RB who could pound the yards out against dominant fronts. We don't have that kind of a back.... or at least said back didn't play (much) last year since we have 6 or 7 scholarship RBs. 2022 watch out though

Btw, I don't even think there's enough talent on the west coast to share with the other teams. I took a quick glimpse at this year's 247 rankings and I didn't see a lot of highly ranked players in the pac-12 footprint. Might be a tough recruiting year coming up especially if we can't get people onto campus.

Mariota can run but he really needs to stop doing that unless he has to. He has a great arm and the legs to buy time for throws. He doesn't have to put his body on the line to win games. I hope he changes that part of his game or he's never going to play a full season in the league. I'm frustrated because his arm is great and he doesn't even have to run to show his greatness. Hope he lands at a team with a good OL - that probably takes out the patriots and bears.

On a related note, I think Travis Dye should move to a Charles Nelson/DAT type role vs. full time RB. Sean Dollars looks to have a higher ceiling than Dye and his small stature is a problem when we need to play physical ball. I've heard some have been high on Benson too... not sure if he'll manage to get some carries next season. Side note - hi everyone! big ducks fan for over a decade