Canzano: Oregon Ducks Found a Way in Holiday Bowl

[NJDuck]

 

Canzano: "Ducks have work to do in the offseason."

Canzano: Oregon Ducks found a way in Holiday Bowl

WWW.JOHNCANZANO.COM

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Ducks have work to do in the offseason.

 

[Desert Duck]

On 12/29/2022 at 9:23 AM, NJDuck said:

 

Canzano: "Ducks have work to do in the offseason."

Canzano: Oregon Ducks found a way in Holiday Bowl

WWW.JOHNCANZANO.COM

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Ducks have work to do in the offseason.

 

 

I think this is an excellent Canzano article. He makes a lot of fair and strong points. 

 

I love how he defended Camden Lewis on that last, and insane, extra point kick. 

 

"To be fair to Camden Lewis, he kicked the game-winning extra point from a cow pasture. Some careful readers pointed that out to me on Wednesday night. Lewis lined up on sandy turf at Petco Park, planted his foot, and kissed the football off the left upright — and through — for the win."

 

Lewis cracked me up after the kick as teammates were congratulating him, but he was waiving them off. Sort of like saying, "I don't deserve any love for that one."

 

But, for those who understand the game a bit, we know he deserves huge props. As Canzano points out, for the 2022 season, Lewis went "64 for 64 on PATs and 14 of 16 on field goals and was a bright spot this season."

 

The kid just finished the season as having one of the all-time best single-season kicking records in Oregon history.

 

He's only a junior, so I sure hope he will be back next year. 

 

[Charles Fischer]

"Nix rushed five times on Wednesday for six yards. His longest rush was six yards. Oregon needs Nix to get healthy in the offseason, but also it needs to remember the lesson learned in 2022 — protect the QB."

"I’d prefer to see the Ducks use Nix more selectively in the run game next season. I thought Dillingham got a little too aggressive with Nix as a runner in the middle part of this season. Some of it was unnecessary. He’s vital to the success of the team and needs to be healthy down the stretch next season."

 

Boy...no kidding.

[noDucknewby]

My take FWIW-

 

All it takes is enough.  The defense made the stops they had to and the offense was able to score with the game on the line.  Hats off to the players and coaches, they didn't quit when they easily could have.  They really wanted this win and it showed (same for NC, but somebody had to lose).

 

Dillingham's offensive magic can't be overstated.  I was just scratching my head why we weren't attacking their green corners deep after NC started stacking the line.  When we finally started stretching the field good things happened.  Dilly would have made better and faster adjustments.

 

Feel pretty positive about the future of this young defense.  Without their three best players (although Dorlus might be considered top-three), the defense seemed to take a step forward.  Backers Brown and Funa had career days and the young corners held their own against a really good QB.

 

Damn special teams really stink.  We can't seem to kick touchbacks any more and kick coverage makes me cringe every time there's a return.  Our punts were shaky and Delgado's decision not field the punt in the second half gave us the ball at our own 1-foot line when when we desperately needed to score.  I'm just not impressed with Lorig so far, this an area of critical concern next season.

 

Just love the storybook ending with Chase Cota.  His toothy grin was thrilling to watch, very happy for him and the Cota/Oregon legacy.

Edited December 29, 2022 by noDucknewby

[Duck Fan 76]

Canzano made some good points there for sure.  He didn't address the play calling but that may simply be to the fact that we're not actually sure who/how the play calling was getting done.  Though it was suspect.  

 

Bo looked out of rhythm in the third quarter and he was having some accuracy issues but that might simply be due to the fact that he had a lot of time off and Christmas with his family was 3 days prior to the game.  He played well enough to win and he showed grit and loyalty and that definitely counts.

 

Unfortunately Bo definitely looked slowed down by that ankle... there's a clue in that just to how bad he hurt that ankle.  Most mild sprains take a couple weeks to heal and even a bad sprain should be recovered with adequate PT in around six weeks.  Sprains are highly variable injuries given their complexity and a lack of precision metrics. 

 

If Bo is still recovering six weeks on then either his continued play is aggravating the injury or he had a severe sprain.  This is worrisome as this is the third time Bo has injured that ankle and the recurrent injury vastly increase the odds of a lifetime limitation.  To be fair lifetime joint disability is something a lot of NFL athletes continue to play through so Bo can still play at a high level even if his ankle never gets back to 100%.

 

I think there is some good news however in that Bo may be able to focus on a new dimension to his game during the off season.  The Will Stein offense is likely to have a more complex passing attack and Bo already has very good accuracy and a good enough arm to throw down the field.  What Bo could be working on this off season however is the NFL level passing attack that he needs to demonstrate in games to up his draft stock into the first or second round.  

 

If I was Bo's dad I would offer one piece of advice for him as someone who cares, don't go to the NFL as a "mobile" quarterback.  You will play (possibly for Shanahan), but you won't stay.  Focus on reading defenses and making lightning adjustments and check downs like Herbert has done.  Build more arm strength and alternative mechanics to make different trajectory throws into tight windows.  The mobility should only be used to escape pressure and only when throwing the ball away doesn't make better situational sense.