FishDuck Article Administrator No. 1 Share Posted March 13, 2023 When people talk about Oregon Ducks football, very seldom is the defense mentioned. And if it is, it’s not in a positive way. For as much as Oregon’s offense exploded in Dan Lanning’s inaugural season with the Ducks, its defense failed to deliver far too often, ultimately costing the Ducks a shot at the conference title and a potential Playoff ... Lanning Can't Accept Defensive Mediocrity in 2023 FISHDUCK.COM When people talk about Oregon Ducks football, very seldom is the defense mentioned. And if it is, it's not in a positive way. For as much as Oregon' 1 3 4 1 Two Sites: FishDuck and the Our Beloved Ducks forum, The only "Forum with Decorum!" And All-Volunteer? What a wonderful community of Duck fans! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyToBeADuck No. 2 Share Posted March 13, 2023 Joshua, you are so correct that anything less than significant improvement should be cause for major concern. This fan has never expected the Duck defense to be like the 2021 Georgia defense. If my memory is correct they had 8 players drafted by the NFL. Oregon's talent and depth of talent does not measure to that level. However, thats okay! But the Duck D unit had enough talent and experience to not allow the Beavers to dominate the last 20 minutes of clock in the Civil War game. The players looked lost or didnt care. 12 games into the season and they couldnt make a stop? With a trip to the PAC title game on the line? GEEZ! This Duck fan is excited about the new transfer players and incoming freshmen that DL and staff have assembled. The talent level may be the best in the PAC. To me the staff must improve on player development or I will be concerned. The players need to learn the scheme and jell as a unit. Then bring energy and pride to the field. GO DUCKS......... 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haywarduck Moderator No. 3 Share Posted March 13, 2023 The talent that has left and will be leaving may be more important and telling than the transfers in. The culture on defense just wasn't there, for whatever reason, and I look for Lanning's imprint to be on the defense this season. I also look for the young talent to be pushing for more playing time. Both Jackson and Taggart have the speed Lanning wants at LB, and should have the experience to begin to play more significant roles. I completely agree the loss to the beavs was on the defense. The special teams will also make a big leap this year, and that will be impactful too. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smith72 Moderator No. 4 Share Posted March 13, 2023 Joshua, your article is a great read to start thinking about Spring practices! I agree with you; "Anything less than significant improvement should be cause for concern." I love offense and that will continue to be a strength. However, you hit the nail on the proverbial head - a lack of improvement in the defense caused the two late season losses. Here's hoping our prayers are answered this Spring. Go Ducks! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Charles No. 5 Share Posted March 13, 2023 "But the Duck D unit had enough talent and experience to not allow the Beavers to dominate the last 20 minutes of clock in the Civil War game. The players looked lost or didn't care. 12 games into the season and they couldn't make a stop? With a trip to the PAC title game on the line? GEEZ!" The lack of effort (above) by our defensive unit will haunt me till they put something different on the field. Even more painful for an avid Duck fan living in Seattle was watching U.W.'s defense, with lesser athletes, have more of a bearing on the game than ours, in our stadium. What is up with that? Very little passion was displayed by last year's unit when the stakes were the highest. Please DL, make it different! 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 6 Share Posted March 13, 2023 Thank you, Joshua. Ditto for not-so-special teams. The coaching of the D last season did not translate to the field. Sewell largely disappeared, now a likely 3rd or 4th round pick and Flowe is off to Tucson. Defense travels. And with games at Utah and UW and a sneaky tough game at ASU, the D better be improved if the Ducks are going to make a run at a Pac-12 title. Always great to read your takes. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 7 Share Posted March 13, 2023 On 3/13/2023 at 10:44 AM, John Charles said: "But the Duck D unit had enough talent and experience to not allow the Beavers to dominate the last 20 minutes of clock in the Civil War game. The players looked lost or didn't care. 12 games into the season and they couldn't make a stop? With a trip to the PAC title game on the line? GEEZ!" The lack of effort (above) by our defensive unit will haunt me till they put something different on the field. Even more painful for an avid Duck fan living in Seattle was watching U.W.'s defense, with lesser athletes, have more of a bearing on the game than ours, in our stadium. What is up with that? Very little passion was displayed by last year's unit when the stakes were the highest. Please DL, make it different! The Oregon State OL was the story of the 4th Q in Corvallis. That was a very talented and well-coached group. Having said this, I think your comment is more than fair. The D looked gassed and out-of-shape at the end of the game. I agree with Joshua that the D must improve but Nix being hurt likely cost both the UW and OR ST Ls. Dilly's RPO oriented O was not the same after Nix was dinged in the UW game. The Pac-12's final CFB season as we know it should be very competitive if Williams, Penix, Nix and Rising can play and stay healthy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Fan 76 No. 8 Share Posted March 13, 2023 Great article! I agree that in the second year we should expect improvement from the defense. There were obvious bright spots in 2022 but consistency was a problem. With Oregon running the Saban/Smart 4-2-5 it takes time to install and get the players needed. Oregon had obvious problems with the 4-man rush and that led to issues with coverage though I felt most of the DB play was up to par honestly especially by the second half of the season. Noah Sewell is a big, talented, hard hitting LB but he's a poor fit for that 4-2-5 defense as it requires more speed in coverage. Things we as fans should expect by the very nature of running the 4-2-5 is that those quick out plays will be one of the easiest ways to attack us. That's just the nature of the scheme but last year was especially bad due to some limitations with players. Moving forward Oregon needs smart DB's and Safeties with plenty of speed and good tackling. I expect the pickups from the portal will give Oregon a few more pieces needed to execute the 4-2-5 and we should also see improved play calling one way or another. We don't need to be a top 5 defense this year but I think the goal is Oregon should be building a consistent top 25 defense to match our top 5 offense. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 9 Share Posted March 13, 2023 Joshua....your article had a ton of "ouch" moments for me, and while you are right about the defense--I still maintain that some bonehead decisions to eschew field goals, and to run Nix between the tackles decided our fate regardless of the weak defense. Now granted--we would have been chewed up at the upper levels, but it was there. I did not think that Oregon would give up 27 points per game in 2022 as they did in 2021; I looked it up and yep--you are correct. No improvement, it just seemed worse than it was at times. I believe now that the Lanning defense is a four year install, and a month ago--I thought it might be three. 2023 will be improvement, but not enough to satisfy most. 2024 will be a big jump, and 2025 we will "arrive." In 2019, Oregon gave up 16 points per game, but had an underwhelming offense. In 2014 Oregon gave up 23 points per game, while in 2012 we also finished No. 2 in the final poll, the Ducks gave up 21 points per game. For the 'Natty year of 2010, the Ducks gave up 18 points per game. What is a reasonable goal? Well Georgia gave up 14 points a game last year, and if the Ducks could split the difference and give up 20 or 21 points per game? If so... 1 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 10 Share Posted March 13, 2023 And....to make the Bulldog defense work--you need athletic freaks at three positions on the field; the Jack linebacker, the Money linebacker, and the Star Defensive back. These players are called upon to do incredible assignments that only the most talented, well-coached, and disciplined can pull off. We are in stage one of assembling the talent, then comes teaching it and refinement, hence my four-year install. Last year? It was.... 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Fan 76 No. 11 Share Posted March 13, 2023 (edited) On 3/13/2023 at 12:49 PM, Charles Fischer said: you need athletic freaks at three positions on the field; the Jack linebacker, the Money linebacker, and the Star Defensive back. 100% agree. Burch could be a huge step up at Jack and Tysheem Johnson was a heck of a tackler and I think will be starting at Star. Jestin Jacobs is coming off surgery so it's a tough ask for him to step into the Money LB role... He's a bit big for the role anyway so I think he and Keith Brown will be Mac with Bassa playing at Money. Reason for Hope! South Carolina runs the 4-2-5 and NFL Draft Buzz grades Burch at Tackling: 78%, Pass Rush 76%, Run-D: 66%, Coverage: 73%. He needs more development at pass-rush technique but he's very capable and will have Dorlus as the End. Hopefully Dorlus improves with tackling in 2023. Reason to be reasonable... Oregon's defense doesn't currently have any obvious stand out stars to hang our hats on. That doesn't mean one can't emerge but in 2023 what we will likely be looking for is a defense that is more than the sum of it's individual parts. Reason to be worried. Who's the leader of this defense? A really good defense needs someone smart and vocal on the field able to diagnose problems and call out adjustments. Edited March 13, 2023 by Duck Fan 76 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 12 Share Posted March 13, 2023 A few things this year happened that I think contributed to a mediocre defense. 1. Rebuilding the culture was the first step. The crazy thing is that the best defense in the Cristobal era was 2019 and that had some phenomenal youth with some veteran leaders. Troy Dye was a massive leader on the field and he was a Helfrich recruit. KT was able to get off to a great start because the defensive line and linebackers demanded to be taken seriously and that meant KT had a lot of 1v1s which he could win and did. A veteran culture on the defense was never rebuilt after 2019. 2. Lackluster 5-star linebackers... Sewell had been a monster the previous two years but when his role needed to expand in Lanning's Defense he really didn't seem to take it on with much success. Then Flowe was a loose cannon who was just as likely to get a late hit as a big play hit. Neither were suited for Lanning's Defense and Lanning has brought in linebackers who should change that. I think Sewell was exposed in this defense and it hurt his draft stock and it showed just how limited he really is on the field. 3. Installing the defense Lanning actually wants starts now. When Lanning came in his mission was to maintain the roster and see what he had and use it. It turned out he didn't have a roster that could run his defense so they really used a bend but don't break defense that we have been using for the past few years more or less. With a huge influx of recruits and transfer portal players that should change in a hurry. This year we should see more of the Lanning defense because he has more of his players. Granted the drawback is that he is limited in the number of veterans in his system as many will be learning it for the first time. One of the things he had a Georgia is that he had stacked talent and talent that could cycle in with deep knowledge of the system when players left. He doesn't have that knowledge just yet but it should be there soon. Great article Joshua. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haywarduck Moderator No. 13 Share Posted March 13, 2023 On 3/13/2023 at 12:39 PM, Charles Fischer said: I believe now that the Lanning defense is a four year install, and a month ago--I thought it might be three. 2023 will be improvement, but not enough to satisfy most. 2024 will be a big jump, and 2025 we will "arrive." What is a reasonable goal? Well Georgia gave up 14 points a game last year, and if the Ducks could split the difference and give up 20 or 21 points per game? If so... Agree completely this is a 3-4 year build. This is also why I mentioned the two second year LB's, as these guys need to develop if we are to see the vision Lanning has. We would also need to see transfer guys become who they haven't yet been, not a sure thing, to really upgrade this defense. I kept Rachel in the post because, well.....we all need a little sunshine in this springter season we are in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave23 No. 14 Share Posted March 14, 2023 On 3/13/2023 at 2:12 PM, Duck Fan 76 said: Jestin Jacobs is coming off surgery so it's a tough ask for him to step into the Money LB role... He's a bit big for the role anyway so I think he and Keith Brown will be Mac with Bassa playing at Money. Your probably right but I hope Jacobs can takeover for Bassa at money. From what I've seen of Jacobs he is great in coverage sticking with smaller fast guys just fine while also being able to stand up to bigger TEs. He also looks to be a better tackler than Bassa. Bassa was in the right place often but he missed a lot of open field tackles and got pushed around by big TEs. If Bassa can step up and make tackles Jacobs and him could do great things in pass coverage. Otherwise I rather see what Brown and Jacobs can do. Jacobs is much better athlete. Only a one game sample but this guy is the real deal. jestin+jacobs+highlights - Google Search WWW.GOOGLE.COM 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDuck Moderator No. 15 Share Posted March 14, 2023 Here is a good film study review on Burch. Lanning is making upgrades to the roster to improve on the team's defensive side. But, like Charles and others mentioned, time is needed to take the defense to the next big time level. My hope is this coming season will see must needed improvements. Quacking the Roster: Edge Transfer Jordan Burch Film review from Burch’s three seasons as a DE at South Carolina before transferring to Oregon Quacking the Roster: Edge Transfer Jordan Burch WWW.ADDICTEDTOQUACK.COM Film review from Burch’s three seasons as a DE at South Carolina before transferring to Oregon 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
