Despite coming out with three straight drops, Oregon righted the ship by beating the Portland State Vikings 62-14. Straight out of the shoot Herbert threw three good looking passes and from my vantage point, catchable and looked like the receivers ate popcorn with extra extra butter before taking the field.
| Tip o the hat goes to the ground game of Tony Brooks-James (107 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, and CJ Verdell (11 carries, one touchdown, 106 yards). Also making life easier, the Defense showed up. The defense, after allowing 10 points on its first two drives of the season last week, didn’t allow the Vikings (0-2) to score until midway through the second quarter. And Herbert, who completed 20 of his 26 passes for 250 yards and four touchdowns, is deserving of his preseason awards hype. I do not believe we will see the Ducks true rotation or full offense until Stanford, so at least this last non-conference game, explore combinations and let em play. I trust Mario. All in all, good game but will it be enough for regular pac 12 league action. Will the popcorn be unbuttered before the San Jose State game. Stay tuned for these and other answers. |
This new kickoff fair-catch rule was shown off more than ever Saturday. One dude asked me “what’s the point of a kickoff if every advantage goes to the return team”?
I get the movitation for the rule, It gives the return team a minimum of starting at the 25. Remember when the 20 was when a touchback rule set the ball? Now it’s start at the 25 or past it and no chance the defense can stop a team inside the 20 which was a win for the coverage team.
Now the coverage team is becoming pointless, only being used as a means from keeping the long return in check. Just do away with the kickoff since it’s been neutered to the point of advantaging the offense. Still there is a minute advantage, the VERY SLIGHT possibility of a run back for a quick TD. Not a high probability. Disadvantage, having to travel an extra 10 to 15 yards. or more, if pinned back and possible injury but that’s a game thing.
Another thing I noticed, wasted use of Tyler Shoughs’ 4 game appearances without burning his redshirt. No throws, just handed it off and hell man, we might need those 4 during the season. If your going to use those 4, put him in instead of Burmeister for a game. Real game pressure, not hand the ball off a few times. But, I’m not coach, just armchair so maybe I’m talking out my ass and don’t know what I’m talking about. Wouldn’t be the first time.
If I were a coach, I would probably just fair catch it every time and take the ball on the 25. No risk of injuring one of your top players on a dangerous kick-off return. Oregon knows better than any what that is like, as they have lost many a GREAT player to knee injuries and worse on kick-off returns. That said, it is still possible for a kick-off team to pin an opponent deeper than the 25 yard line if the return team decides to roll the dice, and then gets tackled deeper than the 25 in their own territory. I have seen that scenario play out several times now. The upside of the roll of the dice for the return team is that they advance the ball further than the 25. Given that PSU was there mainly for the paycheck, evidenced by the fact that they didn’t even play their starting quarterback for fear of injury, they also decided to just fair catch it every time, not risk injury, and take the touchback at the 25. Just forgoing the kickoff is something do see happening in the future. The kickoff is dangerous, and slows the game down. Speeding up the game from its current almost 4 hours in real time is an objective by those in charge.
Well, if we had DeAnthony Thomas this year in DeAnthonys prime, hell, I’m sure the chance would be taken by the Ducks time and time again. It’s a matter of personell and speed. Even early in his career, Thomas had a tendancy to cough the ball up. However, his quick strike ability outweighed the chances. It’s a new game today with new rules to prevent concussions and make an, otherwise violent game, safer for the players. I get that. It’s a good thing because it teaches players to play football correctly in the first place. Old school football has no place … harm or be harmed…in sports. Positie achievements. But, let’s not regress to flag football either. Still, football is and always will be a violent game. If one team can gain advantage with speed and blocking skills, the kicking run back will always be a thing until against regulations or the ball is placed on the 50 yard line or something completely ridiculous.