In the Biblical account of creation, God created land, sea and vegetation on the third day. On their third day the Ducks covered punts and worked on down and distance situations, Andy McNamara of goducks.com said. He’s the only allowed witness other than Uncle Phil himself, so we’ll just have to take his word for it.
He went on to report the Ducks had an 11-on-11 period, highlighted by what the Ducks call a “Fuji” drill where the offense has two minutes to score.
In the interest of national security, we can confirm there were footballs and blocking pads at practice. Everything else is on a need-to-know basis (goducks.com photo).
Don’t they do that all the time? (In fact, 66 drives of two minutes or less in 2012.) But it’s good that they practice it, the crucial, pressure-filled situation where a game rides on the result. It might even happen once or twice this season. Being prepared for any situation was a hallmark of the team in the Chip Kelly years. Oregon once lost a Civil War in 2007 because they couldn’t get the field goal team properly in place. These days they’re taught how to handle extreme situations, rehearsing them all the time.
What McNamara didn’t mention is that De’Anthony Thomas left the field early with an undisclosed injury. Jason Quick, one of the professional reporters on the outside of the fence, was the only one to report it. Maybe having one or two guys with a gooey, all-access pass to practice, their paychecks provided by the Oregon Athletic Department, isn’t the win-win/no consequences benefit to fans everybody assumed it would be in July.
It isn’t known yet whether Thomas’ injury is serious. Of course it’s not. Within the Black Box, we’ll never get confirmation it happened at all.
After practice there were the usual round of interviews. Matt Prehm of Duck Territory talked to Colt Lyerla who told him he’d lost 15 pounds (6-5, 250) to gain speed in pass routes and agility in blocking. The Man They Call Bane said he’s not thinking about the NFL right now and that he’s eager for the season and whatever role he has in the offense.
Lyerla’s versatility and utterly awesome physical package makes NFL scouts drool and tailgaters weep with gratitude. People talk about unleashing the Momba or putting the offense in Mariota’s hands, but the sheer mind-boggling power of Lyerla in the open field, trucking three defenders and carrying them for an extra five yards (something that seems to happen on nearly every touch) makes grown men scream irrationally and wonder why they don’t give him the ball 15 times a game. Let him run it. Throw him the five-yard hitch or the five-yard out. Fake the zone read and let him ramble 25 yards down the field, and let Mariota throw him one of those laser-beam bullets he throws between the bars on the facemask.
Colt Freaking Lyerla is as underutilized as the Beaverton Swat Team vehicle, a $250,000 formidable chunk of indestructibility parked on the Oregon sideline. Please, please, please for the love of Len Casanova, make him a force in the Oregon offense in 2013. It makes everything else they do so much harder to prepare for. There are maybe three players in the entire conference that match up to him.
KEZI interviewed Byron Marshall. Marshall continues to impress with quiet confidence and a team attitude, acknowledging the talent of the other running backs and restating that his focus is simply on getting better and doing his work:
At practice, McNamara disclosed, true freshman burner Devon Allen hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota, and the newly beastly DeForest Buckner (6-7, 286) had a noncontact sack against Jeff Lockie.
And Mark Helfrich saw the third day, and saw that it was good. An interview by Jen Beyrle, the Erin Andrews of local sports: link.
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