Some takes on the second viewing of the game:
Terrance Mitchell indeed lowered his head immediately before impact and, to me, it looked like an intentional shot, coming AFTER Hebert had slid, feet first: it did happen at the speed of light, hard to see even in slo-mo.
Biggest concern, injuries: Fisher; French; and Daniels, in a tune-up game? Let’s hope none is serious; obviously Fisher is the most critical, being a starter. Daniels, in his very limited play, stood out.
Legal weapon: DeForest Buckner comes in with a clean, hard hit on Beaux Hebert for a first quarter sack. The new targeting rules dictate that Oregon has to be disciplined as well as aggressive in tackling (GREG WAHL-STEPHENS — AP Photo).
Biggest surprise: the running game continued on, in junk time when it was obvious we were going to run, when Armstrong replaced Grasu: the kid looked big and mobile. Great news if ever Hroniss needs a blow during a critical period.
Armstead: some good plays, but I continue to think he’s just too tall for that position; once he’s turned, he can’t react quickly; he also was knocked down, repeatedly, from a lack of mobility; submarining also worked against him.
Heimuli and Kelikiipi showed we have no worries on the interior of the D line.
There’s a new hitting leader on the team: #22, Derrick Malone: he had two (legal) punishing tackles in the space of a couple of plays and another snot-bubbler later on— and those are just his individual tackles; he was in on many others where he leveled the carrier/receiver. Brian Jackson, alert! Your mantle of enforcer is in danger.
Troy Hill: beaten for that 56-yard bomb: no excuses, flat out beaten. Obviously, that doesn’t instill confidence when Mitchell is out.
Good news: Kalen Henderson is a top FBS-type QB: he was very hard to contain, very mobile, good speed: but he couldn’t lead the Colonels to a TD even though he chewed up the artificial turf. I don’t care what Aliotti says, this was textbook “bend, don’t break.”
Lyerla: it’s fun to be proven wrong, sometimes. Colt indeed looked impressive in his carries, managing to get his hulking 6’5″ frame low enough to minimize the target and get plenty of forward momentum from a good “leaning” attack. I’ll just mention that Roseberry, though it happened in (I think) the last play of the game, had a nice first-down run wherein he carried half the Nicholls D on his back.
GRIPE alert: why don’t announcers get in the habit of saying who leads a runner? It’s obvious that even a talent like DAT needs a hole (as witnessed by his more than occasional stone-walling). “Fisher, Grasu, and DAT on that play!” Of course, it would similarly be fair to mention the WR who had the key block to spring the back for 15 more yards.The key to any game is individual war in the trenches: to me, it’s just as much fun to key in on tackle-vs tackle or center vs tackle as it is to see a great reception or run. It’s also time to give credit where it’s due.
Anyone here notice which side most of our good yardage came from? I thought it was the right side, but I can’t record games so I haven’t had a chance to key on that.
Kudos to Dale (and several participators) for providing something missing from Duck commentators: specificity. Anyone that watches the game sees exactly what on-air commentators state, “DAT breaks it down the right side for a 36 yard gain—— oh boy!!!!” Now, if one is blind, that’s fine.
Now that the Ducks have something worth analyzing, i.e. a plethora of complex and successful plays in every game, it’s time for the guys who report on the sport as a livelihood similarly to up THEIR games.
Specifically: Maldonaldo’s kicking. Sure, we all saw him successfully kick that 29 yarder— but did we hear anything about the fact that it was on a distinct right-to-left trajectory after it split those uprights? If it had been a 40-yarder, unless Alejandro had factored in that “English,” it would have been wide-left.
How about information about the individual matchups on both lines? When Johnstone, Grasu, or Fisher are absent (and Fisher was for most of the game, most probably due to an injury)— who steps up? How did they do? Watching the game, it’s just a faceless group— or it may as well be for all the specific information.
I mean, how hard would it be for the commentator to have a “spotter” whisper to him exactly who’s on the field, who just was replaced by Helfrich? It just might turn out to be a little bit of a motivator, too, for a lineman to know that his name was mentioned w/the runner who just made that amazing sprint.
Lastly, how about someone talking specifics about QBs? The greatest QB I’ve ever seen, and I go back to Norm Van Brocklin, Sonny Jurgenson, Y. A. Tittle, Johnny U—- is the loudmouth Joe Namath. I’m not talking stats or outright success, mind you, but from pure talent. I never saw a QB that had a release that fast. I’d say the most difficult to possess attribute of a great QB is to minimize the time between selecting the target and delivering the ball. How often do you see even highly successful QBs pat the ball immediately before launching it? Joe not only could get his arm in motion faster, he could whip that long arm like I’ve never seen. Add to that the fact that he also possessed a most unusual skill: he could deliver a ball w/great accuracy and speed while backpedalling. Off balance, even.
What MM needs to work on, I’d argue, is his footwork; when he’s rushed, he breaks concentration to plan whether to run or continue going through his progressions: he needs to develop the ability (Lockie seems further along w/this one skill) to laterally move out of danger; also, remember how often Darron Thomas sat in the pocket, took a shot to deliver a strike downfield? I can’t recall Marcus taking a direct hit; he usually moves out of the pocket, negating his accuracy and often throwing out of bounds or incomplete to a receiver attempting to come back. Lastly, MM needs to work on the rapidity (the Joe factor) between selecting the receiver and getting the ball airborne.
I know he’s got the tools, even w/out these improvements, to be a highly successful Duck QB. But, if he wants to elevate his game, he needs to work on these areas: they’re also going to be what he’ll need to succeed at the next level where he’s going to spend a lot of time.
Meanwhile, of course, Duck fans will continue to suffer through the “beat'” reporters that ask the same old questions, repeat the same obvious old observations.
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