Another perspective

[nogerO]

https://thecauldron.si.com/with-mark-he ... 01?ref=yfp

[FlDuckFan]

I like Helfrich but with his personality , I think he needs to hire more vocal assistants especially on the defensive side.

[SuperDuck]

Great article from an unbiased source. He's 100% spot on. Yes, I fell into a discussion about who would be a good replacement the other day, but it was a momentary lapse of reason. I think Helfrich is the right guy to lead Oregon football for many years to come. The fan base simply must understand that there are going to be down years, the conference has 'caught up" to a lot of what Chip Kelly was doing when he was here and the conference is also much better from top to bottom.

That being said, yes, the Ducks need to get better on defense, and they will. Just give the coaches time to do their jobs and lets have this discussion again after 2 more recruiting cycles.

[jBeavertonduck]

Couldn't agree more. It would be foolish to toss everything that has been built over the past 40 years out the window and start over.

[dthomas=ddixon]

Here's the thing, I don't don't mind losing. I'm OK with down seasons and extended periods of struggle. I can even handle watching a team short on talent play their butts off only to fall short all season long.

What I'm not OK with is losing because of coaching gaffs, lack of discipline, lack of effort, and all-around mediocrity.

I like Helf but what is happening so far this year is a lot of the latter. Pellum absolutely emasculated our defense over the past two seasons and has carried the virus to our LBs this year. Whether you blame Helf for the Pellum hire or think it was forced on him, he made a change and I think we have to let that play out. Helf, though, has to nip in the bud the slip of culture that seems to be starting if anything good is going to take place this season. I start to get scared when I hear players calling out other players in interviews for not caring and mailing it in. That, as much as anything, will lead to Helf's demise if he doesn't root it out of the program.

[lukeyrid13]

I'm fine with losing 2 games in a season. I would love more wins, but going 10-2 each year would be great...

The thing is, we haven't lost just two games this year. We have shown no fight, no ability to tackle, lack of discipline and not given us much hope of any bowl, let alone a good one.

The further we get from chip and the more entrenched helf is as top dog,the worse we have become. I would love for that to be a coincidence but I strongly fear that it's not.

[Duck07]

Great article from an unbiased source. He's 100% spot on. Yes, I fell into a discussion about who would be a good replacement the other day, but it was a momentary lapse of reason. I think Helfrich is the right guy to lead Oregon football for many years to come. The fan base simply must understand that there are going to be down years, the conference has 'caught up" to a lot of what Chip Kelly was doing when he was here and the conference is also much better from top to bottom.

That being said, yes, the Ducks need to get better on defense, anrd they will. Just give the coaches time to do their jobs and lets have this discussion again after 2 more recruiting cycles.

One of the biggest issues I have and it speaks to Helfrich, is precisely the fact that since Chip left, there hasn't been any innovation. There's what's next and what's after next. We're still stuck on yesterday.

Helfrich does a great job following the company and NCAA line though.

[UOducksTK1]

I'm fine with losing 2 games in a season. I would love more wins, but going 10-2 each year would be great...

The thing is, we haven't lost just two games this year. We have shown no fight, no ability to tackle, lack of discipline and not given us much hope of any bowl, let alone a good one.

The further we get from chip and the more entrenched helf is as top dog,the worse we have become. I would love for that to be a coincidence but I strongly fear that it's not.

Yeah there are some serious fundamental aspects missing right now. We've reached probably half of our potential right now, and that's what's frustrating. Under Chip, we were hitting at 95% potential with a bad game once or twice a year. That's normal. But there hasn't been one game this season where we've looked like the Oregon Ducks of 3-6 years ago.