#16 Auburn vs #11 Oregon (Aug. 31, Sat 4:30 PM ABC)

[OregonFan4Life]

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No wonder Pittman got injured!

[UOducksTK1]

lol

[lukeyrid13]

I think that’s actually Graham, but still funny.

[GrantDuck]

Every day that goes by that JJIII and stone hands Ryan Bay our among the top guys practicing is a day I'm very worried about who is catching balls from Herbert. What's going on with Spencer Webb and Patrick Herbert? A better question is WTF is going on with McCormick? He's been day to day for like entire fall camp.

I worry about this most because Auburn is a pressure defense that makes you make plays downfield and their weakness is at DB. IF we can't take advantage of that, then we're screwed.

I am hoping our defense can be the one to pick up slack and make some big plays/turnovers early in the season until we get these guys back healthy.

[OregonFan4Life]

Every day that goes by that JJIII and stone hands Ryan Bay our among the top guys practicing is a day I'm very worried about who is catching balls from Herbert. What's going on with Spencer Webb and Patrick Herbert? A better question is WTF is going on with McCormick? He's been day to day for like entire fall camp.

I worry about this most because Auburn is a pressure defense that makes you make plays downfield and their weakness is at DB. IF we can't take advantage of that, then we're screwed.

I am hoping our defense can be the one to pick up slack and make some big plays/turnovers early in the season until we get these guys back healthy.

This! If there was a game we needed a healthy WR corps, this was it. I already wasn't confident Oregon was going to win this game, now I'm really having doubts.

[wepto]

Every day that goes by that JJIII and stone hands Ryan Bay our among the top guys practicing is a day I'm very worried about who is catching balls from Herbert. What's going on with Spencer Webb and Patrick Herbert? A better question is WTF is going on with McCormick? He's been day to day for like entire fall camp.

I worry about this most because Auburn is a pressure defense that makes you make plays downfield and their weakness is at DB. IF we can't take advantage of that, then we're screwed.

I am hoping our defense can be the one to pick up slack and make some big plays/turnovers early in the season until we get these guys back healthy.

TE is looking like a disaster. More so than the WRs. Ryan Bay runs like an offensive lineman. Haven't seen Kampmoyer play very much (if at all), but considering that he is a converted OL recruit, he's probably not fast enough to be much of a receiving threat. Breeland hasn't been able to block consistently since before the Las Vegas bowl. McCormick is always hurt. Webb looked solid in the spring game--no idea why he isn't playing. TE is a tough spot for a true freshman to contribute at--I bet we see Patrick Herbert--it's just hard to imagine him holding the spot together by himself.


Kano Dillon was an unsung hero last year and went down in the UW game (as well as Sewell). I've been saying for a while (on reddit) that a lot of the drop off was due to Dillon's injury as much as Sewell's. Breeland couldn't block and Bay isn't a downfield threat. The linemen behind Sewell were actually pretty decent.


I think we'll be fine at WR this year. It looks like Johnson-Redd-JJ3 will start against Auburn. I bet Delgado and Addison will see action as well. Addison probably beats out JJ3 for a starting spot by mid season. Pittman comes back mid year.


I suspect we will see 4 WR packages. It doesn't make sense to recruit two inside receivers in the same class (Pittman and Delgado) otherwise. Especially with another (Hutson) coming in 2020.

[GrandpaDuck]

At this point Herbert is 5th string. Moving up to third would be a nice accomplishment. In the second scrimmage with the 1s Bay had a 58 yard touchdown catch and run so I suspect he is at least as fast as me. I think the TEs will be ok, Breeland has one of the best career yards per catch of any of our past tight-ends in a decade. You can play any of our blocking TEs (McCormack, Bay or Kamp) on first down anyway, because it will be a run 80% of the time and everyone in the stadium knows it regardless of who is in at tight-end.

I'm also going to be optimistic on Johnny Johnson. I am hoping for a turn around like Huff's who also had hands of stone his sophomore year, but with a new receiver coach he made a huge improvement in his junior year. Hopefully JJs yips are gone, because I don't think its actually a case of stone hands or poor E-H-C. He has made many really tough catches so missing the easy ones is likely a mental thing that can hopefully be coached out of him.

As long as I have my green colored welding googles on. Redd is my breakout receiver this year. He has shown huge flashes of potential. He has the speed and agility to be a real handful to cover. If he cures his dropsies and gains Herbert's confidence he is almost always open and is a threat once he has caught it. (note: by almost "always" open I mean with Herbert throwing it. He was hitting Mitchell in spots last year where he could still catch it with a defender drapped all over him.)

[Phenom]

We win by 2 TDs.

[wepto]

At this point Herbert is 5th string. Moving up to third would be a nice accomplishment. In the second scrimmage with the 1s Bay had a 58 yard touchdown catch and run so I suspect he is at least as fast as me. I think the TEs will be ok, Breeland has one of the best career yards per catch of any of our past tight-ends in a decade. You can play any of our blocking TEs (McCormack, Bay or Kamp) on first down anyway, because it will be a run 80% of the time and everyone in the stadium knows it regardless of who is in at tight-end.

I'm also going to be optimistic on Johnny Johnson. I am hoping for a turn around like Huff's who also had hands of stone his sophomore year, but with a new receiver coach he made a huge improvement in his junior year. Hopefully JJs yips are gone, because I don't think its actually a case of stone hands or poor E-H-C. He has made many really tough catches so missing the easy ones is likely a mental thing that can hopefully be coached out of him.

As long as I have my green colored welding googles on. Redd is my breakout receiver this year. He has shown huge flashes of potential. He has the speed and agility to be a real handful to cover. If he cures his dropsies and gains Herbert's confidence he is almost always open and is a threat once he has caught it. (note: by almost "always" open I mean with Herbert throwing it. He was hitting Mitchell in spots last year where he could still catch it with a defender drapped all over him.)

If the offense is trying to become less predictable (and I think/hope it probably is), having highly specialized tight ends shuffling in and out depending on down and distance is a problem because it signals the intent of the play being run. It's one thing to have a heavy package for short yardage situations--having an obvious run package for first and ten seems problematic.

The TEs (Bay, Breeland and Webb) have been split out wide on a lot of plays both last season (Bay/Breeland) and during the spring game (Webb). It really seems like there isn't an inline TE that the coaches have confidence in.

I mentioned Patrick Herbert moving up in the depth chart because Cristobal specifically mentioned that he liked Herbert's ability to both block and catch passes. Frankly, it sounded like a bit like an acknowledgement that the other members of the TE group had gaps in productivity. As for him being fifth string, as long as McCormick and Breeland are hurt, he's already effectively the third/fourth stringer and he's in prime position for playing time as he is probably the TE with the most well rounded skill set.

[greenyellow]

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[GrandpaDuck]

......

If the offense is trying to become less predictable (and I think/hope it probably is), having highly specialized tight ends shuffling in and out depending on down and distance is a problem because it signals the intent of the play being run. It's one thing to have a heavy package for short yardage situations--having an obvious run package for first and ten seems problematic.
{If they actually change their situation play tendencies, I would agree with this. Call me a skeptic on that. From what I have read their idea of opening up the offense is they are going to throw more go routes. I hope these supposed "insiders" are clueless about this.}

The TEs (Bay, Breeland and Webb) have been split out wide on a lot of plays both last season (Bay/Breeland) and during the spring game (Webb). It really seems like there isn't an inline TE that the coaches have confidence in.
{Formationally, Oregon runs a spread offense, and will split out tighends a lot like Chip and Helf did. Until they snap the ball you wouldn't even know that the ghost of Woody Hayes was calling the plays. But you may be right about the lack of confidence in other than Cam and Kamp as blockers.}

I mentioned Patrick Herbert moving up in the depth chart because Cristobal specifically mentioned that he liked Herbert's ability to both block and catch passes. Frankly, it sounded like a bit like an acknowledgement that the other members of the TE group had gaps in productivity. As for him being fifth string, as long as McCormick and Breeland are hurt, he's already effectively the third/fourth stringer and he's in prime position for playing time as he is probably the TE with the most well rounded skill set.
{I'm a P.H. fan but I havent seen him block yet. I'll take MCs word for it. I was just noting that he is 5th when Breeland and McCormick are healthy and that's a big hill to climb for a true freshman. While I suspect Breeland could play if it were game week, Cam may never get off IR which would put P.H. fourth I guess}

[thomas time]

dt has headline of Webb having a new position, but it's all Vip so I don't know if it's wr or another position.

[thomas time]

also a headline about another wr getting hurt on there too that is VIP

[Duckattack7]

also a headline about another wr getting hurt on there too that is VIP

Juwan left practice and didn’t return. (What I heard about 15 minutes ago)

[OregonFan4Life]

also a headline about another wr getting hurt on there too that is VIP

Juwan left practice and didn’t return. (What I heard about 15 minutes ago)

The good ole’ Oregon curse. Didn’t take as long to go into effect this season.