Oregon vs. Oregon (2pm 5/1, Pac-12 Network)

[StevensTechU]

I'm trying to bridge what I saw with what I'm seeing from people on the twittersphere.

There are a lot of people saying Butterfield looked the best. Others say 'start the future now with Thompson.' And a couple folks even saying Ashford should be number 1. To me it was clear that Brown is the best QB right now and the other guys are fighting to be '22 QB1. Not only did he put up the top or second best stats, he very much looked the part.

Brown: 20/29, 230 yards (7.9 Y/A), 1 TD. Of the 9 missed completions, 2 were drops, 2 were batted at/behind the line of scrimmage, and 1 was an overthrow of Webb on a screen where a completion would have went for a loss, so his 'adjusted' stats would be something like 20/24. Additionally, he took care of the football and didn't force passes into tight coverage once. His pocket awareness was a little sketch as he played a little loose with the football, resulting in one fumble, and I'd like to know if that's a consistent problem.

Butterfield was 6/9, 118 (13.1. Y/A), 1 TD. His misses mostly came at the same time, at the end of the first half where he forced the ball in to receivers and at least one could've been an interception. I also think he was rewarded with the luckiest completion of the day, a 34 yard completion to Terrance Ferguson that was far under thrown but Ferguson was able to come back and get it and even draw a defensive PI. Take away that outstanding play by the receiver and Butterfield is essentially on par with Thompson at 5/9 for 84 yards, but did have a touchdown pass.

Thompson was 5/9, 75 yards (8.3), 0 TD. He was inconsistent, and had at least two passes that could've been picked. I look forward to seeing a lot more of Thompson and hope he shows leadership qualities with the scout team the same way Mariota did as a frosh.

Ashford has the best stat line- 7/8, 123 yards (15.4 Y/A), 1 TD and a 2-pt conversion. He looked hesitant and missed receivers, but the potential was incredibly clear. I'm really interested in knowing whether this was his best day of spring camp and we saw him at his very best, or if this was a routine performance and shows the trajectory he's on. Right now, though, I wouldn't trust him to string together long drives.

Here is the box score- https://goducks.com/documents/2021/5/1/ ... g_Game.pdf

[woundedknees]

I'm trying to bridge what I saw with what I'm seeing from people on the twittersphere.

There are a lot of people saying Butterfield looked the best. Others say 'start the future now with Thompson.' And a couple folks even saying Ashford should be number 1. To me it was clear that Brown is the best QB right now and the other guys are fighting to be '22 QB1. Not only did he put up the top or second best stats, he very much looked the part.

Brown: 20/29, 230 yards (7.9 Y/A), 1 TD. Of the 9 missed completions, 2 were drops, 2 were batted at/behind the line of scrimmage, and 1 was an overthrow of Webb on a screen where a completion would have went for a loss, so his 'adjusted' stats would be something like 20/24. Additionally, he took care of the football and didn't force passes into tight coverage once. His pocket awareness was a little sketch as he played a little loose with the football, resulting in one fumble, and I'd like to know if that's a consistent problem.

Butterfield was 6/9, 118 (13.1. Y/A), 1 TD. His misses mostly came at the same time, at the end of the first half where he forced the ball in to receivers and at least one could've been an interception. I also think he was rewarded with the luckiest completion of the day, a 34 yard completion to Terrance Ferguson that was far under thrown but Ferguson was able to come back and get it and even draw a defensive PI. Take away that outstanding play by the receiver and Butterfield is essentially on par with Thompson at 5/9 for 84 yards, but did have a touchdown pass.

Thompson was 5/9, 75 yards (8.3), 0 TD. He was inconsistent, and had at least two passes that could've been picked. I look forward to seeing a lot more of Thompson and hope he shows leadership qualities with the scout team the same way Mariota did as a frosh.

Ashford has the best stat line- 7/8, 123 yards (15.4 Y/A), 1 TD and a 2-pt conversion. He looked hesitant and missed receivers, but the potential was incredibly clear. I'm really interested in knowing whether this was his best day of spring camp and we saw him at his very best, or if this was a routine performance and shows the trajectory he's on. Right now, though, I wouldn't trust him to string together long drives.

Here is the box score- https://goducks.com/documents/2021/5/1/ ... g_Game.pdf

Nice analysis, STU.

[GrantDuck]

Brown is very much like a Darron Thomas and I mean that in a positive way. (I think Darron Thomas gets a bum rap, he won us a darn Rose Bowl!)

With these WR's I think he could have a really solid year. Key will be continuing to develop his accuracy and deep ball throws(missed some against Iowa State and Saturday).


Flowe is the first player in awhile at Oregon that I think is actually scary. Kiko his senior year was pretty scary. TJ Ward was scary.

He's going to actually injure people on the other team(and I'm guessing he'll get ejected for "targeting" at least once in his Oregon career).

The key will be how fast we can get Sewell/Flowe "gap sound" because no amount of talent will save them against Ohio State if they are not.

[lukeyrid13]

FYI for those who think the backups played or looked better....Brown went up against the 1s all day long.

The: 2, 3 and 4th string secondary was almost 100% walk-ons.

Mykael Wright, DJ James, Trikweze and Jamal Hill all sat out.

I like getting excited about potential as well, but it's important to consider all the factors.

[droop10]

Brown is very much like a Darron Thomas and I mean that in a positive way. (I think Darron Thomas gets a bum rap, he won us a darn Rose Bowl!)

With these WR's I think he could have a really solid year. Key will be continuing to develop his accuracy and deep ball throws(missed some against Iowa State and Saturday).


Flowe is the first player in awhile at Oregon that I think is actually scary. Kiko his senior year was pretty scary. TJ Ward was scary.

He's going to actually injure people on the other team(and I'm guessing he'll get ejected for "targeting" at least once in his Oregon career).

The key will be how fast we can get Sewell/Flowe "gap sound" because no amount of talent will save them against Ohio State if they are not.

How does Thomas get a bum rap? I've never seen anyone bag on him. If you're talking about just not getting enough praise, I guess I could see that. I was a huge Thomas fan. The guy was a winner. I consider him to be much better than Brown. I'm still not sold on Brown. He's fine on the intermediate and short stuff, but misses too many open passes downfield. Those are the backbreakers in my opinion. It's one thing to underthrow and give the WR a chance, but he consistently chucks it out of bounds or well past the WR.

[GrantDuck]

Brown is very much like a Darron Thomas and I mean that in a positive way. (I think Darron Thomas gets a bum rap, he won us a darn Rose Bowl!)

With these WR's I think he could have a really solid year. Key will be continuing to develop his accuracy and deep ball throws(missed some against Iowa State and Saturday).


Flowe is the first player in awhile at Oregon that I think is actually scary. Kiko his senior year was pretty scary. TJ Ward was scary.

He's going to actually injure people on the other team(and I'm guessing he'll get ejected for "targeting" at least once in his Oregon career).

The key will be how fast we can get Sewell/Flowe "gap sound" because no amount of talent will save them against Ohio State if they are not.

How does Thomas get a bum rap? I've never seen anyone bag on him. If you're talking about just not getting enough praise, I guess I could see that. I was a huge Thomas fan. The guy was a winner. I consider him much better than Brown. I'm still not sold on Brown. He's fine on the intermediate and short stuff, but misses too many open passes downfield. Those are the backbreakers in my opinion. It's one thing to underthrow and give the WR a chance, but he consistently chucks it out of bounds of well past the WR.

Yeah, I see that too from Brown, but hoping he can improve a bit more on those in the next few months.

I've seen several duck fans bag on Thomas, including Jhop. The hate for him and Bol Bol(who got injured but was terrific in the games he played) are 2 of the biggest head scratchers I see(mostly on Twitter, but here too).

[buckmarkduck]

Brown is very much like a Darron Thomas and I mean that in a positive way. (I think Darron Thomas gets a bum rap, he won us a darn Rose Bowl!)

With these WR's I think he could have a really solid year. Key will be continuing to develop his accuracy and deep ball throws(missed some against Iowa State and Saturday).


Flowe is the first player in awhile at Oregon that I think is actually scary. Kiko his senior year was pretty scary. TJ Ward was scary.

He's going to actually injure people on the other team(and I'm guessing he'll get ejected for "targeting" at least once in his Oregon career).

The key will be how fast we can get Sewell/Flowe "gap sound" because no amount of talent will save them against Ohio State if they are not.

How does Thomas get a bum rap? I've never seen anyone bag on him. If you're talking about just not getting enough praise, I guess I could see that. I was a huge Thomas fan. The guy was a winner. I consider him much better than Brown. I'm still not sold on Brown. He's fine on the intermediate and short stuff, but misses too many open passes downfield. Those are the backbreakers in my opinion. It's one thing to underthrow and give the WR a chance, but he consistently chucks it out of bounds of well past the WR.

Yeah, I see that too from Brown, but hoping he can improve a bit more on those in the next few months.

I've seen several duck fans bag on Thomas, including Jhop. The hate for him and Bol Bol(who got injured but was terrific in the games he played) are 2 of the biggest head scratchers I see(mostly on Twitter, but here too).

Bag on Thomas how? I’ve known Jhop for 20 years, and never once heard him say a negative thing about Thomas, other than the obvious Marcus was just better. If calling a spade a spade is bagging on a guy, then sure people bagged on him. It just sucked for DT that he happened to have Marcus behind him, and not a Fife or Leaf.

[Alan]

I have not heard much if any negative on Thomas, except what I have said also. He was caught twice while at Oregon in a car with pot in it or with the smell of pot, “we smoked it all”. That is a direct reflection on the Ducks, I do believe it was as simple as Mariota was a clear cut starter when he left.

I also am not sold on Brown, I like what I saw from Butterfield more but as stated the backup QB’s did not go against the 1’s as much as Brown. Brown does miss the deep ball and Butterfield seems to have a much better arm. Brown may be more mobile and run better, but the biggest factor is Brown has the game experience, the lack of game experience was a glaring factor last year.

I need to see the D in a game before I can make a judgment, but it seems hard to believe we will have trouble with LB’s and DE’s staying healthy. I liked what I saw of Addison at DB

[duckfan96]

People on here did bash Thomas. Costa shoulda started over him, he couldn’t throw, had no touch. I remember that and a lot more. Don’t remember who said what but there was a lot of it. I always said the same thing...all DT did was win.

[lukeyrid13]

DT had poor mechanics and only ran a 5.0 40 and didn't have a huge arm.....but it still just worked. He had such an amazing grasp of the Veer offense and his decision making was almost flawless.

[GrantDuck]

Dunno how long it'll be up, but here's a copy of the game for now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I2XVOVD4OE

[Phalanx]

Darron Thomas was the best Oregon QB I have ever seen at hanging in the pocket until the very last second, taking the hit and completing the pass. I think the argument on here was that we was often inconsistent, taking a full quarter or even a half to warm up and start hitting receivers. Also, later in his career, he lost his ability to scramble and often looked like he was running in sand. He was an adequate quarterback on an offense full of stars at the skill positions. He also did the team a huge favor by stepping down when he did and letting Mariota, a true star, take over.

Anyway, I think the spring game solidified in my mind that Brown is not a star, and there hasn't been some latent amazing talent that has just been waiting for reps with the first team to manifest itself. He will likely keep the starting job this year as long as he can convince the coaches that his game management skills are better than any burgeoning talent the others may be developing this season. Since I would describe our starting receivers in much the same way, I am not optimistic that this will be some kind of dominant, high-octane offense. I think this will be a year for development for up and coming underclassmen, and hopefully some serious growth on defense. I think we all mostly know when we are due for a big year, and this doesn't feel like one, but maybe the end of the year will bring strong improvement and momentum.

Okay, maybe one can't get all that from a spring game, but that is how it feels at this moment.

[OregonFan4Life]

I loved Darron Thomas but my one knock on him was he regressed from his So year to his Jr year. Even before the injuries his Jr year he just didn't look as good, that LSU game was rough.

[lukeyrid13]

I loved Darron Thomas but my one knock on him was he regressed from his So year to his Jr year. Even before the injuries his Jr year he just didn't look as good, that LSU game was rough.

That LSU team was also absolutely stacked and had 2-3 1st rounders in their secondary with Claiborne, Matthieu etc.

[GoDucksTroll]

I’ve had a chance to catch up, a few thoughts:

* Anthony Brown is better than a lot of people think. I believe he can not only pilot the offense adequately but also have some monster games.

* Our CB situation is scary without Wright, DJ James. Jeez they better be healthy, and the young guys need to get better by the fall. Ton of potential for Manning, it’s okay to see mistakes when there are also flashes of greatness.

* The other QBs all looked better than what I expected. I guess Ashford was the surprise, maybe he’s a legit contender for 2022 starter. Thompson looked more fluid. Butterfield started off hot.

* WRs and TEs weren’t exactly playing 2011 LSU or 2001 Miami but they looked good. Franklin and Thornton are legit. What an embarrassment of riches.

* I feel better about the DL.

* I feel worse about the OL.

* With Flowe looking good, a healthy Adrian Jackson, an in shape Funa, a year of coaching for Noah and the 2020 LB weaknesses are hopefully in the past.