Who deserves the most blame for Oregon’s offensive woes?

OregonFan4Life · Post by **OregonFan4Life** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 1:47 pm

Curious what other duck fans think.

I for one think that it’s Mario, we’ve had QB issues since he became coach. I also feel like he implements an outdated offense that puts too much pressure on the players not to make mistakes and that causes them to play tense, scared, and as a result make those mistakes. But I have no way of knowing that at all.

Also I know the stats says Oregon has a good offense but the eye test says a different story and has for most of the season outside of the Ohio State game.

With that said I do believe Cristobal is the right guy for Oregon and that he’s a good coach with the potential to be an outstanding coach, I just personally believe he shoulders most of the blame for the inconsistent offense.

karlhungis · Post by **karlhungis** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 1:48 pm

I don't think we would have offensive woes if our QB could complete a 10+ yard pass.

StevensTechU · Post by **StevensTechU** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 1:52 pm

karlhungis wrote:I don't think we would have offensive woes if our QB could complete a 10+ yard pass.

I voted Mario. Since Mario took over, WR talent has upgraded, but OL and QB talent has dropped off. It's not Brown's fault he's the best player available.

mrpd21 · Post by **mrpd21** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:33 pm

I mean...is there a chance Mario thought AB was his best shot to make it to the CFP, and it was driven by incentives for it? What was his bonus if he made it to the playoff? No idea if that would have been the motivation but the stubbornness would therefore make more sense to me.

mrpd21 · Post by **mrpd21** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:34 pm

mrpd21 wrote:I mean...is there a chance Mario thought AB was his best shot to make it to the CFP, and it was driven by incentives for it? What was his bonus if he made it to the playoff? No idea if that would have been the motivation but the stubbornness would therefore make more sense to me.

From Oregonlive.com:

Cristobal has already earned performance bonuses totaling $350,000 this season; $150,000 for the Ducks being bowl bound with at least seven wins, $200,000 for a ninth regular-season win. His bowl participation bonus can grow to $375,000 should Oregon reach the CFP National Championship game and his maximum performance incentives is $1.675 million.

karlhungis · Post by **karlhungis** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:04 pm

mrpd21 wrote:
mrpd21 wrote:I mean...is there a chance Mario thought AB was his best shot to make it to the CFP, and it was driven by incentives for it? What was his bonus if he made it to the playoff? No idea if that would have been the motivation but the stubbornness would therefore make more sense to me.
From Oregonlive.com:

Cristobal has already earned performance bonuses totaling $350,000 this season; $150,000 for the Ducks being bowl bound with at least seven wins, $200,000 for a ninth regular-season win. His bowl participation bonus can grow to $375,000 should Oregon reach the CFP National Championship game and his maximum performance incentives is $1.675 million.

Oof, that loss to Utah cost him over a million dollars.

GoDucksTroll · Post by **GoDucksTroll** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:27 pm

Ultimately the blame always rests with the head coach, but I voted for Anthony Brown. It’s the Cristobal and Moorhead who elected to start, and continue to start him. But, while they deserve partial blame, it’s Brown who has failed to execute consistently despite having all of the complementary tools around him to succeed.

45% Cristobal/Moorhead/Mastro
55% Brown

I was wrong when I predicted Brown would have a massive improvement in his final season. I thought he had the decision making skills to compensate for any shortcomings and the ability to be good enough to pilot this offense. He has been good enough for a good portion of the season, but that’s not satisfactory.

The fact is that an average to above average QB in this offense is sitting 11-0 and ranked #2 while stirring debate whether UGA or UO is the top team in the country. A, Duck example, Bryan Bennett is a Heisman finalist. Even Dakota Prukop is maybe 11-0. FWIW I think Tyler Shough is 9-2 with a loss to Ohio State and Utah, while beating Stanford and getting more style points where the Ducks struggled to eke our wins.

At the end of the day the scheme is good enough, but Brown has failed to execute it - largely due to his noodle arm. It’s a personal judgment call on who should get the blame, him or those who chose him.

rockthief · Post by **rockthief** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:39 pm

Brown is a close second to MC. I watched highligts of two games, Montana vs Montana State, and USC vs UCLA. All four quarterbacks made throws of distance as well as slants etc. Our QB can't do that and our coach approves of his performance for some confounding reason. I agree that we would be undefeated if we were not using a Fullback/TE for a QB.

Duck07 · Post by **Duck07** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:56 pm

Mario and Moorhead.

It's Mario's team and decision to hire Moorhead, who hasn't been bad as an OC per se but has not been a good QB coach as evidenced by the lack of development. Add in for Mario that the OL struggles also fall on him and we're far enough into his tenure that the OL should look better than it has.

OregonFan4Life · Post by **OregonFan4Life** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:26 pm

StevensTechU wrote:
karlhungis wrote:I don't think we would have offensive woes if our QB could complete a 10+ yard pass.
I voted Mario. Since Mario took over, WR talent has upgraded, but OL and QB talent has dropped off. It's not Brown's fault he's the best player available.

Is it talent or development? Legit question since you know football way better than I do. The recruiting has improved with the OLine, and he’s brought in the best lineman in Oregon history, but no doubt they have been inconsistent and underperform, especially with pass protection.

As for QB it’s hard to match what he inherited, though I remember a lot of fans believing Herbert’s best year was his Freshman year.

thatbpguy · Post by **thatbpguy** » Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:32 pm

It falls to the head coach.

He has recruited up and coached down.

QuackininBama · Post by **QuackininBama** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 12:41 pm

100% on MC and the entire coaching staff.
Everyone who watches Oregon football can see his limitations just watching ONE game. While I am not a coach, nor have I ever seen practice, but I would have started TT/Butter, let them take their lumps this year and grow into the position. While it may have amounted to 2-3 early losses (And possibly a complete thumping at the shoe), by this time of the year I think this offense is scoring 45 a game. There is just to much talent on the field to underperform consistently with a Pac-12 starting quarterback.
I will also state, the injuries this year have been insane. I can't remember the last time I have seen so many starters go down, week after week after week, its always another guy, so to be fair, in a normal year injury wise, the coaches plan to start AB might have not won us a championship, but we would have been a one loss team going into the CFP.

Oregon Ownage · Post by **Oregon Ownage** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:08 pm

Duck07 wrote:Mario and Moorhead.

It's Mario's team and decision to hire Moorhead, who hasn't been bad as an OC per se but has not been a good QB coach as evidenced by the lack of development. Add in for Mario that the OL struggles also fall on him and we're far enough into his tenure that the OL should look better than it has.

Yes, combination of them both. Look at what they did to Herbert, a top NFL draft pick while he was at Oregon.

QuackininBama wrote:100% on MC and the entire coaching staff.
I would have started TT/Butter, let them take their lumps this year and grow into the position. By this time of the year I think this offense is scoring 45 a game.

This is not happening with the current coaching setup. The QB is there to be a "point guard" and direct the offense in their vision for an offense. Doesnt matter who the teams QB is, they will not be exciting and light up the scoreboard. Just will not happen.

QuackininBama · Post by **QuackininBama** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:24 pm

Oregon Ownage wrote:
Duck07 wrote:Mario and Moorhead.

It's Mario's team and decision to hire Moorhead, who hasn't been bad as an OC per se but has not been a good QB coach as evidenced by the lack of development. Add in for Mario that the OL struggles also fall on him and we're far enough into his tenure that the OL should look better than it has.
Yes, combination of them both. Look at what they did to Herbert, a top NFL draft pick while he was at Oregon.

QuackininBama wrote:100% on MC and the entire coaching staff.
I would have started TT/Butter, let them take their lumps this year and grow into the position. By this time of the year I think this offense is scoring 45 a game.
This is not happening with the current coaching setup. The QB is there to be a "point guard" and direct the offense in their vision for an offense. Doesnt matter who the teams QB is, they will not be exciting and light up the scoreboard. Just will not happen.

I 100% agree with you. Which is why I 100% think Moorhead, and his Tim Tebow 2006 offense needs to go. EVERYONE has married the Duck offense with the SEC defense in the last 5 years and are having great success. Its time to move on to another offensive coordinator.

webfoots2001 · Post by **webfoots2001** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:59 pm

Oregon Ownage wrote:
Duck07 wrote:Mario and Moorhead.

It's Mario's team and decision to hire Moorhead, who hasn't been bad as an OC per se but has not been a good QB coach as evidenced by the lack of development. Add in for Mario that the OL struggles also fall on him and we're far enough into his tenure that the OL should look better than it has.
Yes, combination of them both. Look at what they did to Herbert, a top NFL draft pick while he was at Oregon.

We are going to blame Moorhead for Herbert now too?