09-26-2010, 09:40 PM
Hey Garvin,
Unclechuck beat me to the answers in your first post, but I can reply to the latest question.
Oregon\'s line has given up one sack, and that was in the Tennessee game. Normally they give up the least amount of sacks in the league. Most of that comes from getting rid of the ball so quickly to the receivers in the flat for bubble screens, and fast hits. The game with ASU was definitely a step up in competition. ASU is better then many give them credit for. LaMichael James called them the best defense he\'s played against. That is a bold statement considering the defenses he\'s played against. (USC, UCLA, The OSU, Etc.)
The O-Line is pretty iron clad, but we have injuries there, with one starter staying home for the ASU game. TE was thin too, due to injury. They should be back next week, but it hurt Oregon quite a bit, especially in the run game. Running the stretch play and zone reads without a good blocking TE didn\'t work to well. Protection broke down a few times, but they never got to Thomas. He did take some pretty big hits though.
My biggest concern going into this weeks game is Thomas\' ability/inability to run the zone read option. They\'ve run the play 112 times, and Thomas has only kept it 19 times. I know having LMJ to hand it off to is a great opion, but when the defense is daring you to run it, take it! He should have kept it a dozen times in the ASU game, but only kept it 4 times in 36 zone read plays. If his reads don\'t improve, Stanford will win. As a Duck fan, I hope that he will improve. Oregon\'s coaching staff, especially Chip Kelly will see what needs to be done, and fix it. Hopefully in time for this weeks game. I\'ll be there at Game Day, and the game, and I know it\'s going to be one hell of a game!
Saturday can\'t come fast enough!
Cheers!
Unclechuck beat me to the answers in your first post, but I can reply to the latest question.
Oregon\'s line has given up one sack, and that was in the Tennessee game. Normally they give up the least amount of sacks in the league. Most of that comes from getting rid of the ball so quickly to the receivers in the flat for bubble screens, and fast hits. The game with ASU was definitely a step up in competition. ASU is better then many give them credit for. LaMichael James called them the best defense he\'s played against. That is a bold statement considering the defenses he\'s played against. (USC, UCLA, The OSU, Etc.)
The O-Line is pretty iron clad, but we have injuries there, with one starter staying home for the ASU game. TE was thin too, due to injury. They should be back next week, but it hurt Oregon quite a bit, especially in the run game. Running the stretch play and zone reads without a good blocking TE didn\'t work to well. Protection broke down a few times, but they never got to Thomas. He did take some pretty big hits though.
My biggest concern going into this weeks game is Thomas\' ability/inability to run the zone read option. They\'ve run the play 112 times, and Thomas has only kept it 19 times. I know having LMJ to hand it off to is a great opion, but when the defense is daring you to run it, take it! He should have kept it a dozen times in the ASU game, but only kept it 4 times in 36 zone read plays. If his reads don\'t improve, Stanford will win. As a Duck fan, I hope that he will improve. Oregon\'s coaching staff, especially Chip Kelly will see what needs to be done, and fix it. Hopefully in time for this weeks game. I\'ll be there at Game Day, and the game, and I know it\'s going to be one hell of a game!
Saturday can\'t come fast enough!
Cheers!