I am concerned

I think our offense looked great last night, but our defense really made the Wildcats look better than they are. They carved us up all night through the air and it didn't seem like we were able to adjust to it. Honestly I think the game would have been much, much closer if Zona hadn't had some major issues in the first quarter with all the drops and mis-ques. If Arizona can hang that many points on us, how are we going to stop Stanford?

 

I felt we covered the underneath stuff closely. To me the problem was over the top of the linebackers. When their receivers got 15+yards down field they were all to often very open. And I mean by a mile. That happened at least a dozen times. That has to be addressed.

 

Do you think that's an issue with experience in the secondary or is it an issue with getting enough penetration on the DLine? I thought we did a good job stopping the run yesterday, but Zona could pretty much get a first down whenever they wanted once they started throwing and found a rhythm.

 

BTW, I hate doing it but I'm going to post a link to Canzano's column today. He pretty much summed up my thoughts on the defense last night. I disagree with JC about 99% of the time but I think he was on the money with this one.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/or...f/2011/09/canzano_oregons_defense_all_th.html

 

That's nonsense (not you....Can). Here's the FACTS why!

We all knew Foles is the best passer in the Pac12. The stats prove it. UA has physical, talented and experienced WR's in support of Foles. He's going to get his yards. We won't face another passer like him - period.

Oregon gave up a lot of yards but again considering how long our defensive was on the field and our 2's and 3's got time... Foles had 239 yards vs Stanford and 400 yards vs OK St. We'll be just fine but have areas to improve. I like our coverage!!

Some would argue Luck is a better passer, but surprisingly Stanford ranks just above UCLA and OSU w/ total pass yards (one less game) and at 285 pass yards per game isn't anywhere near UA, WSU and is behind Cal and ASU.

We just faced the best pass offense in the Pac and 4th best in the nation - on the road.

We won. Enough said.

 

Those are good points T... make me feel a little better about it.

With that said, I want to see Cliff starting from here on out.

 

I watched some of the replays and it was the db defense. As an example, on one play the 'Cats ran a crossing rub play. It wasn't a pick, but it was close. Our db who covered the receiver crossing towards the corner ran behind the other receiver giving his man a 7-10 yard separation. You always keep your man in front of you. Always. That's coverage 101A. We were also biting on every pump fake, every hitch & go... It's such basic mistakes, I have to say it's a coaching problem.

 

Good points, but there is no excuse for so many wide open receivers down field. If those easy dropped passes are caught, we might have lost.

 

While I see what you're saying Wheels, I agree with BP. There's no excuse for some of the lapses in defense last night.

 

This is good. I enjoy when true fans question the teams efforts.

I see the high yardage given up and can understand one being concerned. However, saying they could have won without the dropped passes is strange. Foles completion % was 59% in the game - he's was 73% vs Stanford and OK St and over 80% vs N. AZ. We sacked him 5 times for nearly 50 lost yards.

Come on...the best QB in the conference (top 5 nation) just attempted nearly 60 passes in a home game! Against Stanford he only attempted 33.

Sure, we can look at yards but we need to consider how many plays they ran and the pace of the game.

Me personally? I'm proud of our secondary. We won. One could argue that the normally sure handed UA receivers were intimidated and not focused. Why? Our secondary intimidated them!!

No way UA wins this game even if they caught every pass!




AZstarnet.com reported: The usually surehanded receivers had a bewildering night, dropping first-half passes that would have kept the UA in the game. David Roberts dropped a pass over the middle on third-and-long, forcing the Wildcats to punt, and Juron Criner muffed three first-half throws, including one at the goal line. Dan Buckner juggled a touchdown pass. The unit rebounded to finish strong: David Douglas caught seven passes for a career-high 120 yards, and Criner finished with nine grabs for 96 yards. Roberts, who impressed against Stanford a week ago, caught four balls for 60 yards and two scores.

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/sports/blogs/f...7ae-11e0-bd99-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1Z09Q5iTC

 

I don't know if they could have won, but the game would have been a hell of a lot closer if they had actually caught the two wide-open passes that would have gone for TDs. Listen, I wasn't so much worried about AZ, but more worried about the fact that they exposed some holes in our secondary. I'm more worried about how those holes could be exploited by Andrew Luck.

 

Every game reveals areas to work on. Sure...and Luck is going to get his yards, but saying things like UA carved us up or we're weak or Luck is going to exploit us is a bit of a fearful mentality. There were a few misdirections with open receivers...that will happen when a team runs over 60 pass plays. But, for the most part coverage was tight and passes were quick outs and working sidelines -- if coverage wasn't "good" we wouldn't have sacked Foles for a season high.
I can't say it enough...our 2's and 3's held their own against a future NFL QB.

Foles has stats that stand alone and we were the most successful team to hold him to season low completion % and pass rating. Foles is in a league of his own - way above Luck.

Would you say we were pretty good last year? Well, last year we beat UA 48-29 -- a game we actually trailed and Foles went for 448 yards w/ 3 TD's. The year before that it took 2 OT's to win and Foles went 30/46 for 314 w/ 4 TD's.

He's a future NFL QB. He's good. We held him to a season low not in overall but statistically.

Go Ducks! Nice win!

 

Oregon has the best offense in the conference, the best special teams and is only allowing 80 more yards per game than the #1 rated defense -- and a few completed passes in a 35-9 halftime game would have made it close?

LOCO...

 

I don't expect us to cover them like a glove on every play. But I would say then on 40% of the plays they had us beat bad over the top. hanks to drops and good pressuring of the QB we escaped what could have been a long night. But that said, I am also proud of many of the good things our defense did.

 

I'd strongly disagree with 40%.

 

When those passes were wide open and heading towards the end zone.... yes. They just flat out dropped them. Unlike Thomas, Foles was putting the ball right on the money and his receivers were failing him badly. It wasn't good defense.

 

Wasn't good, huh? Ok. Not like we held Foles to his lowest completion % and QB rating yet this season. In fact, we have to go back to Nov of 2010 to find Foles with less than 60% pass rating.

I guess it's possible we just disagree, but Kelly stated, "Sometimes you've got to chalk it up to, that (receiver) is a really good player, and (the quarterback) put the ball right where it needed to be."

Sounds like Kelly would disagree with the 40% assessment too.

 

Funny thing about that completion percentage, it doesn't reflect dropped passes that Foles put right on target and his receivers simply dropped them. His receivers were off last night, plain and simple. That doesn't have anything to do with our defense.