Countering Canzano: “Helfrich not running the CK Offense”

[FishDuck]

Hey Guys,

I have been spending my spare time working on a new site this summer, but have begun to do a little writing again. I felt it was important to respond to something Journalists have been claiming—that is wrong, especially from John Canzano.

For the “Helfrich-Haters” out there—please read this article as I would hope that what you learn might alter your mindset going forward.

You know the drill—read over there, but do comment here; I am curious as to how others would disagree.

Cheers to all,

FD

http://fishduck.com/2016/08/blasphemy-h ... y-offense/

[duckfan22]

thank you for posting...very interesting.. Oregon is still innovative beyond what Chip did.. Sure the philosophy is the
same but the changes made are there to see. Any head coach is going to tweak their offense. Clownzano isnt smart enough
that the great offensive minds are always working to offset what the defensive cord. are doing to try and stop you.

[UOducksTK1]

Nice, I do like how much more we pass now under Helf. We had too many dead end games with Chip, where we relied so heavily on the run that when we met a team that could dominate the line, we were helpless.

At least with Helf, I feel like we could always be in the game. Plus our defense was to blame for many of our losses recently.

[EncinitasDuck]

Nice, I do like how much more we pass now under Helf. We had too many dead end games with Chip, where we relied so heavily on the run that when we met a team that could dominate the line, we were helpless.

At least with Helf, I feel like we could always be in the game. Plus our defense was to blame for many of our losses recently.

Well we lost a total of 7 games under Chip so it couldn't have been that bad

[Alan]

Nice, I do like how much more we pass now under Helf. We had too many dead end games with Chip, where we relied so heavily on the run that when we met a team that could dominate the line, we were helpless.

At least with Helf, I feel like we could always be in the game. Plus our defense was to blame for many of our losses recently.

Well we lost a total of 7 games under Chip so it couldn't have been that bad

Yes, I liked Chip but how many of those 7 games did we lose because our o line got crushed and for the most part they were all big, big games.

I haven't taken time to read fish's article yet but will tonight and post. I'm a Helf lover for the most part...... He made mistakes and fixed them in the off season. With luck they're fixed.

[lukeyrid13]

Good to see you still putting out content fish.

I have personally been very slow to come around on helf but I thought this was a fantastic article that honestly helped qualm some of my trepidations.

[GoDucksIn09]

I have not been 100% totally sold on Helfrich. I do see some intriguing points in the article and have to give you credit fish for bringing them to the forefront. The two areas that think we need to see improvement in our offense is the creativity when it comes to 3rd and 4th down. One thing Chip would do is to take advantage of whatever defense was showing and the 4th down conversions showed this. They have dropped off quite a bit with Helfrich... and the same can be said for the 2 point conversions. One thing that made Oregon who they were... was the creative ability to convert those two areas even when the team knew they were going to go for it on 4th and short.... or on the first touchdown. Some will point the finger at Frost... and to a degree they are right...but the percentages do show a significant drop in those two areas last year and probably the year before. I am not a football scholar and have never played the game for high school... college... or pro. It is just my observation and opinion.

[lukeyrid13]

^ to add to that,I think we need to see the pace pick back up. We would often run the same play multiple times in a row. Darron and or chip would rub their finger over their lips which meant same play and we would very quickly run another play.

It's hard to remember the full season now,but in 13 against Stanford and Arizona we were incredibly slow. In 14 we were pretty decent at pace but I maintain that 09-12 aka chip years we were quicker.

[EncinitasDuck]

Nice, I do like how much more we pass now under Helf. We had too many dead end games with Chip, where we relied so heavily on the run that when we met a team that could dominate the line, we were helpless.

At least with Helf, I feel like we could always be in the game. Plus our defense was to blame for many of our losses recently.

Well we lost a total of 7 games under Chip so it couldn't have been that bad

Yes, I liked Chip but how many of those 7 games did we lose because our o line got crushed and for the most part they were all big, big games.

I haven't taken time to read fish's article yet but will tonight and post. I'm a Helf lover for the most part...... He made mistakes and fixed them in the off season. With luck they're fixed.

I would go back and look at the games we lost under Chip and the scores. You'll see we scored a lot of points in all the games with the exception of Boise State which I"m sure you'll remember was Chip's first game as head coach. Yes they were big games and they were against big time opponents I would say the only games we were really handled under Chip were again Boise State, LSU and maybe OSU in his first Rose Bowl. Other than that they were pretty darn close and the offense scored points.

[pezsez1]

I would go back and look at the games we lost under Chip and the scores. You'll see we scored a lot of points in all the games with the exception of Boise State which I"m sure you'll remember was Chip's first game as head coach. Yes they were big games and they were against big time opponents I would say the only games we were really handled under Chip were again Boise State, LSU and maybe OSU in his first Rose Bowl.

Don't forget Auburn and Stanford. I loved Chip, but in our most important games his stubbornness frequently cost us dearly.

[EncinitasDuck]

I would go back and look at the games we lost under Chip and the scores. You'll see we scored a lot of points in all the games with the exception of Boise State which I"m sure you'll remember was Chip's first game as head coach. Yes they were big games and they were against big time opponents I would say the only games we were really handled under Chip were again Boise State, LSU and maybe OSU in his first Rose Bowl.

Don't forget Auburn and Stanford. I loved Chip, but in our most important games his stubbornness frequently cost us dearly.

Auburn we lost by 3 pts in the last minute on a fluke play in a game in which Darron Thomas threw for about 340 yds. Granted our running game stunk but if you were at that game you had to be impressed with how big the Auburn front 7 were. They were monsters.

Stanford we lost by 9. But had 345 yds passing and 240 rushing (LMJ had 125). All in all I'd say a fairly balanced attack. Don't forget our D let Toby Gerhart run for 220 yds in that game.

I"m not saying that Chip wasn't stubborn at times, but to say it cost us a lot of games is just not true.

[pezsez1]

I"m not saying that Chip wasn't stubborn at times, but to say it cost us a lot of games is just not true.

And I did not say that.

I'm saying that in our biggest games, we lost a good chunk of them because Chip got stubborn with his playcalling. Don't forget that against Auburn, our offense was pretty much getting stuffed until Chip finally let DT start throwing the ball more. But it was too little, too late.

Also, that Stanford loss I'm referring to is when we lost 17-14, costing us a chance at another national title. Like you pointed out in your post, the box score shows we used a balanced attack, but that's not really the point. The problem was that Chip's playcalling was stubborn. He'd call the same running plays that would get stuffed over and over and over and over. He was hell-bent on them working, even when it was completely obvious they weren't going to work (same thing with the Auburn game and trying to run against that monstrous DL).

In the Fiesta Bowl, Chip even made a subtle admission after the game that he had to overcome his own stubbornness for the Ducks to finally pull away.

[GoDucksIn09]

The Auburn game we might have won if kicked a field goal. Chip Kelly was way to stubborn that game...He had a couple of possessions we would have made an easy field goal. As far as the last play, players from the time they are in grade school are told to play until hear the whistle. This is drilled into them repeatedly and into college. If the Oregon D would have played til whistle, maybe Auburn does not win the game. Oregon benefitted against Colorado years ago by Colorado not playing til whistle blew. I would think as much as it gets drilled into the kids bout finishing the play would not see it happen. It still does though.