Dang you're a tough grader.NCDucks09 wrote:Overall, solid win. I'm not sold on UW yet, I still think they got up to play Stanford and Oregon and am not sure they can consistently maintain their high level of play. For the Ducks SOS, you have to root for them to keep winning though.
I think our Safeties got exposed a little on Defense. Brian Jackson has good fundamentals, but he doesn't have the speed to shut down elite WR's or make plays in space. Avery Patterson also doesn't look as fast or explosive as he did prior to his ACL reconstruction. His size doesn't lend itself well either to helping out in run support. With a young linebacking corps, the safeties are critical to contain and mop up better running backs, and I'm not sure that our current crop is quite as good as the rest of our D.
I grade out the quality of our D by position corps like this:
D-line = B+
Corners = A
Linebackers = B
Safeties = C
I'd give the D-Line an A. Playing a 2 gap 3-4 is tough to get stats, your basically a space occupier, but these guys are not only doing a great job holding space, they are making some plays too which is real bonus.
And for the Safeties, Oregon is top 5 in pass defense efficiency and Top 10 against yielding long plays (Would also be in the Top 5 in long plays yielded versus plays faced). These two stats are probably the most indicative of good or bad safety play.
Safeties are kind of in the spotlight when the opponent rips off a big play and those plays stick in the memory, but this years group is really a good coverage group. They aren't as flashy as John Boyett or TJ Ward but their results are really good.