Ducks Attack Message Board Forum

First off -- I love Dillon Gabriel! He's a great QB and I'm thrilled we landed his services. Dude is a baller and so far he's come up big when we've needed him most, just like he did while at Oklahoma.

That said, the number of redzone INTs he's thrown seems a bit jarring considering how good he's been everywhere else on the field. (And also considering how many of these happen right on the goal line.) I've seen this discussed elsewhere on social media, but those convos usually devolve into White Knight vs Debbie Downer flame wars, and I don't want any part of that. I am curious though if some of the Xs and Os folks here have any insights into this phenomenon.

I've seen Duck07 (I think) talk about scheme vs plays, and maybe that's the issue here, that we're just not putting him in good positions. Maybe it's his height, although we've had smaller QBs in the past and I don't recall this happening.

Our offense in general also has a tendency to stall in the redzone more than it seemingly should, so maybe this isn't really a DG problem as much as it is an overall team issue. Our running game tends to disappear inside the 10 as well. (My brother and I always cringe whenever the Ducks land on a 1st & goal from the 9 or 10.)

Thoughts, since there's not much else to talk about right now?

The interceptions in the redzone suck. But I think as you pointed out, our redzone scoring % in general is pretty bad. We are 57th in the country at Redzone scoring %.

EDIT: OK if we scored on those 4 interceptions thrown by Gabriel, then our redzone scoring % would be #8 in the country (instead of #57). So I guess that is the bulk of the issue.

Two things- Our offensive line is middling, which means that as teams get to stack the box in the redzone we lose our ability to successfully run the bal. Second, a lot of the routes are across the middle in the redzone, which is going to result in more high-traffic throws and tipped balls. So, some of the issue is DG, some the OL, and some the play design.

QB11 did briefly talk about how Gabriel struggles with the RPO, particularly in the Wisconsin game. He mentioned a play in the 4th quarter that was an RPO in the redzone and Gabriel handed it off to James for a 1 yard gain when Holden was open for a TD. QB11 knows his stuff so if he says Gabriel is struggling with the RPO there’s probably some validity to it.

I personally believe the running game lacks creativity and our athletes should be utilized in space more than simply through the screen game. I personally think Gabriel’s struggle in the RPO and Stein’s lack of creativity in the running game are causing the issues in the redzone, but I’m far from the most knowledgeable on this forum so I could be way off.

QB11 did briefly talk about how Gabriel struggles with the RPO, particularly in the Wisconsin game.

I didn't want to bring that up specifically because I'm not a hardcore Xs and Os guy, but this is what my bro and I were talking about during the Wisconsin game. Seems that if other teams respected the RPO then things would open up a bit more in the redzone. The fact they don't often run it tells me that might be DG's weakness. He seems to do much better on what appear to be designed runs.

Well a weakness of his or also the coaches don't want him to get hurt.

Also, the times he does keep are usually very effective. So the infrequency of RPO definitely helps with that too.