A pickup basketball game between the football coaches of the University of New Hampshire and Brown University in the 1990s was the first of many meetings between two future NFL head coaches. Then-New Hampshire running backs coach Chip Kelly and a Brown assistant coach named Bill O’Brien exchanged ideas about X’s and O’s on the first of many occasions. O’Brien was …
Conditioning. Tempo. Team Speed. Everyone knows of these components that the Oregon Spread Offense attacks the defenses with, and it is assumed that process can be confusing for defenses in lining up during the haste before the play begins. What about the other elements of the attack that create confusion? Today we look at how one facet of the Oregon Football …
There is a reason why defensive line guru Jerry Azzinaro was the one Oregon position coach who joined Chip Kelly on the Philadelphia Eagles’ coaching staff. The 3-4 defensive scheme and two-gap technique are just as important to Kelly as the fast-tempo, zone-blocking, and packaged plays. Azzinaro was Kelly’s right-hand man in installing the 3-4 as the base defense at …
How fun is it to see a new variation of a foundation play of the Oregon offense! The Sweep Read is one of those plays of the Oregon offense that has been unchanged since FishDuck.com introduced the play to football fans more than three years ago. Now we are beginning to see new wrinkles that Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich is adding to …
Oregon getting physical? We all know that the national narrative referred to the Ducks as soft and this game went a long way to refuting it, but how? What was the game plan that Coach Helfrich used to defeat the Spartans? There is an enormous amount to cover, but today lets look at one of the staples of the Oregon …
There were plenty of surprises in this game to please even the most ardent fan, but for me — the most satisfying was watching new freshman running back Royce Freeman run Oregon’s Straddled Triple Option as if he were a senior and following his offensive line for years. His part of the play is the Inside Zone Read option, and most …
In press conferences, Defensive Coordinator Don Pellum referred to “doing something different” in the Alamo Bowl, while high school coaches that have attended spring and fall Duck football practices whisper about “Oregon’s New Defense.” Hype and puff — or is there some fire under the smoke? This is the last summer analysis before the season starts and you know I …
Michigan State played Stanford in last year’s Rose Bowl, to the dismay of the Duck faithful. However, in doing so, they showed their defensive formula for slowing down the Cardinal’s Heavy 2 runningback offense. I will start by saying that Michigan State did give up 162 yards rushing to Stanford, coming on 36 carries. However, a lot of those plays came …
Chip Kelly doesn’t just want his skill players to have speed. He places a high premium on athletic offensive linemen who can execute their blocks both at the line of scrimmage and in space. It is easy to see how Lane Johnson‘s rare athletic ability convinced Kelly to select the Oklahoma offensive tackle with the fourth overall pick last year. …
September 6th. It’s not that far away. That’s when Michigan State travels to Eugene to battle the Ducks, and while they are “merely” a Big Ten team, they did beat Stanford, who in turn beat Oregon last year. Schematically on defense, the Spartans have the ability to go toe-to-toe with Oregon – just like the Cardinal did to the Ducks. This article is …
With Eagles’ camp opening last Friday, it’s a great time to talk Oregon Spread Offense here in Philadelphia. The success of the Eagles in 2013 excited both the fan base and the local sports media. The extensive coverage of the Eagles, especially their offensive scheme, has brought a new understanding and appreciation in this region for the Oregon offense. I …
As pointed out in an earlier post here at FishDuck, the Oregon Ducks have become one of the premier rushing teams in all of college football and we’ll now examine another reason why. I have written other articles discussing some of the factor’s that play a critical role in their success running the football; including a breakdown of the zone blocking scheme …