How he can be so bad, and so good....is amazing. If he had played half as well before--we would have beaten UCLA and Illinois.

Jekyll and Hyde.

Actually, he reminds me a little of Dave Kreig, former Seahawk.

Best 'worst' qb in football. 😉😂😳

Perhaps the offensive plan and calls finally played to his strengths?

Yes, I have. OBs in general look much better without the pass rush eating them up.

We chipped, kept backs in to pick up LB blitz and did max protect with the RB and TE in, he didn't have dudes in his face. He had time for his WR to run deeper routes and being the dudes they are they won on those deeper routes, and he made the throws.

Johnson did well with his game plane and scheme.

Finally had a mature performance from his OC, game plan made sense, they limited the dumb plays, and in general the line played much better, also helps that I don't think NW had a very good game defensively, but the Ducks contributed to that.

3 minutes ago, dazednconfused said:

Yes, I have. OBs in general look much better without the pass rush eating them up.

We chipped, kept backs in to pick up LB blitz and did max protect with the RB and TE in, he didn't have dudes in his face. He had time for his WR to run deeper routes and being the dudes they are they won on those deeper routes, and he made the throws.

Johnson did well with his game plane and scheme.

I agree. He was able to get comfortable and get into a bit of a rhythm, something Mehringer and the OL would let him do against UCLA or Illinois.

I’m very thankful Raiola did not turn the ball over today. Much better and a great win.

However, Raiola’s footwork and unwillingness to drive the football will continue to cost the team. The same types of throws that sealed the game to JJ will also hurt us against Ohio State.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by mikethehiker

I believe a lesson can be learned about giving a QB time to evaluate instead of react to pressure constantly. Even Dante Moore was dealing with that problem. Julian Sayin has been criticized about his play at Ohio State, but his replacement struggled all game under the duress. He continually left fundamentals behind-throwing off his back foot, drifting away from the line of scrimmage, failed to follow through on passes because his footwork was sloppy. Something Sayin and Dante Moore have struggled with against really damn good defenses. Constant pressure in their faces, less time to process information and making decisions on a quicker clock. Raiola has faced it all year as well.

Going Max Protect-a simple solution to a serious problem we have had against elite defenses (and this year not very good defenses) is an option that limits the offense in ways that coordinators are loathe to implement. The guy the entire football world claimed was a terrible play caller installed a simple solution to a serious problem and voila! Raiola was a brand new QB.

The other, just as risky proposition, is to develop routes that require the kind of precision that even NFL QBs struggle with-throwing the WR open (before he makes a break on his route-hoping he gets to the window that is open for barely a second). That should be a staple of a system if and only if QBs and WRs practice that constantly. Back Shoulder throws like Michael Penix and Fernando Mendoza executed damn near flawlessly come to mind. It requires constant calibrating and a hell of a lot of trust.

Play caller Johnson drilled the max protect, diagnosed the kinds of routes Stewart and Moore would excel at and went to work on a defense less capable of putting pressure on Raiola. It will work to a degree next week, but other tactics may assist: rolling the pocket, going under center and running more bootleg pass schemes, screens, quick fade routes, and yes, patterns that offer quick windows Raiola can throw to before the receivers break down and make their cut.

Lanning actually mentioned they were working on these things without saying it. He specifically said they were working on processes that offer opportunities and it looked good, but they weren't sure how soon they would get results. Plenty of fans called that word salad. Saw it on Facebook, X (twitter) and other platforms. It seems the only time Duck Nation has faith in Lanning is when his players execute. For instance-you don't coach botched snaps, fumbles and other drive killers. That is called poor execution. In Duck Nation (and I am sure Buckeye nation tonight among other fan bases) that is the coach's fault.

Scott Reed over at Duck Sports Central directly addressed this issue just a couple of days ago. He mentioned having high standards and patience aren't mutually exclusive things. A lesson Duck Nation and other fan bases could use to improve their piece of mind. The future is now. Not tomorrow. Not in an hour. Right now. My mom used to tell me the past is the present in the future. I hated that phrase. But it is handy when you are stressing your butt off about things you can't necessarily control.

The reason I believe sports has overtaken all other television and some other forms of entertainment is because the drama is real. If you watched the Indiana, Minnesota game at all-nobody had an idea how that game would end. It was stressful for both fan bases. But it was real. The only thing both could do was let it play out the way it was going to play out.

I was rooting for Minnesota. It would have helped our cause. But I wasn't angry at Minnesota for the loss. It is what it is. OBD did their job this week. They got off the matt, kept plugging and turned things around. One play at a time. That is what this season is now. One play at a time. One play isn't a season, doesn't win or lose the game-a series of plays (decisions) do. I Let the game play out the way it is supposed to. One play at a time.

The more this season has played out, the more I have focused on that.

It seemed to me that rather suddenly in the second half, finally.. the light went on.

The players and coaches played to win (not so much in first half) the excitement and confidence grew

We start moving downfield instead of to the side or backwards

The defense locked in.

And the already loud crowd... suddenly amped up to the the decibels which I remember sitting next to the speaker at Who concerts in late 60s

It's all about energy and confidence sometimes.

Go Ducks.. I think this was a very important 4th quarter in our season and future!!!

53 minutes ago, Mike West said:

I believe a lesson can be learned about giving a QB time to evaluate instead of react to pressure constantly. Even Dante Moore was dealing with that problem. Julian Sayin has been criticized about his play at Ohio State, but his replacement struggled all game under the duress. He continually left fundamentals behind-throwing off his back foot, drifting away from the line of scrimmage, failed to follow through on passes because his footwork was sloppy. Something Sayin and Dante Moore have struggled with against really damn good defenses. Constant pressure in their faces, less time to process information and making decisions on a quicker clock. Raiola has faced it all year as well.

Going Max Protect-a simple solution to a serious problem we have had against elite defenses (and this year not very good defenses) is an option that limits the offense in ways that coordinators are loathe to implement. The guy the entire football world claimed was a terrible play caller installed a simple solution to a serious problem and voila! Raiola was a brand new QB.

The other, just as risky proposition, is to develop routes that require the kind of precision that even NFL QBs struggle with-throwing the WR open (before he makes a break on his route-hoping he gets to the window that is open for barely a second). That should be a staple of a system if and only if QBs and WRs practice that constantly. Back Shoulder throws like Michael Penix and Fernando Mendoza executed damn near flawlessly come to mind. It requires constant calibrating and a hell of a lot of trust.

Play caller Johnson drilled the max protect, diagnosed the kinds of routes Stewart and Moore would excel at and went to work on a defense less capable of putting pressure on Raiola. It will work to a degree next week, but other tactics may assist: rolling the pocket, going under center and running more bootleg pass schemes, screens, quick fade routes, and yes, patterns that offer quick windows Raiola can throw to before the receivers break down and make their cut.

Lanning actually mentioned they were working on these things without saying it. He specifically said they were working on processes that offer opportunities and it looked good, but they weren't sure how soon they would get results. Plenty of fans called that word salad. Saw it on Facebook, X (twitter) and other platforms. It seems the only time Duck Nation has faith in Lanning is when his players execute. For instance-you don't coach botched snaps, fumbles and other drive killers. That is called poor execution. In Duck Nation (and I am sure Buckeye nation tonight among other fan bases) that is the coach's fault.

Scott Reed over at Duck Sports Central directly addressed this issue just a couple of days ago. He mentioned having high standards and patience aren't mutually exclusive things. A lesson Duck Nation and other fan bases could use to improve their piece of mind. The future is now. Not tomorrow. Not in an hour. Right now. My mom used to tell me the past is the present in the future. I hated that phrase. But it is handy when you are stressing your butt off about things you can't necessarily control.

The reason I believe sports has overtaken all other television and some other forms of entertainment is because the drama is real. If you watched the Indiana, Minnesota game at all-nobody had an idea how that game would end. It was stressful for both fan bases. But it was real. The only thing both could do was let it play out the way it was going to play out.

I was rooting for Minnesota. It would have helped our cause. But I wasn't angry at Minnesota for the loss. It is what it is. OBD did their job this week. They got off the matt, kept plugging and turned things around. One play at a time. That is what this season is now. One play at a time. One play isn't a season, doesn't win or lose the game-a series of plays (decisions) do. I Let the game play out the way it is supposed to. One play at a time.

The more this season has played out, the more I have focused on that.

In addition to the play calling helping Raiola, it also helped the O line. The new OC seems to be focussing on what this offensive unit can deliver. I also like that the backup RBs got into the game.

Going to a yo-yo, everybody, Going to a yo-yo, come on now!☹️😍🤬❤️