Diving Deeper into the PFF Grades and Stats

The dust has barely settled from the disappointing loss for the Oregon Ducks at the hands of the Indiana Hoosiers, but this is when turn over the rocks and peek under the hood to see what exactly went wrong. There are high-level stats that do paint the picture pretty clearly (no depth needed.)

Oregon produced a season-low 267 yards of total offense and went 3-14 on third down. This was also the first time turning the ball over multiple times in a game this season. The defense gave up a season-high 326 yards of total offense and a season-high 200 passing yards. All those stats can pretty clearly tell you who won the game… but where did things really go wrong?

Here are some stats that stand out as significant reasons why the Ducks were unable to get the W. 

Blocking was a problem across the board

The offensive line had its problems. That’s not surprising. Harkey had a pass block grade of 50.8 from PFF. He allowed 5 pressures, 3 hurries, and 2 hits. Isaiah World had a pass block grade of 63.7 and he allowed 1 pressure and 1 hurry. Up to this point, World has been pretty mediocre at pass blocking. He was only slightly worse against Indiana than his overall grade from PFF of 64.4, but what was surprising was how bad he was at running blocking this game. World had a run block grade of 81.9 against Penn State, but against Indiana he only had 48.8 from PFF. That’s not gonna cut it.

Emmanuel Pregnon continues to be the best player on the O Line. He had a pass block grade of 83.2 and a run block grade of 69.9. The next best blocker on the offense was running back Jordon Davison. 72 pass block grade and 68.5 run block grade for the true freshman. Davison was the exception, not the rule. The offensive line got zero help from the other backs and tight ends in this game. 

Jayden Limar and Noah Whittington are usually exceptional blockers. Against Penn State they graded out at 79.7 pass block grade for Whittington and 76.1 for Limar. That’s a huge reason why those two players get a lot of snaps, but against Indiana they were both absolutely horrible at blocking. Whittington had a grade of 21.3 for pass blocking, and was actually attributed one of the sacks. Limar only graded slightly better at 33.0 for pass blocking, and he gave up a pressure and a hurry.

It wasn’t just the backs who didn’t show up to block. Jamari Johnson was also abysmal at helping protect Dante Moore. He logged a pass block grade of 36.3 for the game, with 2 hurries and 2 pressures. Kenyon Sadiq had a decent pass block grade, with no hurries or pressures, but he had a terrible run block grade of 43.3, which is his lowest grade on the season. 

Overall, it was a team effort to put up this stinker on the offensive line. This entire unit will need to do better if the Ducks hope to make the playoff and have any kind of success in the postseason. 

The Tight Ends had a bad game… period

We already covered their blocking, but Johnson and Sadiq had two of the worst offensive grades for the Ducks on Saturday. Johnson not only had a massive drop in the second quarter that might have extended the drive and led to a touchdown, but he also finished with the worst overall offensive PFF grade of 46.5, and a passing grade of 38.9 for the game. He was terrible against Indiana. Flat out unplayable. 

Unfortunately, Sadiq wasn’t much better. He finished with an offensive grade of 51.9 (5^th worst) and was missing in action for most of the game. He finished with 3 total targets, 2 receptions, and 21 yards. The Ducks spread him around, with 23% of his snaps out wide, 35.9% inline, and 41% in the slot. Johnson was almost entirely inline, with 75% of his snaps in that alignment and 16.7% in the slot. 

The Ducks have got to find a way to get Sadiq the ball. 3 targets and 2 receptions simply is not good enough. He averaged 10.5 yards per reception against the Hoosiers. He had the 4^th best NFL passer rating when targeted, with 86.8, but the targets were few and far between. That’s partially on Will Stein, but it’s also on Dante Moore and the offensive line not giving him enough time to throw the ball. 

This was a bad game for Dante Moore…. Really bad. 

This was by far Dante Moore’s worst game as a Duck. It’s not the worst of his career. That dubious honor belongs to his performance against Oregon State, where he had an offensive grade of 39.2 and a passing grade of 34.9 for the UCLA Bruins. That was the game that ultimately got him benched by Chip Kelly. 

In that game he threw 14 for 33 and 165 yards, with 3 interceptions and a QBR of 27.1 for the Bruins. This game wasn’t quite that bad. Dante finished 21 for 34 with 186 yards, 2 picks and a QBR of 33.7 for the Ducks. This might seem bleak, but Dante came back from that game against the Beavs, and he will come back from this. It’s easy to forget that he’s only 20 years old, and this is only his second season starting in college football. We just had two super senior QBs with Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel. Both had played significantly more football than Dante Moore, and you know what? They weren’t perfect. They threw interceptions. They made mistakes. Dante will improve. 

Dan Lanning had this to say about Moore after the game, “Adversity is real. You’re going to face it at some point in your career. It’s about how you respond to it, right?” Lanning continued, “Ultimately, Dante’s going to look at this as an opportunity to learn from it as well. We’ll grow from it and get better.”

Brandon Finney Jr. is legit…. The other corners? Not so much

This game was a coming out party for Brandon Finney Jr. We knew he was good, but this just cemented the fact that he’s an exceptional corner at only 18 years old. He had by far the best defensive grade for the Ducks against Indiana, with an 84.5 from PFF. His coverage grade was exceptional, at 84.6, with 32 snaps in coverage against the Hoosiers. He was targeted 4 times with 1 reception (25%) and he allowed an NFL passer rating of ONE. That’s right…. ONE. For comparison, Ify Obidegwu allowed a passer rating of 115… yikes. 

Speaking of Obidegwu… he got picked on. He was targeted 5 times for 3 receptions (60%) and he gave up 28 yards and a touchdown. His coverage grade was 45.5 and he had the worst defensive grade on the team with a 46.7 from PFF. He also only spent 13 snaps in coverage. That’s less than half of what Finney did. Fernando Mendoza was throwing at literally anyone besides Finney. 

Theran Johnson also played very poorly. He had 19 coverage snaps, was targeted 4 times for 3 receptions (75%) and allowed a 112.5 NFL passer rating. His defensive grade was 56.4 and his coverage grade was 54.8 for the Ducks secondary. Sione Laulea also saw 10 coverage snaps, he allowed a perfect 2 for 2 on targets and 118.8 NFL passer rating. It was Laulea and Johnson who were in the game on that first touchdown for Indiana. 

Dillon Thieneman was the only other DB who had a decent game, with a defensive grade of 72.3 and a coverage grade of 71. He had 36 snaps in coverage but was never targeted by Mendoza. The Ducks are going to need to see significant improvement from their secondary if they hope to make a playoff run. 

Final Thoughts

It’s clear what the Ducks need to work on. They need to improve their blocking if they hope to revive their stagnant offense. Not just the O line but the backs and the tight ends as well. The Ducks also need to find ways of getting their star players involved. Sadiq and Dakorien Moore were horribly under-utilized in this game. The defensive secondary also needs to step up. 

Overall, the offense was just very bad, with a couple bright spots. The defense was just mediocre. Virtually every player on the defense, with the exception of Dillon Thieneman and Teitum Tuioti, had a very mediocre pass rush grade from PFF. All in the 50s. That needs to be improved.

There’s a lot for Dan Lanning and the Ducks to take from their visit to the doctor. Hopefully they’re able to take it, learn from it, and implement it before facing Rutgers next weekend.