Fish Duck, or Charles Fischer as he is known to his clients and family, is the mad scientist of Oregon football, a blog and web legend who studies Duck football so deeply and carefully it got Nick Aliotti to go the greaseboard instead of running for the Mosofsky Center exits. His "Fish Reports" are eagerly awaited and avidly read, providing the most in-depth analysis of Oregon football anywhere. He breaks down stuff Craig James and Kirk Herbstreit routinely miss.
So it was with great eagerness I accepted his invitation to meet for coffee. The Fish was in town to meet some clients, and he wanted to get together to talk about his plans to expand the Fish Report franchise with video links and advanced feedback and archive tools.
When the Fish speaks, it's like E.F. Hutton. Duck fans listen. And no Duck blogger would pass up an invitation to break bread or pick up a stir stick. I was eager to pick his brain.
We shook hands, and within a couple of minutes Charles had fired up his laptop and was deep into an explanation of the Inside Zone Read and the Outside Zone Read plays. He showed me a site called trojanfootballanalysis.com that does as detailed a job as Fish at breaking down plays, formations and strategies. Lots of meaty, inside stuff, some football nourishment amidst the winter famine. One of the the things featured on the Trojan football site is a coaching clinic Chip Kelly did in 2009, explaining the zone read and his offense. Great stuff.
With the start of spring practice still six weeks away FD is working on a new report Duck fans will be excited to see. He told me, "I believe in the Auburn game Chip Kelly showed us a preview of next year's offense." Great coaches adapt their scheme to the talent at hand, he explained, and in the coming season, Kelly has a wealth of talent at running back while losing two senior receivers. In Glendale, The Visor unveiled some intriguing new wrinkles, like three-back sets, triple option looks, and even David Paulson operating like a fullback in a variation of an I-formation dive play. The variety, deception and innovation could take the Oregon offense to a whole new level, and that's saying something, considering last year included a 12-0 regular season, 47 points a game and 6899 yards of offense.
The new stuff didn't work as well against Auburn as it will after a month of spring practice and a month of fall camp, Fish Duck explained, largely because Darron Thomas didn't look comfortable with it yet. "He missed some reads," Fish noted. Nick Fairley gave the Ducks fits inside, but that was a matchup issue--"the guy is going to be one of the top five picks in this year's NFL draft. He did that to every kind of offense."
Fish noted Oregon threw for 374 yards in that game, while the deplorable field conditions negated their outside running game and cutback ability. "On field turf, with all the other elements being the same, I believe Oregon wins that game by three or four points," he said. This coming season, the Ducks will have some new answers and options. Their future is brighter than their past, Fischer believes.
The Fish noted Kelly has always been a bold, creative coach, even going back to his days at New Hampshire. He never stops scheming, relentless and tireless in his pursuit of wins and staying ahead of defenses. The addition of Colt Lyerla, Lache Seastrunk and De'Anthony Thomas will give him even more offensive ammunition. Imagine Lyerla at 6-5 240 as the lead blocker on one of those I-formation wrinkles. Imagine him out wide at the goal line, 6-5 with a 40-inch vertical leap.
Fishduck will have the breakdowns and details in his next Fish Report, and when it's available we'll publish it here with improved tools for feedback and comment. He'll still be available at all his usual haunts, the brackish waters and whirlpools of Duck Sports Authority and Addicted to Quack.
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