Tako Tuesdays: The 2010 Most Important List

I chose other. I think John Boyett is a key figure in the secondary

In fact nobody from the D-line, not even Rowe? That’s just a damn shame. If the revamped O-line was top 5 last year the revamped D-line has to be top 5 this year. Here’s the reason why.

With Aliotti’s 3-4 zone blitz scheme, the defense is very vulnerable to the power run game (cough… Stanford). Even the BSU game you could argue was let down by miscommunication between the D line and LB’s, and confusion on gaps and assignments.

I tell you that to tell you this. We have one guy coming back from the D-line, Brandon Bair. It’s going to up to him to communicate the defense to the 2 new starters and set the tone for the guys coming in. Plus, he’s going to need to play solid in the middle if we have any chance of holding teams to 2nd and 3rd and long as they try and run it down our “fast, not very” big defense.

Morgan Flint was a pleasant surprise for the last two years, a little guy who was money in the bank from inside 35 years for us.

Tako, I’m pretty sure all our current players are inside 35 years.

I think we’re throwing more next year due to the QB personnel, and I think this guy was already our money target, led us in receptions, yards, and TD catches (tied with Dickson for TD catches). He got way too much crap last year for one bad game and was otherwise one of the best receivers in the Pac-10. Money hands and far better speed and yards after catch than he is given credit for.

I also think the entire D is going to be a key, if we improve on all three D fronts a little bit as is the talk, then this team gets hard to beat.

Weird that you have QB at the number one spot, though, that doesn’t seem important.

I went with Spencer Paysinger, although it’s really a toss up between him and Casey Matthews, and here’s why.

I think our offense is going to be pretty much what it was last year. Explosive against anything less than a stellar defense, with the chance to have a huge game even against above average defenses. But I think they’ll be prone to a bad game or two if Costhomas/Thomcosta can’t find his (its?) rhythm.

In that case, the defense is going to have to win us a game. I’m pretty much in agreement with Matt Daddy above, except I think it’s the LBs who are going to have to step up. Our DBs are solid overall, but given that the wealth of talent is in younger, more inconsistent players, I think hoping for a game-changing secondary is a bit over-reaching. They’ll be good, and make a few great plays, but won’t be a shutdown unit.

And I think that’s similar to our D-line. Let’s face it, no one on the D-line is really equipped to handle a power running attack, and a big O-line is going to have their way for the most part. The D-line will be solid and make some great speed plays, but won’t surprise anyone.

That leaves the middle. I think it’s going to fall on the two senior linebackers to have great seasons. More specifically, I think Matthews and Paysinger are going to have to play a couple monster games where they steal a win for us. I don’t think it’s going to be enough for those two guys to just blend into a solid-to-good defense. I think they’re going to need to be in-your-face studs in big games next season.

I’m going with Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich as two of the Most Important Ducks this season. It’s up to those two to pick a quarterback and fit our complex system to that guy. We’ve seen Coach Kelly do amazing things with quarterbacks before, but this year it’s a whole new situation with much more pressure. We’re Defending Pac-10 Champions now.

Everything we do on offense flows when the QB is comfortable and it’s up to those two guys to put a game plan together that keeps him comfortable. Dixon and Masoli were both so good in part because the game plan built on their strengths, through misdirection and outside speed (Dixon) or quick reads and fearless runs up the middle (Masoli).

I’m excited to see Costa and Thomas step up and earn the job with good play, but it’s on the coaches to give them a system that turns that good play into wins.

By the way, have you guys noticed the photo of Chip on the GoDucks page? I think we should petition to have it replaced with The Stare.

…but it’s New Mexico, not New Mexico State. Sorry.

As for the assessments, I like your thinking. I voted Eddie Pleasant though, if for no other reason than I’m excited to see his position change.

Lol and that photo of Chip is goofy. I agree, The Stare should be his official picture.

I think you should have included Pleasant…his transition to safety is going to be key.

Mark my words, he will develop into a beast thi season.

and I think you know who I voted for.

But wait! Psyche! I actually voted for Kenny Rowe. Don’t tell Spencer.

I ask because we have a ton of game experience behind the line, and two seniors with a lot of starts behind them.

I’m a big believer in senior leadership as the key to success for a team. And good LB play is always critical. When the linebackers are great, it’s Gang Green all over again. When they aren’t, we’re giving up lots of slants and bubble screens and chasing guys all over the field.

I can’t make a logical argument that Darion Weems is going to be more important to this team than either Casey Matthews or Spencer Paysinger. Or Clay. Or Littlejohn. Or Lokombo, etc.

So, I voted “other”.

10. Jeff Maehl – He’s been key in our offense. Jeff Maehl’s role will be key to opening up the passing game. Even if his production numbers our down, hopefully he can demand more attention from defenses.

9. Kenjon Barner – Besides being the Tesla Coil to LMJ’s electricity, he’s also the one that will shorten our starting position.

8. Bo Thran – The QB has to put faith in his receiver’s that he’ll catch the ball. He has to have faith that the Running Back has control when giving up the ball in the mesh. But more than either of those, he has to have faith that his blindside is being blocked.

7. Casey Matthews – Linebackers are deep, but the area we are probably thinest on defense is still the defensive tackles. Casey Matthews needs to be a force, and lay down the law down the middle. Iso runs, off tackle, holes 2, 4, 3, 5. That’s his responsibility. The runs down the middle stops with Casey.

6. David Paulson – I hate the term. Hate it, but Paulson had the appearance to be “clutch” (Ugh… I hate that term). Our 3rd and long conversion rate was horrid last year, but I’m sure if you look at the 3rd and long conversions we did make, you’ll likely see Paulson’s name there. Now that we’ll have a QB that can peer over Tim Taylor’s fence, I suspect we’ll get better production from the TE, despite losing the talent of Dickson.

5. The QB – Its an important position, but with the talent we have surrounding the quarterback, he isn’t going to be “the key” to the offense. Costa or Thomas – it honestly won’t matter. We’ll be able to find success off of the other players. It reminds me of going into the ’08 season. We just need a B- performance out of our QB, not A+. If we get an A+ performance out of our QB, we go to the national championship game.

4. Jordan Holmes
The offense starts here. Bad snaps throw off either the timing of the plays, or it can completely give up our possessions. Good snaps go completely unnoticed. Then there is being the anchor for the offensive line, and with how Kelly likes to pull the center out, Holmes will also be asked to be the lead blocker many times. Subpar performance from Holmes can end up causing chaos for the entire offense..

3. Kenny Rowe – The DUEbacker! He’s going to be a major factor into the success and failure of the entire pass defense. Either dropping back into playing zone, covering the backfield, or blitzing from an upright, or pass rushing as a DE, he’s going to have an influence on most passing plays. Ultimately, his job will be to get the QBs in trouble. Time is the offense’s 12th man. Kenny Rowe will have to destroy time itself.

2. John Boyett – He had a bigger role than just playing center field. He somehow had a knack for not biting on Play Action (Ward!), and still closed the distance and made plays near the line when the ball was handed off. He reminds me of Chung in the way that he always, somehow, is in on the play, and like Matthew Harper. Always in position to make the interception that sealed the victory. Between Rowe and Boyett, I feel like we are giving TJ3 and our young CBs a good situation to find success against the passing defense.

1. LaMichael James – Oh yes, most definitely! The biggest reason why I’m not worried about our offense slowing down is LMJ. Masoli was great to have in contrast to James, but TheMichael was the reason we bounced back from Boise State and made it to the Rose Bowl. The holes the OL needs to open up are tremendously smaller with a back like LMJ. (Anybody remember him squeezing underneath a USC player that was being blocked?) Without James, I start to have anxiety for the 2010 season.

I must have clicked on the wrong blog this morning, can you guys point me to the Homoerotic Beer and Baseball Teams I Don’t Care About blog on SBN?

You know, I might even contend that Paulson is underrated on this list. I think that between LMJ runs, AfterBarner runs, Maehl catches, etc., we forgot last year just how crucial Ed Dickson was in our offense. He did so much for us throughout the season, and the main thing that we remember him for is his catch against Arizona to send the game into overtime with 6 seconds left.

It’s easy to forget just how many intermediate level catches and plays he made to gain chunks of yardage that were so crucial in some of the long drives that we had last year. We can only hope that Paulson can fill Dickson’s shoes as a reliable pass-catcher that just seemed to do his job consistently.

He’s like Brian Russell, but not crappy.