Ducks Enter Bye Week With Brown In Their Thoughts
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Oregon tight end Pharaoh Brown remained in Salt Lake City as of Sunday evening following "a significant injury" suffered in the Ducks' 51-27 victory over Utah the day before, UO coach Mark Helfrich said Sunday in his weekly postgame review with reporters.
In a rare disclosure of injury status, "due to the nature and the significance of his situation," Helfrich said Brown is out for the season following a right leg injury that required he be taken by ambulance to a local hospital following the game. "The long-term plan from there is going to depend on what happens now (from a medical perspective), and we don't know it," Helfrich said. "… Our thoughts and hearts are with Pharaoh, as well as a couple Utah guys who had a couple unbelievable, significant non-contact injuries."
A member of the football staff remained overnight in Salt Lake City with Brown, and an athletic trainer from the program was to join him there Monday. "Going forward it's a long process, but that dude is a competitive guy," Helfrich said. "It's already galvanized our team. The locker room last night, coming off the field, it was an unbelievable situation, a tough situation, and reveals more about our guys that you like."
Brown caught his sixth touchdown reception of the season prior to being hurt Saturday night. Only two other tight ends in the country have more scoring receptions this season. Brown has also been a vital cog in Oregon's run game as a blocker.
Oregon has a bye this week. Prior to returning to the field against Colorado on Nov. 22, Helfrich said the Ducks will determine the best way to account for Brown's absence, whether it's relying more on guys at other positions, or tight ends such as Evan Baylis and Johnny Mundt. "We have a ton of confidence in those guys," Helfrich said. "Between those two and Koa Ka'ai, they've played a lot and we'll be ready to rock come Colorado."
Helfrich said the Ducks planned to practice Tuesday and Thursday of the bye week, and perhaps get the team together Wednesday as well. "It's going to be a big academic week, and obviously a big health week," Helfrich said. "Getting healthy and getting smart are important."
One area the Ducks will continue to address in practice is open-field tackling, though they made a couple of huge plays in that regard against the Utes. Erick Dargan brought down a ballcarrier on a fake punt in the second quarter to give the Ducks possession, and Joe Walker stopped Utah running back Devonate Booker on a screen pass in the fourth quarter when it was still a 10-point game, forcing the Utes to settle for a field-goal attempt that was missed.
"That's been a point of emphasis, for sure," Helfrich said. "We've gotten better; we still need to improve a ton in that area." Pad level by linemen on both sides of the ball and drops by receivers Saturday also were concerns to be addressed moving forward, Helfrich said.
Walker's tackle of Booker was one of a Utah-leading eight receptions Saturday for the Utes' star running back, for 110 yards and a touchdown. But he ran for just 65 yards on 18 carries, 3.6 yards per rush, after entering the game as the Pac-12's second-leading rusher with 990 yards and 5.4 yards per carry.
"We couldn't let that guy rush for 200 yards and control the clock, control the game," Helfrich said. "A couple screens here and there were some body blows, but we withstood for the long term."
The Ducks' containing of Booker followed a win over Stanford in which the Cardinal's most explosive weapon, receiver Ty Montgomery, accounted for just 61 yards on 10 offensive touches.
The exclamation point of the win over Stanford was a late goal-line stand by the defense, and at Utah the Ducks finished with a flurry of 21 points over a stretch of 6:05 midway through the fourth quarter.
Earlier this year the Ducks had been frustrated with the way they'd finished games, most notably at UCLA, but they've sprinted to the wire each of the last two weeks. "We've talked about that a ton," Helfrich said. "Obviously it's something that's vital, whether it's getting Booker down on the ground, finishing him, or getting multiple bodies on (Kaelin) Clay in the special teams area. That's something we talk about all the time. It's finishing a play, finishing a midterm — finishing whatever — well."
Quarterback Marcus Mariota was the coaching staff's player of the week on offense against Utah, after throwing for 239 yards and three touchdowns and accounting for 114 yards and a touchdown as a runner.
Mariota enters the bye week ranked first nationally in quarterback rating (184.56), second in passing touchdowns (29), 11th in total offense (330.4 yards per game) and 22nd in passing yards per game (278.0).
The Ducks' defensive player of the game was Walker, who had five solo tackles and also the game-changing, 100-yard fumble return for a touchdown that sparked a run of 24 straight points by Oregon in the second half. Linemen Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner earned honorable mention on defense.
Safety Juwaan Williams was special teams player of the week, with all four of his tackles coming on kickoff coverage, and placekicker Aidan Schneider received honorable mention. Oregon's scout-team players of the week were running back Lane Roseberry on offense, outside linebacker Eddie Heard on defense and receiver Jalen Brown on special teams.
