On Tuesday, the Ducks defensive coaches and players spoke to the media as Oregon practiced during its bye week following a 38-3 loss at Washington this past Saturday.

The discussion primarily focused on the loss to Washington, but a lot of talk revolved around the team’s preparation for the final two games of the season against Arizona and Oregon State at Autzen.

“Get a helluva lot better than we were the week before,” head coach Willie Taggart said. “Really focus on the fundamentals and techniques — those are the things that really kill us. We made improvements for the Utah game and kind of reversed back to what we were doing before.”

In a week’s time, Oregon’s defense will be in full focus for stopping Arizona’s young quarterback Khalil Tate.

“He’s really good,” co-defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt said. “Look what he’s done. Nobody’s really stopped him much and he’s very talented and their scheme makes it very difficult.”

It won’t be easy to stop Arizona, but the Ducks will have the luxury of seeing how teams faced up against the Wildcats in weeks’ past.

“First from a defensive standpoint, kind of looking at teams that do a similar things that we do and see how they try attack them because chances are they’re gonna try attack you the same way,” Taggart said. “Ultimately, you gotta be sound in what you’re doing. You have to be really disciplined when you’re playing a team like Arizona.”

Justin Herbert threw well in Monday’s practice and could be available for the game against Arizona.

After Washington, Troy Dye and Kani Benoit left with feet in boots, but according to Taggart, Dye “will be fine.”

In the loss at Washington, Brady Breeze earned his first career interception, and for Taggart, that was the highlight of the game.

“We hadn’t seen that all year,” Taggart said. “For the first time all year our deep safety got over there and intercepted the ball.”

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

The post Oregon using bye week to prepare for Arizona appeared first on Emerald Media.

On Tuesday, the Ducks defensive coaches and players spoke to the media as Oregon practiced during its bye week following a 38-3 loss at Washington this past Saturday.

The discussion primarily focused on the loss to Washington, but a lot of talk revolved around the team’s preparation for the final two games of the season against Arizona and Oregon State at Autzen.

“Get a helluva lot better than we were the week before,” head coach Willie Taggart said. “Really focus on the fundamentals and techniques — those are the things that really kill us. We made improvements for the Utah game and kind of reversed back to what we were doing before.”

In a week’s time, Oregon’s defense will be in full focus for stopping Arizona’s young quarterback Khalil Tate.

“He’s really good,” co-defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt said. “Look what he’s done. Nobody’s really stopped him much and he’s very talented and their scheme makes it very difficult.”

It won’t be easy to stop Arizona, but the Ducks will have the luxury of seeing how teams faced up against the Wildcats in weeks’ past.

“First from a defensive standpoint, kind of looking at teams that do a similar things that we do and see how they try attack them because chances are they’re gonna try attack you the same way,” Taggart said. “Ultimately, you gotta be sound in what you’re doing. You have to be really disciplined when you’re playing a team like Arizona.”

Justin Herbert threw well in Monday’s practice and could be available for the game against Arizona.

After Washington, Troy Dye and Kani Benoit left with feet in boots, but according to Taggart, Dye “will be fine.”

In the loss at Washington, Brady Breeze earned his first career interception, and for Taggart, that was the highlight of the game.

“We hadn’t seen that all year,” Taggart said. “For the first time all year our deep safety got over there and intercepted the ball.”

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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SEATTLE — Big plays.

That was the theme of Saturday’s game at Husky Stadium as Oregon (5-5, 2-5) failed to hang with No. 12 Washington (8-1, 5-1), falling to their rivals from the north for the second straight year, 38-3. All five of the Huskies’ touchdowns came on plays of more than 30 yards as the Ducks succumbed to the potency of Washington’s offense.

“Gave up too many big plays,” head coach Willie Taggart said. “Against a good football team, you can’t give up that many explosive plays.”

It started off promising for the Ducks, who took a 3-0 lead on their opening drive, which lasted more than seven minutes. That was followed by a missed 45-yard field goal attempt by Huskies kicker Tristan Vizcaino.

On Washington’s next drive, Vizcaino converted a 34-yard field goal to even the score at 3-3. Washington took over from there.

Oregon went three-and-out on the next drive and was forced to punt. Dante Pettis was waiting. He took it all the way for a touchdown — the ninth punt return touchdown of his career, and an NCAA record.

With Pettis getting a run at Oregon, it was then running back Myles Gaskin’s turn. On the second play of a Washington drive, the running back danced around Ducks defenders and into the end zone to give the Huskies a 17-3 lead that they would carry into halftime.

“They made a little bit of adjustments on the sidelines when they’d seen how we came out in the first half,” safety Tyree Robinson said. “We just got to be ready to make adjustments too.”

After the half, it continued to go downhill for the Ducks as Washington outscored Oregon 21-0 to end the game.

Oregon’s offense was quiet, but still managed to put up the most rushing yards on Washington this season, 247 — surpassing Rutgers’ mark of 131 yards on September 1.

Washington knew the run game was coming with Braxton Burmeister starting for a fifth straight game. He threw one interception, which came midway through the fourth quarter, and finished 7-of-13 for 31 yards.

“It just seemed what we were doing early wasn’t working,” center Jake Hanson said. “We’ve just got to find a way to take those rushing yards and translate them into points. You can run the ball all day, but if you can’t put points on the board, it’s all for nothing.”

The freshman fumbled the ball twice on third down snaps, which haunted the Ducks’ offense that ended the game 7-of-16 on third downs.

“We can’t make the mistakes we’re making,” Taggart said. “We’ve got to get better, and he’ll continue to get better.”

Despite allowing 38 points, the defense had its moments. Safety Brady Breeze recorded his first career interception toward the end of the second quarter while the scoreless fourth quarter was a bright spot for Oregon’s defense, which was highlighted by a 4th-and-1 stop on Oregon’s own 1-yard-line.

“They kept playing really hard,” tight end Jacob Breeland said. “They showed character how they stopped them at the 1-yard line with two minutes left in the game. Just shows that they care, and they want to show people that they can be good.”

The Ducks return home for the final two games of the season after next week’s bye. Oregon needs to beat either Arizona or Oregon State to be eligible for a bowl game.

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Halftime rapid reaction: Ducks trail Huskies 17-3 in Seattle. pic.twitter.com/9W2eFgl3p0

— Shawn Medow (@ShawnMedow) November 5, 2017

Key Plays

— Ducks convert three third downs on opening drive, capped off by a 30-yard field goal. Oregon leads 3-0.

— 45-yard field goal is no good from Washington’s Tristan Vizcaino after Ducks defense holds Huskies following a 46-yard Jake Browning pass.

— Vizcaino makes up for his earlier miss with a 34-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3.

— Dante Pettis scores on a 64-yard punt return, breaking the NCAA record for punt-return touchdowns with the ninth of his career. It’s also his fourth of the season, and it extends Washington’s lead to 10-3.

— Myles Gaskin cuts through the Ducks’ defense to score on a 34-yard run to give the Huskies a 17-3 lead.

Oregon passing

— Braxton Burmeister: 6-of-8 for 27 yards

Oregon rushing

— Royce Freeman: 17 carries for 97 yards

— Burmeister: 10 carries for 24 yards

Oregon receiving

— Charles Nelson: Three receptions for 14 yards

Washington passing

— Jake Browning: 6-of-13 for 95 yards with one interception

Washington rushing

— Myles Gaskin: Eight carries for 58 yards with one touchdown

— Lavon Coleman: Three carries, eight yards

Washington receiving

— Dante Pettis: Two receptions for 30 yards

— Aaron Fuller: Two receptions for 55 yards

Total offense

Oregon — 163 yards (27 passing, 136 rushing)

Washington — 161 yards (95 passing, 66 rushing)

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A Bitter Taste

70-21.

It’s a scoreline that still haunts many Ducks. The players see it every day.

“It definitely stuck with us,” running back Tony Brooks-James said. “It’s something that [the coaches] have talked about since they got here. The score is posted inside the weight room every day. It’s kind of like a constant reminder.”

After the Ducks were humiliated by Washington at Autzen Stadium last season in one of the Oregon programs worst defeats, the team began to crumble as the Ducks finished the season 4-8, ending with a loss to Oregon State. Now, the Ducks will look to avoid a repeat of the disastrous loss when they play the Huskies in Seattle on Saturday.

“It wouldn’t be a rivalry if they never won, so that was good for them,” cornerback Arrion Springs said. “That was a good year for them, a bad year for us — it just happened to be their best year and our worst year — so good for them.”

The storied Pacific Northwest rivalry hits close to home for many. Portland native Brady Breeze remembers growing up watching bouts between the Ducks and Huskies.  

“The rivalry is unlike anything else,” Breeze said. “The past 13 years, [Oregon] has been 12-1, so we’re just trying to get that vibe back and get our progression back for our defense and our offense as well so hopefully we can get a win this weekend.”

The rivalry feels fresh with a new Oregon coaching staff for 2016-17. While Oregon’s wounds are still healing after last year’s thrashing, head coach Willie Taggart is approaching Saturday’s game in a different way than his players.

“I won’t use it as motivation, maybe our players will,” Taggart said. “I’m gonna stay focused on us, and trying to get us better and doing the things we need to do in order to win the ballgame. I’m sure any competitor out there, though, wouldn’t forget what happened and wants to make sure they’re at their best when they go and play that opponent again.

The Oregon Duck and Harry the Husky dance after the third quarter. The Oregon Ducks host the No. 5 Washington Huskies at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Oct. 8, 2016. (Kaylee Domzalski/Emerald)

“That’s our job this week is make sure we’re at our best and see to it that what happened last year doesn’t happen again.”

Last season’s loss cut a little deeper than normal because of the intensity of the Oregon-Washington rivalry. The 2016 Washington Huskies made it to the College Football Playoff, but that didn’t soften the blow of the loss.

“It’s just one of those games where everything seems to not go your way,” then-safety Brenden Schooler said after the game. “Everyone’s gonna remember that one.”

Even with defeat, it was then-true freshman Justin Herbert’s first start at quarterback. The Eugene native went 21-of-34 for 179 yards, throwing two touchdowns and an interception.

He’s grown since then, but a fractured collarbone has kept him out of the last four games. According to Taggart, Herbert could have played last week against Utah. A week later, he could be set to return to action against the Huskies.

Herbert’s return would serve as a big boost for the Ducks’ offense.

Like last year, Oregon has a freshman starting quarterback. This time, it’s Braxton Burmeister.

Taggart hinted at Herbert’s return the past two weeks, but no official word has come from the program yet. Taggart could wait until kickoff to make a decision on who starts at quarterback.

Whether Herbert plays or not, the hype around Oregon versus Washington is always fiery.

When the season’s schedule is released each year, fans immediately look to see when the Ducks play the Huskies. But for Taggart, it’s just another game.

“I know the feelings when it comes to Oregon and Washington. I’ve heard that from day one — what it’s like,” Taggart said. “I don’t consider this like the first rivalry game. I think every game we play is a rival game, and that’s the way it’s got to be if we’re going to get to where we want to go. We can’t just make one game bigger than another. If we do that, we’ll never get to where we want to go.”

Forever Foes

“Will you beat Oregon?”

That’s what Chris Petersen was asked on Dec. 9, 2013 during his introductory press conference as the head coach of Washington. He chuckled.  

“Do we have to talk about that already?” Petersen said.

Yet to familiarize himself with his new team, construct his coaching staff or build a recruiting class, Petersen offered the only response possible at the time.

“We’ll be swinging hard,” he said.

Oregon Ducks defensive lineman Henry Mondeaux (92) sacks Washington Huskies quarterback Jake Browning (3). Oregon defeated the Washington Huskies 26-20 at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash. on Oct. 17, 2015. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)oes

It was a funny and lighthearted moment, but it’s no joke now. Less than four years later, Washington has risen to one of the top programs not only in Pac-12, but across the country. Now, it’s the Ducks that are chasing the Huskies.

As the head coach at Boise State for eight years, Petersen turned the Broncos into one of the most successful and exciting teams to watch in the nation. He’s done the same with Washington. If things shook out differently, he could have been doing the same at the helm with Oregon.

Petersen interviewed for the head coach opening with the Ducks after Chip Kelly left for the NFL in 2012. Petersen had spent six seasons as an assistant for Oregon under head coach Mike Bellotti from 1995 to 2000, but the job was ultimately given to the Ducks’ in-house candidate, Mark Helfrich.

Instead, Petersen ended up 300 miles north with Washington, and the balance of power in the Pacific Northwest has flipped drastically. While the Ducks sputtered to a 4-8 record in 2016, the Huskies rolled to a 12-2 mark, punctuated by a 70-21 thrashing of the Ducks at Autzen Stadium. Washington’s impressive season included a Pac-12 championship and representing the conference as the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff.

The result? Washington has kept it rolling, sitting at 7-1 heading into Saturday’s matchup. Beating the Ducks used to be all that mattered for Washington. Now? Just another game.

“We try to always be the same. We always just try to worry about ourselves,” Petersen said. “We hope our approach doesn’t change from week to week.”

On the other side, Oregon has restructured its coaching staff in hopes that they’ll be able to right the ship. One thing is certain: Taggart won’t have to look far for inspiration to see how a program can turn around in just a few years.

Until it’s accomplished, the question of whether Oregon can beat Washington will always remain.

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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Oregon men’s basketball ended its home exhibition slate with a demolition of neighboring NAIA school Northwest Christian, beating the Beacons 124-72.

Payton Pritchard led the way for Oregon. The sophomore finished with a game-high 25 points, shot 4-of-5 from three, and added four assists in his 20 minutes of action. 10 different Ducks scored, with six of them scoring in double-figures.

“Got an opportunity to play most guys about 20 minutes there, which is what I wanted to do,” head coach Dana Altman said. “So we were able to move things around. We’ve got potential but we’ve got a tremendous amount of work to do.”

Oregon’s started the game with a lineup featuring four freshmen. Troy Brown Jr., Kenny Wooten, Victor Bailey Jr. and Abu Kigab took the first the run at the Beacons. Redshirt senior and transfer MiKyle McIntosh rounded out the five.

“We’ll figure out starting lineup here in the next two weeks,” Altman said. “It will be a work in progress … won’t have anything edged in stone until January. There’s a lot of moving parts there that we’ve got to figure out how they blend together, how they work together but I do like the guys.”

With so many young players who haven’t played much together, improving team chemistry is a focal point heading into the season.

“The chemistry here is really good for a team that’s just met each other and is just getting together,” McIntosh said. “I’m really liking how we’re getting along.”

The second half starters looked like Oregon’s best unit with Pritchard, Wooten, Troy Brown Jr., Elijah Brown and McIntosh on the floor. They stayed out for until the first media timeout with 15:46 left in the half.

After entering the game in the first half, Elijah Brown started to take control, dishing out assists and hitting several buckets. He was 5-of-6 and 3-of-4 from behind the arc, for 13 points at halftime.

Elijah Brown finished the night with 22 points, on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.

“Every time he shoots it you feel pretty good,” Altman said. “We’ve talked to him about getting open and taking good ones. Defenses are gonna start getting to him. He’s the one proven scorer that we have.”

Troy Brown Jr. was the facilitator for the Ducks, notching nine assists in 23 minutes.

“I love passing the basketball,” Troy Brown said. “That’s something that makes me happy, seeing my teammates get buckets and stuff like that so hopefully I can keep that there and keep on being aggressive and making plays for my teammates.”

McIntosh and Wooten were two of Oregon’s stronger defensive players. McIntosh had four steals and five rebounds to go with his 12 points while Wooten managed three blocks and six rebounds to go along with his 15 points.

“He didn’t play a lot of basketball last year,” Altman said of Wooten. “I think he can really contest shots, he doesn’t have the timing or the feel that Chris [Boucher] and Jordan [Bell] did a year ago. But I think that can come as he gets more aware of what we’re trying to do defensively.”

Oregon will play one final scrimmage on Nov. 4 against Oklahoma in Las Vegas before it’s regular-season opener on Nov. 10 against Coppin State.

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Autzen Stadium is known for getting loud.

The loudest it got on Saturday might have come when former Duck Darren Carrington II was hit and fumbled the ball, which Ducks’ cornerback Ugo Amadi scooped up and returned for a touchdown in Oregon’s 41-20 win over Utah.

“That was big time because we harp on that so much in practice,” head coach Taggart said. “We have coaches running after our guys all the time in practice telling them to ‘strip the ball, strip the ball, strip the ball.’ That was a huge play for us and that was a big momentum change in the football game for us. That was big.”

Carrington’s return loomed over the Ducks’ game against the Utes after Taggart dismissed him following a DUII in July. Carrington had nine receptions for 130 yards; Oregon managed to contain its former star wideout.

Carrington had a difficult time going up against some of his old teammates in the end zone and on jump balls.

“It was real good going against a highly-drafted player here to come, we’re just competing,” Amadi said. “It’s really hard so you’ve gotta have fun and make plays.”

Arrion Springs was one of the players tasked to slow down Carrington.

“It was a fun time. We heard throughout the week ‘Darren this, gonna do this,’” Springs said. “Overall I felt we did great and we stopped him from scoring. Because, you know, ‘I wonder what he’s gonna do when he scores a touchdown.’ We’ll never know.”

Tyler Huntley managed to go 25-for-43, tallying 293 yards. But the Utes’ quarterback couldn’t find Carrington for a touchdown.

“I thought they did a good job, and all week long we said we weren’t gonna make this game about Darren Carrington coming back here,” Taggart said. “We had to play total defense and play the entire offense and I thought our guys did a great job of containing their offense.”

Oregon cornerback Arrion Springs (1) breaks up a pass intended for Utah Utes wide receiver Darren Carrington II. (9) The Oregon Ducks host the Utah Utes at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

Former Oregon wide receiver Dwayne Stanford II voiced his displeasure on Twitter regarding the fans’ treatment of Carrington, tweeting, “Can’t believe ya’ll booed Darren.”

“It’s too bad,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said of Carrington’s reception at Autzen. “He’s an athlete trying hard, playing hard but that’s the nature of the world I guess. That’s how we operate. It’s too bad, but he’s a good kid and he played hard.”

Like Stanford, some Ducks, including Taggart, showed that they are still fond of the ex-Duck, meeting with him on the field after the game.

“I told him I was proud of him and keep working hard and keep his nose clean and learn and keep growing, you know,” Taggart said. “And that’s probably more than anything is to keep growing and learn from his mistakes and work hard.”

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During the women’s basketball exhibition game on Saturday, there was no score on the scoreboard. The focus wasn’t on who won the game; it was on helping others.

Oregon women’s basketball hosted an early-morning charity exhibition against Portland State to raise money for wildfire relief through the American Red Cross. The Ducks won the game 88-60, but the score was never that important.

“We all obviously love the state of Oregon; it’s a beautiful state,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “This was neat – a really good byproduct was the fact we got to play live. Our fans got to see us. They’re all here for a reason. Looked like it was a pretty good crowd. This was a good day all in all — everybody won.”

Sophomore Sabrina Ionescu picked up where she left off after last season’s stellar freshman year. She scored 23 points for the Ducks while grabbing six rebounds and making six assists.

Ruthy Hebard can say the same. She had a double-double with 14 points and added 11 assists.

“She’s getting stronger in the weight room and that’s definitely helping her get off the ground and get some boards,” Ionescu said.

Freshmen Satou Sabally and Anneli Maley were impressive in their Matt Knight Arena debuts – the two international players were the Ducks’ first two off the bench. Sabally scored seven points while Maley scored six and grabbed five rebounds.

“Satou took a little bit of time to kind of get her feet wet, but once she did, people got to see how special she can be,” Graves said. “And then Anneli just works her butt off. She’s great on the boards, you know: just plays hard, real versatile, can guard anybody.”

Graves has stressed the importance on improving the team’s defense throughout the offseason.

“I learned that we’ve got a lot of work to do defensively,” Graves said. “We got a lot of work to do communication-wise still. We’re trying to switch up our defenses a lot and there were three or four occasions after timeouts where we didn’t really know what we were in.”

At halftime, the Ducks led 46-31. The second half gave the Ducks the chance to pull away, and they did just that once the jitters went away.

“We definitely picked it up in that second half and I think people started to get more comfortable playing and it showed,” Ionescu said. “We played way better in the second half defensively and offensively than we did in the first half.”

The Ducks’ first competitive game is Nov. 5 at Matt Knight Arena against Westmont, a Santa Barbara-based NAIA school.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — Early on in the 2017 Pac-12 Cross Country Championships, Oregon’s Katie Rainsberger felt something in her hair.

It was the snapping of her hair tie, undoing her hair slowly throughout the race.

“I tried to not let it affect me,” she said. “I was like, ‘well I guess I just gotta run with it.’”

Rainsberger finished second (18 minutes, 58.5 seconds) behind Colorado’s Dani Jones (18:57.3). The women’s team finished second behind Colorado as well, improving from a fourth-place finish at last year’s conference championship.

The men, who also came fourth at last season’s meet, managed the same feat this year, coming fourth behind Stanford, Colorado and UCLA.

“I think that we as a team are really good going into races with a process-oriented approach rather than an outcome-oriented approach,” Rainsberger said. “And if you look at where we are this year compared to where we were last year, I think we’re two steps ahead, two places ahead, and you don’t want to lose but that was never the goal.”

In similar fashion to the many races the two compete in, Jones and Rainsberger were neck-and-neck for the vast majority of the race, but Jones eventually kicked ahead.

Oregon’s Lilli Burdon was the next best Duck in the women’s race, finishing sixth in 19:07.8.

“I just wanted to come out and have a really good race today,” Burdon said. “We’ve been coming off with some hard training behind us. Focus was just to get out and execute a solid race as a team and put together the best race that each of us could. … It’s another step in the right direction.”

Colorado’s women have now won three straight Pac-12 Championships, while Stanford’s men snapped Colorado’s streak of consecutive conference titles since the Buffaloes joined the conference in 2011.

The Ducks ran with only six on the women’s side, as Alli Cash did not race. In the weeks ahead, though, that will change.

“I think we’ll have some more depth in the next races which will be nice,” Burton said. “But we all trust each other and trust each other’s abilities.”

The men ran without Matthew Maton, but their gap behind the rest of the field was too large to overcome.

“He was close,” associate head coach Andy Powell said. “I think if we would have brought him back, he would have helped us for sure. I don’t think he would have made the difference that we would have needed. If we would have lost by a point or two I would have been kicking myself for not running him.”

Cooper Tease was the highest finisher for the Oregon men, coming in sixth in 23:59.4. Tanner Anderson was the Ducks’ next best runner, finishing in 22nd.

“They were trying, and that’s what I like about this group of guys — they commit to the race plan and they do the best they can to execute it,” Powell said. “Usually it works out, but just this time they ran out of gas there at the end there.”

Up next for the Ducks will be the West Regionals in Seattle on Nov. 10 ahead of the NCAA Championships in Louisville, KY on Nov. 18.

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Oregon football’s passing game was lethal with sophomore quarterback Justin Herbert at the helm. But after he fractured his collarbone against Cal, the Ducks’ passing game plummeted.

Now, with true freshman Braxton Burmeister starting, the Ducks are relying moreso on the ground game.

“We don’t have the depth,” head coach Willie Taggart said. “We don’t have as much talent as we need to be able to make the mistakes that we’re doing. We can’t do that with limited playmakers.”

Oregon has been known for a dominant run game, especially this year with Royce Freeman, Tony Brooks-James and Kani Benoit in the backfield. Even with the run game as the main threat in Oregon’s offense, the Ducks still throw the ball with Burmeister, but it’s been a work in progress.

“It’s definitely a step when you go from 20 yards one game to 74,” wide receiver Charles Nelson said.

Burmeister went 15-of-27 against Washington State in his first start for Oregon, throwing for 145 yards in the Ducks’ 33-10 loss to the Cougars. But when the Ducks flew south to take on Stanford, the freshman was a mere 3-of-8 for 23 yards.

After that, it seemed the offense would certainly be stuck with the run game as its only option. Though they faced a UCLA team with a vulnerable defense, Oregon struggled to score through the air.

Oregon has scored six touchdowns with Burmeister at quarterback, but only one has come from a pass. The other five have been on rushes by Burmeister.

He only threw the ball 15 times against the Bruins, and completed eight of those attempts for a total of 74 yards. After throwing just 20 yards the week before, there’s nowhere to go but up.

Oregon’s coaches say they’ve seen slight, yet steady, improvement over the past several weeks.

“There was some improved pocket development that you can see,” quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo said.

A lot of the blame for the lackluster pass game could fall onto the wide receivers, too.

“We can’t just say because Braxton’s playing — that’s not it, we’re over that, move forward, let’s get onto the next deal,” Arroyo said. “We’ve got to find ways to create. Those guys have to make plays to help everybody.”

With limited touches, the receivers have to be prepared for the rare throws that come their way. But according to the coaches, it doesn’t upset the receivers that they have taken up different roles with Herbert still on the sidelines.

“If we’re having to baby guys because they’re not getting all the touches they want, then we’re not doing enough stuff culturally,” Arroyo said. “They need to understand their role, and our role sometimes is to get somebody else open in a certain coverage.”

When Herbert returns, the passes will come. For now, the receivers will have to be patient as Burmeister improves his arm and the Ducks try to get their season back on track.

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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