Anthony Brown isn’t perfect, but he has the trust of the Ducks’ coaching staff going forward

If you were to ask the Oregon Ducks’ coaching staff, the Ducks’ fanbase and the group of media members who cover the team to all give you their respective opinions on sixth-year quarterback Anthony Brown, it’s likely that you’d get some drastically different answers.

A large portion of the fans has made their opinions quite clear. Though only a portion of them are responsible for booing AB on Friday night in the contested victory over Cal, you’d likely have a hard time finding someone in the green and yellow who thinks that Brown is an above-average passer.

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Similarly, the group of media members who cover this team week in and week out have been critical of Brown, justifiably so. As a part of this group, I have gone on record as saying that it’s time for Oregon coaches to at least look at what they have behind Brown and decide if it gives you a better chance to win. Seeing as we don’t have access to practice, there is no telling if they’ve done that or not, but assuming that they are competent and good at their jobs, which I whole-heartedly believe, you can believe that they have.

This brings us to those coaches, and what they think of the signal-caller. While the answer from Mario Cristobal or Joe Moorhead might be different behind a closed door, it has become clear that they are sticking with No. 13 for the time being. Despite his struggles on the field, Anthony Brown is the guy that they will be rolling with going forward.

“I think he took a step forward from a broad stroke perspective,” Moorhead said on Monday, speaking of a Cal game where Brown was showered with boos during some bouts of poor play. “We’re 5-1, we’re basically the top scoring offense in the conference. He’s created 12 touchdowns on the air or the ground and has only turned the ball over twice.”

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The stats look decent, but anyone who has watched Oregon play this year can tell you that a lot of meat has been left on the bone, so to speak. Chunk plays have been missed, poor reads have been made, and wide-open receivers have been left darting downfield without the quarterback even so much as looking in their direction.

It is these things that have drawn the most criticism towards Brown, but as a player with loads of experience, he’s set up to be able to handle those calls of skepticism.

“When you play the position, you assume the mantle of responsibility and the criticism that goes with it,” Moorhead said. “I think AB is doing a solid job in his role. He’s not Marcus Mariota, he’s not Dennis Dixon, he’s not any of those guys. He has to understand who he is and what he does well and how that’s going to contribute.”

Going into the season, we didn’t expect Brown to be any of those superstar quarterbacks that Oregon has been blessed with in the past; instead, we projected that he’d manage the games well and distribute the ball to his playmakers. While the Ducks are 5-1 and hold a clear shot at making it back to the Pac-12 Championship, there is some unrest in the fanbase due to the lack of a prolific offense, especially when it comes to the passing game. Oregon has one of the best group of receivers in school history, but Brown’s relative inability to get them the ball has caused fans and media members alike to pull their hair out in frustration.

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Might that lead to an eventual change? Not any time soon, it seems like. True freshman QB Ty Thompson is sitting on the bench waiting to hear his name called. He’s the highest quarterback recruit in school history, and arguably the future of the program. However, the Oregon coaching staff appears to be rolling with the guy they already have. For now, at least.

“It’s all relevant,” Moorhead said. “You can nitpick, talk about stats, completion percentages, all that stuff, but I’ll go into the game with AB as my quarterback and believe in his abilities and what he can do. I’m proud to be coaching him, he’s a great competitor, and he’s doing great with the offense.”

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