David Cutcliffe: Duke's Running, Passing Games Should Improve
The pandemic shortened Duke’s preseason. Also, with concerns over injuries, the Blue Devils didn’t have much live scrimmaging in fall camp. Now that the Blue Devils are playing actual games, coach David Cutcliffe thinks the team will improve drastically.
“It’s always going to be a part of blocking and seeing holes,” he said of the run game. “Part of it is we missed some opportunities out there (in the opener), left some yards on the field, particularly in our draw game, our counter game. I thought we ran the stretch pretty well, but I really think that we left some yards on the field where we finish blocks, see holes. We have had very little live running the football. The environment we’ve had for camp, circumstances that have been put upon us, the way you get better and better—not that we won’t run the ball well this year—but the way you get better is by doing it. And it’s got to be, some of it, live to get your timing. I think we learned a little bit more about ourselves. We’ll be better this week than a week ago.”
The lack of live scrimmaging also impacted the passing game.
“What’s happening with (Chase Brice)—about eight days before, he becomes the number one. We didn’t get enough live scrimmaging with him as number one quarterback, just getting a feel for timing, mechanics, the progressions that we have in passing game. Presnap reads will be better. Right now, he’s starting to feel ownership of the offense. That’s what you have to do as starting quarterback. It’s got to become yours. You’ve got to be the owner. I think he’s on his way to becoming that. I thought he played like a quarterback. He made throws that were just big time throws. He made some great decisions out there.”
