Analysis: Why has Washington struggled to target Cade Otton, its most proven pass-catcher, in the first half this season?

SEATTLE – With 5 minutes, 20 seconds left in the second quarter last Saturday, University of Washington H-back Jack Westover barreled up the middle for a 3-yard gain. The FOX camera then cut to 6-foot-5, 240-pound tight end Cade Otton, who lay on his back after dutifully blocking.

“Not only have they not gone to Otton, but this is a day where they’re down two of their top receivers in (Terrell) Bynum and (Puka) Nacua,” perplexed play-by-play announcer Joe Davis said. “You’d figure that Otton would be even more of a focal point of the offense.”

“No doubt,” the color commentator, former Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich, agreed.

At the time, UW trailed Stanford 21-3 – and its most proven pass-catcher had yet to earn a target.

The duo circled back with 8:27 left in the third quarter, when Helfrich asked, “How many catches for 87 today?”

“How many targets?” Davis said, correcting his query. “Zero.”

In UW’s 31-26 loss, Otton finished with two catches (and two targets) for 46 yards – the long being a 42-yarder in the fourth quarter that set up a Kamari Pleasant score.

Through four games, Otton’s targets have developed into a troubling trend. The outlier is UW’s 44-27 win over Arizona – its best offensive performance by far – when the junior tight end earned five catches on six targets for 72 yards in the first half, before finishing with seven catches on eight targets for 100 yards and a touchdown.

In the other three games – against Oregon State, Utah and Stanford – Otton has been targeted a grand total of three times, with two catches for 9 yards, in the first half.

In the second half, however, he has accounted for nine catches on nine targets for 149 yards and two touchdowns.

So why does Washington routinely wait until halftime to get its best receiver involved?

“There’s no question we want to get the ball in his hands as often as we can,” UW head coach Jimmy Lake said Monday. “But like I’ve mentioned in the past, as Dylan (Morris) goes through his progression and he’s covered and he’s not open, we’re not throwing it to him. We’re not going to force the ball somewhere where it’s not supposed to go. If he is on the read and he’s open, then we’re going to get the ball to him. It’s just very, very plain and simple.

“We would love for him to have the unbelievable production that he had in the two games prior. And in those two games the read was there, he was open and we threw the ball to him.”

But it’s not as very, very plain and simple as Otton not being open in the first half against Stanford. The junior tight end was only asked to run a route on seven of Morris’ 15 drop-backs in the first 30 minutes (46.7%) – being used more often in pass protection while Morris scanned for inexperienced wide receivers. The majority of Morris’ first-half targets went to true freshmen Rome Odunze (three targets) and Jalen McMillan (two targets), as well as redshirt sophomore tight end Devin Culp (two targets) – who entered the game with zero career catches.

Morris also missed an uncovered Otton down the seam for a likely touchdown late in the first quarter, locating McMillan for a 16-yard gain instead.

But was the extra pass protection really needed to stifle a Stanford defense that ranks 10th in the Pac-12 in both sacks (five) and tackles for loss per game (4.5)?

In the second half, when UW scored three touchdowns and a field goal on its four total drives, Otton ran routes on 10 of 13 Morris dropbacks – and the Huskies’ pass offense dramatically improved.

On the season, Otton touts 18 catches – twice as much as No. 2 – on 20 targets (90% completions), for 258 yards with 14.3 yards per reception and three touchdowns. When Morris targets the tight end from Tumwater, good things happen.

As Lake has said, focusing too insistently on one receiver could also yield costly mistakes.

“As soon as you start forcing the ball to anybody, you’re going to start seeing all of our turnovers go up in numbers,” Lake said. “As you see right now, we lead the conference in turnover ratio. (UW actually ranks second in turnover margin and turnovers lost.) We turn the ball over the least in the conference, and I think that’s one of the big reasons why we’re in the position we’re in going into these final weeks here before the Pac-12 championship game.”

To reach that game, Washington (3-1) will have to win at rival Oregon (3-2). To this point, the Ducks’ defense has done an impressive job at limiting opposing tight ends – surrendering just 16 catches for 143 yards and a touchdown in five games.

On the other hand, the Huskies’ leading receivers against Oregon last season were a pair of tight ends – Hunter Bryant (three catches, 65 yards, long of 27) and Otton (three catches, 53 yards, long of 22).

On Saturday, Washington would be wise to include Otton in every aspect of its offense.

“Cade Otton, I say he’s one of the best in the country because I know what the NFL’s looking for,” Lake said. “They’re not looking for guys to just flex out and catch passes all day. They want a guy that can line up on the outside of an offensive tackle, kick out a 9-technique, double down on a 6-technique (defensive end or outside linebacker), drive guys off the line of scrimmage, double up to a linebacker and seal him off so they have the run game going on offense, and then be able to release and go make catches.

“For the tape that I’ve seen, Cade Otton is one of the best in the country. You guys have seen his production in the last few weeks here. What you may have not seen is all the excellent things he does in the run game. But if you watch it close, it’s phenomenal.”

His pass-catching production is also phenomenal – more so in the second half.

You know the old quote by Wayne Gretzky, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take?”

You also miss 100% of the shots you can’t take because no one passed you the puck.