Is it time to take the restraints off of Justin Herbert and let him stretch his legs? No. 13 Oregon’s rushing attack is off to another alarmingly lethargic start, and it might be time to truly let Herbert take off from time to time to maybe help open things up.

This season, Herbert has been credited with 15 carries for minus-20 yards. The NCAA counts sack yardage lost as rushing yards (so dumb), which skews those numbers. He’s rushed for gains of 32 yards and has lost 52; he’s been sacked eight times for negative 49 yards. So, during true rushing attempts (and this includes scrambling on pass plays) Herbert has carried the ball seven times for 29 yards. That puts him on pace for just 87 yards in 12 games.

Let’s compare that to some non-elite rushing UO quarterbacks of the past. Quarterback Darron Thomas rushed for 306 yards (not counting sacks) in 2011, when Oregon averaged 299.2 rushing yards per game, fifth in the nation. Vernon Adams Jr. rushed for 308 (not counting sacks) in 2015, when the Ducks averaged 280.1 per game, also fifth in the nation. Herbert is at least as mobile as Thomas, certainly a far better runner than Adams and is as good a runner as Kellen Clemens, who in 2005, the first season of the spread zone read at Oregon, rushed for a net of 228, including games with 72, 58 and 47.

The main reason not to run Herbert is the fear of injury. And that’s legitimate, considering that losing Herbert would end Oregon’s shot at winning the Pac-12 (backup Tyler Shough likely isn’t ready to play at a championship level right now). All of us remember when Herbert broke his collarbone while diving into the end zone against California in 2017, a season in which then-coach Willie Taggart had no problem running Herbert.

Here is an example of Taggart using Herbert on an outside zone read play in which the quarterback keeps the ball and heads straight up the middle with no fear and picks up 18 yards.

That season, the Ducks rushed for 251.0 yards per game (12th in the nation) and Herbert ran for five touchdowns in 12 games. This season, the Ducks are averaging 154.8 per game but managed just 90 in a loss to Auburn and 61 in last Saturday’s win at Stanford.

Herbert’s injury in 2017 occurred on a zone read after he kept the ball and dove into the end zone, where he got hit while scoring. That’s just bad luck; no quarterback is going to slide near the goal line. Nor should they. We’ve seen New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady sacrifice his body to score near the goal line. That’s simply football.

On the other hand, it must be pointed out that the Ducks’ collapse in the 2015 Alamo Bowl against TCU, in which they blew a 31-0 lead, could be pinned on the loss of Adams, who suffered a concussion after keeping the ball on a zone read in the second quarter with the Ducks up 28-0. No zone read call means no run by Adams, which means no concussion and that means no 47-41 loss in triple overtime.

But Adams could have avoided the injury had he simply treated himself as the valuable commodity that he was. First off, he probably should have given the ball to the back.

Notice that the edge defender is ignoring the running back and playing with his shoulders square to Adams. That’s a defender’s signal to the quarterback that he’d better hand off or else run the risk of getting smacked by a much larger athlete with an attitude. Adams didn’t give but did deftly make the immediate threat. Then, he encounters two more defenders. But instead of giving up and sliding, Adams actually lowered his head and rammed into a defender.

So, there are reasons to be leery about running Herbert. But we also must accept that if the quarterback is smart, there is no reason for them to be in too much danger while running the ball.

After all, Marcus Mariota rushed for 2,237 yards and 28 touchdowns in three seasons and never missed a game. How? Because when danger came, he usually went down.

Except for when he did that flippity-flip thing against Wyoming in 2014 for the touchdown. Yeah, that was crazy. He also scored earlier on a zone read when he had to go through a defender at the goal line. Again, no quarterback is giving up near the goal line.

But even if the Ducks want to preserve Herbert at all costs, there is a way to do so while allowing him to run from time to time, and that’s by at least letting him jet on zone reads with the directive to go down at the sign of any danger.

The quarterback is only supposed to even consider keeping the ball on zone reads if the outside is wide open. If an edge defender is a threat, complete the hand off. If the edge defender is going hard after the running back, keep the ball and scoot. It’s that simple.

Then, when defenders converge, the quarterback can slide to avoid contact, as Herbert did here against Arizona State in 2017.

That’s actually a safer proposition than sitting in the pocket and looking downfield waiting for a receiver to get open while pass rushers seek to smack the defenseless passer. Or if a reckless quarterback — see Robert Griffin III against the Baltimore Ravens in 2012 and Jimmy Garoppolo against Kansas City last season — decides to play hero ball and make a move against defenders out to do them harm.

Herbert is larger than any quarterback in UO history. He’s listed at 6 feet 6 and 237 pounds. He should be able to take a hit, but accidents do happen, even to smart running quarterbacks that make wise decisions. Therein lies the rub. If the coaching staff believes Herbert might make the wrong choice, as Adams did in the Alamo Bowl, then it’s wise to take the option off the table.

Cristobal said following the team’s win over Montana two weeks ago that he might start using Herbert more as a runner. “His feet are going to come more into play now as we get into conference play,” Cristobal said.

That didn’t prove to be the case during the 21-6 win at Stanford.

Offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo said earlier this season that he doesn’t view Herbert as the type of running quarterback one would use to attack each gap. Then again, the clip above shows Herbert busting up the middle for 18 yards against Arizona State with decent speed and that long stride.

Arroyo did say that coaches would look at getting him in space outside and let him make play if the Ducks believe that would help them win games. It just might.

So far this season, Herbert has had a few occasions when maybe he should have kept the ball. Let’s narrow the focus to the Auburn and Stanford games, and ignore Montana and Nevada.

The Tigers might be the last team Oregon would have wanted Herbert to stretch his legs against, given their team speed on defense. Even the slightest of openings for Herbert to take off on zone read plays still might have resulted in him being swallowed up for short gains.

In the first quarter, a moment came when Herbert perhaps could have taken off. But this is one of the rare plays where giving no matter what has paid off so far this season. Verdell goes for a long gain during a touchdown drive.

Although Auburn linebacker T.D. Moultry ends up going down the line, he first went upfield into the backfield and easily could have changed direction and gotten to the quarterback had Herbert kept the ball.

As it turned out, this remains one of the Ducks’ best-blocked zone plays this season. Every Tiger in the box is accounted for, as well as the cornerback. Right guard Steven Jones worked the double-team with center Jake Hanson before going to the second level and getting an inside ’backer. Great play all around.

Unfortunately, such rushing plays have been few and far between against legitimate competition, which is why running Herbert here and there could help.

In the second quarter, Herbert had a clear chance to keep the ball and possibly pick up a nice chunk of yardage. The right defensive end goes underneath the left tackle and there is no edge defender to the outside. There is an inside linebacker 5 yards back. So, would Herbert be able to take enough of an angle to the outside to pick up yardage before being tracked down by the linebacker?

Mariota for sure gets at least 5 yards on this play, and if the wide receiver holds his block on the cornerback, he would gain even more. Herbert? Not so sure. This is a play where it’s probably best to simply hand off and hope for the best. As it turned out, Verdell picked up 6 yards.

One argument that has been made in defense of the Ducks’ low rushing numbers is that not having Herbert run means a defender isn’t being accounted for by the threat of the quarterback run. That hasn’t been all that true in the games against Auburn and Stanford.

Here is a play where the outside linebacker clearly is focused on Herbert, who gives to CJ Verdell. The play is an unmitigated mess.

Pulling left guard Shane Lemieux gets stood up by the outside linebacker. Center Calvin Throckmorton can’t keep the defensive tackle from forcing him backward and in the way of backside pulling guard Dallas Warmack. So you end up with a wall of Throckmorton, Warmack and Lemieux in the way of Verdell. Right tackle Brady Aiello loses his battle, as well, and gets thrust into the pile. Verdell gains just 1 yard. Ugly play.

This next play is another where a defender is keyed on Herbert, but the Ducks fail to block it well enough to pop Verdell loose when the opportunity was there. Throckmorton had to fill in for the injured Hanson at center and at times appeared to miss blocks, which is understandable given that he primarily plays right tackle.

In this case, Throckmorton helped Warmack double-team the nose tackle, but when the right guard took control of his man, Throckmorton failed to go to the second level to get inside linebacker Andrew Pryts. Instead, Pryts takes down Verdell after a gain of 4 when he could have rambled for much more.

Next is the one play from the Auburn and Stanford games where, in my estimation, it is 100 percent certain that Herbert should have kept the ball.

The right defensive end crashed down. Both inside linebackers flowed to their left in the same direction as the outside zone to running back Travis Dye. The play-side outside linebacker, Pryts, ran with tight end Jacob Breeland leaving a huge lane for Herbert to exploit. Instead, Dye was held to a gain of just 1 yard.

Oh, well.

The reality is that as a runner, Herbert is no Mariota, Jeremiah Masoli or even the 2010 version of Thomas (he rushed for 486 yards that season). But Herbert is certainly capable of being a viable rushing threat in obviously advantageous situations.

But Oregon’s inadequacies running the football are not because it doesn’t involve the quarterback. They are a result of what has been a good-but-not-great offensive line that in 18 games under Cristobal’s direction has not proven to be close to the dominant force that many perceived it to be, given the potential NFL talent along the line. They simply do not move mountains and routinely can be stopped dead in their tracks.

Are the running backs perfect? No. The Ducks don’t have Royce Freeman, Jonathan Stewart, LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner or even a Jeremiah Johnson, one of the most underrated backs in Oregon history. But they do have capable backs who, if given room to run, can make big plays.

Given that the line isn’t clearing the way for big rushing games and that the backs aren’t elite, at the least Oregon could allow Herbert the opportunity to cut loose when the play is wide open, with the instruction to get down when defenders close in. Even just 20 rushing yards per game from Herbert could lead to a couple of first downs that could help the team against the likes of No. 15 California, No. 17 Washington and No. 21 USC.

What could possibly go wrong? (Don’t answer that.)

(Top photo: Chris Coduto / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)