George Kittle Cashes In
- Thread starter RobHowe
- Start date
I agree with your overall take on all this for starters. BF has been light years better then what Davis ever was for us. And BF was learning on the job with KOK holding his hand to start with. But however the whole Fant tenure kinda does have me scratching my head looking back. It may be a bit nitpicky to say we shoulda been feeding him more but I'm kinda in the camp of he was underutilized. At least to some degree. The guy was/is as freakish of an athlete as we've ever had at a skill position and it seemed like we had games where he was primarily a decoy and not targeted much. And others where he didn't even play as many snaps as you'd think he should. It's water under the bridge I'm not overly bitching about it like his brother was but some of it was legit to a degree I think...
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
Based on some of the guys we had at WR at the time, it prolly wouldn't have hurt to try to get Fant a few reps at one of the WR positions.
Fryowa
Administrator
I've always said 2017 could have been a B1G title if Vanderberg was replaced with Fant at WR and Hockenson took full-time duties.
Easley in the slot, ISM and Fant wide, and Hockenson at TE. You'd have an Edelman type in the backfield, two lengthy and athletic wide outs, and a Gronkish TE.
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
Did you not see how dismal the middle of that o-line was against 3-4 looks? We killed OSU because we played a miracle game and Urban just rolled out his base 4-3 with no pressure. It was glorious, but that next week when Wisconsin threw that 3-4 at us, we put up like 70 yards. If the middle of the line had been better, I would agree with your assessment, but Iowa doesn't have elite teams without a stellar o-line and that was not a stellar o-line.
Yeah it's not rocket science that we stink against 3-4 style defenses. That style of D with D1 level players can make our zone blocking scheme difficult to run. It just does because their LBs are off the line can get a running start on what gap they are getting to and it is asking a lot of Olineman to try blocking them. Regardless of if they are good or not it's a tough ask and it's a schematic thing as much as it is physical to a degree. When they know by our formation and down and distance tendencies of what we are about to do.... I think you gotta go strait at em with pulling guards and play power football more so then that with PA mixed off of it. But I'm just an arm chair Qb...
kicker22
Well-Known Member
You watch your mouth...we fought for every one of those 70 yards!!!
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
If you look at the numbers, you think Fant was underutilized. If you look at the target numbers...he was pretty even with Hockenson. I wish I could put together a highlight reel of Fant wide open running free and Stanley missing him by 10 yards...it happened every game...sometimes many times in a game. I think Stanley felt pressure to make those throws...cause he was so wide open. I remember posting at the time during the season where I had counted 12 misses of a wide open Fant in four games and it equated to like 280 receiving yards because Fant would have housed a few of the catches.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Kittle's complete dedication toward every aspect of his craft brings back memories of Howie Long's playing days. Long could line up at DT, DE, or nose tackle and dominate at all three positions. He was as good against the pass as he was against the run. He never took a play off. He was easily a first ballot hall of famer.
That's true I seem to remember twice agaist ISU in the same game he missed him on what woulda been long plays most likely TDs. That terrible throw he had when he tried to hit TJ on that 4th and short play over the middle is as bad of a miss as any QB could ever have. I bet Stanley is still pissed at himself over it I know I would be.
