HawkeyeGameFilm: James Vandenberg Review

[kirby]

Anybody play QB in a 20+mph wind? I don't think there were a lot of open WRs either. We need to have our WRs get some separation. I do agree w/ the criticism for taking sacks. He has to know field position and time--sometimes the clock in his head has to go faster, throw it away and not go through his progressions.

 

[BlckNGldHwk]

If JVB looks at one receiver the entire play and then throws to that receiver then I most certainly can say he stared him down, irrespective of the play or routes.

 

[Ozhawk]

Anybody play QB in a 20+mph wind? I don't think there were a lot of open WRs either. We need to have our WRs get some separation. I do agree w/ the criticism for taking sacks. He has to know field position and time--sometimes the clock in his head has to go faster, throw it away and not go through his progressions.

Soldier field almanac from Saturday
Wind Speed10 mph (ENE) Max Wind Speed18 mph Max Gust Speed23 mph

 

[David79]

Vandenberg looked like the same guy that played on the road last year (except for the Purdue game) He panicked. He never tried to throw it away except for the intentional grouding play. He didn't see open receivers and also had some bad throws where he either threw it too hard or too high. I expected more from a senior QB. I know it is a new offense but it seemed like it wasn't so much the offense as him being tentative and scared on some occasions.

 

[hawkfan2679]

If JVB looks at one receiver the entire play and then throws to that receiver then I most certainly can say he stared him down, irrespective of the play or routes.

I'll play devil's advocate...how can you tell he's looking at the receiver the entire play? Without the ability to see his eyes, merely the direction his head is turned, how do you know he's not looking at a defender? For example, Iowa has run a lot of curl/flat concept in the past and a slight variant on that I saw a couple times (at least) this weekend was a spot/flat, where the WR runs a spot route at about 6 yards and a TE/FB runs to the flat to the spot just vacated by the WR. If the corner is off, that's a read on the flat defender. So while it may look like he is staring at the WR the whole time, he's actually reading the reaction of that flat defender.

Again, just to play devil's advocate...

 

[bws258]

Hawkeye Game Film: James Vandenberg | Hawkeye Nation

After reading this it confirmed my math...Iowa had two targets beyond 10 yards. I think I noticed the first one happening with 1:00 left in the 3rd quarter.

When I watch JVB on the road, for some reason my mind recalls Steve Deace calling Joey Harrington "Joey Check-Down". JVB = "Jimmy Check-Down"

 

[Bigtenchamp]

This is the easiest thing for fans to grasp, so its the card they go to often. It's what they see, or rather, what they think they see.

But we have no idea as to what routes were being run, if they were being run right, what blown assignments there were, etc.

Also in this first game with a new system and so many inexperienced players on the OL, I don't think the gameplan that was in stalled from a plays perspective was going to be very thick or complicated. Each week a game plan is going to consist of only so many plays. They don't go into each game with the entire playbook. They work on the plays they pick for each game week.

That is not to say Iowa held anything back in this game. I just don't think they were yet able to bring in the bulk of what will make up their core offense as the year goes along.

You had three or four first time starters, and you had 11 first time starters in this new system. It's going to take some time....though I didn't expect things to be that shaky.

Yeah John that may be true. However he looked this way on the road last year - looked like the same guy.

 

[David79]

Yeah John that may be true. However he looked this way on the road last year - looked like the same guy.

Agree. of course there were missteps by the offense because of the new scheme but there were plays where WRs were open and he didn't get the ball to them and there were plays he should have thrown it away and didn't. That is the same road JVB that played last year.

 

[kmurp]

"seeing the field"; the ability to make sense out of the chaos of a football play in a 3-4 second time frame is very hard. Film study and brains can help, I assume. I do think though that there is an element of god given ability in this type of speedy pattern recognition and I am not too sure James was given that. He is smart and works hard so maybe he can do OK this year but we shouldn't expect miracles.