Iowa's Great Offensive Line and Senior QB

[SCHawkeye2]

I somewhat agree in that we are no longer OLine U, but we have 3 future NFL starters on the line this year in Wirfs, Jackson, and Linderbaum. Wirfs and Jackson may even be starting in the NFL next season. Polasek is just awful at preparing them for what they'll see on a weekly basis from the defenses.

And it appears we're likely to trend down too, because just imagine what next year will look like without Wirfs and Jackson.

Despite the pre-season hype, I have seen nothing from Wirfs or Jackson this year to indicate they are NFL level talent.

 

[N8theGr8]

Wirfs I agree on (which I've mentioned); Jackson is definitely regressing and Linderbaum has a lot of ball to play against Big Ten DLs before you can make that assumption.

Despite the pre-season hype, I have seen nothing from Wirfs or Jackson this year to indicate they are NFL level talent.

Wirfs has been solid all year, but you can't be a one man show on the offensive line. The confusion up front has been the only thing that's caused any poor play from Wirfs. Jackson hasn't shown anything yet this year, but he's been thrown straight into the fire these past 2 games. He'll keep improving throughout the year and get drafted on measurables plus his performance in the last 7 games.

Linderbaum is an absolute monster though. I don't know if you can find grades for individual players anywhere, but I'd have to imagine he's been one of our best linemen. Any time we have a 3rd or 4th and 1, just line Stanley up behind him and let him go to work. Even in pass protection, he's typically not the one getting beat. I would not be surprised to see him go pro after next season.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Actually too many are NOT good at it. The "great" ones are, though. Probably the ballsiest in that regard is Roethlisberger. I have never seen anyone shrug off crappy plays the way he has. He's almost TOO much that way, he's the type that would throw a pick-6, then next series audible himself to run a bootleg just to show how much brass he has. It may not always work, but the guy has it.

Remember the string of pix 6's that Stanzi threw? He had a problem with them at one time. Yet, he'd shrug it off and come in the next series and thread the needle for a TD. That guy had moxie and was fun to watch.

 

[Motigerhawk]

Remember when the one OL won the national award for offensive line of the year and we were like What?

There is a lot of hype around our coaching staff and their ability to get guys to the pros. Which is fantastic. But I think it is 80% the kid and 20% the coaching.

 

[HuckFinn]

Despite the pre-season hype, I have seen nothing from Wirfs or Jackson this year to indicate they are NFL level talent.

yeah, well, your base line assumption is that you are a good judge of their performance. Good luck with that.

 

[ssckelley]

Iowa coaches do a good job of getting many of their O-linemen in the NFL, but as a unit they seemed to be over-hyped year after year. I'm not going to name individual players in college but their are a couple on that line that maybe shouldn't be starting. Does KF have an allegiance for certain upperclassman players that he likes?

Stanley is having no time back there and is pretty much a statue. I don't want to harp on Stanley but the fact is if I talk about the QB position, everybody will know who I'm speaking of anyway. Why doesn't Iowa get more out of their senior QB's? I get that Stanley puts up great numbers an knocking on the top 2-3 in a few categories at Iowa, but let's face it, he hasn't done the greatest against tough competition or in the BIG conference in general. I think he hovers around .500 in conference play.

Does anybody remember this play in the 3rd Q? Stanley saw the LB to the L of him looking like he was going to blitz from just outside the DE on that side. Stanley audibles the play to a slant run to the side of the blitzing player that he saw. Now if you have a great O-line (see Wisconsin) you may be able to block that for a gain, but Iowa's line hasn't been producing in the run game or protecting well. Why the hell are you running into that blitz? It's those kinds of decisions that I have to wonder. A senior QB!!

Offense scheming and play calling. Why hasn't Stanley had a couple designed runs to help loosen these defenses up a bit. What do they have to lose. The just keep having him go back to a collapsing pocket. The coaches have GOT TO come up with some quick hit short passes to offeset some of these blitzes. Make it one damn read for a guy in space.

Yeah I thought that audible was odd too. If he would have audibled to a running back screen it would have been a 20 yard gain.

I'm not a Stanley fan but the offensive woes are not on him. I've not seen Iowa's offensive line be this bad in a long time, I can't remember when it's been this bad.

 

[dirtwrap]

You know we haven't really been blitzed that much. I know it looks like it, but if you go back and look you will count 4 defenders being blocked by 5 or 6 if you count the back or TE or 7 if by both. That is a page right out of our own defensive philosophy, stop the run and pressure the quarterback with the front four and make the quarterback make throws into tight windows. That is exactly what is happening to us.

Think about it, if we took the Iowa off the uniforms and we were going to play ourselves, we would all think it is a perfect matchup. Quarterback that cant run, no running back that can either run with power or make you miss, and a weakness in the interior of the line. What we would do is give them the short throws, make them convert on third down, make them take chances going down the field and capitalize on their mistakes because we know they cant be perfect the entire game.

You really have to give our offense some credit too. They have had to earn and grind out every yard. We have lost the field position battle, started deep in our territory a lot more than our opponents, haven't benefitted from short fields via turnovers or impact special teams plays, hardly any run yardage after the catch and virtually no running game, and they still have converted on a lot of difficult third downs and moved the ball. We are very limited with what we can do with what we have, as we have glaring weaknesses that a talented opponent can and has exploited.

 

[uihawk82]

I think 99% of people at the game and on TV saw that...it often works very well to call draw plays, QB or RB plus screen passes also work vs the on-coming rush...and teaches the defenders to be careful and cautious about how fast they charge the QB...since they often get burned with quick thinking and quick hitting plays.

Are the coaches aware of these counter moves vs the full on QB rush?

Haha, for a pro style offense we do not hardly ever run draws or run them well.

Even a behind the LOS shovel pass might slow the rush if you can get the runner/receiver to catch it flying by a rusher and break a good gain.

But usually 3 receiver bunch formations with quick slants and outs are what teams are successful with now.

 

[uihawk82]

KF must have really hated 2002. Brad Banks was maybe not the most skilled QB we have had, but man, what a weapon he was due to his feet. That really added another dimension to our offense that year. That's just too darned SEXY. Haven't had anything resembling that since - except for maybe the CJB situation, as you pointed out.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why Iowa doesn't recruit QB's that can run. I'm not just talking mobile where a QB can tuck it and run for 7 yards once or twice a game. I'm talking about someone that has the ability to rip off a 20-30+ yard run. Someone you can actually design running plays around.

Dont forget Drew Tate who was quick, pretty fast, had moves and was elusive.

Kirk cant control running qbs which probably bothers him.

 

[okeefe4prez]

You know we haven't really been blitzed that much.

Yeah, I agree. When you have a guy like that #54 from PSU who has the snap count down and only gets blocked a third of the time, there's really no reason to blitz too much. The math is really simple, you get some plays where the guard and center double one guy, the other guard goes to block a LB who ain't blitzing and ends up blocking the air, one of the tackles gets beat and the RB whiffs on his chip, it's pretty easy to get pressure while bringing 4. I wonder if Brohm will have the balls to just bring 3 after the film we have out there.

 

[Caddy]

Haha! This one made me laugh because there's a lot of posters who are in for a very rude awakening next year at the QB position.

Really? Petras throws a better ball than Stanley, also broke all of Jared Goffs passing records in California, which is much better competition than Stanley played against in high school. Petras is the real deal.

 

[Xerxes]

Really? Petras throws a better ball than Stanley, also broke all of Jared Goffs passing records in California, which is much better competition than Stanley played against in high school. Petras is the real deal.

So he was a good high school player? Wow somebody better hold me up.

When have you seen him throw a better ball than Stanley as a college player? The guy has barely played.

 

[Robowe]

And Drew Tate. Tate's shoulder was hamburger his senior season.

And Boyle got hurt running the ball this year for Indiana State.

 

[ChosenChildren]

Not that hesitant on Beathard. The reservation on Beathard was that he tended to throw--ALWAYS--to his first option, and when flushed, locked on one receiver downfield. That improved markedly, hence, CJB being elevated. If you remember his pick-6 against Purdue, he never even went to his second read. But he also took that as an opportunity to improve and, much like Stanzi, shrugged off the play as if it didn't happen.

I watched every game Rudock played. He locked in on his first option as well, but didn't have Beathard's mobility. Beathard should have played the entire season in 2014.

Beathard never would have played if he hadn't threatened to transfer. You are engaging in revisionist history.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

I watched every game Rudock played. He locked in on his first option as well, but didn't have Beathard's mobility. Beathard should have played the entire season in 2014.

Beathard never would have played if he hadn't threatened to transfer. You are engaging in revisionist history.

Wrong. Beathard, once flushed, never looked downfield. Rudock did, but he didn't have CJBs arm strength. Once they were sure CJB was better maintaining downfield vision when flushed, they were more than ready. He got more snaps in the Ghastly Slayer Bowl, and was already getting increased snaps later in the season.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

I watched every game Rudock played. He locked in on his first option as well, but didn't have Beathard's mobility. Beathard should have played the entire season in 2014.

Beathard never would have played if he hadn't threatened to transfer. You are engaging in revisionist history.

Do you know the difference between their 40 times, BTW? .01 (4.86 vs. 4.87) That's one hundredth of a second. What hurt Rudock, mobility-wise, is he couldn't get his knee back to full strength. If you'll notice when he got to Michigan, he was more mobile. Basically had a whole Spring to rehab while finishing his academic stuff at Iowa. No contact, no drills, etc. Add to that no worries about any real QB competition at Michigan, the kid was totally relaxed.