Pass Rush & DL Rotation

[NikeHawk21]

Lost in all this talk about the DBs struggle (which they did a little bit), was that Iowa wasn’t generating much of a pass rush. I know I know Miami was getting the ball out quickly and chipping or double AJE, nonetheless it still didn’t seem like we generated the pass rush we should have against an inferior opponent.

We didn’t see much of a Dline rotation at all I don’t think we saw Waggoner or ZVV until the last drive. Nixon was the only guy mixing in there and occasionally Jones in pass rushing situations.

If Waggoner and ZVV aren’t ready I think that might be a little more of a concern than the DB play was. It’s just one game so hopefully it will improve.

 

[PCHawk]

Nixon had a pretty good bull rush that almost got to the QB. Hopefully he gets more snaps as the year goes on.

 

[Caddy]

Lost in all this talk about the DBs struggle (which they did a little bit), was that Iowa wasn’t generating much of a pass rush. I know I know Miami was getting the ball out quickly and chipping or double AJE, nonetheless it still didn’t seem like we generated the pass rush we should have against an inferior opponent.

We didn’t see much of a Dline rotation at all I don’t think we saw Waggoner or ZVV until the last drive. Nixon was the only guy mixing in there and occasionally Jones in pass rushing situations.

If Waggoner and ZVV aren’t ready I think that might be a little more of a concern than the DB play was. It’s just one game so hopefully it will improve.

Agree. However, a lot of the time AJ was not being double teamed, and was just not getting there. Their qb had a lot of time to throw most of the night. This has to improve. We played a freshman qb, and he was pretty comfortable back there. We should have destroyed that offensive line last night, and didn't. Colbert had a lot of tackles, but always leaves his feet, or goes to his knees it seems. DB play wasn't all that great, hopefully it gets better because we will see MUCH better offenses. That team last night was very bad all the way around.

 

[PCHawk]

Agree. However, a lot of the time AJ was not being double teamed, and was just not getting there. Their qb had a lot of time to throw most of the night. This has to improve. We played a freshman qb, and he was pretty comfortable back there. We should have destroyed that offensive line last night, and didn't. Colbert had a lot of tackles, but always leaves his feet, or goes to his knees it seems. DB play wasn't all that great, hopefully it gets better because we will see MUCH better offenses. That team last night was very bad all the way around.

How do you know the team was bad? They've only played against one team so far. Duke looks like their horrible too. Maybe their one game being against Alabama has something to do with that.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Agree. However, a lot of the time AJ was not being double teamed, and was just not getting there. Their qb had a lot of time to throw most of the night. This has to improve. We played a freshman qb, and he was pretty comfortable back there. We should have destroyed that offensive line last night, and didn't. Colbert had a lot of tackles, but always leaves his feet, or goes to his knees it seems. DB play wasn't all that great, hopefully it gets better because we will see MUCH better offenses. That team last night was very bad all the way around.

One of the other things they did to slow AJE down was that fake toss play at him. It forced him to keep his contain and slowed his pass rush.

I’m not as doom and gloom as you. I thought Miami’s QB made some big time throws.

 

[TJHawkeye]

If you watch AJ on replay it looked as though they had him trying to contain the run game. Lots of times he beat his man and could have rushed to the outside and he just kept his position so as to keep his lane contained.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Ok...let's keep it in perspective...Gabbert threw some great balls...and was doing either a 3 step drop or a quick 5 and release...he wasn't holding onto it very often. It's hard to get pressure, unless you get them into 2nd and long or 3rd and long...and we didn't do that alot. They were getting two or three yards a carry...so it was 3rd and 5 or 6 most of the night. That's not a pass rushers dream. They were smart...they lined up with a TE set in back of the tackle to force AJ wider at times...had back chipping him...etc.

Also...the first TD was just a great throw in the only place it was going to be caught. The second was a off the back foot duck that should have been picked...but it was just good enough to get there and be caught. That was just lucky IMO. Merriweather needs to be more aggressive on a jump ball like that...and rake arms or high point it. Compete. I think he gets better.

 

[Stanzi]

Ok...let's keep it in perspective...Gabbert threw some great balls...and was doing either a 3 step drop or a quick 5 and release...he wasn't holding onto it very often. It's hard to get pressure, unless you get them into 2nd and long or 3rd and long...and we didn't do that alot. They were getting two or three yards a carry...so it was 3rd and 5 or 6 most of the night. That's not a pass rushers dream. They were smart...they lined up with a TE set in back of the tackle to force AJ wider at times...had back chipping him...etc.

Also...the first TD was just a great throw in the only place it was going to be caught. The second was a off the back foot duck that should have been picked...but it was just good enough to get there and be caught. That was just lucky IMO. Merriweather needs to be more aggressive on a jump ball like that...and rake arms or high point it. Compete. I think he gets better.

Bingo about the TE being in back of the tackle. I realize this may not technically be called a double team, but it's essentially a double team. He was having to get around two guys and with how quickly they were getting the ball out he didn't have much of a chance to get pressure.

 

[vork22]

How do you know the team was bad? They've only played against one team so far. Duke looks like their horrible too. Maybe their one game being against Alabama has something to do with that.

They play Ohio State in a few weeks and you will see how bad they are. They gave up 6 sacks in a loss to Buffalo last year and lost to greats like Marshall and Army. Every year we let a crap team hang around and someone comes out acting like they might be a good team. We just stunk in the first half plain and simple and turned it around.

 

[Stanzi]

I was fairly impressed with Gabbert to be honest. For a freshman he made a lot of nice throws. I suppose it's not surprising given his brother.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

They play Ohio State in a few weeks and you will see how bad they are. They gave up 6 sacks in a loss to Buffalo last year and lost to greats like Marshall and Army. Every year we let a crap team hang around and someone comes out acting like they might be a good team. We just stunk in the first half plain and simple and turned it around.

Well...OSU will have played two games by then. Question...do you think in two weeks we will be better...and our talent over theirs would be more evident? Teams improve in a big way once you have played a few games. You get the nerves out, you learn from stupid mistakes and you play faster.

Now...the good thing about College Football is that you get to make these comments and compare how future opponents do against people we have played etc. It's funny if you listen to Martin's post game interview...he wants to play like Iowa. That's what they were doing last night...and his freshman QB is either really good...or he just had one of those nights where everything was clicking for him. I think he's pretty good...his mechanics were solid and he throws it accurately and on time.

 

[vork22]

Well...OSU will have played two games by then. Question...do you think in two weeks we will be better...and our talent over theirs would be more evident? Teams improve in a big way once you have played a few games. You get the nerves out, you learn from stupid mistakes and you play faster.

Now...the good thing about College Football is that you get to make these comments and compare how future opponents do against people we have played etc. It's funny if you listen to Martin's post game interview...he wants to play like Iowa. That's what they were doing last night...and his freshman QB is either really good...or he just had one of those nights where everything was clicking for him. I think he's pretty good...his mechanics were solid and he throws it accurately and on time.

It happens far too often where a no name qb looks great against us though. Chalk the first half up to first game jitters and we will improve but we have a ways to go to have any chance against Wisconsin, Penn St. or Michigan.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

AJE Guy he was lining up against wasn’t a slouch and actually looked pretty damn good.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

One of the other things they did to slow AJE down was that fake toss play at him. It forced him to keep his contain and slowed his pass rush.

I’m not as doom and gloom as you. I thought Miami’s QB made some big time throws.

Is anyone as doom and gloom as him?

Hawks played a vanilla based, non pressure scheme, they threw a lot of quick passes and Gabbert looked legit. M of OH is not a great team, but look like they will be solid... who knows.

Hawks have tons to work on and I am not sure the D scheme or back 7 is settled just yet, but I saw enough from new wr, te, and rb and OL to have some optimism.

Good to have football back.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

One of the other things they did to slow AJE down was that fake toss play at him. It forced him to keep his contain and slowed his pass rush.

I’m not as doom and gloom as you. I thought Miami’s QB made some big time throws.

<<I'm not as doom and gloom as you>>

Nobody is as doom and gloom as he is.

 

[4thngoal]

Ok...let's keep it in perspective...Gabbert threw some great balls...and was doing either a 3 step drop or a quick 5 and release...he wasn't holding onto it very often. It's hard to get pressure, unless you get them into 2nd and long or 3rd and long...and we didn't do that alot. They were getting two or three yards a carry...so it was 3rd and 5 or 6 most of the night. That's not a pass rushers dream. They were smart...they lined up with a TE set in back of the tackle to force AJ wider at times...had back chipping him...etc.

Also...the first TD was just a great throw in the only place it was going to be caught. The second was a off the back foot duck that should have been picked...but it was just good enough to get there and be caught. That was just lucky IMO. Merriweather needs to be more aggressive on a jump ball like that...and rake arms or high point it. Compete. I think he gets better.

You can't have it both ways.
You say the reason we didn't get pressure is because we were trying to stop the run.
Well ok then.
But then you say we couldn't get them in 3rd and long either.

Plus as I pointed out they had good success converting 3rd and long anyway.

Fact is we didn't play well on either side of the ball in the first half. Against lesser competition.
That doesn't mean we suck or anything.
It means that maybe we were to amped up. That happens the first game. But it didn't happen to them!! Or we didn't come ready to play. That didn't happen to them either.

The dropped passes. The picks we should of had. The 3rd and 4th down conversions.
The pass coverage.
Those things need attention.
It was just to many people not making a play.
Good news is Nate looked good.
Goodson is going to be really fun to watch.
Oliver is a true wr (something we don't always recruit).
Brandon looks much better. That jump ball was nice, it just needed to be a foot or so more inbounds.
Sargent has great hands.
Our TE's looked good.

We have work to do. Every team does.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

You can't have it both ways.
You say the reason we didn't get pressure is because we were trying to stop the run.
Well ok then.
But then you say we couldn't get them in 3rd and long either.

Plus as I pointed out they had good success converting 3rd and long anyway.

Fact is we didn't play well on either side of the ball in the first half. Against lesser competition.
That doesn't mean we suck or anything.
It means that maybe we were to amped up. That happens the first game. But it didn't happen to them!! Or we didn't come ready to play. That didn't happen to them either.

The dropped passes. The picks we should of had. The 3rd and 4th down conversions.
The pass coverage.
Those things need attention.
It was just to many people not making a play.
Good news is Nate looked good.
Goodson is going to be really fun to watch.
Oliver is a true wr (something we don't always recruit).
Brandon looks much better. That jump ball was nice, it just needed to be a foot or so more inbounds.
Sargent has great hands.
Our TE's looked good.

We have work to do. Every team does.

I never said we didn't get pressure because we were trying to stop the run...i said we didn't get pressure because they were doing three and a quick 5 step and the ball was out. That's a difficult scheme to get a pass rush...unless you can come unimpeded...and turns out...their tackles were pretty good. Our run defense was great for the most part...they had 59 yards rushing and they tried very hard to run the ball on us...but Martin is a smart coach...he's ok with two 2 yard runs to get to third and 6 because he had a QB that can throw the short route on time and accurately. This is what we try to do against a Mississippi State type defense too...they were running our offense...albeit with less effectiveness in the running game ( or more effectiveness if you look at the MSU game).

 

[tmess1989]

I never said we didn't get pressure because we were trying to stop the run...i said we didn't get pressure because they were doing three and a quick 5 step and the ball was out. That's a difficult scheme to get a pass rush...unless you can come unimpeded...and turns out...their tackles were pretty good. Our run defense was great for the most part...they had 59 yards rushing and they tried very hard to run the ball on us...but Martin is a smart coach...he's ok with two 2 yard runs to get to third and 6 because he had a QB that can throw the short route on time and accurately. This is what we try to do against a Mississippi State type defense too...they were running our offense...albeit with less effectiveness in the running game ( or more effectiveness if you look at the MSU game).

Need better coverage to not allow the 1st or even 2nd option to be open every play. I'd like to see more blitzing. Bring it from different places and often. Keep the offense off balance and force them to keep a RB in the backfield all game.

There were multiple times where AJE would have gotten to the QB if he held the ball one more second. I would have liked to see more Amani Jones at DE as well. Also was surprised there were very few stunts ran by the DL.

Part of me wonders if Iowa was keeping the defensive gameplan very vanilla to not have much on film for future opponents.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

I never said we didn't get pressure because we were trying to stop the run...i said we didn't get pressure because they were doing three and a quick 5 step and the ball was out. That's a difficult scheme to get a pass rush...unless you can come unimpeded...and turns out...their tackles were pretty good. Our run defense was great for the most part...they had 59 yards rushing and they tried very hard to run the ball on us...but Martin is a smart coach...he's ok with two 2 yard runs to get to third and 6 because he had a QB that can throw the short route on time and accurately. This is what we try to do against a Mississippi State type defense too...they were running our offense...albeit with less effectiveness in the running game ( or more effectiveness if you look at the MSU game).

Good argument. Their tackles don't have to be NFL good with the scheme they use. They don't have to sustain blocks. In pass protection their initial contact has to be good, and they have to foil any quick moves the defensive end makes to blow past them. Once that is done the ball is already gone.

 

[thedukeofearl]

Bingo about the TE being in back of the tackle. I realize this may not technically be called a double team, but it's essentially a double team. He was having to get around two guys and with how quickly they were getting the ball out he didn't have much of a chance to get pressure.

AJ basically shut down the running game on his side of the line just by being in the game

We have to adjust to that and concentrate on protecting the middle and opposite side of the line

Very early in the season, wrinkle to be ironed out and all that, but things are looking positive overall