I think they said during the broadcast that he and the other safety were both filling in for injured starters.
State of passing game
- Thread starter Iceman
- Start date
trj
Well-Known Member
I will be the bad guy in this thread. Given the current state of o-line play in general, this o-line is good and Barnett deserves credit for that. This o-line is 2015 good except CJB was much better than CM. Shedeur Sanders would kill to have the Iowa o-line right now.
Iowa is basically rolling out 5 guards as their o-line, which 95% of Power 4 teams and 90% of NFL teams are doing. There are only so many 320 lbs. humans with the athleticism to do this. You guys are nitpicking over bullshit. Is the pass protection perfect? No. Gawd forbid you get a quarterback that can make a play with his arm or legs or maybe both.
#1DieHardHawk
Well-Known Member
Is the line better than the last two seasons? Absolutely. The point is they should be better - meaning that health and experience by itself was destined to translate into better play (ideally). Improvement was bound to happen organically, regardless of the coach.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not hating on the line or the players. Just pointing out that fundamental errors are still happening primarily in pass-pro, which have nothing to do with scheme, and reflect on coaching. Fans are jumping all over McNamara. I get it, but no quarterback is going to have a great stat line when an interior defensive lineman is immediately in his face over and over.
McNamara definitely has his faults, and honestly hasn't shown much, but we have to remember the quarterback doesn't play in a vacuum - Protection, route running, reads in RPO, etc., are all factors in his play. He may well end up not being the answer, but there's a lot to take into account before the torches and pitchforks come out.
trj
Well-Known Member
I dunno, man. In a perfect world Richman and Dunker would be playing inside, but so many teams have to throw guards out there to be tackles, it makes it hard for me to shit on Barnett.
Jones, Colby and Stephens…I think we know what these guys are at this point . I’m not going to get mad at those guys because Cade doesn’t have 5 seconds to throw the football.
Colby is the biggest surprise to me, in a negative way. He came out of h.s. with all the tools to be an exceptional OLineman. To be fair, he was thrust into a starting role at guard, then tackle I believe as a Fr, far before he was ready. But as a 3-4 year starter, the time for excuses is over. It's shocking to see how many times his vision is wrong and guys directly across from him get past him without even being touched. I don't know if the Oline calls are too complex, but in pass protection if guys would just block the guys in front of them, they'd have great success. Multiple experienced guys on Iowa's OLine simply are not able to do that consistently. If they were Fr, it would be understandable. They're not...they want to be playing in the NFL next year. It's baffling.
HuckFinn
Well-Known Member
I don’t get it guys. I have watched my dvr a couple of times and focused on the O line. Needless to say, they completely dominated MN in the second half. Big holes, downfield blocking, very, very physical. Good pulling techniques with solid results. Zone blocking very effective. Huge cut back lanes for RB’s. Result was a ton of yards in the run game And unlike last year, virtually zero negative running plays. Right?
Remember. Richmond is rated by nfl sources as the best pass protection guy in their analysis list. Yes, as a left tackle. Dunker is a road grader. Sometimes he just misses. More often, he needs to be charged with assault. Guards are better by far this year and Jones looks like he has recovered from his injuries. Not a lot of pressure on Cade from the inside, which was awful last season.
Announcers pointed out the 8 and 9 man fronts by MN in the first half and constant blitzes out numbered our O line. They were right, my observations confirmed. They came full blast at our QB because it was obvious when we had to throw the ball. They tried that in the second half to no avail. Chunk run plays were the result as we got to second level and nobody home. Some great play calling and change up blocking schemes made the second half a nightmare for MN.
Now. Can we achieve consistently? And, as KF made clear, we must get going on passing the football.
Remember. Richmond is rated by nfl sources as the best pass protection guy in their analysis list. Yes, as a left tackle. Dunker is a road grader. Sometimes he just misses. More often, he needs to be charged with assault. Guards are better by far this year and Jones looks like he has recovered from his injuries. Not a lot of pressure on Cade from the inside, which was awful last season.
Announcers pointed out the 8 and 9 man fronts by MN in the first half and constant blitzes out numbered our O line. They were right, my observations confirmed. They came full blast at our QB because it was obvious when we had to throw the ball. They tried that in the second half to no avail. Chunk run plays were the result as we got to second level and nobody home. Some great play calling and change up blocking schemes made the second half a nightmare for MN.
Now. Can we achieve consistently? And, as KF made clear, we must get going on passing the football.
