Iowa/ISU and Week 1 NFL Reactions

Iowa vs. Iowa St

The Hawkeyes and Cyclones got together for another round of the Cy-Hawk series and the game didn’t disappoint of course for me that’s probably because the Hawkeyes actually pulled out the win.  The 31-17 score wasn’t indicative of how close the game was as the Hawkeyes scored twice late in the 4th quarter to pull out the win.  I’m always happy for a Hawkeye win and even happier when it comes over Iowa St. and while this game had it’s questionable moments it was nice to see the Hawkeyes get over the mental block they seem to have when playing ISU.

The moments that disturbed me the most were the absolutely horrific clock management and fake field goal call at the end of the 1st half.  I’m not against the fake field goal but not after you run the clock down to 1 second and then ask your kicker to run for a 30 yard TD or you get no points.  There are about 10 different scenarios that could have worked to get points and the coaches picked the one that was least likely to succeed, there is a fine line between being unpredictable and being stupid.  The other moment that bothered me most during the game was when the Hawkeyes put Jonathan Parker in and ran the jet sweep.  Parker losing yardage on that play was almost as inevitable as the Hawkeyes running the jet sweep when they put Parker in the game.  There wasn’t a single person in the record breaking crowd at Jack Trice Stadium or watching the game on TV that didn’t know that play was coming.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I love the speed and playmaking potential that Jonathan Parker brings to the offense but someone on the offensive staff has to figure out a way to get the ball to him that doesn’t involve the words “jet sweep”.  Try a tunnel screen or try one of the many quick flare out passes that they have thrown to Matt Vandeberg to Jonathan Parker instead.  The final thing that made me wonder what the coaching staff is doing was when Desmond King fielded a kickoff that was going out of bounds at about the 2 yard line, it wasn’t quite as idiotic of a play as Parker’s infamous play in the bowl game but it was close.  How have the coaches not taught their kickoff return guys that if a ball is headed out of bounds DO NOT TOUCH IT.  It’s a fairly easy rule to remember.

Parker moved over to WR from RB during spring practice but the coaching staff may have to consider moving him back to RB depending on the health this week of LeShun Daniels.  Daniels sprained his ankle but that isn’t the only hit the RB depth chart took this week.  Derrick Mitchell Jr. has been suspended for a Student Code of Conduct violation, I’m not going to speculate what the issue is but he was 3rd string and after Daniels went down against ISU Jordan Canzeri had to handle all of the workload.  It was pretty obvious the coaches don’t trust Akrum Wadley’s ball security when they wouldn’t even use him when Canzeri looked completely gassed in the second half of the game.  If Daniels can’t go (it’s completely possible that he will) and they don’t have Mitchell and they don’t trust Wadley that leaves redshirt freshman Marcel Joly or true freshman Eric Graham, let’s all cross our fingers that Daniels is fine.

The injury to Drew Ott is far more concerning given the start he got off to this season.  We should find out a little more today from Kirk Ferentz’s press conference but my guess is we won’t know a lot until Saturday night when they line up against Pitt.  Parker Hesse played pretty well given he was thrown into the fire a bit and Matt Nelson will see more playing time in the rotation at DE.  Even if Ott plays Saturday he isn’t likely to be 100% so it would be a good idea to lessen his load by playing Nelson and Hesse more.  Kudos to Nate Meier for picking up the playmaking slack when Ott did go out he really stepped up his play.

CJ Beathard played a fantastic game against the Cyclones and he’ll get tested this weekend even more by a Pitt team being coached by former Michigan St. defensive guru Pat Narduzzi.  Beathard made plays with his arm and his feet and that makes him much more difficult to prepare for from Pitt’s perspective but he needs to keep up his playmaking prowess.  The Hawkeyes did a fantastic job of using Matt Vandeberg in the short passing game over and over again which is what led to him being able to get downfield for his long catch against the Cyclones, at least some evidence that the Hawkeyes are figuring out this offensive play calling thing.  Congrats to Riley McCarron on his TD grab, I’m still not sure how he got open but Beathard threw an unbelievable pass and McCarron made a really nice grab.  Jordan Canzeri carried the load in the second half of the game and luckily for him the Cyclone defense wore down too and he made some plays and didn’t let his fumble get into his head, maybe he could talk to Akrum Wadley about that, then maybe he’d have some help.

In the first half of the game the Iowa defense kept shooting itself in the foot with stupid and untimely penalties that kept Cyclone drives alive.  In the second half they stopped the stupid penalties and shut out the Cyclones.  There is a lesson to be learned there and hopefully they will play more disciplined against Pitt.  Watching the game it was interesting to me that the commentators kept talking about the size and ability of ISU WRs Allen Lazard and D’Vario Montgomery but they really didn’t talk much about how Iowa’s corners did a pretty solid job against them.  Lazard had 7 catches but they didn’t really hurt Iowa and Montgomery only had one catch.

The Cy-Hawk trophy is back where it belongs in Iowa City and the Hawkeyes finally have one of there traveling trophies back (it’s still pretty lonely but 1 is better than none).  Now the two teams get to move on to the rest of their schedule.  The Hawkeyes have a prime time date with Pitt on Saturday and Iowa St. travels to face a Toledo team that just took down Arkansas.  All of the sudden that Toledo game looks a little more daunting but then they Cyclones get Kansas and they need to win that game because then they get 8 straight games where they won’t be favored in any of them, just kidding Clone fans you might be favored over Texas if they keep playing they way they are playing.

NFL Overreaction Week (aka Week 1)

So far what we know about the NFL season is that Peyton Manning’s career is obviously over, the Seahawks are completely finished and stand no chance even within their own division and Johnny Manziel is a terrible QB.  Okay only one of those things is probably true, care to guess which one?  Here’s my Hott Reads on some situations around the league.

• Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos offense looked pretty bad this week but let’s not jump off the cliff just yet.  Manning is running a new offense after running essentially the same offense since Bill Clinton was President (no seriously Clinton was still President that’s how long it’s been).  Watching Manning trying to roll out left and hit a WR over the middle while running was almost painful and expecting Manning to put up big numbers in Gary Kubiak’s offense is crazy.  Kubiak was hired to be the Broncos coach for the long haul and Manning isn’t in this for the long haul so it’s an inconvenient marriage.  The bigger problem is the offensive line in flux and their inability to get things going in the running game to take the pressure off Manning.  Manning will figure it out and hopefully Kubiak will call for less roll outs but the offense should improve.
• Another team that has offensive line problems is the Seahawks and St. Louis’ great defensive line showed teams that that is how you beat Seattle.  QB pressure on Wilson and being able to get to Marshawn Lynch in the backfield helps a lot when defending the Seahawks.  The Seattle defense will keep them in games for the most part but the losses on their offensive line are going to hurt them.
• Johnny Manziel was called upon when Josh McCown suffered a concussion in the Browns game and he came in an threw a beautiful TD pass on his first series.  Then he turned back into a pumpkin and looked horrible during the second half.  Manziel might not be done yet because McCown has to pass concussion protocol before he can return but his future looks pretty bleak.
• Marcus Mariota is being fitted for his gold Hall of Fame jacket as we speak but we may want to put the breaks on for just a minute.  He had a phenomenal first NFL game and that has to feel good for the Titans but I remember a few years ago there was this guy named Robert Griffin III that won Rookie of the Year over another rookie QB named Andrew Luck, who would you rather have right now.  Also Tennessee only has to look at their own history at a guy named Vince Young.  Young won Rookie of the Year too and his career sputtered pretty quickly after that, I’m not saying that kind of fall is going to happen to Mariota I’m just saying let’s give him a little time before we start working on his bronze bust for Canton.
• Many teams looked really good and many teams looked really bad and for most of them it they are probably somewhere in between and for some it was just an aberration (the Colts can’t be that bad).  However two teams looked as good as I thought they would and two teams looked as bad and I think their performances were true to form.  The Rams got solid QB play with great defense and they looked good with out either Todd Gurley or Tre Mason at RB, they could be very good when they get those guys back.  The Bengals played really well on offense and their defense was much improved.  The Browns are sunk as long as Josh McCown and Johnny Manziel are their options at QB and the Buccaneers looked bad because a suspect offensive line played poorly and their defense got destroyed.
• Two major WRs got hurt and both teams hope they are out for just a few weeks.  The Colts lost TY Hilton and after their showing in Week 1 they can’t afford to be without anyone that can help them.  The Cowboys lost Dez Bryant late in their win against the Giants and they made their comeback without him but they hope he’s back sooner rather than later.  They can get by but Devin Street is no Dez Bryant.  Cowboy fans are thanking God for the ageless wonder TE Jason Witten.
• One quick thing about my Predictions thing, I completely forgot to include Carlos Hyde as one of my breakout offensive players, he got off to a heck of a start last night.
• Not an overreaction just a fact: Tom Brady is pissed off and he’s going to take it out on the entire league and he’s going to do it with fully inflated footballs.