Denard's throwing mechanics + six games as a starter
This is not a complaint regarding Denard, we would be serious trouble without his emergence.
I was wondering if his throwing motion is seeming to slip now that he has 6 games of wear on him. He is getting the ball there in many cases, but seems to look a bit different to me in his motion. I felt his mechanics looked better earlier in the season. I would attribute any breakdown to him just getting worn down physically as a first time starter (he even mentioned he was not hitting the holes running) and even mentally with the crazy amount of attention. A bye week would have been great to simply regoup and rest. Maybe it is just over analysis.
October 11th, 2010 at 12:05 PM ^
he was off in a big game and will most likely be more decisive this week in his execution. im betting money this will be a signature day for this team.
October 11th, 2010 at 1:59 PM ^
I agree, Denard is definitely one of the hardest working athletes on the team. He'll be much better this week along with the rest of the team. They have a statement to make and unfortunately for Iowa, it's going to be on them.
October 11th, 2010 at 12:07 PM ^
He's still a young QB. I don't think it was much more than being hesitant on his reads. If he would have thrown the ball quicker on a couple of the slants, they were open. He seemed to do the same on some of the run plays as well. Just a bad game for him.
October 11th, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
Until now. He was just rushing things a little because he was against a faster, more talented defense than he has seen so far. Nothing more than that. He will be fine.
October 11th, 2010 at 1:29 PM ^
Don't post something like this until he does it more than once. It's like judging a restaurant by only going there one time, maybe you had bad service that ONE time, that ONE TIME?(Little Giants).
October 11th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
The game slows down with experience through the eyes of a QB. This kid is going to be scary!
October 11th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
As long as he stays healthy, he will be a much better QB by OSU week, meaning he will react quicker against faster, better defenses.
You still need to remember that this off day for him was still a pretty good day statistically. His bar has just been raised so high that one off game gets overanalyzed.
October 11th, 2010 at 3:04 PM ^
While I agree with most of what you say, I would say it was a good day statistically...only if you look only at yards and not at that INT stat.
I don't think it takes away anything he's done already or drops him out of the heisman race, but the 3 picks are a statistic that cannot be ignored and is never good for anybody.
I still think Denard has shown considerably more good than bad and is the best player in the country right now. The fact that he still helped gain as many yards on an off day is encouraging, and had he connected with non-spartans on a couple of those picks we could've still lost and the hype machine would've kept building. As it stands, a small wrench was thrown into the works of said hype machine, but I'm hoping that when the wrench gets removed the machine starts working even better than before.
October 11th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^
great points about denard. add in the laws of probability-hit 3 parlays in a row and the 4th you hit 2 games out of 5, and you leave 17-21 points on the field. denard will bounce back.on the other hand maybe tate should get 1 series a half to take some of the wear , both physical and mental, off of a 19 year old.
October 11th, 2010 at 5:09 PM ^
First, the disclaimer: I am not an expert on the mechanics of QB play.
I would like to have someone with, you know, actual qualifications assess Denard's footwork on the bad throws. Especially the ones that were intercepted -at least the first two. It seemed to me, the non-expert, that the first one was thrown flat-footed, Juice Williams style. On the second one, I initially thought it was also thrown with bad footwork but on replay it looked like he had to reset and didn't quite step into it (but otherwise it wasn't that bad). On the wide open long bomb misses both in this game and previously it also seems like Denard rushed the throw and didn't have his feet set properly. Right? Or not so much.
Theory: Improper mechanics --> inaccurate passes.