Having now some months to think on it I think we can opine that the many deficiencies in Spencer's game were an albatross that really killed to offense, especially last season.
Think of every time Spencer missed an open receiver, didn't locate an open receiver, locked on a receiver or threw a frantic pass into traffic. Think of every time his immobility and poor field reading and decision making skills resulted in sacks or throw aways.
Then compound that by the significance of those mistakes. Most throws are designed to get first downs. Not every throw, of course, but most throws. So most of those mistakes, again not all, but most cost first downs. First downs get three or four more plays in which to get another first down. Every first down wears the defense so we also lose the benefit of any other first downs would have happened following the first lost opportunity. So those bad QBing mistakes robbed Iowa of a significant number of offensive plays and all the potentially additional yards those plays would have produced.
It would be hard to work out an exact number of lost yards by bad QBing (Padilla only averaged 2.4 yards per attempt) but it has to be around 100 per game. Between outstanding defense and an outstanding punt return game, Iowa plays on short fields making those hundred lost yards even more significant to the actual game play and scoring.
I opine Cade will regain most of those lost yards. If the line improves, we are going to see the offense really flip the script in 23.
Think of every time Spencer missed an open receiver, didn't locate an open receiver, locked on a receiver or threw a frantic pass into traffic. Think of every time his immobility and poor field reading and decision making skills resulted in sacks or throw aways.
Then compound that by the significance of those mistakes. Most throws are designed to get first downs. Not every throw, of course, but most throws. So most of those mistakes, again not all, but most cost first downs. First downs get three or four more plays in which to get another first down. Every first down wears the defense so we also lose the benefit of any other first downs would have happened following the first lost opportunity. So those bad QBing mistakes robbed Iowa of a significant number of offensive plays and all the potentially additional yards those plays would have produced.
It would be hard to work out an exact number of lost yards by bad QBing (Padilla only averaged 2.4 yards per attempt) but it has to be around 100 per game. Between outstanding defense and an outstanding punt return game, Iowa plays on short fields making those hundred lost yards even more significant to the actual game play and scoring.
I opine Cade will regain most of those lost yards. If the line improves, we are going to see the offense really flip the script in 23.
