IOWA CITY -- Cade McNamara finished 11-of-19 for 62 yards in Iowa's 31-14 victory over Minnesota on Saturday night. Despite some negative sentiment from Hawkeye fans surrounding his performance, Tim Lester believes it was one of McNamara's best games so far this season.
Iowa's first-year offensive coordinator says it goes beyond the numbers.
"Everything is about your feet and timing in the passing game," Lester said at Tuesday's coordinator availability. "I had him, I think, at 11-of-13. We had two drops, we had two great reads and throws where routes weren't run right, I called a bad play and he threw it away which was a good decision and we had one batted away."
Overall, Lester said his quarterback showed improvement, especially relative to his tough game against Iowa State two weeks ago.
"I was very impressed with his feet, and that's what I grade. Can you operate this offense on time?" Lester said. "Week two was probably his worst game as far as his footwork goes, which when your feet aren't set, you're not an accurate thrower of the ball. I really thought he played a pretty good game on Saturday."
With the installation of McNamara's third offense in three years, Lester said the difficulties he and the offense have faced to this point were expected.
"That's part of the growing pains and the growing process," he said. "I really think he's getting better and more comfortable. Early on it was hot and cold. ... I thought he did a really good job of getting rid of the ball. There was one decision that I would've done something differently and gone somewhere else -- that was the one sack he took."
"I wanted to see it all come a long, obviously, and so does everybody else. But I was very happy with the last game when it comes to grading him as a quarterback coach."
Still, the passing game clearly has work to do. Lester believes they're on the right track and recognizing where things need to be fixed.
"After last week, I think we're closer than it looks," he said. "We did a couple things last week that we hadn't done yet, as far as a receiver seeing coverage and understanding where to sit down. Then wee missed a couple, and the couple we missed were big ones."
As Lester said, McNamara saw the opportunities that were there.
"[He] saw it, progressed on time, ripped it in the hole and there was nothing there," Lester said. "We didn't run the route correctly in that coverage."
With the bye week in progress, Lester hopes to shore up some of those issues with the receivers.
"This is a week where we can hopefully bridge that gap faster than other weeks," Lester said. "We've got to get everything oiled up every week for our opponent. This week, there is no opponent. The opponent is us. We are trying to speed the curve up as much as humanly possible."
Though the group has plenty to gain from the week at hand, there have been encouraging signs along the way, too.
"I do think Reece (Vander Zee) is coming along. I think Jacob (Gill) is coming along. I do think watching Dayton (Howard) and (Jarriett) Buie get involved the last couple weeks has been fun. Kaleb (Brown) is coming along. Kaleb is still feeling out some of the timings and some of the routes. Once he does, we know he can make plays," Lester said. It's just fun to watch. Everyone is working on themselves. As the pieces come along, I think we're going to be able to be more explosive as long as we stay on time."
The most notable absence in the passing game so far has been Brown, who began to show some production toward the end of last season for the Iowa offense. Lester points to the timing and feel the former four-star prospect has yet to fully get a grip on.
"I think he's really just getting to understand the timing of the game," Lester said. We've had him targeted a couple times and he just hasn't run the route quite like we needed him to. He's one of those kids that today was probably his best day, and he's starting to get it."
For Brown, it's a matter of getting the intricate parts of the game right.
"He has to continue working on all the little things in the technique and the detail," Lester said. "In the passing game, if he takes one step too many, that ball is out. I need the ball out of the quarterback's hands before the receiver is looking. We better know exactly what you're going to do. If you're going to take those two extra steps, it's going to look as if you just turned out or there's a hole. That's his main issue."
There's no issue of talent for the Ohio State transfer.
"When he's on time, when he catches the ball, you see the way he punctures vertical," Lester said. "That part is natural. We have a couple things we want to do to get him the ball, but he's just really got to work on his fundamentals."
Of course the offensive line plays a factor in the passing game, too. Though there's been a clear step forward in run blocking, the OL still has much left to be desired in pass protection at times. Lester chose to use the running game's effectiveness to help McNamara out on Saturday, by getting him out of the pocket into bootleg actions.
"That's the easy part -- finding where the runs are hitting and setting up the boot after that," he said. "We knew going into this game the run and the movements were going to be big. We had more movements and play-pass than we had any other week. That's easier to build."
In the drop back passing game, Lester says the group needs to show improvement.
"We just have to be better," Lester said. "We have to be more precise with everything we do."
