Statistical look at what Cade McNamara brings

Again, that’s a lot to dissect unless you’re a bit of a football numbers dork (which, props to you if you are). What are the biggest takeaways here?

Two things really jumped out for me. First, and this probably won’t surprise Iowa fans too much, but McNamara and Michigan were much more likely to stress a defense deep down the field.

While Petras completed 33-of-78 passes of 10-to-19 yards in 2022, he attempted just 24 passes of 20-plus yards all season. By comparison, McNamara attempted 48 passes of 20-plus yards in 2021.

Here’s the thing that should excite Iowa fans: McNamara boasted some really good numbers on throws of 20-plus yards. Overall, he completed 19-of-48 20-plus passes for 715 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. All of his NFL grades were 105.4 or greater on each section of the field (outside left, between the numbers, outside right) on throws of 20-plus yards.

It’s a dimension Iowa has been sorely, sorely lacking.