A few things I’m thinking about this morning…
1. What makes a man go crazy when he watches a football team? Must be the same old thing, and it certainly was on Saturday when Pitt lost at Miami. Penalties, busted coverages, red zone issues, no running game, dropped passes, questionable decisions - it’s not just one thing; it’s that the same things keep showing up week after week.
2. Failures inside the 20 are nothing new, but Pitt might have hit a new low this week with five trips to the red zone and just one touchdown. That’s ineffectiveness on a whole new level. Whether it was a sack on third down, a handoff on third-and-1, a five-yard loss on a sweep or a substitution penalty, Pitt found four different ways to set itself back in the red zone, and it cost the Panthers the game. We’ll repeat this phrase a lot: it was a winnable game. But not when you go 1-for-5 in the red zone.
3. Simple question: What do you make of Pitt’s defense? They have given up 30 points in each of the last three games, which doesn’t seem like a good number. But they also more or less held Miami in check outside of three busted plays. I know you can’t pick and choose like that, but we will anyways: Miami had 331 yards on 73 plays, an average of 4.5 yards per play. But on the 70 plays that weren’t busted-coverage touchdowns, the Hurricanes averaged 3 yards per play. In the meantime, the Panthers had four sacks, 15 tackles for loss, two interceptions and held Miami to 4-of-13 on third down. That’s a strong performance. You know, other than the coverage busts that led to three touchdowns. So maybe the answer to that question is a bit more complicated.
4. One thing that’s not complicated is that Pitt’s defensive line played really well yesterday. That unit had 26 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and eight quarterback pressures. They made life difficult for D’Eriq King, who looked very, very average. I don’t think Miami always had the best plan for how to use King in that game, but Pitt’s defensive line looked like what we thought it should look like.
4a. Also: a quick nod has to be given to Deandre Jules and Dayon Hayes. Those guys didn’t play much, but they got a handful of snaps and made some plays, with Jules recording three tackles and 1.5 TFLs and Hayes getting a tackle and 0.5 TFL (he and Jules combined on a TFL). We’ve got a lot of things to question this season, but Pitt’s depth and talent at defensive line continues to be reliable.
5. Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing that’s reliable about Pitt’s defense. The coverage busts are becoming reliable, but so are bad penalties. I counted three penalties on the Panthers on third down: the first was Tyler Bentley getting a facemask call after a stop on third-and-goal; the next was Erick Hallett getting flagged for defensive holding on a third-and-8 stop; the third was John Morgan jumping offsides on third-and-15. The Morgan penalty wasn’t a killer, as Pitt got an interception on the ensuing third-and-10. But the first two third-down penalties led to touchdowns. This team simply can’t afford those mistakes.
6. In a game like this, some things will get overlooked. Like the decision to kick an extra point after the touchdown. It ultimately didn’t matter in a 12-point loss, but if you get a touchdown to make the score 21-15, then you should go for two. Being down by five isn’t very different from being down by six. But if you go for two and get it, then you’re down by four, which means another touchdown puts you up by a field goal. I guess you could kick and then try for two on your next touchdown, but I don’t see why you wouldn’t try for it there.
6a. Another questionable decision was the call to kick a field goal on fourth-and-3 from the 12 at the end of the third quarter. Pitt was trailing by 12 at that point and the defense was playing pretty well. A field goal to cut the lead to nine doesn’t seem to accomplish much.
7. Okay, let’s talk positive, just for a second. For making his second career start and his first at Pitt, I thought Joey Yellen played pretty well in place of Kenny Pickett. His final numbers - 22-of-46, 277 yards, 1 touchdown - weren’t great, and while he didn’t throw any interceptions, he did lose a fumble (and almost lost another one). Pro Football Focus credited Pitt’s receivers with four dropped passes, so that hurt things, but overall, I was encouraged by Yellen’s performance. He seemed to have a nice touch on his throws, and while he’s not the running threat that Kenny Pickett is, he moved around well in and out of the pocket, I thought.
8. I also think Jordan Addison gets a mention here. The freshman receiver has had some inconsistencies the last few weeks with four drops in the N.C. State and Boston College games, but he showed up big-time on Saturday. He caught 8-of-12 targets for 147 yards - all career highs - and while PFF did credit him with one drop, he made some outstanding plays throughout the game. He’s one of Pitt’s best offensive weapons, maybe the best the Panthers have overall, and he looked like it on Saturday.
9. Overall, I can’t help but come away from Saturday’s game thinking that Miami isn’t that much better than Pitt. The Hurricanes took advantage of a few mistakes in the Panthers’ secondary and definitely stood tall on defense in the red zone, but in general, I think Pitt played Miami pretty close when you consider the offense driving into the red zone three times plus the two possessions set up by interceptions. The divide between Pitt and Miami isn’t that wide. Then again, it’s not wide between Pitt and N.C. State or Boston College either, and that’s the worst part: the Panthers have enough talent to beat any one of those three teams. Maybe it’s a bit too much to expect them to sweep the Wolfpack, Eagles and Hurricanes, but there’s really no good excuse for going 0-3 in that stretch. They’re better than that.
10. Let’s end on a positive note: Maybe what I just said is encouraging for next week. Pitt hosts Notre Dame on Saturday and the Irish squeaked past Louisville 12-7 on Saturday. We know that the Panthers often give Notre Dame a more competitive game than expected, and given what we saw from both teams this weekend, I imagine the next meeting between these two should be another close one. I expect Yellen to get the start again, and while Notre Dame will have tape on him, I think he should be more comfortable after getting all that playing time on Saturday. This team has the potential to win games; we’ll see if they can actually make it happen.
1. What makes a man go crazy when he watches a football team? Must be the same old thing, and it certainly was on Saturday when Pitt lost at Miami. Penalties, busted coverages, red zone issues, no running game, dropped passes, questionable decisions - it’s not just one thing; it’s that the same things keep showing up week after week.
2. Failures inside the 20 are nothing new, but Pitt might have hit a new low this week with five trips to the red zone and just one touchdown. That’s ineffectiveness on a whole new level. Whether it was a sack on third down, a handoff on third-and-1, a five-yard loss on a sweep or a substitution penalty, Pitt found four different ways to set itself back in the red zone, and it cost the Panthers the game. We’ll repeat this phrase a lot: it was a winnable game. But not when you go 1-for-5 in the red zone.
3. Simple question: What do you make of Pitt’s defense? They have given up 30 points in each of the last three games, which doesn’t seem like a good number. But they also more or less held Miami in check outside of three busted plays. I know you can’t pick and choose like that, but we will anyways: Miami had 331 yards on 73 plays, an average of 4.5 yards per play. But on the 70 plays that weren’t busted-coverage touchdowns, the Hurricanes averaged 3 yards per play. In the meantime, the Panthers had four sacks, 15 tackles for loss, two interceptions and held Miami to 4-of-13 on third down. That’s a strong performance. You know, other than the coverage busts that led to three touchdowns. So maybe the answer to that question is a bit more complicated.
4. One thing that’s not complicated is that Pitt’s defensive line played really well yesterday. That unit had 26 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and eight quarterback pressures. They made life difficult for D’Eriq King, who looked very, very average. I don’t think Miami always had the best plan for how to use King in that game, but Pitt’s defensive line looked like what we thought it should look like.
4a. Also: a quick nod has to be given to Deandre Jules and Dayon Hayes. Those guys didn’t play much, but they got a handful of snaps and made some plays, with Jules recording three tackles and 1.5 TFLs and Hayes getting a tackle and 0.5 TFL (he and Jules combined on a TFL). We’ve got a lot of things to question this season, but Pitt’s depth and talent at defensive line continues to be reliable.
5. Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing that’s reliable about Pitt’s defense. The coverage busts are becoming reliable, but so are bad penalties. I counted three penalties on the Panthers on third down: the first was Tyler Bentley getting a facemask call after a stop on third-and-goal; the next was Erick Hallett getting flagged for defensive holding on a third-and-8 stop; the third was John Morgan jumping offsides on third-and-15. The Morgan penalty wasn’t a killer, as Pitt got an interception on the ensuing third-and-10. But the first two third-down penalties led to touchdowns. This team simply can’t afford those mistakes.
6. In a game like this, some things will get overlooked. Like the decision to kick an extra point after the touchdown. It ultimately didn’t matter in a 12-point loss, but if you get a touchdown to make the score 21-15, then you should go for two. Being down by five isn’t very different from being down by six. But if you go for two and get it, then you’re down by four, which means another touchdown puts you up by a field goal. I guess you could kick and then try for two on your next touchdown, but I don’t see why you wouldn’t try for it there.
6a. Another questionable decision was the call to kick a field goal on fourth-and-3 from the 12 at the end of the third quarter. Pitt was trailing by 12 at that point and the defense was playing pretty well. A field goal to cut the lead to nine doesn’t seem to accomplish much.
7. Okay, let’s talk positive, just for a second. For making his second career start and his first at Pitt, I thought Joey Yellen played pretty well in place of Kenny Pickett. His final numbers - 22-of-46, 277 yards, 1 touchdown - weren’t great, and while he didn’t throw any interceptions, he did lose a fumble (and almost lost another one). Pro Football Focus credited Pitt’s receivers with four dropped passes, so that hurt things, but overall, I was encouraged by Yellen’s performance. He seemed to have a nice touch on his throws, and while he’s not the running threat that Kenny Pickett is, he moved around well in and out of the pocket, I thought.
8. I also think Jordan Addison gets a mention here. The freshman receiver has had some inconsistencies the last few weeks with four drops in the N.C. State and Boston College games, but he showed up big-time on Saturday. He caught 8-of-12 targets for 147 yards - all career highs - and while PFF did credit him with one drop, he made some outstanding plays throughout the game. He’s one of Pitt’s best offensive weapons, maybe the best the Panthers have overall, and he looked like it on Saturday.
9. Overall, I can’t help but come away from Saturday’s game thinking that Miami isn’t that much better than Pitt. The Hurricanes took advantage of a few mistakes in the Panthers’ secondary and definitely stood tall on defense in the red zone, but in general, I think Pitt played Miami pretty close when you consider the offense driving into the red zone three times plus the two possessions set up by interceptions. The divide between Pitt and Miami isn’t that wide. Then again, it’s not wide between Pitt and N.C. State or Boston College either, and that’s the worst part: the Panthers have enough talent to beat any one of those three teams. Maybe it’s a bit too much to expect them to sweep the Wolfpack, Eagles and Hurricanes, but there’s really no good excuse for going 0-3 in that stretch. They’re better than that.
10. Let’s end on a positive note: Maybe what I just said is encouraging for next week. Pitt hosts Notre Dame on Saturday and the Irish squeaked past Louisville 12-7 on Saturday. We know that the Panthers often give Notre Dame a more competitive game than expected, and given what we saw from both teams this weekend, I imagine the next meeting between these two should be another close one. I expect Yellen to get the start again, and while Notre Dame will have tape on him, I think he should be more comfortable after getting all that playing time on Saturday. This team has the potential to win games; we’ll see if they can actually make it happen.
