A bunch of thoughts the morning after a loss...
1. There were a lot of factors that went into yesterday’s loss, and I think each deserves a mention. But to me, the missed tackles were the biggest problems. Too many three-yard plays turned into six or seven. That’s not to say the other issues weren’t a problem - they all were - but the missed tackles stood out to me the most.
2. I track pretty much every play in my notes, mostly for personnel, and I wrote down the word “screen” on 14 of Miami’s offensive plays yesterday. That’s a very unofficial total, and I might not have written it down once or twice, but those 14 plays resulted in more than 100 passing yards and only three of them - one incomplete pass, one stopped for no gain, one tackled for a five-yard loss - failed to gain positive yardage. Five of them gained double-digit yardage.
3. I don’t know if the hit on Lucas Krull was targeting - I kind of think it was - but even if the refs passed on that call, they could have gotten the Miami defender for taunting. I am not a fan of taunting penalties, but when you do it while standing over a motionless player, that should be 15 yards.
4. I also don’t know if the non-safety was a safety. I just don’t think there was a definitive angle that proved it, one way or the other. I think if it had been called a safety on the field, that call would have stood, too. No replay showed enough to overturn either call; unfortunately for Pitt, the original call was no safety, so that’s what stood.
5. That call was a blow to Pitt, for sure, and if it had been a safety, I am fairly confident the Panthers win the game if they get the ball back down 2 with 3:43 to play and three timeouts. So yes, that could have changed the game. But even without the safety, Pitt had Miami in second-and-11 from the 1; that’s still a good situation for the home team. Until they give up an 18-yard pass.
There was still a chance for Pitt to get the ball back and win the game, but you can’t give up that pass.
6. Pitt’s defense was a bust yesterday. No question about it. The Panthers gave up 490 yards of total offense. What’s wild is, 205 of those 490 yards came on the first three drives, which covered a total of 10 plays. Over Miami’s final 61 plays, the Hurricanes averaged just 4.67 yards per play.
I’m not saying Pitt’s defense played well after the first three drives - there were bad penalties and the aforementioned second-and-11 - it just all happened very fast early in the game.
7. What happened on those first three drives? Tyler Van Dyke dropped a dime to Keyshawn Smith for 57 yards to set up the first touchdown. The Hurricanes ran a trick play for the second score (another 57-yard touchdown). And Pitt whiffed on tackling Jaylan Knighton for his 40-yard touchdown run. That’s 154 yards on three plays alone.
On the next drive, Pitt forced a punt and seemed to have momentum. But the drive after that, Miami got a field goal when the Panthers committed not one but two roughing penalties. If you’re not going to tackle well and you’re going to bust some coverages, you should probably at least try to avoid penalties like that. I didn’t totally buy those flags, but at this point, we’re all pretty familiar with what will get called, and you have to be smarter than that.
8. I think it was a solid decision to punt on fourth-and-10 from the Miami 39 shortly after that drive. I know we’re in an era where every punt from plus territory is derided, but to me, there’s more than just the yard line. You also have to consider the distance, and 10 yards is a long way from the lead stick. And while I hesitate to say the ends justify the means, in that case, they did because the plan worked perfectly: pin them deep with a punt (Miami took possession at the 8), make a stop on defense (Pitt forced a three-and-out) and get the ball back with good field position (the offense took the field at the Miami 45). It worked exactly as it should.
9. What didn’t work was the play that came next, but I’ll get to that in a second. First, one other thought on the fourth-down punt: that series of downs started with first down at the Miami 39. After an incomplete pass, Pitt was in second-and-10 and had a 13-yard pass to Jordan Addison called back because Lucas Krull was downfield ineligibly. The ensuing second-and-15 is where I had an issue, because Mark Whipple called a handoff to Rodney Hammond that gained five.
I think in that situation, you need a little more than five. I think you need a pass play that gets a medium gain so you can be facing third-and-7 or less. Third-and-7 lets you run the ball to get 3-5 yards and set up a makable fourth down. So in my opinion, that sequence of plays was questionable.
10. I would say the same about Pitt’s first-and-goal at the 5 early in the fourth quarter. Kenny Pickett just converted fourth-and-2 with a 10-yard pass to Gavin Bartholomew, but from the 5, the offense tried to run the same play again and it failed. Ditto for the fade pass to a running back on second down. And then, of course, came the Pitt Special variation on third down, which failed as well.
11. It all led to a field goal. I’m not sure if the decision to kick has been debated - it probably has - but I’m okay with the field goal. What I’m not okay with is lining up for first-and-goal at the 5 and choosing to throw three times rather than give the running backs an opportunity. Israel Abanikanda, Vincent Davis and Rodney Hammond ran 13 times for 79 yards; that’s better than six yards per carry. I have to believe that if you handed it off on the first two plays you’d be facing no worse than third-and-goal from the 2. And then you have a lot of options - you could even run two quarterback sneaks from there if you want.
I try not to second-guess play-calling too often, but I didn’t think those situations were handled as well as they could have been.
Continued...
1. There were a lot of factors that went into yesterday’s loss, and I think each deserves a mention. But to me, the missed tackles were the biggest problems. Too many three-yard plays turned into six or seven. That’s not to say the other issues weren’t a problem - they all were - but the missed tackles stood out to me the most.
2. I track pretty much every play in my notes, mostly for personnel, and I wrote down the word “screen” on 14 of Miami’s offensive plays yesterday. That’s a very unofficial total, and I might not have written it down once or twice, but those 14 plays resulted in more than 100 passing yards and only three of them - one incomplete pass, one stopped for no gain, one tackled for a five-yard loss - failed to gain positive yardage. Five of them gained double-digit yardage.
3. I don’t know if the hit on Lucas Krull was targeting - I kind of think it was - but even if the refs passed on that call, they could have gotten the Miami defender for taunting. I am not a fan of taunting penalties, but when you do it while standing over a motionless player, that should be 15 yards.
4. I also don’t know if the non-safety was a safety. I just don’t think there was a definitive angle that proved it, one way or the other. I think if it had been called a safety on the field, that call would have stood, too. No replay showed enough to overturn either call; unfortunately for Pitt, the original call was no safety, so that’s what stood.
5. That call was a blow to Pitt, for sure, and if it had been a safety, I am fairly confident the Panthers win the game if they get the ball back down 2 with 3:43 to play and three timeouts. So yes, that could have changed the game. But even without the safety, Pitt had Miami in second-and-11 from the 1; that’s still a good situation for the home team. Until they give up an 18-yard pass.
There was still a chance for Pitt to get the ball back and win the game, but you can’t give up that pass.
6. Pitt’s defense was a bust yesterday. No question about it. The Panthers gave up 490 yards of total offense. What’s wild is, 205 of those 490 yards came on the first three drives, which covered a total of 10 plays. Over Miami’s final 61 plays, the Hurricanes averaged just 4.67 yards per play.
I’m not saying Pitt’s defense played well after the first three drives - there were bad penalties and the aforementioned second-and-11 - it just all happened very fast early in the game.
7. What happened on those first three drives? Tyler Van Dyke dropped a dime to Keyshawn Smith for 57 yards to set up the first touchdown. The Hurricanes ran a trick play for the second score (another 57-yard touchdown). And Pitt whiffed on tackling Jaylan Knighton for his 40-yard touchdown run. That’s 154 yards on three plays alone.
On the next drive, Pitt forced a punt and seemed to have momentum. But the drive after that, Miami got a field goal when the Panthers committed not one but two roughing penalties. If you’re not going to tackle well and you’re going to bust some coverages, you should probably at least try to avoid penalties like that. I didn’t totally buy those flags, but at this point, we’re all pretty familiar with what will get called, and you have to be smarter than that.
8. I think it was a solid decision to punt on fourth-and-10 from the Miami 39 shortly after that drive. I know we’re in an era where every punt from plus territory is derided, but to me, there’s more than just the yard line. You also have to consider the distance, and 10 yards is a long way from the lead stick. And while I hesitate to say the ends justify the means, in that case, they did because the plan worked perfectly: pin them deep with a punt (Miami took possession at the 8), make a stop on defense (Pitt forced a three-and-out) and get the ball back with good field position (the offense took the field at the Miami 45). It worked exactly as it should.
9. What didn’t work was the play that came next, but I’ll get to that in a second. First, one other thought on the fourth-down punt: that series of downs started with first down at the Miami 39. After an incomplete pass, Pitt was in second-and-10 and had a 13-yard pass to Jordan Addison called back because Lucas Krull was downfield ineligibly. The ensuing second-and-15 is where I had an issue, because Mark Whipple called a handoff to Rodney Hammond that gained five.
I think in that situation, you need a little more than five. I think you need a pass play that gets a medium gain so you can be facing third-and-7 or less. Third-and-7 lets you run the ball to get 3-5 yards and set up a makable fourth down. So in my opinion, that sequence of plays was questionable.
10. I would say the same about Pitt’s first-and-goal at the 5 early in the fourth quarter. Kenny Pickett just converted fourth-and-2 with a 10-yard pass to Gavin Bartholomew, but from the 5, the offense tried to run the same play again and it failed. Ditto for the fade pass to a running back on second down. And then, of course, came the Pitt Special variation on third down, which failed as well.
11. It all led to a field goal. I’m not sure if the decision to kick has been debated - it probably has - but I’m okay with the field goal. What I’m not okay with is lining up for first-and-goal at the 5 and choosing to throw three times rather than give the running backs an opportunity. Israel Abanikanda, Vincent Davis and Rodney Hammond ran 13 times for 79 yards; that’s better than six yards per carry. I have to believe that if you handed it off on the first two plays you’d be facing no worse than third-and-goal from the 2. And then you have a lot of options - you could even run two quarterback sneaks from there if you want.
I try not to second-guess play-calling too often, but I didn’t think those situations were handled as well as they could have been.
Continued...
