Pitt Offensive Coordinator Frank Cignetti Stays Firm in Phil Jurkovec as the Starting QB
PITTSBURGH —Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. has had a close relationship with redshirt senior quarterback Phil Jurkovec for a few years at the collegiate level. Cignetti served as the offensive coordinator at Boston College for two seasons in 2020 and 2021, with Jurkovec serving as...
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In this article, Cignetti said he never thought about changing QB’s in the loss to Cincinnati. This is concerning on many levels. Here are a few:
1. What will it take for him to consider a change? Saturday was as bad as I’ve ever seen a QB play.
2. I see this as Narduzzi’s stubbornness rubbing off on Cignetti. Pulling Phil probably would have shot his confidence, but sometimes you gotta tear someone down to build them back up.
3. I’m deeply concerned about Narduzzi’s ability to evaluate talent in the transfer portal. Slovis was miserable, Jurkovec is trending towards being awful. QB is a position you can’t afford to miss in your evaluation.
4. I saw in a separate article that Narduzzi blamed Phil’s struggles on the pressure he faced. I’m not standing up for the O-Line here, but does anyone see adjustments to help this offense? Narduzzi claims there were 25 pass protection issues on 44 drop backs. If true, that’s atrocious, and has me asking serious questions about Cignetti, Borb, and Narduzzi.
Deep devotion to a player can be problematic, because it can skew your judgement, making it difficult to accurately put your best 11 on the field at the risk of hurting feelings. The problems with this offense are multiple and run deep, maybe deeper than what Cignetti and Narduzzi are capable of fixing.