I've been collecting all my thoughts about Pitt this morning, and what happened yesterday, and where to go from here. I think there are plenty of big picture things to look at, but also some immediate issues that need to be talked about with this team.
1) It's been unforunate for this program that the offense and defense aren't synched up on the same years. We saw a historically good offense in 2016 from Pitt, matched with a really bad defense. The past couple of seasons we saw some pretty good defense from this program, particualrly in 2019, to be paired with an offense that can't run the ball or score in the red zone. Now Pitt has its best quarterback it has had in decades in the 2021 version of Kenny Pickett with a defense that has given up 78 points in the past two weeks. And looking further ahead, this defense will probably improve by the end of the year, and be good next year. But you'll be ushering in a new quarterback and the offense takes a step back. It's a vicious cycle that I can certainly see continuing.
2) The offensive personnel usage was interesting yesterday. I mean your bread and butter is Pickett to Addison and Krull, and the other receivers are pretty competent to even good this season. They featured those guys and scored six TD's through the air, hard to complain about that aspect. I'm not sure what is going on with the RB situation though. I don't think Davis is as bad as he is made out to be on here, and he actually had some nice plays in the second half. But Abanikanda's hype in the offseason was strange, considering how it has been played out through three games. The head coach, the assistant coaches, and the players all said Izzy looked great for months before the season. Hell, he did run well in the spring game, we all saw it. So I do think he may have been a little banged up yesterday, but him playing the final drive and on kickoff return is interesting. Again, I think a lot of it is scheme and blocking that hinders the running game, but the backs can certainly add to it. Maybe trying Izzy more might open things up? At this point, it's at least worth trying. If it doesn't work, you know Davis can do.
3) Keldrick Wilson being inserted into the line yesterday didn't make a lot of sense to me. It always seemd Zubovic and Goncalves were the next guys to play in the O-Line rotation. Kradel going to center made sense if Drexel was struggling, but kicking Houy to guard and Goncalces at RT, or just throwing Zubovic in there at RG may have been better options. Again, I think the coaches know their personnel better than us, but Wilson seemed overmatched.
4) Pitt misses Damar Hamlin a lot, like a lot a lot. The best defnesive games Pitt has had under Narduzzi was when he was back there. Hallett and Battle just haven't filled that spot well yet. I don't think they are lost causes. I actually thought Hallett played fairly well last week, but got picked on yesterday. Again I'm not sure if that's entirely their fault. It seemed to me there are adjustments that could have been made to take pressure off of the safety covering a slot guy one on one play after play.
5) Pitt was pretty liberal in their defensive rotations yesterday in my opinion. I know Western Michigan possessed the ball 2-1 over Pitt. I know it was hot. So you had to play a lot of guys, but in crunch time in the fourth quarter, there were some sequences when they had like nine backups in there. I think Hill and Mathis were out there, and a whole second wave of guys in the front seven plus Battle and Devonshire. In the fourth quarter, I'd probably take some chances with a tired Haba Baldonado and Calijah Kancey out there.
6) I think Pitt needs to tighten up a bit at linebacker. They're playing six guys right now, and they might need to cut it to four. Dennis was an all-conference OLB last season, and I think he can flourish there again. Davis seems like a better MLB for what this defense needs right now.
7) I'm still interested to see how these next 9 games go. Pitt should be 3-1 heading into what looks like a very bad ACC. Clemson is going to figure things out and be the top dog most likely, but they just aren't what they were the past 6-7 seasons. But you are seeing vulnerabilities from every other team on the schedule. This is the worst the ACC has looked to me top to bottom in a while. Maybe Clemson masked those issues before and it's always been like this. But man Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Duke, etc.? I don't see a whole lot of great things this season. So I guess what I'm saying is I think with Pickett you probably have a fighter's chance in just about every game. But trying to do it 48-44 each week is a dangerous way to live.
1) It's been unforunate for this program that the offense and defense aren't synched up on the same years. We saw a historically good offense in 2016 from Pitt, matched with a really bad defense. The past couple of seasons we saw some pretty good defense from this program, particualrly in 2019, to be paired with an offense that can't run the ball or score in the red zone. Now Pitt has its best quarterback it has had in decades in the 2021 version of Kenny Pickett with a defense that has given up 78 points in the past two weeks. And looking further ahead, this defense will probably improve by the end of the year, and be good next year. But you'll be ushering in a new quarterback and the offense takes a step back. It's a vicious cycle that I can certainly see continuing.
2) The offensive personnel usage was interesting yesterday. I mean your bread and butter is Pickett to Addison and Krull, and the other receivers are pretty competent to even good this season. They featured those guys and scored six TD's through the air, hard to complain about that aspect. I'm not sure what is going on with the RB situation though. I don't think Davis is as bad as he is made out to be on here, and he actually had some nice plays in the second half. But Abanikanda's hype in the offseason was strange, considering how it has been played out through three games. The head coach, the assistant coaches, and the players all said Izzy looked great for months before the season. Hell, he did run well in the spring game, we all saw it. So I do think he may have been a little banged up yesterday, but him playing the final drive and on kickoff return is interesting. Again, I think a lot of it is scheme and blocking that hinders the running game, but the backs can certainly add to it. Maybe trying Izzy more might open things up? At this point, it's at least worth trying. If it doesn't work, you know Davis can do.
3) Keldrick Wilson being inserted into the line yesterday didn't make a lot of sense to me. It always seemd Zubovic and Goncalves were the next guys to play in the O-Line rotation. Kradel going to center made sense if Drexel was struggling, but kicking Houy to guard and Goncalces at RT, or just throwing Zubovic in there at RG may have been better options. Again, I think the coaches know their personnel better than us, but Wilson seemed overmatched.
4) Pitt misses Damar Hamlin a lot, like a lot a lot. The best defnesive games Pitt has had under Narduzzi was when he was back there. Hallett and Battle just haven't filled that spot well yet. I don't think they are lost causes. I actually thought Hallett played fairly well last week, but got picked on yesterday. Again I'm not sure if that's entirely their fault. It seemed to me there are adjustments that could have been made to take pressure off of the safety covering a slot guy one on one play after play.
5) Pitt was pretty liberal in their defensive rotations yesterday in my opinion. I know Western Michigan possessed the ball 2-1 over Pitt. I know it was hot. So you had to play a lot of guys, but in crunch time in the fourth quarter, there were some sequences when they had like nine backups in there. I think Hill and Mathis were out there, and a whole second wave of guys in the front seven plus Battle and Devonshire. In the fourth quarter, I'd probably take some chances with a tired Haba Baldonado and Calijah Kancey out there.
6) I think Pitt needs to tighten up a bit at linebacker. They're playing six guys right now, and they might need to cut it to four. Dennis was an all-conference OLB last season, and I think he can flourish there again. Davis seems like a better MLB for what this defense needs right now.
7) I'm still interested to see how these next 9 games go. Pitt should be 3-1 heading into what looks like a very bad ACC. Clemson is going to figure things out and be the top dog most likely, but they just aren't what they were the past 6-7 seasons. But you are seeing vulnerabilities from every other team on the schedule. This is the worst the ACC has looked to me top to bottom in a while. Maybe Clemson masked those issues before and it's always been like this. But man Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Duke, etc.? I don't see a whole lot of great things this season. So I guess what I'm saying is I think with Pickett you probably have a fighter's chance in just about every game. But trying to do it 48-44 each week is a dangerous way to live.
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