How many times is Pitts going to get burned?
- Thread starter cruzer
- Start date
Disagree. Maddox has a much harder matchup. He has given up some yards, but no big plays. Maddox at least knows how to get his head turned. Pitts is hopeless.
The DBs all struggled. Pitts can't keep up with the superior athletes and he's running all out just to stay in the same area code with them: He's getting burned too badly to have any time to worry about trying to make a play on the ball. The entire defense was pushed around and physically owned tonight-just out-athleted, just dominated by the UNC O line which, by the way, looks legit. The front 7 had its worst game of the season. The DBs were no match. Williams had ALL DAY to do whatever he wanted, we just couldn't beat the pass protection. It was no contest, should have been a complete blowout but Fedora was pretty conservative in the red zone.
Offensively, we have been weak all year, but our OC and QB had particularly bad games tonight. You could see Narsuzzi's frustration with Chaney and the play calling all game, not just when he lost his shit when Chaney didn't have a play to send in when we were in one minute mode. It was a bad night for the staff all around.
The better team certainly won, not making excuses but that's a top 15 team right there. They are big and athletic and that offense is very well run with plenty of personnel. Defensively we didn't test them much. I don't see the rhyme or reason to Chaney's play calling and personnel use. I just don't see it with him. I have a bad feeling that we may see kind of a reverse Chryst situation where we have no problem recruiting defensive players to play in this D, but lots of trouble recruiting offensive players to play in this lackluster offensive scheme.
Maybe I'm over-simplifying it, but if I have a CB who's getting burned repeatedly, at some point I should consider having a deep safety coming across to help him.
What's that (over-used) definition of "insanity" - doing the same thing over & over, hoping that you'll get a different result?
What's that (over-used) definition of "insanity" - doing the same thing over & over, hoping that you'll get a different result?
Generally speaking that is just simply not so. For the most part (certainly not always, especially one time in particular tonight) Pitt's has no problem at all keeping up with wide receivers. His problem is that he has no ball skills at all, so even when he does have a guy covered very well he still has no chance to make a play. North Carolina exploited that more than once tonight, where his coverage was just fine, but he has no idea that the ball is coming so he has no chance to make a play.
Of course he's only been that way for four years now, so hey, maybe next week he'll figure it out.
Do you think he stayed with his guy on that 71 yard completion in the first half? He had his head down running as hard as he could to catch up with him, which he was able to do right about the time the guy came down with the ball. You have to have coverage already to make a play on the ball. I not saying he's some ball hawk, I'm saying when I watched him tonight, he was very obviously having trouble running with his man.
Same as last year must turn your head around to see the ball coming.
I don't know how this staff can keep playing the same guys in the defensive backfield with the same scheme, one on one, and expect anything different---we're slow and keep getting burned deep every game---expect that will happen on deep completions at least 10 more times the next 4 games
Who else are they going to play? They will be exposed by good receivers until better athletes are recruited.
I had the wrong play--the one I'm thinking of was like a 50 yard bomb to Hollins in the 3rd quarter. Laffy was in press coverage and just couldn't;t run with the guy. The Lair was all up in arms that he didn't turn his head and make a play on the ball, but he couldn't because he was giving every ounce of effort he had just to try to run with Hollins, who had him beat all the way. Pitts arrived at the same time the ball did but was in no position to make a play on it. My only point being it isn't just a simple matter of Pitts not turning his head. You have to have good coverage on the man before you can play the ball. If you;re chasing him you have no chance; if the throw is good its a completion. Fundamental stuff. If anything, being burned as badly as he was, he just should have ran through the receiver hoping to interfere with the catch and taken the penalty.
Could not agree more. Maddox is a very good cornerback, but his weakness is taller receivers. A tall task indeed (pun intended). He's been struggling lately, but a good corner that is very short against a tall athletic receiver, something has to give. Pitts usually is covering a guy that shouldn't be burning him terribly, but he never turns around to play the ball and unfortunately does get burned pretty regularly.
Far more often than not Pitts is not running like a mad man simply to keep up or catch up to a receiver. Far more often than not when he is in press coverage he runs with his guy stride for stride off the line. And far more often than not he does nothing more than run with the guy rather than actually attempting to make a play. His problem is not the lack of physical skills, his problem is that he has no ball skills what so ever. The reason why so often when he is in coverage that a good throw equals a completion is because he has no idea that the ball is on the way, and when the defender doesn't react to the ball a good receiver is going to catch the ball almost every time.
The fact that we never really put much pressure on Williams was a huge problem too, so it's not all their fault. The guy had all the time he needed for his WRs to run themselves open on every throw.
100% true, that statement just sums it up right there. He is not slow by any means, in fact he's very fast. He's not getting burned because he can't keep up, he does keep up actually almost every play. Which is even worse that you're getting burned when you're that fast. He gets burned because he doesn't look for the ball and never tries to make a play. Instead of trying to break up a pass, he just allows the receiver to catch the pass and then tries to tackle him. It has nothing to do with physical skills and talent, it's his football IQ and yes like you said, his ball skills.
That just isn't true. Not sure what you're seeing when you watch him play, but it isn't the same thing I'm seeing. He struggles physically in press coverage both at the line of scrimmage and with trying to stay with the more athletic receivers we face. I'm not saying he has great ball skills, but last night his issue was not being able to stay with that outside receiver. It was absolutely glaring. Again, couple that with the lack of pressure from our front 7 on the QB, and it was a bad day for him and the rest of the DBs for that matter.
Another guy who really struggled last night was Caprara. He and Galambos both got sucked in on run blitzes over and over in the first half leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the defense. Adjustments were made to cure that, but Caprara just got manhandled last night.
Bingo. By no means is that forgiving allowing their talented receivers run free in the secondary, but it is difficult to continually cover in the secondary when (and I quote Duzz) when the QB is back there for "six seconds sucking on the football." We needed better pressure on Williams all night.
Hopefully we will be able to pressure NDs young QB next Saturday better.
That kid is really good, that O line is good, and they have serious speed in their receiving corps. We always seem to play them tough, but it';s hard to see us winning that game. Our O is the biggest problem. We don't pressure a defense, either with potential for explosive plays or with our scheme and play calling. Hopefully we can hang around and have a chance at the end.
Right now, we're playing above our pay grade. Your last sentence defines the way we have to win this year, and probably next.
We missed two NC fumbles, unfortunately, but didn't come close to a pick. We sure missed a lot of opportunities for tackles for losses. Not wrapping up, or getting juked, or the rb delaying or changing direction with no LB'er following up to make the play. The plays were there, we just didn't make some.
Totally agree BadBy. The Irish have serious talent. Prosise is a very good RB; Will Fuller at WR is a very talented WR/Slot guy and they have a few other play makers as well. They have had two O linemen go down with season ending injuries though. ND is a tall task.
L Pitts is a marked man. Opposing OC's game plan calling him on a first name basis since he is so friendly to opposing WR's. I hope they are addressing this in practice.
L Pitts is a marked man. Opposing OC's game plan calling him on a first name basis since he is so friendly to opposing WR's. I hope they are addressing this in practice.
If he's that much of a liability, why doesn't the DC give him some help? Cheat a safety to his side. He isn't great, but he's played ok this year so far. Much better than previous years.
I agree, he is overmatched at times, mostly because he's small and doesn't play the ball, or even attempt to. But what are the current alternatives?
No wonder we are recruiting a dozen corners this year!
Conklin has a dilemma in that cheating a safety will open holes in the zone or prevent aggressive plays That's the frustration, we don't have the answers for this year. We all need to temper that expectation until someone out of the dozen DB we are recruiting sticks and plays at a high level.
