I just got around to listening to this episode.
@Chris Peak discussed how much/how little Narduzzi could place the offense's struggles under Watson on Pickett's inexperience when grading out Watson's performance. I understand that question but it really doesn't change anything. No matter how you slice it, Watson has done a horrendous job for/with Pickett and the offense.
Here is my line of thinking posed as questions.
If you are Watson and you know you have a QB that struggles to sit in the pocket and read coverages and go through progressions due to inexperience, then why are you consistently having him take 5 or 7 step drops and forcing him to sit in the pocket and read coverages and go through progressions? Why are you not trying to mitigate all those issues with an rpo/quick pass game that allows for 1 read and a quick throw? Why are you refusing to use spacing - forcing Pickett to have to throw into crowds and tight windows? Why are you operating at a snail's pace 100% of the time, allowing the defense to get exactly the personnel and play calls that they want?
These are issues that go just beyond Pickett's inexperience. I don't care if Pickett is Pat Mahomes junior, if hes inexperienced, if he has no talent whatsoever. Why would you not make the game as easy as possible for your quarterback regardless of the circumstances?
Now, going even further beyond that, the way Watson constructed this offense and the way he calls plays hampers the athletes that pitt has at the skill positions. Its shameful that Ffrench, Carter, and Shocky couldn't touch the ball and get into space, AND you burned two of their redshirts doing it. There's no excuse to chalk Matthews up as a blocker and nothing more. You can't tell me he offers absolutely nothing as a receiving threat. You can't tell me that Mack can't do anything more than running fast down the sideline.
Going even further beyond THAT, the passing concepts in this offense asked this OL to do more than what they were capable of. You were asking a group of 5 guards, 3 of which had never played for this team before, to block ACC pass rushers for a slow developing downfield pass game.
I'm sorry, but there is no lense one can look at this offense through that results in Watson getting a passing grade. Hes now put bad offenses out there 2 years in a row. And I have ZERO doubt it will be 3 if Narduzzi keeps him.
