Some passing stats from the past two games.

[KennyTheKangaroo]

In the UCF game, pitt had 163 passing yards, and there were 16 completions. 58 of those yards came on a touchdown pass to Ffrench. Of course, that was a shovel pass.

Butler Jenkins, Ollison, sear, Aston, and aj davis caught 7 passes for a combined 8 yards.

In the cuse game, Arujo lopes caught two passes. One was a 68 yard touchdown pass on a screen. The other was a 4 yard loss. French caught two passes for a total of 32 yards. His longest catch was the nice catch along the sideline near the end of the first half. That was for 32 yards. His other catch was for 0 yards. Aston, Mathews, Ollison and shocky caught the remaining 7 passes for 41 yards.

In other words, the cuse game involved a 32 yard reception to Ffrench and then a bunch of passes no more than 6 to 8 yards from the LOS. Pickett was also sacked four times i believe.

This is a long way of factually explaining the obvious....pitt is either unwilling or unable to throw the ball downfield. I want to believe in Pickett and i still believe in Pickett. But this offense is a god damn embarrassment. It is 2018...how can you have an offense that cant or wont throw the ball down field?

Is it becuase

Mack is the only guy that can get open?
The offensive coordinator cant or wont design plays that get guys open downfield?
Pickett stinks?
The line stinks?

 

[PittCity]

I ponder the same .........

 

[WiseAndGlorious]

Our pass protection is horrendous and Pickett’s pocket presence is not very good right now. Despite bad pass blocking he moved into rushers. He was also much more inclined to stay in the pocket than scramble when pressured. Almost looked like the coaches talked to him about not being so quick to tuck it and run.

 

[PittCity]

honestly I expected more from Pickett, but ho hum.
Hope he does better, line isnt the greatest but he needs work.

 

[AlFromDadeville]

This is all intelligent criticism. I go back and forth trying to figure out this offenses biggest problem and honestly what I’ve concluded is there’s just nothing we can go to consistently and have success.

Sometimes I think the wide receivers/tight ends are the weakest group on the team. Sometimes the line can’t block worth a damn. Sometimes Pickett makes bad decisions or is inaccurate. All in all if it’s not one thing it’s another. There’s just no consistency anywhere, nothing they can rely on. And that’s on the coaches more than anything else.

They are at their best with a run first mentality like today. I loved watching Ollison run them over. But when your defense puts you in holes so often and the opposing defense has no respect for your potential to throw it downfield it makes that run first approach much more difficult.

 

[joeydavid]

Pickett looks best rolling right, yet he is rolling left more than right. The line can't block for more than a passing second. This is more on the coaches than him but he needs to take a step forward in one of these next few games.

 

[gourdt]

Should Pitt run more plays from the shotgun? The O line really doesn't give him any time. Would moving him back some help him recognize and set his feet quicker? Honest question, I really don't know.

 

[PittPanther44]

Bad pass protection, QB that isn’t confident moving within the pocket, has good legs but not great at actually throwing on the run.

But still....you would think we would see a little more quick timing throws, and shots deep where the ball can be thrown away if not there.

 

[BillyWestFan]

I honestly think it's Watson's game plan. He did the same with Max Browne last year. Browne supposedly had a strong down field arm yet he was throwing 5 yard outs at least half dozen times a game. Watson's offense is too predictable: run, jet sweep, 5 yard check down, repeat. I was shocked I saw the wildcat yesterday, someone other than Watson thought of that I'm sure.

 

[Deer Head]

No one is open. Shockey needs to be in there. This is stating the obvious.

He has to hold cause no one is open a lot. Makes line look bad. The line is OK.