The Pickett doubt case

[Jsr862]

I first saying I'm still high on Pickett. Think he has great talent and will be displayed at some point.
I think play calling has a lot to do with the play so far. Going into every game sitting in stadium or home you see 3 plays non stop and know it's coming.
1. The jet sweep.
2. The game jet backside zone run (this annoys me so much because it's ran all too much to point if I see the jet guy bot getting the ball o automatically know the run is a zone to the opposite of the jet direction . They have not run any sort of power to jet motion side or any counter type off this yet it's so obvious.)
3. 2 wide TE and RB out of gun to one side the RB runs out to block the OLB the TE or Slot runs a quick out with Pickett rolling out and dumps it off. Least 10 times a game....and doesn't look like Pickett even has a deep option as the outside WR looks to just block right away.

This play calling is so obvious and telling...

Another notice especially in person at games is lack of WR seperation, simply no where to put the ball.

The only knock on Pickett at this time is he doesn't chance it down field and rarely will trust his 1v1s where he needs to thread the needle to get a slant or a comeback. With that said ... wide outs early on were dropping balls so who knows how much trust he has in them at this time.

None the less he just needs to take some chances at this time... we will complain and ask for a switch with every interception but there will be more wow plays that come out of it as well.

Bottom line is play calling needs to change, coaches need more trust in him to do his thing and the o line needs to be a bit better on picking up the blitzes and stop letting the DE go the long way around and still making it to Pickett.

 

[Jpripper88]

Our WRs and TEs are awful.

 

[rmf05]

Pickett has sucked. Period. There have been open receivers. He's missed them and or been tentative. Not sure what happened? He seems to be getting worse with every game.

 

[BFo8]

Our WRs and TEs are awful.

Yep, coming into the season this is the worst group of receivers I remember in the 40+ years I’ve watched Pitt football. He hasn’t been good at all but he’s throwing to guys who shouldn’t be playing at this level.

Also maybe stop taking such deep drops and rolling out a guy who doesn’t exactly have a cannon of an arm.

 

[paulbl99]

Pickett has sucked. Period. There have been open receivers. He's missed them and or been tentative. Not sure what happened? He seems to be getting worse with every game.

He has been terrible.

 

[pittbb80]

He’s not near as accurate as we were led to believe

He has happy feet

He doesn’t see the field well

He’s not nearly as mobile or as elusive as he was hyped to be

He can be decent in time but this team won’t win much this year with the level of QB play we’ve seen

Watson’s play calling is also likely an issue as well

 

[h2p_5150]

Pickett is a good runner. Overall, he's not a very good QB though. He sacks himself too often, and very rarely leads his receivers. He is hesitant to take deep shots, and late to see them when they're open. He is not at all helped by our O-line, WRs or archaic offensive strategy, of course.

 

[McKee Place]

Looked great the first half of Albany. Whatever happened at that half time, he's been outright pedestrian since.

Actually I think a big problem also was the Chinese fire drill of the PSU game, the floodgates opened quickly on him as early as the initial possessions, he didn't seem ready to handle pressure. He threw an ugly pick early as well. He's been skittish and indecisive ever since. I guess the conundrum is, do you stick with him and not bench him to let him get confidence back, and how many hideous losses do you endure until or if it ever does?

I'm the typical lunkhead fan that thinks coaches are too soft on QBs, and if they are terrible, especially for multiple games, the coach owes it to the rest of the team, to the coaches, and yeah to the customers to try the second guy. But clearly that's wrong, at least in Pgh, because removing a starter even if he's dog dung seems blasphemous.

 

[Ambst95]

He has made some good throws but is just a little inconsistent. Pressure has been an issue all year. The o-line looks to be even worse next year so he may never get the chance to develop like he should. He'll likely have a new coordinator next year which complicates things as he'll need to learn a new system (hopefully).

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

He’s not near as accurate as we were led to believe

He has happy feet

He doesn’t see the field well

He’s not nearly as mobile or as elusive as he was hyped to be

He can be decent in time but this team won’t win much this year with the level of QB play we’ve seen

Watson’s play calling is also likely an issue as well

What's scary is this story is starting be reminiscent of Chad Voytik.

 

[Cap pitt]

Pickett has not played well, has not met the expectations that the Pitt coaches and fans had for him coming into this football season, I think that there is time to turn things around this season or maybe not. But I do think it's time to try Ricky Town to see what he can do, maybe not start him yet but maybe to start the beginning of a quarter and play the whole time. Pitt is not doing great things with who's playing now. See what happens. It's not like Pitt has momentum to stop, is it.

 

[pittdan77]

Think back to last year when they burned his redshirt for one snap. Were they that low on him that they didn't care or did they mess up by not getting him more reps against lower level talent to build confidence?

 

[HailtoPitt]

Pickett has sucked. Period. There have been open receivers. He's missed them and or been tentative. Not sure what happened? He seems to be getting worse with every game.

I know what happened. The coaching. QBs don't suddenly go from throwing accurate balls to not. He has been Cavanaughed.

 

[pittguy81]

Easy and simplistic to put it on the QB. As the guy with the ball in his hands every play it's tempting to focus on him but....our OL is not good in pass protection. Our tackles and TE get beat on the edge by speed rushers and the middle of the line gets pushed into the backfield collapsing the pocket. Pickett's running for his life and on drop backs usually doesn't have the option to step up in the pocket...because there is no pocket.

Scheme has a lot to do with things obviously. By ignoring the middle of the field and almost exclusively throwing passes < 5 yards to the boundary, Pitt makes it easy for the defense. They know that the area between the hash marks won't be utilized unless it's a checkdown so they can press the LOS and the DB's especially the safeties know that they aren't going to be challenged deep so they play up, making the running game even less effective. Jet motion isn't effective because there is no originality in the shifts or formations to influence the defense's eyes like Pitt had with Canada. Also with everything going to the sidelines and the entire defensive unit playing in a 10 yard box, it's easy for them to hold the edge and turn it back inside where there are no running/cut back lanes to exploit. As others have noted the WR's don't get much separation and when they do Pickett has been generally been unable to fit the ball in there accurately due to poor mechanics/happy feet. He throws off his back foot a lot because he's not comfortable when he drops back...happy feet due to constant pressure. Roll out's are not really relieving the pressure he's facing and also cut down the field and his accuracy even more. It seems he's losing his confidence as well, a killer for any QB.....Our staff seems unable to help him in any regard.

Sorry for the War and Peace length post....a lot to get off my chest

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Pickett has sucked. Period. There have been open receivers. He's missed them and or been tentative. Not sure what happened? He seems to be getting worse with every game.

IMO he has talent but is transitioning to "Tino Mode" which is to look for a soft spot and play turtle.
If a team has OL's like PITT has had now for years No QB will be successful.

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!

 

[pittbb80]

What's scary is this story is starting be reminiscent of Chad Voytik.

I hear you but I think Pickets physical tools as a QB are far superior to Chads.....Would love to see what Picket can do with a real offense that allows him to make decisions faster.

 

[pittbb80]

Easy and simplistic to put it on the QB. As the guy with the ball in his hands every play it's tempting to focus on him but....our OL is not good in pass protection. Our tackles and TE get beat on the edge by speed rushers and the middle of the line gets pushed into the backfield collapsing the pocket. Pickett's running for his life and on drop backs usually doesn't have the option to step up in the pocket...because there is no pocket.

Scheme has a lot to do with things obviously. By ignoring the middle of the field and almost exclusively throwing passes < 5 yards to the boundary, Pitt makes it easy for the defense. They know that the area between the hash marks won't be utilized unless it's a checkdown so they can press the LOS and the DB's especially the safeties know that they aren't going to be challenged deep so they play up, making the running game even less effective. Jet motion isn't effective because there is no originality in the shifts or formations to influence the defense's eyes like Pitt had with Canada. Also with everything going to the sidelines and the entire defensive unit playing in a 10 yard box, it's easy for them to hold the edge and turn it back inside where there are no running/cut back lanes to exploit. As others have noted the WR's don't get much separation and when they do Pickett has been generally been unable to fit the ball in there accurately due to poor mechanics/happy feet. He throws off his back foot a lot because he's not comfortable when he drops back...happy feet due to constant pressure. Roll out's are not really relieving the pressure he's facing and also cut down the field and his accuracy even more. It seems he's losing his confidence as well, a killer for any QB.....Our staff seems unable to help him in any regard.

Sorry for the War and Peace length post....a lot to get off my chest

I think this was largely an accurate description of the problems although Id submit that the pass protection while far from perfect has allowed him plenty of time most of the time. In fact hes had a good pocket and needlessly scrambled far too many times. He has no concept of sliding around in the pocket or stepping up which makes the OL look far worse.

I do think the play calling is a huge issue and I've said repeatedly that their refusal to probe the middle of the field with short and intermediate routes is a huge problem.

I dont have any way to support this but I also think that Duzz conservative approach has made him ultra conservative and overly focused on avoiding turn overs. You cant play the position if you need a WR to be wide open to release the ball.

 

[Usuallyunusual]

Looked great the first half of Albany. Whatever happened at that half time, he's been outright pedestrian since.

Actually I think a big problem also was the Chinese fire drill of the PSU game, the floodgates opened quickly on him as early as the initial possessions, he didn't seem ready to handle pressure. He threw an ugly pick early as well. He's been skittish and indecisive ever since. I guess the conundrum is, do you stick with him and not bench him to let him get confidence back, and how many hideous losses do you endure until or if it ever does?

I'm the typical lunkhead fan that thinks coaches are too soft on QBs, and if they are terrible, especially for multiple games, the coach owes it to the rest of the team, to the coaches, and yeah to the customers to try the second guy. But clearly that's wrong, at least in Pgh, because removing a starter even if he's dog dung seems blasphemous.

How can you say that after last year. They clearly will make a change if they feel its warranted, but lets not kid ourselves we don't have Dan Marino waiting in the wings to step in. Your point about how bad he has been is dead on, but I believe unfortunately the other options are not much better. The kid just has to take his lumps and learn to to perform at this level. He has competed against some really good teams this year and other than Mack no other receiver seems up to the task. Why I havent heard many people calling for Kevin Sherman's head yet I dont know but he may be the biggest reason for our issues with lack of wr development.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

I'm disappointed in him because he's not meeting my expectations after watching him in the Miami game . I thought Pitt had a special kid . A great qb might be able to overcome his teammates deficiencies which are many , but he's not ready or able to carry this team .
With all the preseason hype the last thing Pitt needs now is a revolving qb debate . Let him play then at seasons end decisions need to be made in a lot of areas not just qb .

 

[cease10]

The difference between winners and losers......AL, GA, and Clemson will do what it takes to win by benching their starting QB.....Pitt sticks with the struggling starting QB.....smh

 

[President Stache]

I first saying I'm still high on Pickett. Think he has great talent and will be displayed at some point.
I think play calling has a lot to do with the play so far. Going into every game sitting in stadium or home you see 3 plays non stop and know it's coming.
1. The jet sweep.
2. The game jet backside zone run (this annoys me so much because it's ran all too much to point if I see the jet guy bot getting the ball o automatically know the run is a zone to the opposite of the jet direction . They have not run any sort of power to jet motion side or any counter type off this yet it's so obvious.)
3. 2 wide TE and RB out of gun to one side the RB runs out to block the OLB the TE or Slot runs a quick out with Pickett rolling out and dumps it off. Least 10 times a game....and doesn't look like Pickett even has a deep option as the outside WR looks to just block right away.

This play calling is so obvious and telling...

Another notice especially in person at games is lack of WR seperation, simply no where to put the ball.

The only knock on Pickett at this time is he doesn't chance it down field and rarely will trust his 1v1s where he needs to thread the needle to get a slant or a comeback. With that said ... wide outs early on were dropping balls so who knows how much trust he has in them at this time.

None the less he just needs to take some chances at this time... we will complain and ask for a switch with every interception but there will be more wow plays that come out of it as well.

Bottom line is play calling needs to change, coaches need more trust in him to do his thing and the o line needs to be a bit better on picking up the blitzes and stop letting the DE go the long way around and still making it to Pickett.

You nailed it.

Agree on everything. Plus the receivers arent getting open, and he is getting tight and throwing picks.

I think he is a solid QB though, and will get better.

 

[pittdan77]

Pitt has given up 134 points in its three losses. PSU is much better than Pitt and I'm not sold on UCF's greatness but getting in a track meet makes you really one dimensional. Letting UNC hang 38 on you is down right untenable if you're supposedly a defensive coach.

Not saying the QB play can't be better but the defense is costing this team wins. Not Kenny Pickett.

 

[Saboteur]

Yep, coming into the season this is the worst group of receivers I remember in the 40+ years I’ve watched Pitt football. He hasn’t been good at all but he’s throwing to guys who shouldn’t be playing at this level.

Also maybe stop taking such deep drops and rolling out a guy who doesn’t exactly have a cannon of an arm.

The deep drops are killing his timing.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

When the offensive line's pass blocking the and wide receiving/tight end core are among the worst, if not the worst, in the ACC at getting open -- there isn't a lot you can do for the QB. And increasingly I am worried like many of you that the QB was maybe a little over-hyped, though his career is still young. Really, the only pretty solid unit is the running backs. Ollison and Hall are averaging around 6 yards a carry and Aston is a nice player. But you can't score a ton of points just with the backfield.

 

[thebadby2]

Easy and simplistic to put it on the QB. As the guy with the ball in his hands every play it's tempting to focus on him but....our OL is not good in pass protection. Our tackles and TE get beat on the edge by speed rushers and the middle of the line gets pushed into the backfield collapsing the pocket. Pickett's running for his life and on drop backs usually doesn't have the option to step up in the pocket...because there is no pocket.

Scheme has a lot to do with things obviously. By ignoring the middle of the field and almost exclusively throwing passes < 5 yards to the boundary, Pitt makes it easy for the defense. They know that the area between the hash marks won't be utilized unless it's a checkdown so they can press the LOS and the DB's especially the safeties know that they aren't going to be challenged deep so they play up, making the running game even less effective. Jet motion isn't effective because there is no originality in the shifts or formations to influence the defense's eyes like Pitt had with Canada. Also with everything going to the sidelines and the entire defensive unit playing in a 10 yard box, it's easy for them to hold the edge and turn it back inside where there are no running/cut back lanes to exploit. As others have noted the WR's don't get much separation and when they do Pickett has been generally been unable to fit the ball in there accurately due to poor mechanics/happy feet. He throws off his back foot a lot because he's not comfortable when he drops back...happy feet due to constant pressure. Roll out's are not really relieving the pressure he's facing and also cut down the field and his accuracy even more. It seems he's losing his confidence as well, a killer for any QB.....Our staff seems unable to help him in any regard.

Sorry for the War and Peace length post....a lot to get off my chest

All of this.

Particularly I've thought the same thing about these deep drops. Such an outdated pro-style technique. With poor protection and lackluster receivers, seems to me the best medicine for Pickett and his confidence would be to get the the ball out as fast as possible to quick-hitting inside routes to back off the pass rush and put some pressure on the second level defenders to make quick reads and tackle quicker players in space. When the D adjusts to that, it will soften up some other areas to attack. All last season I kept waiting for the brilliant Watson to try to get the ball to Q Henderson in that manner, but it never happened.

We have coordinator problems, I thought so last year, but the QB and offensive personnel were so deficient I thought i needed to give it a year. I am certain of it now.

 

[California Panther]

The difference between winners and losers......AL, GA, and Clemson will do what it takes to win by benching their starting QB.....Pitt sticks with the struggling starting QB.....smh

But the teams you mentioned HAVE adequate, just as talented, replacements --what does Pitt have waiting...........and again, whose fault is this?

 

[cease10]

But the teams you mentioned HAVE adequate, just as talented, replacements --what does Pitt have waiting...........and again, whose fault is this?

How would we know what we have if they don't get playing time? I know people would say that if the backups were any good then they'd be playing. But do you trust this coaching staff's judgment?

 

[pittbb80]

All of this.

Particularly I've thought the same thing about these deep drops. Such an outdated pro-style technique. With poor protection and lackluster receivers, seems to me the best medicine for Pickett and his confidence would be to get the the ball out as fast as possible to quick-hitting inside routes to back off the pass rush and put some pressure on the second level defenders to make quick reads and tackle quicker players in space. When the D adjusts to that, it will soften up some other areas to attack. All last season I kept waiting for the brilliant Watson to try to get the ball to Q Henderson in that manner, but it never happened.

We have coordinator problems, I thought so last year, but the QB and offensive personnel were so deficient I thought i needed to give it a year. I am certain of it now.

Agree with all of this. For sure some of it is on picket but the OC is playing to the talents weaknesses. Just awful. I to was willing to give Watson a Chance after last year due to qb issues but he’s just been downright awful this year