Came back from ND yesterday afternoon and watched the tape of the game. A couple of additional thoughts:
1. On ND's winning drive there was a face mask penalty (good call) 15 yards, PI (bad call) 15 yards and the non holding call on Hendrix on the edge (really bad missed call). Refs really impacted that drive.
2. The biggest non call in the second half was the hold on the TE prior to the fake punt attempt. The ND player had a hold of his jersey.
3. Really nice play by both Pine and Ford. Ford's holding down the edge on a run and forcing the RB to go inside into the traffic and Pine on chasing down the QB.
4. Really thought we went to the Wild Cat way too often. Honestly what might have been open were jet sweeps because ND was crashing so hard to stop the inside runs. And I think one of the shuttle passes might have worked cause ND was just going upfield so hard..
5. The fake punt was just poorly executed even if Ollison doesn't fall way too much traffic for that play.
6. The missed FGs were so HUGE! Because it basically takes the run out of the ND playbook and forces them to run and makes them one dimensional and we could blitz and make it difficult for them. People complain about the offense but in the second half they had two drives that should have netted points.
7. Pickett actually made some nice throws but it's obvious Watson is giving him easy throws. Inside slants, bubble screens, and drag routes. nothing extravagant.
8. The play to Hall on 3rd and 2 was maybe the right call. ND had a zero blitz coming but they had the end drop to cover the flat. Just the right defense. Had Pickett waited he might have had Mathews on the slant.
9. The D played a great great game. Maybe the best game under Narduzzi. They were diverse, they attacked and re-set the line of scrimmage. Hopefully this continues.
10. Pitt got the ball back with 2:38 to go in good field position. Pickett took a really bad sack on first down. Has to throw the ball away. Has to know better.
11. I'll take back what I said, the run blocking was so so. Not consistent enough.
12. This offense needs to get the ball more to Shokey and Ffrench in space. On Ffrench lone jet sweep he got 8 yards and could have gotten more if he cut upfield earlier.
13. What I thought was a pick play was borderline. Not ever going to get called. I mean in the Steelers game yesterday they did a similar play. It should always be called but it's never called.
Pitt82
1. On ND's winning drive there was a face mask penalty (good call) 15 yards, PI (bad call) 15 yards and the non holding call on Hendrix on the edge (really bad missed call). Refs really impacted that drive.
2. The biggest non call in the second half was the hold on the TE prior to the fake punt attempt. The ND player had a hold of his jersey.
3. Really nice play by both Pine and Ford. Ford's holding down the edge on a run and forcing the RB to go inside into the traffic and Pine on chasing down the QB.
4. Really thought we went to the Wild Cat way too often. Honestly what might have been open were jet sweeps because ND was crashing so hard to stop the inside runs. And I think one of the shuttle passes might have worked cause ND was just going upfield so hard..
5. The fake punt was just poorly executed even if Ollison doesn't fall way too much traffic for that play.
6. The missed FGs were so HUGE! Because it basically takes the run out of the ND playbook and forces them to run and makes them one dimensional and we could blitz and make it difficult for them. People complain about the offense but in the second half they had two drives that should have netted points.
7. Pickett actually made some nice throws but it's obvious Watson is giving him easy throws. Inside slants, bubble screens, and drag routes. nothing extravagant.
8. The play to Hall on 3rd and 2 was maybe the right call. ND had a zero blitz coming but they had the end drop to cover the flat. Just the right defense. Had Pickett waited he might have had Mathews on the slant.
9. The D played a great great game. Maybe the best game under Narduzzi. They were diverse, they attacked and re-set the line of scrimmage. Hopefully this continues.
10. Pitt got the ball back with 2:38 to go in good field position. Pickett took a really bad sack on first down. Has to throw the ball away. Has to know better.
11. I'll take back what I said, the run blocking was so so. Not consistent enough.
12. This offense needs to get the ball more to Shokey and Ffrench in space. On Ffrench lone jet sweep he got 8 yards and could have gotten more if he cut upfield earlier.
13. What I thought was a pick play was borderline. Not ever going to get called. I mean in the Steelers game yesterday they did a similar play. It should always be called but it's never called.
Pitt82
