Pittsburgh

I have told this story to many of you, so to some I apologize for the repeat.  I was about 10 years old and determined to go trick or treating on my own without my parents lingering over my shoulder on the stoop. It was time for a big boy candy grab. Well, they acquiesced, and so with freedom in my legs and gluttony in my heart, I ventured out into the neighborhood to collect my booty. Three doors down was a family that invariably had great candy and looked to be out of town. Sure enough, there was a light on the porch and a big bucket on a chair. It was early in the evening and that dadgum bucket was overflowing with not just any sweet treat, but king size Butterfingers. Jackpot. I filled my pillowcase and then roughly six minutes after I left home - here I was waltzing in the front door happier than a pig in slop. It was not exactly Holmesian sleuthability that led my mother to the conclusion that I had not canvassed the entire neighborhood with such alacrity. As she looked over my haul, she determined it was also probably unlikely that every home within 2 miles was giving away the same confection. So, young me was sent three doors down and I spent the entire Halloween evening on said neighbors front porch emptying my pillowcase one beautiful king size bar to the young punks that came up one at a time until they were...all... gone. 

Learning tough lessons is hard, but we like our heroes to learn them only once. I can assure you that my trick or treat habits were forever altered. The fact that Coach Norvell rolled out #1 last night at the beginning of the second half was about as discouraging a move as we have seen by this staff since our our favorite rock band Willie and the Idiots left town. It was not a shock when the ensuing interception turned quickly into a Pitt score. The hope that we all felt going into the half was vanquished. So two tosses after James entered the game, Coach turned the offense over to Chubba. What in the last three years and especially first three games of 2020 did Coach not learn about this beleaguered kid? Is he a magical combination of Tom Brady and Joe Montana in practice? You don't hear boos in Doak very often. But this rain soaked loyal bunch was mystified, and checking to see if Jeff Bowden had occupied Norvell's body. Then, we bring in what we think is the future in Purdy, and against a team that is leading the country in sacks, and blitzing on every down, ask him to drop back deep and throw. Nothing after halftime made any sense at all on offense  Imagine walking up to your apartment as your girlfriend is angrily throwing your belongings on the sidewalk...You respond by telling her you do own half the damn couch just to see how strong she really is...let's see that window really shatter!

Here is what we do know. This group of offensive coaches can prepare. Our opening script is crazy good. Every game. The pop passes, drags, secret TE sneaks...I mean holy smokes what an opening series. We also know that when Jordan Travis is in the game, even the best defenses in the country are hesitant to bring it recklessly. Watching him outrun the entire Pitt defense was awesome. One poor lineman after Travis zipped by at the 15 just pointed at him and smashed his arms to his side in frustration...like "I know I am way too fat and slow to catch that dude, but c'mon DB's!". We had the ball up by 11 points early and you could palpably feel that a Pitt team that had lost four straight was on the verge of quitting again. Instead of leaning on the running game and short inside-the-hash TE passes that had worked thus far, we abandoned ship and went to the sideline passing game featuring our stellar group of young wideouts. Poitier turned the wrong way. Interception. Douglas dropped a wide open bomb. Punt. Endless wideout screens to the sideline that are virtually impossible to gain anything against press man coverage. It was a clinic in poor offensive play calling. I know we lost our best lineman during the game, but does that mean that running is off the table. Protect your young QB's and know that both of them can run. I guess it was encouraging that Chubba did a complete flip and landed like a wet bag of quickcrete and popped right up. Yes, we got you coming out of the tunnel, but our ability to adjust within the actual game is an early warning light...

Similar to the UNC game, the energy that the defense played with early was impressive. Even with your best two players in street clothes and apparently a plague wiping out the entire safety segment pregame, the plan was...dare I say...sound. Emmet Rice and Amari Gainer were outstanding. They are playing fast and physical, and give hope that the linebacker unit might not be down forever. Stephen Dix is also improving every game. Fabian Lovett played his best game as a Nole and Josh is an average DE, which is an upgrade over the other side, but certainly not the five star we hoped. Asante is the loneliest man on the field, but the inability to force quick throws exposed the rest of the secondary over and over. Combined with an extraordinary series of short fields due to turnovers and overaggressive coaching, the modestly good effort this side of the ball gave was overshadowed on the scoreboard. 

Listen, I love Coach's win it now mentality. Going for it on 4th and short when you believe in your backs and seeing it paid off with Jordan and Webb bowling for strikes is awesome. But the momentum was arrested again in the first half when yet another false start took us from a fourth and one to a unmanageable fourth and six. You ask me after a big meal to knock off one more piece of German chocolate cake, I gotcha. You ask me to round off a steak dinner with an entire peanut butter pie. I'm gonna try, but the odds are slim of this ending well. Well, this did not end well either with a sack and another short field for the bad guys. We have to know our limitations, and the 2020 version of this offense is simply not capable of throwing when the other dudes suspect it is coming. 

And the tough night for the staff did not end with the offense and defense. We somehow reverted to the horrific kick and punt return habits of the Taggart era as well. On one punt, we actually saw our return man look up - see the ball - and sprint a 4.3 toward our sideline only stopping when he ran into Odell. Maybe he was the 12th man, and was trying to hide. No idea. Our failure to somehow catch a punt in the air cost us about 60 yards last night, and do we have no one on the roster capable of an actual return? We did in fact return multiple kickoffs - none past the 25, but when we got one low short kickoff to land at the 10, we raised our hands to fair catch. It was a Youtube video on how to challenge your offense with bad field position. 

This was a tough night for the entire staff. When Adam Fuller is feeling righteously indignant postgame, you know we have some soul searching to do. We need to learn to live without Marvin, Hamseh, and even Jordan who has now hit his HSA yearly deductible with 60 days to spare. Let's go young, and let's forget about the scores and find a way to finish in a way that does not leave us on a porch - lonely, handing out Butterfingers and wishing for candy days of yore.