Well, a little, but not much. Not surprising when the Steelers have a game at home. I guess this is what Coach Harris meant by the continual attention and negativity. The PG has nothing today. Nada. Not a single piece.
In the Trib., well there is a piece on Josh Lay dealing with becoming a back-up. And at least he’s manning up to why he isn’t starting ahead of Revis.
Lay admits that he has only himself to blame. He said he failed to complete an administration of justice course in time to be academically eligible for the start of camp, then missed a handful of practices upon his return after aggravating his hamstring.
“I messed up,” Lay said. “I deserve what I’ve got right now. I don’t put nothing on nobody except myself. I made mistakes.”
I think Lay may still get back in as a starter. The biggest fault I find with both Revis and Phillips right now, is that they are playing too far off the receiver. That may be the coaching, but it is allowing the receivers to get open in the middle too easily. Lay has more experience, and may be able to handle playing closer to the receiver without being burned.
There is a Harris-bashing column. This from Goslin. Can’t disagree with it. The nut passage concerning the play:
The point is Harris has left himself open to question by everyone, including his players. Certainly Palko would have preferred to go for the touchdown on third down. Certainly he could have lashed out at the coach in the postgame.
But the young quarterback showed more maturity in some respects than the coach by being the good soldier. He did what he was told and provided leadership afterwards by saying, “It’s not time to panic and point fingers. It’s time to snap your freakin’ head gear on and get ready for Temple.”
That is what I call being right even though it’s wrong.
I know I should not want to hang a coach on one play. But the choice was so bad and ultimately such a microcosm for Harris’ coaching tenure that it fits. Reputation for creativity, “offensive genius,” and “quarterback guru.” But then being too afraid to risk field position in the first half of a close game?
Now Pitt has to go beat Temple. The Owls managed to lose to a MAC team by 54 yesterday. How many Pitt fans actually feel confident of a win, despite that?
