I’m sure most of you have read the comments from Pat Bostick and LeSean McCoy. Each essentially trying to take the blame for the fumble at the 1 yard-line at the end of the game.
To their credit, Bostick, who was 10 of 20 passing for 136 yards, and McCoy, who rushed 26 times for 125 yards and a touchdown, took responsibility for the fumbled exchange. Both were fighting back tears when they discussed that sequence.
“I didn’t get the ball to him, bottom line,” Bostick said. “We don’t have much to show for [the effort] because we didn’t make the play.”
McCoy then responded, “No, it wasn’t all on Pat. I didn’t secure the ball well enough. I was trying to read the defense, but you have to secure the ball first. Things like that happen.”
Wannstedt was quick to defend his talented freshmen and pointed out that the Panthers would not have been in position to possibly tie the score had Bostick and McCoy not performed so well.
“These kids played as hard as they can play and there were a lot of plays in the game that could have made a difference and this is not about one play,” Wannstedt said.
And this one.
“I didn’t get it to him, bottom line” Bostick said, sniffling.
“It wasn’t on Pat,” McCoy quietly interrupted. “I didn’t secure the ball well enough. I got lackadaisical with the ball, trying to read stuff. I need to secure the ball first.”
Good stuff. Both players clearly distraught over the loss. Taking it hard and trying to shoulder all the responsibility. Just, um, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Before he entered the interview room, Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt could be overheard talking to quarterback Pat Bostick and running back LeSean McCoy.
He instructed the two freshmen to share responsibility for the goal-line fumble on a handoff near the end of the game, then he deflected blame from both.
“There were a lot of plays in the game that could have made a difference, and this is not about one play,” he said. “If these two guys continue to play like they did today, the University of Pittsburgh is going to win a ton of games, and these guys are going to have great careers.”
Well, clearly Bostick and McCoy are coachable in all facets.
Dumb ass dave and his coaches are dumb asses! Dickerson’s biggest mistake was coming to Pitt! Next year he will be a junior! He has not developed at all.
I wonder why? THEY ALL HAVE TO GO, RIGHT NOW!
There will be no bowl game this year or next year, Wanny will never have a winning season because he is STUPID!!!
Enjoy the rest of the season! I won’t; FIRE HIM NOW!!
4-8 will be the best Pitt will do this year!
Next year much worse…..lol……
Lindsey is likely still learning the assignments. As a true freshman, I think he would’ve had a hard time getting on the field to begin with. I remember when he signed his LOI last year, a lot of people said he’d eventually be a good one but he was pretty raw in terms of experience at the position so it might take him some time to learn his coverages and assignments. And – for better or worse – we know how much stock Rhoads takes in being able to execute assignments.
I think Lindsey will be fine. I think it’s WAYYYYY too early to write Dickerson off…a lot of what I’ve read from Zeise and Gorman suggests that Dickerson not getting on the field isn’t really his fault as much as it’s been Gunn stepping up his own game. I do think Dickerson is probably coming on slower than expected, but again, I think it’s way too early to write him off. He’s a good football player and a hell of an athlete and I think we’ll see a better player in him next year…hopefully this year of experience will serve him well.
That leaves Nix and Loheyde – two RS freshmen. Nix, I believe, still might need to add a little bit more weight. If I remember correctly, he added about 15 pounds prior to this year but was still considered a bit small.
It wouldn’t entirely surprise me to see Murray eventually moved back to safety next year. He moved to LB out of necessity more than anything else (as did Brady…and Dickerson, kind of), but the more I’ve watched him, the more I think he’s better suited for safety. He was primarily recruited as a safety, and as long as Nix and Loheyde continue to develop and Dell gets healthy, this position should round into shape a bit more next year.
I do agree that they need to address this a bit in recruiting.
It doesn’t matter, its the coaching! Remember last year with Dickerson? They burned his redshirt for 15 to 20 plays! How much has he played this year? Maybe 60 plays? Wait until next year is dumb ass dave’s theme!
We have went from RUN FASTER! to SHARE THE BLAME!
The man is a complete idiot.
What would you have done with Dickerson, though?
He was moved primarily because they lacked serious depth at the LB position and he was an athlete capable of playing a similar position when he was in high school (he played a rover position at West Allegheny). Some of the depth issues at LB were under control of the coaches via recruiting, but some of the depth issues were related to injury and health issues that are beyond the control of the coaches.
When the team came to camp prior to last year, WR was considered a problem because of lack of established depth. That’s why Dickerson initially opened up his Pitt career as a wideout. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury during one of the Big 33 practices prior to the start of his freshman year at Pitt and the ankle bothered him through the first week of camp. When he finally got healthy and was able to get on the field at wideout, he struggled by most accounts. In mid-August, he was shifted to RB to try to get him on the field more.
Could Dickerson have become a contributor at RB? Who knows, because everything changed when McCoy committed. McCoy has done nothing to make me question the decision of the coaching staff to then try to find another spot for Dickerson.
Depth was no longer much of an issue at wideout with Kinder, Turner, Pestano having proven themselves capable receivers last year. They also had McGee, Porter, Mo Williams and Aundre Wright in the fold heading into this year’s camp.
Should they have moved him back to wideout anyway, ignoring the depth issues at LB? I don’t know, but let’s face it – if he was that good at wideout, they wouldn’t have moved him to RB last year in the first place, especially since RB wasn’t anywhere near as much of an issue heading into the 2006 season as wideout.
As for Pat and Mccoy. I cant put any blame on the two. Lesean has been perfect up to this point, and he carries our offense each week. Pat is doing pretty decent for being a freshman too.
Sorry it took me so long to respond; back, the thing that really cranked me about Dickerson; dumb ass dave made a huge mistake last year and did go on record stating that “they†were going to design plays especially for Dickerson and make him a vital cog in the offense. What happened? Essentially nothing, that definitely retarded Dickerson’s growth/progress for year one.
Year two, moving him to LB, another blow, new position, new learning and I am ok with your logic that you presented. My beef is; play the kid, dumb ass dave has stated that Dickerson is one of the fastest guys on the team, he is an athlete, he is fast but I agree he has very little experience playing LB. Well its time to give him a shot and play him regularly. Playing him gives him the necessary experience to either fail or succeed. Has Adam Gunn shown any flashes of brilliance? Pitt’s LB core overall seems pretty weak, slow and very undersized. Will Dickerson starting and playing a majority of the time make the defense really that much worse?
This program is in deep trouble, there is talent, but the development of that talent is sorely lacking. There seems to be no strategy anywhere, player development, game planning etc..
Very disappointing, I will stand pat and reiterate dumb ass dave will never have a winning season at Pitt or take them to a bowl game.
Chas – i thought the title of your article on the fan house was perfetc.
I agree with Stoosh’s comments above regarding the Dickerson situation….During practices, which most of us has not attended, I believe they tried Dickerson at every available positon on both sides of the ball, but he really hasn’t excelled or beat out any other players that he has been competing against…..Could and should they use him better, of course…..I believe that since he’s one of the fastest players on the team and he was recruited as a athelete, he’s best suited to play strong safety, and use him in a role similar to how the Steelers uses Polumalu…What fustrates me with the PITT coaching staff is that they are fortunate to have the Steelers as their next door neighbors and it’s aparant that they are not talking to the Steelers for advice on how they could incorporate all the talented personnal into their game plan……Also, I agree with HbgFrank, that PITT should give Wanny at least two more years tofinish what he started and to coach the guys that he recruited.
“Shane Murray (3.5) was pulled in the second half in favor of Jemeel Brady (2.5)…”
…hmmm….
Still, like i’ve bitched about before, our biggest problem on defense is the linebacks, closely followed by our secondary. Dickerson isn’t getting any time (must not have any clue at all to not get time now)…how is it him and lindsey (i haven’t heard crap about him all year, not one word) are so far behind they can’t even get in the game at all – i mean, could they really be worse? Our top recruiting priority HAS to be LBers…followed by more OL. And can we at least develop the LBers we do have sitting around like Nix, Dickerson, and Lindsey, and stop playing backup QBs?
Umm….when did those dicks at scout.com go to a registration-required scheme to see your prospects and commits? WTF is that? I liked scout.com interface better, but it looks like i’ll be going to rivals.com from now on…