Rutgers on Saturday. Before getting into anything, it is important to wish the best for Eric LeGrand. Hoping that he can beat the odds regarding the severity of his injury. Scary, scary stuff. Pitt is showing support for LeGrand with a banner at the game signed by the team, students and Pitt employees.
Moving to Rutgers, as much as Pitt has had injuries this year, Rutgers has had just as much. They are down another linebacker with Manny Abreu out for a few weeks with a knee injury. Add in the loss of LeGrand and the Scarlet Knights have had a tough season with injuries.
Abreu, who was playing the best football of his career, joins Jimmy Dumont, Edmond Laryea and David Milewski on the sidelines. Dumont, Laryea and Milewski are out for the season with knee injuries.
Even with the injuries, it hasn’t stopped Rutgers from blitzing on defense. Schiano loves the blitz despite his indoctrination from Wannstedt. No reason not to expect more of that with Pitt’s O-line and Sunseri under center.
“They take a lot of pride in their ability on defense and in making big plays with the scheme they use,” Wannstedt said at his weekly news conference. “Last week, we saw a 4-3 physical defense. It was simply ‘here is my guy, I have to block him.’ This week it is different — they are moving, they are twisting and they are firing guys, so it’s more of a combination. It is a lot more of the mental application of getting the job done as much as it is the physical.
“If you look at their team, three of their wins came in the fourth quarter with their defense making big plays and turnovers in the fourth quarter, giving them the opportunity to win. We need to focus on protecting the ball, and this will be a 60-minute game, without a doubt.
“Nobody will force the blitzing issue as much as Rutgers will.”
Of course, as much as Pitt’s O-line will feel pressure — and this may be hard to fathom — Rutger’s offensive line has been worse.
I didn’t think the stock could get any lower on the Scarlet Knights’ offensive front. Eight sacks allowed against Army proved me wrong. Greg Schiano called the problem “an epidemic.” Is there any cure?
On the season, Rutgers has allowed 26 sacks. There’s a reason Rutgers has struggled to get any running game or to generate much offense. Will Pitt bring extra pressure or can the front four do the job to get to freshman QB Chas (stupidly pronounced “chase” WTF) Dodd?
Wannstedt says he wants the team to be aggressive this week. We will see.
Devin Street gets some love as the emerging 3d WR.
Expect to read more on brother vs. brother this weekend. Here’s the opening piece.
Khaseem Greene isn’t sure exactly how many family members will be making the trip from Elizabeth to Rutgers’ game at Pittsburgh on Saturday, saying only that “it will be a lot.”
They won’t be tough to pick out in the stands at Heinz Field.
All will be wearing the same shirts, reflecting the family’s divided loyalties for the day: One-half of the front and back will be scarlet with a picture of Greene, the Knights’ starting free safety.
The other half will be blue, with the image of Ray Graham, Pittsburgh’s leading rusher — and Greene’s brother.
Greene is Rutgers’ 5th leading tackler. Neither is much for trash talking, though, so that element is missing.
I read that Rutgers offensive line struggled against Army. I did not see the game. Does anyone know how Army caused so much disruption? Did they blitz a lot or did the front 4 simply out-man Rutgers offensive line?
so one of the main complaints has been tha the o-line isnt blocking and giving Tino enough time. That may have been true in the Miami game, but that was also due to 9 guys being in the box without any fear of Tino throwing against man coverage. But I refuse to blame the o-line for his poor play against Notre Dame (Ill leave Cuse out of this for argument’s sake). Phil Steele correctly predicted taht Pitt would not be very strong this year and left them out of his top 25 based primarily on weakness at qb. He now has out his midseason all-conference awards:
link to philsteele.com
Notice 2 Pitt o-linemen on 1st team… their play is not bad as many are making it out to be.
They gave Tino plenty of time at Notre Dame despite increased rush and pressure because the whole world knows he cant make a deep throw or read coverage over the middle…
Does this include the coaches, the actual game plan and overall direction moving forward?????
link to rivals.yahoo.com?
slug=ap-connecticut-endres
The real knock on the OL was how poorly they were playing against the run – and that was brought into question after Graham came in, with the same OL personnel, and put up the rushing yardage Lewis couldn’t.
Phil Steele did not rank Pitt #27 because of “weakness” at QB. He did so because of inexperience, which included the QB, and a difficult non-con schedule given that inexperience: “When I list my rankings in the magazine, they are my end of season rankings and I have Pittsburgh #27. I do have the Panthers winning the Big East title by beating West Virginia at home which would give them the tie-breaker. However, they have just 11 returning starters and have to face Utah and Notre Dame on the road and Miami, Fl at home in non-conference play.” He predicted they would go 9-3 (7-0 BE).
In his breakdown of the Pitt QB position, he said, “Sunseri was the clear-cut starter out of Spring ’10….” Clear-cut says to me that of the choices, he was the best CHOICE, maybe not Big Ben as you seem to expect, but the best QB for the team at this point in time.
Also, please define your criteria for the continued “poor play against Notre Dame” statement. His statistics were better than his equally inexperienced by more highly-touted counterpart. So does that mean Crist sucked? Oh, right, statistics don’t mean anything. They just keep them for fun.
So, I guess it’s because he didn’t anticipate Shanahan falling down on the missed touchdown pass and interception. And I guess he was just lucky that he made an excellent fake to Dion – so much so that the announcer thought Dion had the ball – then suckered the saftey into thinking he was running leaving Baldwin wide open for a TD. And, by the way, his candy arm managed to throw that ball 38 yards in the air while on the run, and off his back foot.
I’ve been as critical as anyone of Tino’s need to stop throwing off his back foot, make quicker, better reads (I agree with Reed that he has the time to do so.) and look to throw more to a wide-open middle. But get real DeVanzo. You chide people for not being objective, so please try doing that yourself. You’ll get more agreement here that way, because you do make some valid points.
wrong, he was clear cut starter because everyone remotely involved with Pitt spring practices knew that Wanny had picked Tino awhile ago and there was never even a competition… Zeise had that out awhile ago as well
When I judge quarterback play i look at how he progresses through his progressions, how he handles pocket pressure and handles the timing of the pocket collapsing, his choice for target, how long it takes from that choice until he throws, the mechanics of his throw, the accuracy of his throw, the velocity and arc of the throw
i dont care about stats… lets look at Tino in nd
progressions – fail… never looked over the middle, missed baldwin on deep routes being open constantly
pressure – held on to the ball way too long several times, not throwing the ball out of bounds when time is up and no one is open
target choice – fail, see above. Selection was often made before the ball was snapped
duration of throwing process – average, his release timing doesnt necessarily concern me but he tends to rock when he throws (back foot) and that extends delivery
mechanics – poor… im dumbfounded that this has been tolerated for three years in the program. His mechanics would be questionable at the high school level, he drops his elbow and it causes the ball to float… he doesnt throw into a firm left side when he comes across his body and it causes the ball to sail to left side of the field, and he throws off of his back foot on deep balls making them all but uncatchable (and vastly underthrown)
accuracy – terrible over 15 yards
velocity – because of mechanics it is soft in mid/deep throws… but most disconcerting is that it is INCONSISTENT… this throws off route running and timing
arc – lollypopping on deep throws… safeties have all day
and when Zeise defends Tino as the starter, you accuse him of being a hack for Wanny.
“Again, the number one question I get is about quarterback and my answer has not changed based on anything I’ve seen in training camp – Tino Sunseri is good enough to give the Panthers a chance to win.” Paul Zeise Aug. 23, 2010
I believe the reads have gotten better and will continue to get better with experience. Since you brought up Phil Steele, you must know that he tracks experience as one of his key criteria, ” A player gains valuable experience for every year he plays and becomes a better player because of it.”
However, your breakdown looks more like a compilation of Tino’s performance for the season not just his ND game performance, which most observers who get paid for their opinions said was strong not poor.
ESPN3.com has the whole game, watch it and see if you disagree with my points about his play… especially on the deep throws and coming across his body
I have never called Zeise a hack…
Tino will improve, but an improved Tino still wont ever be good enough and id rather cut my losses and let somebody else improve. Hes not 18, hes not a true freshman… hes been on a college football team for 3 years… its too late to fix mechanics or inconsistency
You apparently have, so it seems you would rather cut your losses (I guess that means monetarily too) and throw a one-year-as-a-HS-starter freshman in there because he looks good on film against other HS players. Sorry, I’m not there. Myers and Pitt will be a lot better off in the future with him redshirting this year.
Finally, there are at least 25 other players who each week contribute to Pitt’s wins and losses, but you only seem to have a problem with one.
DeVanzo, level with us. You are really having some fun with us by making ridiculous comments, right? In Tino’s first game in a very hostile environment, he took Pitt into overtime against the 9th rated team in the country. Against ND, two routine field goals were missed along with Sheard quitting on one play when he was chasing the QB. Otherwise, we win. (I could also throw in that our “ultra-conservative” coach tried a fake punt on 4th down deep in our territory that resulted in a field goal for ND.) Tino throws 4 TD passes and no interceptions and blows out Syracuse – a team the odds makers had on a par with Pitt. We could easily be a 5-1 ranked team. And now you say (presumably with a straight face) that you found no QB worse than Tino.
LOL. That is a real knee-slapper.
BigGuy… I say that with a straight face… stop talking about his Syracuse stats, Im talking about his ability and performance. I support Navy and watch Dobbs every week. His stats suck, Pitt would be 6-0 with him at quarterback. His command of the football field, the offense, and ability to singlehandedly win football games has become legendary at Annapolis. I also watched him play against SMU, Air Force, La Tech, etc etc… only the disaster of the Maryland qb situation is even comparable… and I think both of those kids are better than Tino on a talent/execution level. You cant even compare Tino to any bcs conference team qb at our level with a straight face… hed never see the field in an SEC/Big 12 game. Also raelize Tino Sunseri is maybe throwing to the best receiving corps in college football… Devin Street will most likely play on sundays and he is our third receiver… how much talent being wasted is literally sickening.
I havent given up on this season and I bet on Pitt last saturday… we literally should blow away every big east team save Cincy/WVU… they dont have anywhere near the talent we have.
If we go 8-4 and no bcs thats it for wanny and checks to the program for me
Those 6 guys (TE included) need to perform well together both physically and mentally. This is not an endorsement of Sunseri’s play by any means. Over-throwing the ball into the stands when you finally do have time isn’t going to win any games, but the play of the line needs to continue to improve. It is still subpar, but I do think that it has gotten a little bit better.
Gee, DeVanzo. I am going to have to watch the opposing QB’s more carefully. I didn’t realize that ‘Cuse’s QB outplayed Tino.
to refresh you on what i already said:
“not one game that Ive watched have I noticed measurable play worse than Tino’s. (and dont even say FIU/NH/CUSE… if thats how low you have to dig then maybe you are on the bench Tino side and dont even realize it)”
And he is most probably the best pick of the two QB at this point – although I would have loved to see what Pat Bostick could do given the opportunity to actually compete for the job – which was denied him – and get the same opportunity to get set with the first team offense and lead the squad out on the field as the starter… I belivev the results would be better than fans think.
However two points above get me:
1) TampaT – you reference this phrase written by Zeise as supporting Sunseri… “Tino Sunseri is good enough to give the Panthers a chance to win” when in reality that is damning with faint praise. You must not review personnel evaluations in your line of work but in the military if I read that the subject is out the door at the first opportunity. All off season long – in both Spring and Training Camp Paul Zeise was very hesitant when writing about Sunseri because Sunseri didn’t actually do that well. Now given that – he’s playing at a higher level than he did when in the camps which is what a staff wants from their QB.
2. These two quotes in todays Trib Review from Sunseri speak directly to what transpired with him in our first five games…
“I felt early on that I kind held onto it a little bit. I got ripped by (Cignetti), and I learned from that. He has more faith in me to dial more stuff up. It’ll take some pressure off the running game.” and…
“The offensive line has opened up holes every week and provided protection for me,” Sunseri said. “We’ve given up some sacks, but they’ve mostly been my fault. They have given me ample amount of time, so I need to help them out a little more.”
Let’s not look back and absolve Tino Sunseri for how he played – he himself says that it was on him – and with that we should keep in mind that should he be able to carry his progress forward then that is the natural progression for QBs – although I do think with being in the system as long as he had he should have picked up the pace a bit quicker. And he has to do something about his deep ball.
TampaT, you mention that 38 yard pass on the Safety fake against ND… you do realize that was a terrible pass don’t you? Sunseri almost blew that by missing a wide open Baldwin running free in the middle of the field. His deep balls truly stink and that is severely impacting our offense – to say nothing of Baldwin’s production – at this point. Sunseri hasn’t hit on one normal deep pattern yet if I recall correctly. All of our big passing plays have come on great YAC by the WRs or big mistakes by the defense.
Finally – PITT fans have the shortest memory possible – it was only between the 2007 & 2008 seasons when DW said in an interview that he would never play a true freshman QB again unless forced to by injury. The is no way he’ll play Myers this season – nor should he with Sunseri & Bostick in uniform.
This team hopefully is not as bad as its record and may improve enough to win the Big East. Perhaps Murphy and Romeus will make a difference down the stretch.
They still have to win them one at a time. Beat Rutgers.
Speaking of short memories, you may recall that Zeise was very vocal in his surprise of the QB job being handed to Stull when he struggled in camp last year. So, why the change in his viewpoint now? My take is that, like me, he didn’t think Tino was ready to win games on his own, but given the choices, he was the best one at the time. You even seem to have come to that conclusion yourself.
Give the kid a break on the Baldwin TD pass against ND. He did it on the run after executing a great play fake. And please take my comment for what it was instead of taking it out of context to make your point. Yes, his mechanics were bad – threw off his back foot as DeVanzo and I have both said – but throwing it 38 yds. in the air in spite of that shows it’s not an arm-strength issue with him. That was my point.
And I for one am not absolving Tino for how he’s played. Read my comments on him and you’ll see I agree with DeVanzo on many of his points about reads, mechanics, etc. Once again, my major reason for defending Tino in this thread is that there are over 25 players who have contributed to Pitt’s wins and losses, but some continue to focus on him as the only weakness. I happen to disagree with that.
I do think Sunseri is progressing into a good QB and I’m not surprised at that. My whole slant with him was more so with the fan expectations of Sunseri coming out of the gate as the next Dan Marino – and there were a lot of fans who thought that would happen. I pretty much knew that the first half of the year was going to be a struggle for him because if you objectively read the camp reports by Zeise, Grupp and Greco then you’d have realized that all of them said basically the same thing.
Two things Sunseri has done have impressed me the most – not throwing many INTs and not having many passes batted down. i thought the former because of his inexperience and the latter due to his height… but in reality Cignetti hasn’t called for passes in the middle of the field and that’s helped with getting his passes past the DL.
All that said, I do think Sunseri will be pretty good next season as I think there is a big jump in a QB’s play and production between their first and second year… and because of that and if Sunseri doesn’t completely fall apart for some weird reason, I think DW will keep him as the starter for the duration of Sunseri’s time at PITT. Those fans hoping Myers will be in the running next year are whistling past the graveyard IMO – if DW hasn’t opened up the QB competition since he’s been here – and he really hasn’t done anything but decide who he wants his QB to be (Palko, Stull & Sunseri) and stick with it come Hell or high water, then he’ll not change in 2011.
Amidst all the disappointments of the football season, we still have some brand-new track, baseball, soccer and softball facilities to look forward to for the spring. Hail to Pitt