PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Every week of the Panthers 5-0 start, Eli Holstein won an award. Whether it was conference or national, Holstein was being recognized by some group. His stats continued to improve week-to-week as he threw three touchdown passes in every game of his career.
Not against Cal, the first-year quarterback struggled, but still the team won 17-15 Saturday night.
The numbers against the Bears were the worst of his brief career, 14-28, 133 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions.
"I played like a freshman today, tried to force things," Holstein said after the game. "Not taking what the defense gives me. Trying to do too much. Trying to make plays in unnecessary situations where I just needed to trust my guys, trust Coach Bell, trust the offense and just get the ball to those guys and let them make plays."
"He had stuff wide open and he needs to throw it and not try to be the hero all the time," Narduzzi said. "They did throw a lot of different stuff at him. Especially with the tempo they did a nice job."
"Again, he will learn from it. That's the great thing."
"Definitely going to watch a lot of film, learn from my mistakes," Holstein said even before Narduzzi's words. "Learn what I need to do differently. How do I attack a game week? How do I attack a drive? Doing the little things right."
Holstein was the first to take blame, that is one of the things that is enduring him to his teammates. It's never about someone else-not the play calling, not a line issue, not a player making a mistake. It's all on him. It's how former Steelers great Ben Roethlisberger used to act, even when many times it wasn't his fault either.
"Eli is a leader," said running back Desmond Reid. "He's been doing that since he came here. That's a great thing as a quarterback. Even when he doesn't mess up, he still takes blame. I love that."
Reid said Holstein leads by example. He doesn't say a lot, doesn't get rattled. He plays hard and the team feeds off that.
"He messed up a couple of times, but he was calm the whole game," Reid said. "I wouldn't just blame it on him, we got to do better as an offense. Period."
The first five games would tell you he and the offensive group will play better. They've got 12 days until Holstein plays in prime time for the first time. Every win and these games are only going to get bigger.
Pitt is 6-0 for the first time since 1982 and it seems the have a leader on offense, win or lose.
