PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – ‘Crappy tackling’ is one of the phrases Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi used to describe their defensive issues in a 38-34 loss to Miami Saturday afternoon.
“We didn’t make plays,” Narduzzi said after the game. “Give them credit. They’ve got some good skill guys out there, and we didn’t make plays on the edge making tackles. Just gave them too many yards there.”
“Today the tackling issue came up and they kept attacking that,” said senior linebacker John Petrishen. “Those are usually routine plays we are pretty good at. We usually thrive in those moments. Today we lacked in open field tackling.”
It started out great for Pitt, a sack by Miami native Calijah Kancey costing the Hurricanes 15 yards. Then here are Miami’s next nine plays
· Tyler Van Dyke 14 yards to Charleston Rambo
· Van Dyke 57 yards to Key’Shawn Smith
· Jaylan Knighton -1-yard rush
· Van Dyke 20 yards to Elijah Arroyo for a touchdown
· Van Dyke 8 yards to Rambo
· Knighton 5-yard rush
· Van Dyke 57-yard touchdown to Will Mallory
· Van Dyke 20 yards to Michael Harley, Jr.
· Knighton 40-yard TD run
“When they got out to a quick lead on us, I think we all kind of looked around and we knew we were going to have to come back,” Petrishen said. “After that point every missed tackle has a much bigger effect going forward. It’s disappointing that we tackled that way. We will be much better in the future, I can promise you that.”
“We just got to make tackles to be honest,” said linebacker SirVocea Dennis. “We have to make plays. We didn’t do that well enough tonight.”
Why? A team that seemed to fix their defensive woes over the last few games. Why did it show Saturday?
Several Panthers gave credit to the Miami freshman quarterback for throwing for 426 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. However Narduzzi said it was more about what they didn’t do than what Miami did. Again, why the issues?
“To be honest, I really don’t have an answer for that,” Dennis said. “We just missed tackles all over the place. Not just one person but a lot of people, including myself. We have to fix that in practice. I know we will.”
“There is really no sign as to what leads to that,” Petrishen said noting the linebackers had a post-game discussion about it. “During the week you can only do so many live periods to preserve our bodies. You can try the best you can to thud and wrap up during practice throughout the week. That is definitely going to be a point of emphasis going forward. We were not at our best in that aspect.”
Maybe it was what we all feared. Pitt again came off a big win and wasn’t ready for the next game.
“It’s really an emotional rollercoaster,” Petrishen said. “Hopefully it won’t allow us to get too far ahead of ourselves again next time we have a big win because we will have another big win this season; hopefully many more.”
“Hopefully we can just stay focused on staying even keeled going forward and not get too far ahead of ourselves. Keep the standard the same no matter who we are playing.”