After great expectations, football weekend turned into nightmare
seemed lovable after HBO’s “Hard Knocks.” What was I thinking? It, too, was an awful game. Roethlisberger committed five turnovers. Conner lost a fumble on the one play that hurt the Steelers more than any other. The Browns still were laughable despite outscoring the Steelers, 14-0, in the final 7½ minutes. It seemed right the game ended, 21-21. Neither team deserved to win.
The games were so bad I wouldn’t have believed either outcome if I hadn’t been in rain-drenched Heinz Field and rain-drenched FirstEnergy Stadium and watched with my own eyes. I had to stay for every play. I couldn’t turn off my television and do something more fun like fold T-shirts. What did I do to deserve that?
The Steelers will have better days, I’m confident of that. Roethlisberger and his offense won’t turn the ball over six times again. Conner, who played an otherwise strong game, probably won’t lose another fumble at the worst possible time. James Washington, who slowly is working his way back from injury, will be a bigger part of the offense, perhaps as soon as Sunday against Kansas City at home. Bell will be back — maybe later rather than sooner — but he will be back. I really liked the way the defense played. Jon Bostic and Bud Dupree were much better than I thought they could be. So was the secondary. I know the defense will face better opponents and better quarterbacks, but I believe it will help win a lot of games if it keeps playing the way it did against the Browns and Tyrod Taylor. I don’t want a do-over of my predictions of an 11-5 record and an AFC North Division championship.
But Pitt? How do you have positive thoughts after that performance? Here’s the worst part: I don’t think Penn State is that good.
It’s fair to question everybody and everything about the Pitt program. I’m as guilty as anyone hyping Kenny Pickett as the next great It, based on his wonderful play against Miami late last season in his first college start. I still think he has a chance to be really good, but he showed Saturday night he has a long way to go. It didn’t help Pickett that his offensive line was overwhelmed and didn’t give him much time to look downfield, even giving up a safety because of a holding call in the end zone. Nearly all the damage Pickett did in a decent first half was with his legs. It also didn’t help Pickett that Pitt’s defense couldn’t keep Penn State from taking over the game in the third quarter. And don’t get me started about Pitt’s special teams.
Pitt was so bad that Narduzzi apologized after the game. He knows his team lost an opportunity to win back a few fans. Heinz Field was sold out and fairly throbbing despite a steady, chilly rain. Now, Pitt will be lucky to get its usual 35,000 for a home game Saturday against Georgia Tech. This is nothing new. All too often, Pitt has been its worst enemy.
Narduzzi is in a rough spot. Getting crushed by a condescending coach and a bitter rival that has no respect for you or your program (perhaps rightfully so) seems like a big step back. Narduzzi is fortunate that Pitt’s next games are against Georgia Tech and at North Carolina. He has a chance to get his team back on track before the schedule gets much tougher with games against Central Florida and Notre Dame on the road.
I’ve always believed a coach — any coach — deserves four or five years before he should be judged. Narduzzi deserves every bit of that. But this is his fourth season. He won six of his first seven games but is 16-17 since. He has incredible wins over Penn State and at eventual national champion Clemson in 2016 but is 3-8 against power-five conference opponents since the start of the 2017 season. Pitt is 0-2 in bowl games under Narduzzi and did the nearimpossible last season by failing to get to one. Doesn’t every team make a bowl game these days?
I might be obtuse, but I don’t see a lot of progress. Then again, maybe I’m just blinded by all of the rotten football I watched over the weekend.