Football: Pitt still adjusting, looks to seal leaky offensive line

Pitt fans booed last Saturday as they watched the University of Maine’s defense race past the… Pitt fans booed last Saturday as they watched the University of Maine’s defense race past the Panthers’ offensive line and sack Tino Sunseri seven times — nearly a third as many as the Panthers gave up all last season.

Maine competes in the Football Championship Subdivision. Its defense isn’t exactly the ’85 Chicago Bears. Yet it somehow managed to turn Sunseri into a tackling prop. So what caused this gaping hole in Pitt’s offense?

According to the coaches and players who discussed the game at a press conference on Wednesday, the answer is pretty simple.

“It was just a breakdown here and there,” offensive line coach Spencer Leftwich said. “It wasn’t a scheme issue. It wasn’t, ‘This person’s getting beat.’ It was a one-person technique here, a one-person technique there. Now obviously, playing offensive line, if one link goes down it affects everybody else.”

Still, the big bodies up front were disappointed with their offensive performance last week. Senior right guard Lucas Nix said his unit’s play was “sub-par.” Leftwich agreed.

“It wasn’t our best week,” he said. “The best thing the kids did was really come in Sunday to get better, to get it corrected. We did. We know where the flaws lie, and we addressed those. We’re looking real forward to this week.”

Leftwich, who coached the offensive line at Tulsa last year before following Todd Graham to Pitt, said his players practiced staying on the right person, finishing blocks and keeping their pads at the right levels — “those things you strive to teach every day.”

To be sure, the offensive line is not solely to blame for last Saturday’s sack-filled day. Fans are naturally inclined to blame sacks on missed blocks, just as they’re almost certain to blame interceptions entirely on a quarterback. But it’s not until the game ends and the emotions fade that blame can properly be placed — on the backfield as well as the line.

“When the public sees six sacks, they think the offensive line is terrible,” quarterbacks coach Todd Dodge said. “Well, there is more to protecting the quarterback than the offensive line. The receivers are responsible, the backs, and the quarterback is responsible himself. That’s something we need to improve from last game to this game — just pocket presence and knowing when to step up and get rid of the ball.”

Graham said that his players are still adjusting to the new offensive system, which disregards huddles and requires linemen to make quick decisions. Never one for excuses, Graham said he and his staff are partially responsible for his team’s lack of execution. “We’re not getting [the system] taught at the pace we thought we were.”

To help players adapt to the new formations and blocking patterns, coaches have been emphasizing the importance of reacting as opposed to overthinking schemes. Nix said that, slowly, he sees his unit making progress.

“You’re not going to pick up the system in one offseason, in one practice. But we’re making a lot of strides to get to where we need to be. People are starting to understand more and more what they’re expected to do — to react and not think so much.”

On Saturday, the Panthers will battle the toughest defense they have seen thus far, in Iowa. Despite the Hawkeyes’ surrendering 44 points to Iowa State in an overtime loss last week, Leftwich said he expects to encounter a defense that makes very few mistakes.

“Iowa is a very well-coached defensive football team,” Leftwich said. “They’re fundamentally coached well. Technique will be the best we’ve seen. They really use their hands well. We expect their guys to play hard, to be well-coached and disciplined, to stay in their gaps, to escape double teams and to fight off blocks.”

Nix agreed. “It’s a matter of us getting them blocked this week,” the senior gaurd said. “If we come out of [Saturday] having picked up pressures they showed us, if we’re blocking them up right and rushing for yards and there’s no pressure on the quarterback, then I expect good things. I think we got a little bit of confidence this week in practice. I expect to go out there and play a lot better than we did last week.”