We have documented ad nauseam Kedon Slovis' struggles as Pitt's quarterback this season, including in my post-Duke column from earlier in the week.
On Wednesday on the South Side, we got to hear Pitt's offensive coordinator's thoughts about his quarterback's progression throughout the season.
Slovis is currently 98th in Football Bowl Subdivision with a 122.8 QB rating. He has completed a career-low 57.8% of his passes for 2,135 yards with seven touchdowns and eight interceptions in 10 games.
Below is the video I recorded on Wednesday on the South Side, when Frank Cignetti Jr. met with us for the second time in-season. Rather than going long-form here, I'll let Cignetti do all of the talking, and I'll leave the full Q&A transcription below the video.
Happy Thanksgiving, all. I'm on tap for Live Qs today, so feel free to follow this link HERE for an expanded discussion. I'll have more on this week's matchup with Miami in Thursday's kickoff feature.
• Question (abbreviated): "How do you work on timing, things like that, to have ways to understand that (the receiver) is the clear-out guy, but if they leave you open, you've got to look back?"
Cignetti: "Well, you know what, football is the ultimate team game, right? We've talked about it before. When there's a lack of execution, there's a lot of different reasons why. You try to get 11 guys playing as one. Sometimes it looks like the quarterback, when in reality, when you come in here, it might be the wide receiver, it might the protection. There's other reasons. To answer your question, how do you try to get the timing and rhythm and everyone on the same page is through practice. You look at the daily schedule, we come in here, we meet, we install the passes, then we go into the indoor (facility) and we actually walk through the passes, and then we practice them. And what happens sometimes is the human element, which we all go through. The human element of, if a guy's running a route, and maybe he's a step off or maybe his eyes are just a little late sometimes. And what you try to do is minimize the margin of error."
• Q: "To that point, why hasn't the pass game clicked as well as the run game this year?"
FC: "Well, I do believe we're getting better. I think we're making progress. And not to be repetitive, but when we come in here on Sunday and we watch the tape, it's multiple -- it's different reasons. Sometimes there's beautiful execution. You know, like the deep-in that we threw. It was just beautiful. Couldn't be any better. Then there's just plays we leave on the field. Like, for instance, on the second play of the (Duke) game, Kedon just underthrows the ball. Then there's another play, like maybe the one you referred to (in the previous question) where the wide receiver doesn't look at the appropriate time. Then there might be another play where you're saying, 'wow, we got a big-play opportunity,' but maybe the protection breaks down. And when you talk about the protection it's not always the offensive line. It could be the (running) backs in protection. You know, so, different reasons. We talk about -- we know it's difficult. What we try to do, what the players try to do, it's not easy. But when we leave -- let's use the number 10 -- let's say we leave 10 good pass opportunities on the field, we've got to cut that at least in half, or to two and three, and you keep working on it. You keep coaching. We've used this for years. As coaches, our responsibility is to teach this great game and then correct it, and the players prepare to perform. And you hope to close the gap on that."
• Q: "How has Kedon a different/better quarterback than the day you first met him?"
FC: "Wow, I'll tell you what, man, I see it on the tape, and even in today’s practice. Let’s just take a few route concepts. You know, these might not mean anything to you guys, but dagger and potter and just how you can see that he knows what it looks like now. He understands the timing and the rhythm of his eyes and his feet and the ball location. And the type of balls, based on zone coverage and man coverage. The only way you get better is to play the game, and the more you play, the better you should get. And with that, you hope the results get better. What we have seen -- and we’ve talked about to the offense -- that when November started, we had four opportunities left. And the one thing we always about in pro football, was they remember what you do in November, because that’s when teams separate themselves. The contenders from the pretenders, teams either get better or they don’t, and I think what you’ve seen with us, as a team, we’re 3-0 in November. Our goal is to make it four, and as an offense, we do see progress. We strive for balance in the run game and the passing game, and there’s things in the run game that can be better. It’s just, to the human eye, the run game isn’t as exposed as the passing game. Because believe me, there’s some combinations on the front side and the back side that, if we do a few things a little better, we’ve got some runs popping out, too. It’s the ultimate team game. It starts with myself, it starts with the coaches, and then just getting that execution on game day."
• Q: “You had an offensive line that went through a lot this year, and now you have Owen (Drexel) back. Where have you noticed that group taking strides at, especially given all of that turnover and all of that reconfiguring that you’ve had to do. And, how much does it mean to have Owen back, as well?
FC: “Well, first off, Owen’s a great player, great kid. He does a great job with his I.Ds. He brings experience. He gets everyone on the same page. But, you know, you brought up a good point, because we’ve had a lot of different rotations in there. But it shows you what a great job that coach Narduzzi and coach (Dave) Borbely have done recruiting linemen and training linemen. As the offensive coordinator and play caller, I haven’t had to blink worrying about who’s playing left tackle, who’s playing right tackle, who’s at center. We’ve been very fortunate with the depth that we have up front.”
• Q: “What does Miami do well on defense that you guys have to game plan to counter on Saturday night?”
FC: “Well, I think when you put the tape on, you just see a front four that’s athletic. Then you look at the linebackers, and they can run. And same with the back end, they’re athletic. For instance, when you just take a look, and and when teams might run boots or keepers, whatever you want to call on them, they run, man. You know? When you see their guys having to pursue to the football, you see guys that can run to the ball.”
• Q: “How many plays ahead are you thinking, and how quickly do you have to change — let’s say there’s a sack — and you’ve got to change, and it’s now 2nd-and-19 instead of 1st-and-10?”
FC: “You know what? That is a great question, I mean that, and we can talk all day or week on it, and I’d love to sometime. I was brought up around my father (Frank Cignetti Sr.), Mike McCarthy, the tree of Bill Walsh where you have the scripted openers, you know what I mean, and it’s a road map. You don’t just go down them, but it’s a road map from normal down and distance, and you have your situational calls, whether it’s third down, and then different third downs. Is it short yardage? Is it third and short, medium, and long, and then once you get into the fringe high-red (zone), low-red, it’s a chess match. As coaches, we love game planning. The X’s and O’s of the game. Because you’re trying to put your players in a position to be successful, and who are you playing, and how can you attack the front and the back end. Calling the play, you've got to be thinking ahead, and you’ve got to think fast, because things do happen fast. Let’s just say you call that first play on first-and-10, you know, somewhere during that play, you’re processing a few different things in your mind. Am I going to be second-and short, am I going to be second-and-medium, are we going to have a first down, what hash are we going to be on? And what did we just see on that last down that maybe we can take advantage of? Experience helps, being around great coaches and coordinators, which I think I’ve been around great ones, helps.”
• Q: “Who’s the best play caller you’ve ever been around?”
FC: “Oh, Mike McCarthy (the current Dallas Cowboys head coach). Oh my goodness. Guy sees the game. The guy understands the game. He understands how defenses fit gaps, how they react, and then you have to go expose them, whether it’s on the front end or the back end. And he would see it so well.”
• Q: “The touchdown pass that you guys threw at the end of the (first) half, Duke shows a single-high safety. You guys have Jared (Wayne) running up the seam down the middle, but they ended up being in Cover 2. Was that something that you guys anticipated?”
FC: “We had a call on that literally, we call it a PSL combination. We had a one-high (safety) beater on one side, we had a two-high beater on the other side, and when it went to two-high, Jared and Kedon were on the same page, and Jared adjusted his route to take the open space. There’s things that happen on the field beyond coaching, and that was beyond coaching. Jared and Kedon did an unbelievable job taking what the defense gave them. And bringing out the kicker for the extra point, man. That was awesome to see.”
• Q: “How have you noticed Nick Patti grow this year, not just as a person, but obviously reprising the backup role and preparing that way every week. What have you seen from him this season in terms of growth?”
FC: “First off, very proud of him. He’s handled his role as a professional, he’s been very positive, he’s worked very hard. I feel like he is prepared to go out there and help us win if his number’s called. The quarterback room’s special, man. Always has been, always will be. He does a great job in the room, he does a great job at practice. Really proud of Nick.”
• Q: “(Israel Abanikanda) is likely going to win the ACC rushing title. What’s it been like coaching him and seeing him progress through the season? He's had some things he's had to battle through.”
FC: “It’s my first year here so I didn’t know these guys very well coming into this season. What I know about Izzy and that room is, one, coach (Tim) Salem must have done a great job recruiting him, coach (Andre) Powell does a great job coaching him. Izzy’s very talented. … He can hit home runs. He’s a joy to be around. He loves football, he’s got a positive outlook on it, he wants to get better. As a play caller, you love being able to hand the ball to a running back that can make big things happen, right? Really happy and proud of Izzy.”
• Q: “What’s been the most impressive part about Gavin Bartholomew to you this year? There was a lot of expectation that he would be maybe a huge part of the receiving game. It seems like he’s utilized, obviously, in the run blocking, and it seems like he’s doing more of the management work underneath. What have you seen from Gavin this season?”
FC: “I’ll tell you, that’s good analysis. He has improved his run blocking tremendously. If you came to training camp and you watched our individual drills, the offensive line, the tackles, and tight ends worked 15 minutes every day together, just on run blocks, whether it was front-side or back-side combinations. He does a really good job in the passing game. I’d love to get him more touches. You know, he’s a really good player, and I think what you’ll see in these next two years is Gavin continuing to develop into a total tight end. What do I mean by that? A guy that can play in all three phases. He can run block, he can pass protect, and he can run routes.”
