Kedon Slovis looked like he was starting to put things together as Pitt’s quarterback in the first half against Duke. He led a two-minute drill for a touchdown at the end of the first half, which, when combined with his touchdown pass against Virginia the week prior, was the first time he’d thrown touchdowns in back-to-back games since Pitt’s first two games of the season.
But Slovis’ second half that followed brought two more interceptions and Pitt’s offense was shut out the rest of the way in the Panthers’ 28-26 win. Pat Narduzzi wasn’t ready to put all of the blame for that on Slovis when he gave his Monday press conference from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, as he referenced what he and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. have worked on with Slovis.
“Coach Cignetti often says it’s the ultimate team game,” Narduzzi said. “It takes more than one guy. Whether it’s the wrong route, or him making a bad decision to throw back across his body, or a corner falling off into a route that we didn’t expect. Those things happen at the quarterback position and it’s a hard job. But he’s done a nice job for us; he’s given us a chance to win. We’re on a three-game win streak; you don’t do that with crappy quarterback play. He’s made some nice throws. When you look at the throws he’s made — everyone wants to look at the negative — but you have to look at the positives, too. He’s thrown some darts.”
Slovis does deserve credit for some of the nice throws, and also blame for plenty of his misses. But what Narduzzi says about the team aspect of Pitt’s struggles in the pass game ring true when watching the game film.
The most obvious throw that was 100% on Slovis was his second interception of the game, when he rolled out and tried to throw across his body to Jared Wayne in the middle of the field. The pass never had a chance to reach its intended target because Duke linebacker Shaka Heyward — cousin to the Steelers’ Cam Heyward and Connor Heyward — was waiting for the throw and made the interception:
Those are decisions that happen Slovis after his designed progressions didn’t work out. But his touchdown pass was an example of a proper read against a defense with a confident throw. Duke showed a single-high safety look to give the impression it would protect the deep middle of the field. But when the ball was snapped, Duke switched into a Cover 2 defense with two safeties spread out in the end zone.
Slovis quickly identified the disguise and threw to Wayne, who ran a seam route right between the safeties for the easy touchdown.
But the times when things weren’t so obvious for Slovis that led to huge mistakes did illuminate Narduzzi’s point about there being more team aspects in play with Pitt’s passing struggles. Slovis’ first interception came with a miscommunication between him and Israel Abanikanda. The Pitt running back ran a wheel route and kept running toward the end zone when Slovis thought the Duke cornerback’s coverage dictated that Abanikanda should’ve broken off his route to the sideline.
That miscommunication led to a ball thrown where Abanikanda wasn’t, and an easy interception for Datrone Young.
Those types of miscommunications have certainly added to Pitt’s inconsistencies in the passing game. On a fourth quarter third-and-long, Slovis had the right idea to target Bub Means on his part of a dagger concept — a combination of a go-route from a receiver on the interior of a formation combined with a dig route by a receiver from the outside of the formation.
The idea is for either the inside receiver to catch the pass if he’s left unguarded, or for him to clear out space so the receiver on the dig route has plenty of room to run. On the third-and-long, Slovis saw Means as an open receiver and threw the ball, but Means never turned around for it and the pass fell incomplete.
Part of the reason for that mistake was Means’ misunderstanding of his role.
“The one to Bub was a dagger concept,” Slovis said after the game. “We’re teaching him to run through, and he’s done that. But today, I think he over-focused on running through and not really looking for the ball. That’s just about coaching, learning and getting comfortable with the offense. Right after, he asked me for clarification because he thought he was doing what he was supposed to do. And he was to an extent, but we just need to get more comfortable with that.”
Means had run that part of the dagger concept earlier in the game in plays that generated success for Pitt’s offense. In the second quarter, Means’ go-route cleared out the space for Wayne’s dig-route to generate a 29-yard gain. It worked a few times for the Panthers early, which might’ve explained why Means didn’t think he would be targeted on the opportunity that was missed later.
Much of Pitt’s offense has lacked detailed execution in the passing game, and a lot of that has come with the layered responsibilities for both the quarterback and his targets. When Slovis set a target for himself to complete over 1,000 passes to his receivers over the offseason, it was with the hope that there would be more chemistry within the group at the start of the season, let alone in the penultimate regular season game.
The group gets one more ACC game to show its growth this season. But with seven touchdown passes and eight interceptions on the year for Slovis, it’s clear the group was not as efficient as intended — and that many questions remain about who will still be around for Pitt’s offense next season, let alone what concepts and packages will be called.
Christopher Carter: ccarter@post-gazette.com and on Twitter @CarterCritiques
First Published: November 22, 2022, 3:23 p.m.