Off-Topic » The silence coming from the back of the bu

PITTSBURGH (AP) —s offered Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi all the proof he needed that his maddeningly inconsistent team remains fully engaged.For now Michael Palardy Jersey 2019 , that’s all Narduzzi can ask for. Well, that and the hope the small mistakes that piled up into a messy loss at North Carolina last Saturday will soon be erased. Or at least minimized.“I’ve been on a lot of team buses through the years where … you come out of the locker room, you jump on the bus and you’re hearing some talk in the back of the bus, and you’re kind of like as a head coach or a defensive coordinator, you’re kind of like, ‘Shut up back there,'” Narduzzi said Monday. “But you know what? I was on the offensive bus, I’m talking the entire time, just silent (elsewhere). So it hurts. And I think when it hurts, that’s when you know your guys care.”Caring is one thing. Winning is another, something that’s proven elusive all six times the Panthers have faced the Tar Heels since Pitt entered the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013. This one may have been the most painful. The Panthers led at halftime against a team that had won just one of its previous 13 games against Power Five conference opponents.And then it all went away. A penalty here. A fumble there. A 38-35 loss that dropped Pitt to 2-2 heading into its most difficult stretch of the season. Three of the Panthers’ next four games are against Top 25 teams. Pitt visits No. 13 Central Florida on Saturday, then hosts surprising Syracuse followed by a visit to No. 8 Notre Dame and a meeting with No. 22 Duke.The Panthers likely need a split to have a legitimate shot at reaching a bowl game after missing out in 2017. Not that Narduzzi wants to talk about it. It’s still September.“Things happen during a game,” Narduzzi said. “It is moving fast out there, and you’ve got to think fast, you’ve got to be locked in. And again, I think our kids are locked in, but you’re going to have mistakes. I’ve never been in a game where you’re not going to have mistakes. But again, one less mistake and we win the football game.”The Golden Knights and the Orange play at a high tempo, turning every game into a bit of a track meet. That’s not exactly great news for the Panthers, who allowed North Carolina’s sputtering offense to roll up 486 yards.The shaky performance came a week after Pitt kept Georgia Tech in check during a 24-19 victory. The Panthers tackled well and never really let the Yellow Jackets back in the game after going up 21-0 at the break. Facing a starkly different test by the Tar Heels, Pitt regressed on a side of the ball that was supposed to be a strength with nine starters returning and Narduzzi — a standout defensive coordinator at Michigan State before joining the Panthers — in his fourth season.Four weeks in Daryl Williams Jersey 2019 , the Panthers rank in the bottom half of the ACC in total defense, scoring defense, pass efficiency defense and sacks.The offense has problems of its own. While senior running backs Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall have been dynamic at times, the Panthers have developed little rhythm in the passing game. Sophomore quarterback Kenny Pickett is enduring some growing pains in his first year as the starter, but an inability for his receivers to get separation is also a problem. The Panthers are 118th in the country in yards per completion.“The room sometimes goes lopsided, and the offense plays good enough and the defense doesn’t,” Narduzzi said. “And then all of a sudden the offense doesn’t play good enough, the defense plays their tails off.”It’s part of a frustrating pattern that has repeated itself at Pitt for years. The ACC Coastal Division appears to be wide open. The Panthers believe they should be part of the mix — Narduzzi all but guaranteed a spot in the ACC title game during a kickoff luncheon in August — but to do so, they need to stop the one-step-forward, one-step-backward treadmill.“Coaches want perfection,” Narduzzi said. “You’re never going to get it, but, you know, you need to be excited after wins and after losses you should be having some disappointment. If not, there’s something wrong with your heart.” Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Hog Molly Report, where winning in the trenches is all that matters. Before we begin, we open with the reciting of our usual motto:In the spirit of Mr. Gettleman’s words (regardless of him having moved on) and the philosophy of building a team from the inside out, my goal will be to watch the hog mollies each game during the season and give them a grade based on their performance. This week, we’re going to do something a little different. Instead of closely analyzing the tape from the Steelers game, we are just going to throw it in the garbage where it belongs and talk about some issues that came to the forefront during the game. I personally can’t stand to watch that abysmal performance again, and I don’t think you really want to re-live it that much either. Rather than do those things Blue Daryl Williams Jersey , this will be more of a Q&A format of questions that I have been asked repeatedly over the season so far.Offensive Hog MolliesWhen Matt Kalil is healthy, will he return to the starting lineup? Will we cut him next season and roll with Chris Clark?Yes, I think he will, especially after what we saw in this most recent game. While Matt Kalil is certainly not anything like he was expected to be in the NFL when he was drafted in the first round, nor has he lived up to the contract we gave him, he is still a better option overall at left tackle than Clark. Clark was completely exposed during this Steelers game, giving up pressure on nearly every offensive snap, making for the third game since he has come in that he gave up a least five pressures. While Cam has done a good job getting the ball out or avoiding those pressure, there’s a good chance that Kalil would provide less of them overall. As far as the future is concerned, unless the Panthers are able to draft a talented left tackle this year, you can almost be certain that Matt Kalil will be on this team next season due to his contract. Even if they do make that draft choice, there is a good chance that he’ll still be here and even potentially starting for a little while. Chris Clark will likely only be retained if no draft choice at tackle is made.What will we do with Taylor Moton when Daryl Williams returns?First of all, Daryl Williams will not be back this season. Secondly, with Moton playing the way he is, where he is, I think we have probably seen the last of Daryl. Even with a major injury like the one he sustained, someone is going to be willing to pay him a fairly decent price in free agency that I don’t see us ponying up for. The scenario of us re-signing Williams and moving Moton to the left side still seems very far flung to me.How’s Greg Van Roten doing?Other than the Thursday disaster, he’s been very good, and seems to be getting better. The bad times started happening for him on Thursday when he probably started worrying about Clark’s assignment and his own, trying to do too much. I think we’ve found another good long term starter at guard. John Matsko be praised.Defensive Hog MolliesWhat or who is responsible for the regression on defense?The overall age of certain players we are still relying on for significant minutes is definitely playing a role, but the buck as a whole seems to stop at Eric Washington. I concur with the general feeling that he is in over his head Mario Addison Jersey 2019 , and that you can’t just keep promoting from within for the sake of continuity every time you have a vacancy.What is up with Dontari Poe?It isn’t that he’s not doing his job in a basic form, which is why the Panthers have been very difficult to run on up the middle except in this most recent game, but it’s more about the fact that we expected him to be more of an impact guy. What is supposed to be a trademark combination of speed and power for a guy his size is just not showing up at game time. It’s hard to say if he has regressed, is being lazy, or simply isn’t what he’s billed to be, but we are overpaying the hell out of him right now to be a sub-standard nose tackle.What do you think of the defensive end position?It’s the worst it has been in the Ron Rivera era. Mario Addison is doing his best to be an impactful player, but Julius Peppers across from him has shown that even incredible talents will eventually succumb to father time. Wes Horton has been a decent rotational piece, but other than that one game, Efe Obada has been completely ineffective. Brian Cox Jr. has also shown very little in limited action, and beyond that, Marquise Haynes is a project guy with potential that just isn’t ready for primetime yet.The Panthers have not invested any significant draft capital in the position in several years, and that is a huge mistake in the modern NFL, where a great pass rush is really the only effective way to play defense. Barring a left tackle being available, my preference would be to see our first round pick spent on improving the pass rush any way we can, and probably another pick after that as well if someone doesn’t come here in free agency. It is very unfortunate that Daeshon Hall and Kony Ealy didn’t amount to anything, but really, more of an investment has been needed for awhile. The Panthers have not spent a first round selection on a defensive end since drafting Julius Peppers in 2002, and as we know, he is about to retire after an unusually long career. That is not a recipe for success in 2018.