Getty Image / Icon Sportswire
If you’re a Pittsburgh football fan, you’ve got to be sick of poor offense this year from the Pitt Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers. And, while one of the teams has made a big shakeup on offense, the other is sticking with the status quo.
Boston College transfer and Pittsburgh-area native Phil Jurkovec has been benched by Panther head coach Pat Narduzzi. Penn State transfer Christian Veilleux will start this next weekend against Louisville. Pitt is on a bye this week.
It was a needed change, as the former highly-touted recruit who initially went to Notre Dame before ending up at Boston College and then Pitt has been terrible.
He has only completed 50.9% of his passes through the team’s first five games, which has resulted in a 1-4 loss. That’s included two embarrassing losses to regional rivals in West Virginia and Virginia Tech. Yes, he has six touchdowns to three interceptions, but that’s misleading of just how bad he has been. And, for a sixth-year player, it’s simply not good enough and there’s not enough upside compared to Veilleux, who has three years of eligibility remaining.
The team who shares the same facilities, the Pittsburgh Steelers, have also been dismal on offense this season. Steelers fans are begging the team to fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who has not led a 400-yard game since he was hired in 2021. And, quarterback Kenny Pickett, ironically a former Pitt Panther, has been atrocious so far in his sophomore season. His QBR of 29.3 out of 100 is impossibly bad, and he’s thrown just four touchdowns to go against two interceptions. In the only game he didn’t throw an interception in this year, he had a clear pick six dropped by the Las Vegas Raiders.
Pickett actually left Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Texans with a knee injury, but he expects to play this weekend. And, it seems like the Steelers are willing to let their season die on the vine with Kenny Pickett and Matt Canada running the offense.
Overall, not a good time to be a Pittsburgh football fan.