Pitt Still Dealing With Injuries After Bye Week
PITTSBURGH -- The bye week typically allows teams to rest and recover from demanding first halves, but the Pitt Panthers didn't enjoy that same luxury as they sat idle last weekend.
Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said the Panthers are still banged up as they opened Louisville week, a concerning thing as they prepare to host the No. 14 team in the country.
“Wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be and I’ll leave it there," Narduzzi said of his last week of practice. "In the open week, we weren’t happy and we got some guys banged up in the open week."
Narduzzi said the Panthers, who are riding a four-game losing streak that matches the longest of his tenure as head coach in Pittsburgh, were unable to get fully healthy at least in part because they continued to put on pads and hit during the off-week.
He thought some physicality was necessary coming off a game against Virginia Tech in which they were credited with an astounding 26 missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus.
"We went out there in shells and we played football, which is what we needed," Narduzzi said. "We needed to go out and play football and execute and get better fundamentally."
The two biggest lingering ailments are those to center Jake Kradel and linebacker Bangally Kamara, both starters. Whether they come back this week remains to be seen. Narduzzi declined to add any specifics but reiterated that Pitt isn't in the spot they'd like to be.
"So we got a couple of guys who got banged up last week," Narduzzi said. "Hopefully, they’ll be ready to go but we certainly didn’t do ourselves any favors.”
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