SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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Pirate Notebook No. 280 Monday, September 4, 2006 By Denny O'Brien

Pinkney off to familiar start

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All Rights Reserved.

It's a good thing James Pinkney has a short memory. Because you could hardly blame him for not stepping under center next week in Birmingham.

All things considered, that hasn't been a rewarding experience for Pinkney during his East Carolina career. And on many occasions, it's one in which a hospital visit seemed just as likely as an ECU victory.

If you're judging solely by the box score, that wasn't completely the case in East Carolina's 28-23 loss against Navy. Pinkney was sacked only once, but that actually is a tribute to his maturity in the pocket — not the offensive front's ability to withstand an ambush.

"I thought James took a beating," Pirates coach Skip Holtz said. "James took a beating and we couldn't protect him.

"At times we had guys running wide open down field. You look in the backfield and you have James running for his life. I think when James has time he can be pretty daggone good. But I've said this before, I don't think anybody's good when they're rushed back there and they're throwing it when somebody is sticking their helmet in you. It's hard to be really accurate with the ball back there."

Evidently not for Pinkney.

Against Navy, he again displayed the ability to cycle through receivers and deliver a pinpoint strike with an opponent's helmet firmly planted in his gut. When forced to flee the pocket, the result was similar, to which his touchdown toss to Kevin Roach early in the second quarter will attest.

"I thought he competed," Holtz said. "Especially for the beating that he took.

"I thought he competed, I thought he played hard, and I thought he played well. I thought he made some really good decisions. He didn't put the ball in jeopardy. I think James played really well. I just think that it's a shame that we can't give him more time right now."

It would be beneficial for ECU to find a resolution sometime between now and Saturday night. UAB's defense is far more talented than Navy's and possesses one of the nation's best pass rushers in defensive end Larry McSwain.

That combination is far from comforting. So is the possibility of facing a must-win situation against Memphis with an 0-2 record.

But that's a realistic scenario if East Carolina's offensive line can't keep its quarterback upright.

Sharing responsibility

Eric Graham didn't try to pass the blame for the Pirates' problems up front off on three first time starters. In fact, the senior left tackle was complimentary of his younger line mates throughout fall practice and shares the responsibility for ECU's struggles in the trenches.

"There are things that we could have done a lot better up front," Graham said. "We are going to work on things to eliminate some of that running around that James had to do. We're all going to go to practice tomorrow and work on those things."

And while there might be concern that a disappointing debut could negatively affect the confidence of ECU's younger linemen, Graham says he doesn't have to worry about coddling any wounded egos.

"Some of these young guys — we really haven't had to say that to them," Graham said. "They're humble and they know their role. They know what they have to do and what we are counting on them to do.

"We did say to them to not get too excited (before the game). Of course, for some of them it was their first time playing, so they are going to be nervous anyway no matter what you say. Hopefully they'll just get those first game jitters out and then be ready to play next week."

Coach, or prophet?

Holtz made an interesting comment in his preseason address to the media. When asked about the importance of the Pirates' showdown with Navy, he said that he was more concerned with how his team responded following the season opener, win or lose.

Though perhaps not the type of vernacular fans like to hear from their head coach, Holtz's statement has proven profound.

"No doubt, I think this is going to be the key," Holtz said. "Just how we are going to respond to this thing just because we lose.

"It's like I said to the team afterwards. You know what? We lost the national championship today. That's what we lost. We can't play for a national championship. We can still go to a bowl, and we can still play for our conference. We've still got a lot to go on. How we respond to this is going to be critical."

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02/23/2007 02:03:20 AM