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Game No. 11: ECU 37, UAB 21 |
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Game
Slants
Saturday, November 21, 2009
By Denny O'Brien |
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Cool under fire, Pinkney
prevails
By
Denny O'Brien
©2009 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
GREENVILLE — Patrick Pinkney wasn’t blessed
with the height and arm strength of most NFL quarterbacks. Those skills are
reserved for only a select few.
But where the East Carolina sixth-year
senior is missing the physical skills to earn a paycheck on Sundays, he
seems to overcome them with certain intangible tools. His selective hearing
and bulletproof skin are the type of ingredients you would find in any
All-Pro.
After enduring swells of criticism from
both the media and fans for much of the season, the sixth-year senior is on
the verge of closing his career as one of the most accomplished big game
quarterbacks in East Carolina history. You just wouldn’t know if from the
verbal flogging Pinkney has taken on a semi-daily basis.
In
a critical 37-21 victory over
Conference USA East Division contender UAB, Pinkney quieted his critics with
a darn near perfect performance. And he recorded it at a time when the ECU
running game was suffocated by a physical Blazers’ front seven, and when the
Pirates were in need of someone to set the offensive tone.
Pinkney did so by consistently placing the
ball into the hands of the Pirates’ playmakers out in space. He did it
routinely to the point that his 20-25, 250-yard, three-touchdown passing
effort looked almost effortless against a constant UAB blitz.
“Patrick’s strength is he is as steady as
he can be,” Pirates’ Coach Skip Holtz said. “He doesn’t have the emotional
highs, and he doesn’t have the emotional lows. He is very steady, poised,
and he’s very calm with how he handles things.
“The last two weeks, he’s played really
special. I’ve got 100 e-mails upstairs that say ‘Bench Pat Pinkney. We never
win with him. Get rid of him. Discard him.’ Well, he’s got a chance to win
two back-to-back conference championships (for the first time) since we’ve
had this division (setup).”
It’s a good thing Holtz didn’t meet the
requests of those seeking a quarterback coup. He deserves credit for staying
the course despite the public outcry to exile Pinkney to the end of the
bench in favor of an unproven performer.
Who knows where East Carolina would be
sitting today had Holtz grown impatient after Pinkney struggled against
opponents from BCS automatic qualifier conferences. Perhaps not in a
position to potentially host the C-USA championship game against Houston.
Even that didn’t seem a given when the
Pirates were leading 23-6 but in the middle of a second half offensive
swoon. That’s when Pinkney hurled a 59-yard strike to Darryl Freeney on a
perfectly executed play action pass that put the game out of reach.
And at times that didn’t seem a possibility
given the way Pinkney’s counterpart was playing.
In a season during which the Pirates have
faced their share of top flight quarterbacks, Joe Webb might have to rank as
the most explosive. He threw for 247 yards and rushed for 132 in what was a
one-man show for the UAB offense.
The only thing missing from his ensemble of
big plays against the ECU defense was a golden cape.
But when you strip away the statistics and
style, Pinkney easily won this quarterback battle where it mattered most.
The scoreboard is where Pinkney has done his finest work, and there is a
list of masterpieces that would grab the attention of almost any astute
observer.
There were
North Carolina and
Boise State in 2007, followed by
Virginia Tech,
West Virginia, and
Tulsa last year. This season hasn’t
produced the type of signature victory that Pinkney has directed in the
past, which perhaps explains much of the criticism that has been directed at
him this year.
“I haven’t really heard it,” Pinkney said of the criticism. “Coach Holtz
probably has, but he hasn’t really said anything.
“We’re 7-4 and 6-1 in the conference. Fans
want us to be perfect, but with a target on our backs, we’re always going to
get everybody’s 'A' game. All I can do is do my job. Some plays are going to
go bad, but some plays are going to be good. It’s all about how you finish.”
Pinkney won’t finish his career as the most
decorated passer in East Carolina history. But he has a chance to walk away
from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium as one of the Pirates‘ most accomplished
champions.
If that isn’t worthy of praise, nothing is.
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11/22/2009 03:29:21 AM |
