Dave Wannstedt Rips Todd Graham Over Tino Sunseri

I've got to admit, this is the first I can recall of Dave Wannstedt making any significant comments on Todd Graham since he was let go.

And Wannstedt, wasn't all that complimentary of Graham when it came to discussing Tino Sunseri, to say the least:

Appearing on TribLive Radio, Wannstedt, now the assistant head coach of the Buffalo Bills, said this in regard to the way coach Todd Graham has handled Sunseri:

``If he was my son, he would be gone. I would pull him out of there and transfer him.''

Then there was more ...

In the radio interview, Wannstedt, who was fired after last season, said, ``I'm really shocked the way people have put a microscope on this kid. It is very disappointing to me.

``In the NFL, you do it when a guy is making $10 million a year. You throw him under the bus and try to run him out of town.

``But not a 20-, 18-, 19-year-old college kid (Sunseri will be 23 later this month) who had other places to go and chose to come to Pitt and he won a state championship there at the local high school and his father (Sal) was an All-American there?

"If he can't play, don't play him, but do it the right way."

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I'm a pretty strong supporter of Dave Wannstedt. He didn't do everything right and there were plenty of times I criticized him as the coach. But I really thought he deserved another season as the head coach, even though I realize that's not the popular opinion. People wanted to kill him for winning only seven games in his final season after winning 19 in the two seasons before that. Well, this year, the team won six.

I've also been a bit more supportive of Tino this year than most. I think he's had good games and that kind of gets brushed under the rug due to the absolutely abhorrent decisions he's made at times.

If I'm looking at this objectively, I think Wannstedt's got this one right. I've got no problem with the media calling Sunseri out for his play, but for Graham to do it in public was a bit over the top. Regardless of where you stand on Sunseri's ability, Wannstedt's right in my opinion for saying not to play him rather than bash him.