G Wyatt Teller (7.28.23)
Calf strains are in the news. Joe Burrow went down. Yours lasted about four weeks last year, didn’t it?
“Yeah. I’m praying for Joey. No, it’s tough. Depending on the position, calf strains are never fun. It’s one of those things that even when it happened in 2020, it was a different muscle, gastroc and soleus. Depending on which one it is, I mean, you’re pounding the ground, all that different stuff. It’s hard to put pressure on, it’s hard to stop on the bull rush – so much of being an offensive lineman. Usually, if you’re like a DB – I know some DBs and some skill guys – they can come back and (do) kind of repetitive sets and it’s not too bad. They’re not pounding the ground kind or thing, but it’s tough.”
What’s yours? Grade one, two or three?
“I don’t remember. But it was naggy. I came back and got bursitis in my left knee. Everything that happened on my left, I think I was in a practice and I got a little low ankle sprain and it was just, ‘Why me? God?’ But it all worked out. I wish I played a little bit better last year. That’s no excuse, but yeah. It was tough.”
And I imagine your weight affects your lower body, too?
“100%. 100%. And like I said, what we do. If you’re running and all you’re doing is running off the ball and kind of going backward and covering stuff like that, it’s not too bad. You can kind of lock it in place and kind of work with it. But when you’re pounding into the ground, you really do feel it.”
Does this feel like coming home at all?
“A little bit. I’m from Northern Virginia, but my wife is from 45 minutes on the other side of Virginia, Craig County. We’ll probably put our roots down in Roanoke, Virginia, which is only an hour and a half (away). That’s where her family lives now, so it feels a little bit like home. I love the mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s beautiful.”
How’s father life treating you?
“It’s good. He actually made a couple of showings to practice. It was nice. He’s growing, he’s about 23 pounds at seven months, so he’s a big boy. He said his first word the other day, and it wasn’t ‘Dada’, so I’m upset about it. But it was ‘Mama’, so she was stoked about that.”
Are there witnesses?
“I have video, I do have video. So he must have been saying it all day. And then I called her last night and she said that he’s been just saying it all the time. He knows that it gets a smile, so he’s saying it.”
How about Deshaun (Watson)? Are you guys getting a really good feel for how to block and it seems like so much is new? So maybe even what you guys learned or did in the last six days last year could be different. So how’s that going?
“Yeah, I know we had experienced a little bit last year. The playbook didn’t fully change, but it was a little different personnel and different plays. It’s no excuse, we’re one of the best offensive lines in the league, and we need to adjust to that. Last year being that we had all off-season with Deshaun, and then right before the season, we kind of found out that he wasn’t going to be playing. Jacoby (Brissett) played out of his mind and played amazing, and I love Jacoby, but we expected number four. So it was a little bit of a change to go to kind of a heavier run kind offense and then kind of change that too because he is a special quarterback, kind of moving to where he’s running the ball and stuff like that. It was a little bit of adjustment. But I believe in our offensive line and we should have done a little bit better.”
What’s the hardest part of making that adjustment? Something in technique or just patience?
“Yeah, it’s kind of play calling. And coach is good at what he does. He’s one of the best, I believe, at what he does. So kind of adjusting to having a different quarterback, someone who can really run out the backside out of a play. When you’re pass blocking, you got to deal with someone who can spread that field. So you got to be able to get your hands inside, stay in front, use your feet to stay in front. I feel like this year we’re kind of working on that. A little bit of those drills and stuff like that, so we can get rolling early.”
How nice is it that you’ve had so much stability out of the line over the last several years? But I mean, really, the only big change is that JC (Tretter) retired and now Ethan (Pocic) for a second straight year.
“It’s a blessing having Jack (Conklin). Jack’s, my guy. He’s a buddy of mine. So being able to play with him, get that chemistry. Last year, having a new center, but still a really smart center. JC was a great center, and Ethan is coming into his second year being a great center. I believe our best ball, and I say this all the time, but I believe our best ball is in front of us.”
Wyatt, this has been such a unique, slow build-up just for the extra week. Stefanski really scheduled that, so this is slow. How anxious do you think the team is for tomorrow? Just to start banging?
“I know that we’re ready to start hitting. Right now, it’s a lot of mental. We have to know where to go. At the end of the day, it’s X’s and O’s. You have to win the war between the ears. So, I think right now we’re gritting at the teeth to kind of hit, but at the same time, we want to know where to go, where to – our techniques, our fundamentals and all that different stuff. So that when the games get hard, it’s physical, but it’s also mental. Trying to put practices together where we can do both, where we can hit a little bit, protect our bodies, but also at the same time get ready and sharpen that iron.”
When you guys start blocking in-game for Deshaun and you finally see what he’s going to be all about in terms of how much he’s running. You don’t really have a lot of time to come up the learning curve to be able to block for all of that because of the three AFC North games in a row. So how do you sort of make sure that you are really ready for how it’s all going to look with Deshaun?
“I know it’s going to be an adjustment. Playing those really good teams really early, it’s going to be tough. But at the same time, they’re dealing with new players and new wide receivers and all that stuff. There are a lot of growing pains every team has to go through. Hopefully, we get those wrinkles out in preseason, but you never know. If it does happen early in the season, we can still turn around and win some games. We just have to put them back to back. And I feel like that’s something that we haven’t done since 2020 – is really going on a roll and win two, three, four games at a time. But the way you do that is to win one at a time. So we just have to focus on the first.”
Considering you play Cincinnati first, considering they’ve won this division two years in a row, did the Borrow news get noticed yesterday?
“I wasn’t even thinking about that. I was praying for him. I’ve been through that and it sucks. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. So I’m just praying he gets back and he gets right.”
But I mean, just the news of it. ‘Oh, my God, do you hear what happened?’
“I didn’t let it sink in my mind. Usually, I’m not even listening to the media. No offense. I love you guys, but usually, I don’t have social media. My wife kind of runs my Instagram, so she’ll tell me stuff. But for the most part, I’m focused on football. I’m focused on getting myself better.”
What does Scott Peters add to you guys?
“Yeah, he’s a madman. He’s smart, he knows his techniques, strike systems. Our footwork is all classified, all of this stuff, it’s special. And him working for Tip of the Spear, his company, you get to see someone who’s professional. What they do, kind of that martial arts kind of background. So it’s like all this different kind of striking, thumb placement, where we’re going, where we’re at. Putting your hat in front, Bill (Callahan) knows how to line up an offensive defense smarter than anybody I’ve ever seen. And then Scott really is good at showing us the techniques. At the end of the day, I think Bill makes the final call on most of the techniques, but he’s such a help and he’s an awesome guy.”
Has he changed how you use your hands?
“I feel like in 2020, I feel like they didn’t really call holding calls, so I was just grabbing people like this. And now we have a strike system and all this different stuff. Trying to lower the holding calls, help the team out, but also at the same time kind of crisp everything up and know what works against their pressure. All this different stuff is what he’s good at.”
How much will the run-blocking change as a result of running shotgun?
“At the end of the day, we have a great running back. I don’t think that’s going to change, but it is going to be a little different. It’s more probably a better question for the tackles because my hands should still be in the ground most of the time, unless it’s third down or something like that, then I have to be up and reading the defense. But for the most part, the center guards are usually down. We’re kind of coming off the ball and that hasn’t changed too much. Maybe our alignment and assignment might be slightly different with being in the gun, but at the same time, we’re coming off the ball and we’re hitting.”
Isn’t there less wide zone?
“I don’t know. I guess that’s a question for Coach, but I hope we run the ball. I feel like we have a great run game, but if Coach tells us to pass it, we’re going to pass.”
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