G Joel Bitonio (9.28.23)
You ever thought about what it’d be like to block for a guy like Lamar (Jackson)?
“No, I mean obviously he’s immensely talented. You know, he can run the ball. They do a lot of things where he’s the lead runner, they get an extra lead blocker and he makes things play. I mean Deshaun (Watson) runs around a decent amount too. I know they’re a little bit different skill sets but in this day and age I feel like that’s kind of the future of the quarterback position. So who knows. I think you’re going to see a lot more guys like Lamar, like Deshaun that can run around and move out there.”
What does that add to a run game when you have that kind of that plus one where you have to account for the quarterback at all times?
“Yeah I think it’s huge. Those guys, you can turn your running back almost into like a lead blocker. You can pull a couple of guys and he can cut off the backside. It just gives you a little bit more options because a lot of times you have an extra guy in the box that you can’t really block anyway and a running back like bring your own block for that guy so that’s a big dimension and then you can pass the ball off some of those looks as well. So it gives you a little bit more play action looks. I think gives you an advantage for sure. The only thing is that means your quarterback might be taking some hits so it’s a fine line you got to kind of decide what you want to do with that.”
What do you think the biggest strides the offense took against Tennessee?
“Yeah I thought we didn’t run the ball as good as we wanted to last week but our passing game really opened up. I think Deshaun (Watson) and Amari (Cooper) had a very strong connection. I mean Amari probably could have gone for 200 with the penalties and the out of bounds incident and all that stuff. He was playing very well. So I think that confidence is coming back in the passing game and they had a good front and I think we protected well enough to give them enough chances, you know what I mean? They had their fair share of the wins but I think overall the group did enough up front to give them a chance to make those throws down.”
And when you talk about their run game, how much of it do you think is the adjustments because there’s no Nick (Chubb) and just the Tennessee’s got a really good run defense?
“Yeah, I was going to say I don’t think we blocked well enough. I don’t think it was like, oh Nick didn’t play. I think we missed a block here or there and against a front like that if you don’t finish every block you don’t make the right adjustment then they’ve proven it over the last 17 or 18 games that you have the record lowest yards per game or average or whatever it was, but no, it was more I think I’m on the block last week is what it was. It wasn’t Chubb or anything like that. Those guys (Jerome) Ford, Kareem (Hunt) coming back, it was a good group.
Has that been like an emphasis this week then, for you guys as you prepare for the Raven?
“Yeah, we want to get back on track. I think the first two games, we actually ran the ball well, both games. So we want to win. That’s our main goal. So if we want to pass the ball 60 times, that’s fine, too. But we want to get back on track and the runs we do call, we want them to be efficient, successful runs.”
That was the lowest rushing average playing at home. Did it feel like that?
“Yeah. We knew our advantage was through the air. We knew we could attack the back end of that defense. I think that was kind of a thought going into it. But we want to run the ball better, too. You never want to go out there and not be successful running the ball, but when you have a chance to take those shots and you saw guys like Amari (Cooper) running all the way down the field, it’s hard not to keep going back.”
As somebody who’s pretty much seen it all in Brown’s uniform, the two plays really stand out. The Deshaun (Watson) throw, behind the line of scrimmage that lost like 16 yards, and then the call against Amari (Cooper) out of bounds. Typically, those two plays would derail a game. As someone who’s been through it all, what was different on Sunday that really allowed you guys not to allow those two plays to get you off track?
“Yeah, we just stressed all week that we want to be resilient. Starting with each other. But resilience was a big term we used last week. You know, there’s going to be peaks and valleys in a season, in a game. You don’t want one play to turn into two or three. So we had the fumble play behind the line of scrimmage. We recovered the ball, we didn’t lose the ball. So I think that was a big step, and we knew Amari was going to get open again later on, so it was unfortunate. And in the moment when you’re playing, I didn’t know how bad of a call was until after the game. So we’re like, all right, let’s play the next play. Let’s get things going. You hope in that situation they let the play continue, review it afterwards. They have kind of rules to give you a chance to make up for it. So it was a little bit weird, but no, we were resilient last week, and I think that’s something we want to be moving forward as well.”
How does number 24 (Jadeveon Clowney) look over there?
“He looks pretty explosive, pretty fresh, you know what I mean? I know they have some injuries at the edge, so he’s been playing a lot for him. He had a sack last week, I think a couple sacks this year already, and he’s wrecking some havoc. He looks long, he looks lengthy, he looks explosive. So he’ll be a big challenge for us for sure.”
Is there someone that’s in the huddle or on the sideline on Sunday reminding you guys to be resilient? I remember Deshaun (Watson) said that (Nick) Chubb was the guy that was in the huddle that was always encouraging people. So has kind of Deshaun stepped up more with that? Is there someone else?
“Yeah, I think it’s a group thing for us, really, depending on the play and the moment, who steps up and who’s kind of the voice. I think Deshaun has a strong voice because he’s the quarterback, he’s giving the play. But everybody was focused this week. There was a real focus on just getting the job done, you know, you look at your guys and like, hey, we’ll play the next play right now, we’ll get going. But it comes and goes from which player kind of brings that up.”
You’ve seen your fair share of Brown defenses in practice and such. Did you know that this group was maybe a little different? Did you see that?
“I don’t think you know until you start playing games, but you saw the players, you saw some of the schemes they were doing in camp. You saw some of the days of camp they had where they were very good. You saw in preseason some of the glimpses that they could be, and I think they’re just going to keep building on it. I think it starts with Coach (Jim) Schwartz, the scheme and the players, and everybody’s kind of bought into that defense mentality, but I’m all for it. Let’s keep playing defense at a high level, and we’ll try and be complementary and do our part on offense.”
You talk about complementary quality. Is there a little bit of a weight taken off the offensive shoulders, so to speak? For instance, Sunday, the fumble in the red zone and the defense comes up with a stop, they get to stop at the end of the half and stuff like that. There’s confidence on the offensive side of the ball. You can maybe play a little looser, a little freer, because if it doesn’t go your way, the defense is going to pick you up?
“Yeah, we’re trying to take care of the ball on offense, and I think that’s the biggest team stat. If we don’t have any takeaways. I mean, if we don’t turn the ball over, usually we win the game. It’s like 80 something percent hit rate or something like that. So we’re already thinking that as an offense. But when your defense steps up in those situations and only allows three points, when we turn it over almost in the red zone, or they’re driving down the score before the half and they get a huge sack, so they don’t get any points on the board, it’s huge. You never know. Week to week. This week could be a 40 to 45 game. You don’t know. But to have that in our back pocket where we’re like, hey, our defense has our back in those situations. And hopefully we develop where we have their back, too, when they need it.”
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