Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt (10.26.23)
It seems like you really, more than anyone, understand, you know, kind of what Deshaun (Watson) is going through when it comes to the shoulder and people questioning whether or not he actually should be playing or not. Can you talk about how you really get it?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s a tough spot to be in. Like I said last week, he’s a thrower. And when you can’t throw at 100%, then it’s tough to go out and play. It’s not by lack of want, I can tell that. I know he’s frustrated. I know he’s trying to do everything he can to get back on the field with his teammates, and he showed that last week. He came out and fought through, got back, had some practice time late in the week, and tried to be out there on Sunday. I know he’s frustrated. It’s just part of the deal. I mean, when he’s healthy, he’ll be back, and we just can’t wait to get him healthy.”
He said he thought he was ready, and then he realized he was not ready. What did you guys think? Did you think he was ready and realized he wasn’t ready?
“We were hoping. You see the practice on Friday. It was better than Thursday. Two more days of rest, maybe it’ll feel a lot better on Sunday. And then he took the hit, and the hit was really for us, it was like, alright, let’s put P.J. (Walker) in there and let him heal up a little more. He didn’t look like himself early. He had a throw there that was probably a little shorter than he usually would throw. So those are some of the things that went into that decision. But hats off, he tried to get back. He did everything he could to be out there, and then the hit happened, and we just held him after that.”
How are you guys going to gauge this, because he’s going to get hit again when he gets back out there?
“Sure, he will. Absolutely.”
How do you know?
“Every hit could be a big hit. You don’t know what’s going to happen. It just so happened and happened to aggravate the shoulder again. So again, I think when he feels like he could throw it 100%, the hits will just be what they are at that point.”
Do you think he’s going to be 100% this year?
“Yeah, I mean, that’s part of it, but what’s that percentage that gets him back out on the field where he feels like he can compete? That’s the thing we’re looking for, and that’s where he’s trying to get to. I’ve been in that situation. I had an AC third degree in a preseason game in Denver. I sat out most of the year, and I ended up starting three games at the end of that year, and I was not 100%. It’s not a comfortable feeling as a thrower to go out there and have to throw a 25-yard comeback, and you know that you don’t quite have that arm strength at that time to get it there, so I can definitely say I’ve sat in his shoes and it’s not a comfortable feeling. Again, when he’s healthy, I can’t wait to get him back out on the field.”
Well, the first pass wasn’t very good, but did you know on just Julian Blackman’s interception that he just did not have the velocity?
“That’s what it looked like. You know, he was trying to juice it out there and it fell a little bit short. So that’s the – I don’t know if he’s quite ready to be out there. We wanted to give him every opportunity to. He’s our leader, but it just didn’t happen on Sunday, you know, get him back in there, get him healthy, get him in the rehab, do his rehab process and go through that. And again, can’t wait to get a healthy Deshaun back out on the field.”
Deshaun said he wanted to go back out into the game. How hard did he fight to get back out?
“You know, Deshaun is a great teammate, great person. He respects, obviously, the coach’s opinion, I think, and Kevin (Stefanski) talked to him and I think at that point he actually had an idea of how he felt and probably felt like that was the best decision for the team at that time. But again, he tried everything he could to get out there last week and got then, you know, just didn’t pan out.”
Knowing that P.J. is starting this week for you guys. How helpful is that in this process this week? And again, just gaining his comfortability with this offense.
“It’s huge. He took the reps last Wednesday and then really split them up on Thursday and didn’t take them on Friday. So having a full week of practice will only help. Now this will be his third time going in, third week of preparation where he’s getting first team reps. Yesterday’s practice was really sharp. I was really impressed with him and the offense in general, how we performed yesterday. So that’s an indication. We just keep getting better each week, each practice and just keep trending upward.”
They did pick up Frank Clark and I’m sure you prepared for that. Besides that, they have eleven different guys who have had sacks, so they come from everywhere, obviously. Is that a challenge mostly on the line to identify where it’s coming from or the quarterback?
“It falls on everybody, really. The receivers, not so much, but the protection backs, the tight ends when they protect the quarterback. They have a good scheme; they have a very active front. There’s a lot of movement. Their pressure packages are good. So, we have to be on top of our game. That’s one thing we talked about, playing out there is not easy. So, letting these guys kind of, especially the guys that have not been out there, give them kind of an idea of what’s coming. Until you actually hear that and the noise and you can’t hear a thing in the huddle, we’ve really got to focus on our preparation. So, when we go there, it’s not really thinking about the play. It’s reacting and understanding, ‘Hey, I only heard one word, but I have to put it all together.’ So just trying to get those guys ready to go out and operate on the road.”
Those first three quarters, actually both games, P.J. looked a little shaky, but then two game-winning drives. What is it about him in clutch situations that makes him good?
“Yeah, it’s not perfect, and we know that. We don’t expect it all to be perfect, but he’s a gamer. He really does step up in the big times of the game. Really two big throws in that two-minute drive last week, had a big throw in the week before, so we’re getting it done. I like to be cleaner earlier, but when it comes down to it, I’m really proud of this offense. I think it was a twelve-play drive at the end, fourth and one. Just the resiliency and the toughness and the never-die attitude of this team in general, but really proud of that offensive group and P.J.”
Deshaun obviously went through his normal pregame routine and everything. After the pregame was over, did you guys feel like you saw what you wanted to see out of him during that?
“Felt like it was good enough to give him a chance to go out there and start.”
With P.J., is your number one focus was him limiting cutting back on those turnover-worthy plays?
“Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. You just keep talking about making great decisions. If we can go into Seattle and not give them the ball at all on our side of the ball, it gives us a chance. So just talking about how important it is making great decisions, the interception that he had in this game, it was just a throw that just leaked too far back inside. It was a compliment of a couple of things on the other side. But that was a chance there. It wasn’t a decision. The decision was correct to throw it. It was just where the ball ended up landing on that long interception. But he understands that. He’s played a lot in this league. He’s played games. He’s now won two for us, so he knows what to do. We need to go out and play that perfect, clean game where we have a nice clean slate at the end of the day.”
Alex, I want to ask you about the rushing attack. Obviously, the first couple weeks with Nick healthy, there were some big numbers, but that room’s obviously gotten a little bit thinner and yet still effective, efficient right now number two in the AFC, rushing the ball. What do you generally attribute your rushing success as a team to right now?
“It’s a team stat for all of us. That’s receivers on the perimeter, that’s everybody up front, that’s the runners. We’ve always ran the ball well here. I think Coach (Bill) Callahan has great scheme, great technique in his teaching where it’s definitely a strength of ours. And then the guys that step in. Kareem (Hunt) really ran hard the last two games. I was really proud of the way he was running the ball. And then Pierre (Strong Jr.) comes in and he hits a couple of big ones in that two-minute drive. Jerome (Ford), the same thing there. So, it’s a little bit by committee right now, but that’s fine. We got three backs right now. We’ll get Jerome back. We have some guys up this week, but I think it’s a little bit of everything. We run the ball well. I think it’s well coached here through scheme and technique and our guys buy in.”
Are there many guys you’d rather give the ball to on fourth and one than Kareem Hunt?
“Not in that situation. Absolutely not. That was kind of a situation where we knew that was going to be a call on the fourth down. We were trying to score before that, but we knew if all else failed, were going to run one of our signature plays.”
The tough situation there just kind of like, you know, you can get it in if you run the ball, but kind of waiting and holding on to that.
“Yeah, I thought Kev did a great job. They got the ball back with fifteen seconds. If we just scored on first down on a pass play or something would have happened there, we’d have given more time. So felt good about how we ended that drive with as less amount of time on the clock as we could.”
Where are you when Amari Cooper doesn’t get a target for, I don’t know if it’s the whole half, but it was a lot of effort at the least. And then at halftime, you say, ‘Okay, let’s make sure we try to get the ball.’
“Yeah, absolutely. That’s something Kev does a great job of that during the course of the game. Who’s touched the ball? Who do we need to get touches to? Who do we need to get going? Sometimes Dave (David Njoku) will be a guy we’ll say, ‘Hey, let’s see if we can get Dave going. Let’s see if we can get Amari a ball.’ Those are our leaders. So when those guys touch the ball, good things generally happen. But it’s definitely something that’s on the back of coach’s mind when you look at this challenge.”
When you look at the Seahawks defense, what challenges does Bobby Wagner present to you guys?
“Yeah, man. Guy has been around forever. Just torturing me for years now. Played a lot of in Seattle. Really instinctive, really smart linebacker. Just understands exactly the fits and the blocking schemes. And he’s slippery inside the box. He plays that MIKE linebacker spot. He’s uncanny. He knows what runs are coming. He’s a good guy in the pressure game as well. They like to bring him a lot in pressure. So just a solid veteran. That’s tough to – seen a lot of football in his day. It seems like the game slows down for him.”
Bobby Wagner, three straight weeks, opponents have not had 250 yards of offense against them. They seem to be playing well cohesively. What’s unique about the way they defend that is challenging?
“It’s sort of that Seattle scheme, a little bit much like last week with Gus Bradley in Indianapolis. A lot of three deep zone kind of a lot of vision defense. Do a great job at keeping all eyes on the quarterback. And they squeeze and funnel everything from outside in. I think getting (Jamal) Adams back helps them, gives him a big presence down in the box. He’s a physical player, but that defense is playing at a high level and has been for the last three weeks. Big challenge for us to go out on the road and face these guys.”
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