LG Joel Bitonio (10.26.23)
Looks like you had fresh legs on Sunday.
“You could say that, I guess. No, it was good to be back out there and get the win. Anytime you go out there with the guys and compete, that’s what we all want to do. So, it was nice to be back out there and then we got to win. It felt good.”
So, Joel, Seattle added Frank Clark, you know he’ll probably play, but besides that, they have 11 different players who have sacks. Is that more of a challenge to identify to the line or the quarterback?
“It’s a big mix. I think it’s a testament to the way they play. They all go so hard all the time, so there’s just a mix. If you want to slide one way or the other, go to Jamal Adams because he blitzes a lot. Or Bobby Wagner, the D linemen have been making plays for him. They have a good mix of scheme and players, but I think the thing that stands out with them is how hard they go constantly. Like they’re constantly trying to push the pocket, work second and third moves. And hopefully we’ll be responsible for the four down guys when they’re rushing. But we do have to find who we want to point out in the list pickups.”
Obviously the running back room has been kind of in a state of flux and now Jerome (Ford) is not out there this week. But do you guys feel like from a schematic standpoint you kind of figured some stuff out over the bye because it seems like it’s been better the last few weeks?
“Yeah, I know, they looked at all the numbers and all those things during the bye, what was working, what was not. I think just getting comfortable with the way different guys run. I think were so comfortable with the way Nick (Chubb) ran the ball. He’s the best running back in the league, so he makes things work sometimes. But no, I think we’re getting more comfortable. I think we saw some good stuff this last week and I think the main thing for us is the efficiency. We don’t want to have these negative runs. We’ve had a decent amount of negative runs and that’s usually like one guy blowing an assignment or something. It’s not necessarily the O-line or the receivers or tight ends. It’s one group or something like that. So, we’re trying to eliminate those because I think you look a lot more efficient and that’s going to keep you out of the second and 15s or whatever you lose those yards.”
I think you played one time in Seattle in your career.
“Yeah, I was hurt that game. So this is my first time out there.”
I was going to ask you where that ranks in challenge.
“Yeah, I’ve heard it’s loud. A lot of people have told me it’s loud, which is a little bit unique because of the open-air stadium, but the way they have it set up, it’s kind of like a theater, so I think it keeps the noise in there.”
You didn’t go to the game?
“I did not go to the game. I think I was on IR at that point, my second year, so I’ve not been there before, but I’ve heard it’s challenging.”
Hey Joel, the ball hasn’t always bounced your guy’s way here during your tenure here. How nice has it been the last two weeks to not only overcome some things and get some breaks?
“Yeah, it’s good. You hope it evens out throughout your career, but there’s multiple times in my career where I felt we’ve been on the wrong side of some of those things. I don’t know why one sticks out, but one time Duke Johnson had the ball in his hands after he fumbled, was handing to it the refs and they were still pointing it the other way, and I was just like, I don’t know how this makes any sense, but there’s been a few of those moments, you know what I mean, where we’ve been on the wrong end. So, it’s one of the things that we try and control what we can controls as a team, but in certain situations, sometimes the refs are part of the game, and they make those calls. But it was nice to have some calls go our way last couple of weeks, and hopefully we can stay out of those, so it’s not quite as close coming down the stretch.”
Joel, what have you seen from Jed (Wills) the last two games? It seems like he’s really played well these last two.
“Yeah, he’s come out with a lot of energy. He’s playing hard. You see some excitement, like, he’s one of the first ones down there on that long touchdown run and making plays, trying to finish his blocks. I think he’s just trying to take a step in his game and be that energy. Especially when I was out, I think he was like, all right, I can step up a little bit and help this team. And he’s done a really good job. He’s really focused on just trying to be the best version of himself and play through the whistle. But it’s been good last couple weeks, and we’re hoping to keep building on that.”
You’ve played with so many quarterbacks here. Does P.J. Walker have something that others haven’t had? Lucky Charms?
“I don’t know. He’s very in command of the huddle, he’s confident. There’s never a question about if he believes that we’re going to win, and it’s a quiet confidence with him. But he’s found a way the last couple of weeks, and I think if you look at his career, I think he had that Hail Mary when he was playing for the Panthers and stuff. So, he’s had some plays and some wins in his career, and you get reps in the other leagues that he was playing in. So, he has all that experience and we’re supporting him every time he has to go out there.”
Talk about resilience. You guys have shown it multiple times this year. Where do you think that comes from?
“It’s one of our core values of the team. We want to be resilient. We know the season is a long season. We know games are long games. Last week was a rollercoaster in itself, eight lead changes and all that stuff. So, we understand that not everything’s going to be perfect. There’s stretches there where our defense is playing outstanding, and we have to be resilient on offense and vice versa. But it’s just something that coach preaches all the time, how resilient we can be. The most resilient team wins a lot of these close games.”
I would assume that comes into play with winning games without the starting quarterback.
“Oh, 100%. Anytime you go out there and get a win when you’re not, which a lot of teams aren’t, but you’re not 100%, it’s big for us and we wanted to really win a road game, stack a win last week and try to build on that. So, we have another huge challenge this week. But no, it was definitely some resilient effort.”
Kevin (Stefanski) said he knew he was going to run the ball if he got fourth down in that game. So, for you guys, what does that mean to you that he was going to trust you guys in that do or die?
“Yeah, it’s big time. I was trying to calm our huddle down a little bit a few times. We’re a little excited there and I was like we got to play one play at a time, do what’s called. They’ll give us a chance if we need to. But it’s a lot of faith in us and we want to be that team that if we’re on the 1-yard line, we can call a run and hopefully score and get in there. And Kareem’s (Hunt) the one you want back there for that because he’s going to find a way to get in there.”
You guys were itching before the last play to run the ball?
“There’s a few guys saying we should run the ball but with the clock left I think if you look at the clock management and how it worked out you would hope to get in there but if you don’t you probably lose a play. And if you have a jumbo group on the field, you run the ball, then you have to spike the ball with the jumbo group or try and run a pass play with the jumbo. It makes it a lot more complicated. You could have run it in there though. I think there’s always that possibility but I’m just stressing like, execute what’s called and hopefully we will make it happen.”
What’s your scouting report on Nick Harris now as a fullback.
“Pretty good. There are not very many fullbacks left in the league. So, he’s like one of 10 guys that plays fullback in this league now, but he’s done a good job for us. Hopefully we’ll get him some routes here coming up, get him the ball a little bit. But no, he’s done a good job. I think in the Niners game, there’s a couple where he got to come downhill and smack some people. So, he’s liking it. He wants to get on the field and help the guys out. So anytime we get some more linemen on the field, we get excited about it.”
What does it say about a guy (Nick Harris) like that? Because obviously we know what happened with the injury last year and so his role has changed a lot, but he’s just willing to kind of embrace a different weirder role, I guess.
“Yeah, he was excited for it. I think every time we have a package with him going in as fullback, he gets excited. And Coach (Bill) Callahan does a good job of coaching him up on his responsibilities. But for him, I think it just shows he wants to do anything he can to help the team win. And every lineman has that dream of being a skill player at one point or another, so I think he just gets to live that a little bit.”
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