LG Joel Bitonio (11.2.23)
Yesterday Kareem (Hunt) talked about how solid the O line has been, what does that mean for you and your teammates who had to transition from Nick Chubb to Kareem and Jerome (Ford)?
“Yeah, we’re trying to work – there’s a little spell in there. We weren’t running the ball well enough and we’re trying to get back to that and we kind of have a three-headed group with Kareem, Ford and Pierre (Strong) out there and they all kind of do their own thing well. But, last two games we’ve ran the ball pretty well and we’re trying to keep building on that but you get used to those guys. Our O line’s back and obviously Jack (Conklin) is still not there, but the guys that have been starting are back and working together so it’s been good.”
Have you experienced that before? The kind of three-headed snake.
“Obviously when Nick’s here, we’ve had Nick and Kareem the last few years so that’s a pretty good one, two punch. But now we’re getting three guys in carries and D’Ernest (Johnson) has had to step up a couple of times for us the last couple of years. So, I think running back for those businesses where you get guys in there, but I think we have three guys that legit can get eight to 12 carries a week and kind of spread out the love so they kind of stay fresh and have different things they’re working on.”
Joel, if you guys have to do without Dawand (Jones) this week, first of know how well has he been playing and adapting to that pass blocking?
“You know, hopefully we get him out there. I don’t know the extent know how he’s feeling and stuff, but he’s done a really good job and I think that his strength is pass blocking. He’s done a really good job coming into that role. He’s had some tough challenges going against certain guys, but he’s really stepped up to it and I think if you watch the last few weeks his run game assignment has improved and his understanding of the NFL and the details that it takes to be successful has continued to improve. So obviously we want him out there to keep improving and working, but he has that raw talent to be as good as he really wants to be. So, we’ll keep pushing him and hopefully he keeps taking steps and improving.”
So this is the I think fifth game now where you’re not really sure who your starting quarterback is going to be. Just how taxing has that been on you guys on the offensive line when it comes to preparing, not knowing definitively who you’re going to be blocking for?
“I mean, obviously you’d rather it be like, yeah, Deshaun’s (Watson) out there, we’re ready to roll with your starting quarterback. But coaches talk about being resilient all year and that’s kind of what we focus on the O line. We can control what we can control and focus on that. Po (Ethan Pocic) really does a good job whenever I talk about stuff, he’s like, ‘We just got to control, we can control.’ And I think it’s a great point because we can only do what’s called, we can only do… block for who’s out there. And that’s kind of been our mindset since we’ve had this injury issue.”
In that way, it’s got to be difficult. But isn’t that difficult because you have a job to do no matter who’s back there? Isn’t that kind of the focus?
“Yeah, I agree with that. I think we’re going to go out there and we’re going to have to play 70 snaps of football no matter who’s playing quarterback out there. So, it’s kind of been the O line’s mindset, like you said, control what we can control and really just go out there and focus on our jobs. Obviously, everybody wants Deshaun to be back when he’s ready to go, but that’s really been our mindset the last four or five weeks.”
So guys are saying after the game that you guys work the screen game all the time in practice. So is this the most like you’ve done that under a coach or a coordinator with Kevin (Stefanski) and then what goes into a successful screen?
“Yeah, so since Coach Stefanski’s been here with Bill (Callahan) and AVP (Alex Van Pelt), we always have a screen period, and it might not be full speed, but we always have some sort of screen period pretty much every day, especially Wednesday. Thursday we’re out there running around, even if I’m not practicing, usually I’ll jump in there just so I get the timing down and stuff. But it’s really timing, understanding who’s out on the screen, finding your landmarks. And now we can’t cut and they can’t cut us, but it’s really pressing in field in space, trying to get bodies on bodies out there. But the main thing is the timing aspect. If you can get out when guys are getting out and no one’s getting on field, I think that’s when you have the best opportunity. And I think the scheme wise, we have a bunch of different schemes, so we’re not just running the same scheme over and over. But it does take time, you know, and we’ve been working on it for four years, trying to get the screen. I think since Kevin’s been here, we’ve had a very good, you know, one of the top in the league. So it’s something that we want to pride ourselves on and keep working, showing that we can be one of the best screen teams in the league.”
What’s your evaluation of Nick Harris’s route running skills?
“Pretty good. He hasn’t got a ball yet, but we want to get him one here now. He’s doing a great job. I mean, that’s a guy that was a starter, really, since he’s been here, he’s practiced like a starter because JC (Tretter) was a little bit banged up when he was here and then obviously, he’s gotten hurt a couple of times. But we think of him as our sixth lineman, and for him to get on the field and kind of take that role as a fullback, but also be able to be our backup center is huge because not very many teams put a fullback on the roster, so it’s been good for him. And we love having him out there. We can run the ball and we can play action off of it.”
You want one crack at that spot, though?
“You know, when I was a young guy, I was real excited. I’m like, ‘Give me the ball.’ And now I’m just like, ‘I’ll just stay in and block.’ I’ve lost my edge on, had a little bit.”
Did you get excited because it looked like they were going to try to go for him in the end zone?
“I would get excited. I didn’t know what option he was on the route. Sometimes you put in a play and it’s like 1, 2, 3, 4, run and then Nick’s your fifth option, you know what I mean? So there’s a little bit of a tree there, but no, I mean, we had Kendall Lamm score a touchdown, I think three or four years ago when he was playing tight end. So, him or James (Hudson III) or someone gets a touchdown, I think the O line will get pretty excited.”
Has there been a tackle-eligible play since you’ve been here where it was supposed to go to the tackle, but the play never materialized?
“Oh, gosh, I’m sure it has happened, you know what I mean? I remember the Kendall one worked. I think that’s the only one we’ve thrown to a guy. We’ve had plays to guys before, but I think that’s the only one that’s been executed. So, I’m sure there’s one or two in there that weren’t called or weren’t executed.”
Do you have a favorite big man touchdown?
“Oh, gosh. Kendall was the one I was part of. But any of those ones where the guy’s wide open and he’s kind of waiting for the ball up there, you see if he’s a true athlete or not, if he’s coming down with it.”
With James Hudson, I mean, the coaches in the training camp praise him and how hard he’s worked. Just how do you think he has to step in and if he has to step in this week, how he handles that kind of role?
“Yeah, it was big. He hadn’t really got too much extended time this year, but obviously, last game he stepped in and I thought he played very solid and he’s been working. He knows he has to be kind of our big tight end, right side, left side, do it all as a backup and he stays ready. I talked to him a lot, just being like, stay ready, be focused as a backup lineman, listen, you have to truly be ready to play at any moment and you don’t know when it’s going to happen. And he’s always watching. He’s always like, ‘I’m ready.’ And this week we were talking, weren’t sure if Jed (Wills Jr.) was going to be able to go, and so I was like, ‘All right, let’s go if you’re ready.’ He’s like, ‘I’ll be ready’, and then he ended up having to go on the right side. So it was a little bit different than the red he got in practice, but no, his work ethic in Coach Callahan, Coach (Scott) Peters all working with them to make sure the backups are ready to roll.”
You guys were able to get 155 yards from the three headed monster. Are you guys feeling better with your run game right now?
“Yeah, we’ve been stressing. We’ve been working it, especially since you don’t have your quarterback one in, you know what I mean? You want to try and lean on the run a little bit, but it’s better. Like I said, were bottled up for a couple of weeks there, but it’s been waking up a little bit, I think, the last couple of weeks, and I think we’re seeing what Ford’s good at, what Pierre’s good at, what Kareem good at, if we can kind of use that to our advantage.”
The Cardinals, I think, are eighth in sacks with 24 and eleven guys have at least one. So even though they’re 1-7, I mean, they can really bring it right. And what do you guys have to watch out for there?
“Yeah, it’s actually pretty impressive when you put on tape how hard they go and how hard they rush. And like you said, it’s not one guy making all the plays for them. We looked at the sheet and it was like four, three and a half, two and a half, you know what I mean? Like a bunch of guys with multiple sacks, and I think it’s how they play off each other. They run a lot of games. They kind of have a couple of fronts that they’re moving around a lot where you have to kind of ID who you want to block, but it’s really an impressive effort group. Like the guys just keep going, and sometimes you’re like, oh, they locked him up pretty good, and the guy will just keep turning the corner, step up into a sack and make those plays. So they work well together is one of the things I’ve come across, and I think any team you play in this league, I’ve been in those situations where you haven’t been great, but teams are fighting for wins, and everybody’s always playing for that next game or that next contract.”
Is it a lot like Philly?
“They do a lot of things like Philly. Like, there’s some Philly stuff that we’ve taken, but they’re pretty multiple. They’re probably the most multiple fronts we’ve seen this year. They’re a base three down, but they have all types of different looks that they can give you. And they kind of do a weird thing with our SAM’s and WILL’s that are a little bit off the ball sometimes, but you got to account for them in the protection.
Joel, this might be kind of big picture do you guys talk about as a group like, how proud you are, the fact that sometimes injuries happen and you’ve got to just plug in pieces? And as a group, you guys have been really steady throughout the course of the year.
“Yeah, I think Coach (Bill) Callahan does a great job of stressing to us – like every game, we know who’s going to be the first center in, the first guard in, the first tackle in, who’s going to be up, who’s going to be down. So there’s always a stress of like, ‘Hey, you have to prepare for these positions.’ And I think it’s a credit to the guys and the coaching that they’re always usually pretty ready and they understand what they’re doing when they come in the game, but it’s something you don’t want to talk about. We’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, O line people get banged up’, but it’s one of those tough positions in this league. It’s the NFL, but I think we’ve done a good job of that. And it’s really that next man mentality.”
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