LG Joel Bitonio (12.7.23)
What did you say to AWalk (Anthony Walker) after his nominations?
“Oh, I was very happy for him. I mean, since he’s been here, he’s done so much in our community. Just the type of guy he is in the locker room, the leader he is. I was just saying it’s a big-time award, congrats and hopefully he gets some votes out there as well.”
Joe, what’s it been like with Joe (Flacco) the last couple of weeks and kind of getting to know him and then finally getting to see him in a game in the huddle, how he handled all that?
“Yeah, it’s been good. Very calm. I think he’s seen it all. A lot of experience, and I think he’s picked up on the offense very quickly, understands what he needs to do, and there’s never really a doubt in the huddle. He was confident, had the play call cadence. All that stuff was very good. So, a lot of things that you do when you’re used to being quarterback, he kind of had down already. So, it’s been a good transition. He’s a good guy. He’s easy to talk to all that stuff. So you see him, you played against him so many years. He played in Baltimore, he’s been around the league, and you get to meet him and you don’t really truly know a guy until you’re in the locker room.”
Was it weird for you? Did you ever think you would be playing with him?
“No. I mean, it is definitely a little bit weird. You see some of these quarterbacks, and even when I was coming up, you play against like a Tom Brady or Payton Manning. You’re like, all right when I was a kid, these guys were like doing big things. And this guy, I came in the league, we’re playing against Baltimore. He won Super Bowls with them and stuff. So, no, you don’t think you’re going to play, but it’s been good.”
Should there be a case study to see if training camp is completely overrated?
“Yeah, I think some guys need to hit a little bit, get some position work in. But he said he was throwing with his brother, so he’s been ready to go and hopefully, we keep him from not getting hit too much and that way he can stay healthy and roll out there.”
He (Joe Flacco) did mention that he was appreciative. The game wasn’t very physical for him but does a guy like him, who is the traditional dropback quarterback, does that make your jobs a little bit easier?
“I wouldn’t say easier. I think our quarterbacks that have played this year have given us big play opportunities and stuff. We just kind of know Joe’s going to be in the pocket for most of the time and he’s going to have some pocket movement. We’re probably not going to see him scramble around a little bit back there, but we’re ready for it.”
Jacksonville’s defensive line. I know the edge guys are kind of where it starts, but overall that group and the challenge they bring?
“Yeah, they’re very experienced. I think they kind of go into that Pittsburgh – Baltimore style of like, hey, we want big guys that are taking up gaps. They’re a little bit different because they’re not really two gappers. They’re kind of penetrating a little bit more, but all of them are pretty talented and if you look at them against the run, I think they’re one of the best teams, and they’ve gone after the passer really well, too. They have a good blitz team, it’s definitely a tough challenge up front, but a lot of respect for them and I think they have depth as well. And so, they go out there and they all play hard and they kind of rotate guys in.”
The running game, especially like in the first half last week, it wasn’t up to your guys’ normal standard. So what do you have to do to make that more consistent?
“Yeah, we got to eliminate the negative plays. I think if you go out there and you have, I think at one point we had like three or four negative runs the first half, and those just hurt you instead of, even if we turn those into two-yard, three-yard games, you’re still going to have a chance to produce. I think when you have these negative runs, it dissuades the play caller from calling more runs. So, we have to be positive. We have to be on our details and understand the assignment. The plays were out there last week. It just really comes down to executing the assignment.”
Coming on Dec.10 and you guys are in the playoff race. What does this mean to you this year, considering all the obstacles since week one or two that we’ve talked about?
“Yeah, it’s been good. Guys have been resilient this year. We wanted our team to be as healthy as possible, and we’ve had some unfortunate injuries to some very important pieces, but to [our] guys’ credit, they’ve stepped up and we talked about playing good football in December allows you to keep playing in January and that’s really our goal. So, we got an AFC battle this week with a team that’s leading their division. It’s a huge one, you know. We got to try and find a way to go 1-0 another this week and keep that momentum going.”
Hit, run, beaten on the road. What does that tell you about them?
“It’s impressive. They’ve done a good job going on the road and beating some good teams, it’s going to be a challenge. We’ve seen them and we understand they’ve had some very quality wins this year, so it’ll be a big challenge for us.”
Were you watching that game Monday night, (Trevor) Lawrence got hurt?
“Yeah, I was watching a little bit of the first half and then I went to bed, so I didn’t see when he got hurt.”
I know it’s been a couple of years, but can you guys draw on that 2020 playoff run? I get it was a weird year, but the fact that you were able to win meaningful games that year and you’re in it this year.
“Yeah, I think 2020 actually has some correlations in the resilient factor because it was so weird with COVID. There were so many different tests and days we couldn’t practice and things got moved, the schedule got moved, and guys were just, focused on the task at hand. And we’ve kind of tried to take that approach this year, and I know we have a lot of new guys from there, but I think that approach is a very similar approach to this year and trying to find a way to go 1-0 this week, no matter what is happening around us.”
It seemed like Joe (Flacco) was completely in control, just had control the offense knew what he was doing. How impressive is that? Come in and then seemingly look like he’d been there for the whole year.
“Yeah, it was very good. I think it shows the experience, shows his work ethic. I know his five kids are at home right now, so he has a little bit more free time. But no, It’s a testament to him. We were in L.A. and he had a chance to really study the playbook and even that first week when he wasn’t going to play, I think you’re just jumping into the book and the coaches do a good job of telling him like, ‘Hey, this is our plan, this is what we want to do.’ And it’s a testament to him and his experience in this league.”
Do you have to pare it down at all or is it pretty much the same?
“No, it felt very normal. I don’t know, all the passing routes and stuff like that, but the run game and the protections and stuff were all very normal.”
Joel, is it a help at all to be back at home now and try and bounce back from losing two games down the road like that?
“Yeah, we love our home crowd. I think they bring a great energy. It’s been fun playing down there this year. We have a little weather possibly this weekend, just the way we like it. So, it’ll be good. But no, the home crowd is great. And getting back home after that long West Coast trip is good. I think the energy will be good this week.”
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