Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt (10.12.23)
I know this is your job and you got to juggle things when you’re not sure who’s going to be playing quarterback. How challenging has it been this week?
“It’s challenging when you’re not sure for sure, but that’s part of our business. It’s nothing new for any coach. You just roll with it and get who’s available. Get those guys ready to go and put a plan together that hopefully makes him successful on Sunday.”
How does PJ (Walker) look, Kevin (Stefanski) was saying yesterday that he’s grasping things and coming along well.
“Yeah, he looks good. He throws the ball really well. I liked him coming out when I was in Green Bay. We were talking about our visit he had up to Green Bay earlier before the draft. I always thought he was a really good quarterback, so I followed him through my time evaluating him in college and through his career. I think he does a nice job.”
Are you sure who is playing quarterback Sunday?
“I don’t think so. That’s the thing, it’s up in the air. But we’ll know obviously if Deshaun (Watson) can make it, that’d be great, and if he can’t, then PJ (Walker) will be just fine. So, we’re ready for either scenario.”
Does it make it any easier? Might not be the right word, but knowing you might be going with PJ (Walker) rather than that Baltimore game you didn’t know until Sunday?
“Yeah. I think it gives guys [the] opportunity to have a feeling maybe I’m going Sunday as opposed to I’m not sure, right up into game time. So, he’ll have time. All of our guys should prepare as if they’re starters. That’s kind of how we preach in the quarterback room. Everybody’s starting this week, so everybody should be prepared equally.”
You probably don’t want to go through what you guys went through before the Ravens game where it goes up to game time. Nobody really knows what’s going on. Ideally, in a perfect world, would you guys like to know by Friday?
“Yeah, I think Mary Kay (Cabot), that’s probably a Kevin (Stefanski) question. The earlier the better, the later. You know, however it plays out. Obviously, we’re going to give him every chance to make it to the game. But that’s a Kevin question.”
Maybe you can’t answer this one either, though. I mean, have you seen situations or maybe you’ve even done it yourself Where you don’t really practice during the week and you can still get out there on Sunday and be effective?
“Yeah, plenty of times. Veterans, especially guys with experience. It’s always great to have a week of practice, but guys that have been there and done that, I’ve seen those guys step on the field and play without practice, for sure.”
Does it become an issue where he hasn’t practiced now for the third week? Yeah, it’s going to take him some time to kind of reacclimate if it’s three, four or five weeks of practice.
“Got to get him going. Got to get him going. So as soon as he can get back and be out there and be available. He’s doing everything he can in the rehab process. It’s just tough for him. He’s a thrower and it’s a shoulder injury. It’s like you wouldn’t put a running back out there on the field if you couldn’t run full speed. So, it’s kind of, just got to wait till that thing gets healed up and he feels good about it and we all feel good about it, but he’s doing everything he can. He’ll have to catch up, but we’re not waiting. We got to go.”
How has Dorian (Thompson Robinson) responded after that?
“Great. Yeah, he’s a team guy all the way through. I wish he’d have had a better experience on Sunday, but it’s a learning experience for him, you know. He’s got a great bright future moving forward. He’s taking it like a champ. He’s going to do everything to help PJ (Walker) or Deshaun (Watson) get ready, whoever goes this Sunday. But he’s learning how to be a pro. But the arrow is still up.”
When you played, obviously, did you have a shoulder injury that you tried to play through?
“Yeah, multiple. Yeah, I’ve had multiple shoulders. I had an AC reconstruction I played with late in the season, but it took me about six or eight weeks to get back from an AC separation. Played through that. I played through some other things, but it’s not fun when your living is throwing the football and you can’t throw it how you’re used to throwing it. It’s tough. So, it’ll take some time, but when he’s ready, he’ll be ready to roll.”
Last week, you said that you’d be kind of surprised if Deshaun (Watson) didn’t play against the Ravens, and now we don’t even know if he’s going to be playing this Sunday. Is that kind of a window to maybe this injury is getting worse?
“That’s a trainer question. That’s a Deshaun (Watson) question. I mean, from what I’m hearing, he’s better every day going in the right direction.”
Deshaun has a run threat. DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) has a run threat. Does PJ (Walker) have the same ability that skill set?
“Yeah, sure. Absolutely. That’s probably why he’s here. He fills some of that skill set as well.”
You talked about watching him when he was in college and stuff. What stood out to you back then when you first were evaluating?
“Yeah, he’s a good thrower, a natural thrower. I think his mechanics are really good. His feet are really good. He listens to his feet. He’s in rhythm and throws with rhythm in the pass game. A lot of things that I look for in quarterbacks, and he was a guy that really stood out. I’m like, okay, this guy has a lot of the things that I like.”
It looks like there’s a chance that Joel Bitonio might not be able to play this game. Obviously, 102 straight games streak snaps. What impact would it have on you if you don’t have Joel out there?
“Yeah, I mean, we’re going to next man up mentality. As you know, if he doesn’t make it, then we’ll fill a spot. Anytime you miss a Pro Bowl player, obviously it’s a big hole to fill, but we’ll do a good job getting the guys ready if he’s not available.”
I know you guys spent a lot of the offseason trying to get explosive plays in the pass game, an area you thought you struggled with last year, and it hasn’t been great so far. How do you go about fixing that?
“Yeah, I mean, you just got to keep your nose to the grindstone on that. Just keep coming up with scheme and push the ball down the field, finding ways to get guys open and finding explosives out there. This defense is tough. They don’t give up a lot of explosives, so they make you earn your way down the field. So, we’ll see how it goes this weekend. But we’re always looking for explosives. We have them up every week. A lot of it’s just the luck of the call, too. You’re calling a play that’s built for this coverage, hoping to get it that they’ve played, and then they show a different coverage and you’re checking the ball down. So, a lot of those decisions are made by how the defense plays as well. But they’re definitely on the call sheet each week.”
A big part of the scheme, a part of it is just kind of going and throwing to a guy. Right, say one of them will you’re your guy. Is there a balance there?
“Definitely is a balance. We’ll give our guys opportunities to go make plays when they’re in one-on-one matchups.”
Spend some time during the bye trying to figure out how to maybe get (Cedric) Tillman and (Marquise) Goodwin more involved? It feels like they’ve kind of been underutilized.
“Yeah, I think that especially with Ced as a rookie kind of finding his way through. Definitely talked about it in the bye week of maybe spreading some reps around to some other guys.”
A defense that forces a lot of turnovers and ball security was a big topic of conversation during the bye week. And I guess you’re going into a game not knowing who your quarterback is and facing such a formidable defense. Just what do you do this week to emphasize ball security? Because it just feels like that’s going to be so critical for you guys on Sunday.
“Absolutely. That’s the number one objective of this game is to come out with zero giveaways. It’s been talked about already this week. It’ll be talked about all the way up until game time. So, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win when we don’t turn the ball over, period. And it’s a good defense, sure, but regardless of who’s playing, we can hold on to the ball and we can make good decisions from the quarterback position.”
Kevin (Stefanski) said that one of the goals is to get more from the run offense so it’s easy to say that’s what you want to do, but how do you do it?
“We have good coaches. Obviously, our scheme, we got to scheme them. Our guys got to play well, we got to block them, we got to run. There’s not real magic to it. We’ve had some good looks. There should be more there in the run game. We expect to be better in the run game than we have been the last few weeks. And I think our history here is we can run the football. So just getting back on track there with the run game, obviously losing Nick (Chubb) is a big part of that. A lot of yards after contact, broke a lot of tackles, did a lot of things superhuman that Nick is. So, finding a way to get those replacement yards. We just got to be more diligent in the run game and work a little harder.”
You said DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) has been a good teammate throughout this, but as a rookie quarterback, I’m sure took a shot to his confidence knowing that he’s not the backup anymore. How do you as an offensive coordinator kind of bring him along and just try to boost his confidence back up?
“Really it’s just, I’ve been there. I’ve thrown interceptions in games and gotten taken out and replaced. So, I’ve been there. I’ve lived it. I’m just telling him it’s just part of the learning process. I was a young player, I did the same thing. You got to earn the coach’s trust to get back in there and get an opportunity again. But he will and that’s a positive thing. He’s not taking it as a negative. He’s taking it as a learning experience.”
Dawand (Jones) is going to make his fourth start and he starts with TJ Watt, gets Nick Bosa this week. How has he sort of you seen him sort of respond to these kinds of challenges?
“Yeah, I mean he’s not backed down from anybody. He’s a big man in his own right. He can hold his own on the edge. He’s done a good job, especially in pass protection. But he’s still, again, another rookie that’s in there that’s learning all the nuances of playing tackle in the NFL. But we continue to get better each week. I think we’ll be in good shape there.”
What concern is Jerome’s (Ford) knee injury as you guys head into this game?
“None. No.”
The 49ers defense is built around the front four, kind of like you guys are. What kind of challenge is that for an offensive line that has had its ups and downs?
“Yeah, that’s a really good group. There’s no doubt about it. Probably one of the top-front sevens in the NFL. If not the. They’re big, they’re strong, they’re long. The front four is awesome, you know Fred Warner is, in my opinion, one of the top two linebackers in the league playing at an extremely high level. So [a] huge challenge for us. We talked about challenges early in the week, this being one of them. But it’s also an opportunity. We get to go out and play these guys and give it our best effort. But that’s a good defense. We know we have a challenge ahead of us again but just encourage these guys. Look at the opportunity. We got some chances. We’re going to have chances to make some plays. We got to make them.”
The challenge that Deshaun Watson’s shoulder injury presents, how much of it has been maybe a learning experience for you guys, too with the way that injury doesn’t have a set timetable, it’s just kind of waiting around. How much has that helped you guys kind of figure out game planning around that?
“Yeah, I think it helps a little bit. But I mean, that’s the nature of all injuries in the NFL. It may be a week, it could be lingered to three for everybody, not just Deshaun. So just being able to be flexible and again, putting your guys, whoever’s available in the best positions to win is what we’re focused on.”
How helpful is how Amari Cooper communicates with the quarterbacks, especially with PJ (Walker) as he’s gone through taking reps this week, but just kind of their communication style.
“Yeah, I mean, it has to be great. They have to be on the same page. How are we going to attack certain coverages, certain corners, things like that. And that’s always a conversation that goes right up through the game and doesn’t end till after the game on Sunday. But very good. Amari is really good at his communication, brings clean, good communication. When he says something, it is what it is. So just keeping that line of communication open all the way through the game.
How did you land on Harrison Bryant as your designated sneaker?
“Drew straws [laughs]. I don’t know. He’s done some emergency stuff on Saturdays for us and thought that he gave us an opportunity to get a bigger body in there that could push the pile and take the snap.”
Can you speak on the toughness that there is on Deshaun Watson because we’re told that he’s cleared medically to play, yet he’s not playing. So, it seems like he’s on the surface, that question.
“I would never ever, ever doubt his toughness. Never. I would never doubt his toughness. I’ve seen him play. I’ve seen him do some amazing things, fight through things. That is not the issue at all whatsoever. Again, if I’m a running back and I can’t run full speed, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it. I might be cleared medically, but I can’t operate with my strength, which is my legs as a runner. So same as a thrower for him, I would never, ever, ever doubt his toughness. He’s tough as nails.”
Is that the concerning part of all this is that you know, that he’s played through so much. Now watching him being held out after being mentally cleared.
“No. I mean, it’s an injury. He’s playing through an injury. He’s trying to get better. He’s getting better each week, and it’s an injury to his main weapon, his throwing server. So, we’ll get him back when he’s ready. Hopefully, it’s sooner than later, but I would never, ever think – if he can play, he’s going to play. He’s a fierce competitor.”
There’s a lot of conversation about the Eagles brotherly shove there where they just kind of all pile behind the quarterback and shove them forward. What are your thoughts on that play? Is it safe? And is that something that you have looked at that you think might work here, too?
“Yeah. Now, we’ve discussed it, and I think analytics would tell you it’s not that much more successful than a regular sneak. It’s new, obviously, but as more data comes back on it, I’m not sure where the injuries lie on those types of sneaks. But I think we’ve been pretty effective here just sneaking it normally.”
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