Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt (12.21.23)
Pretty normal fourth quarter last week?
“Yeah. Again, this team is just resilient. It’s made a little harder than we needed to, but I love the fight in this team for sure.”
In the offense going forward and just for him in general, how happy were you for Marquise (Goodwin)?
“Oh it’s huge. You know, he’s battled through some things early, obviously, in the know, coming back and then dealing with the concussion midseason. It’s great to see him have productivity down the field.”
If he does that, can that open up things for other guys?
“Absolutely. The play was designed to go to Coop (Amari Cooper) and they doubled Coop. So his speed allowed him to get behind the defense. That was a huge play in the game.”
When you have a veteran like Joe (Flacco), did you even know that when he was throwing the picks that he’s just the kind of guy that was going to be able to dial it back in and lock back in and get the job done?
“Yeah. I mean, if that’s a younger player, you start to get a little frazzled, but the older you get, you’ve thrown a bunch of interceptions in your time. You just got to keep fighting, go back to the guys like (Dan) Marino, you got to keep swinging. So some of those were unfortunate. Again, the first one to Ced (Cedric Tillman) was just a misread on the coverage, so that’s not on him. The second one was a bang play where the ball pops up. That’s a tough one. So the third one was the one he’s probably most disappointed about. We had a chance there for a touchdown to Dave (David Njoku), and I think he just underthrew it a little and he knows that. But the veterans, you just keep playing. Short memory.”
Joe downplayed the 51-yard touchdown to Amari. But when’s the last time you saw a quarterback thread it like that between three defenders?
“Yeah, that’s what he can do, and that’s a tough coverage to beat in that scheme for us. There’s a cover two corner on the backside that almost got underneath of that. In the quarterback room, we’ve always referred to that as the steak dinner throw. So if you throw an interception to that corner, you owe the whole room a steak dinner at the Marble Room. So I’m glad it didn’t happen for us, but that’s tough coverage and his arm strength got that ball there.”
Can we talk about David Njoku? He’s really stepped up big the last two weeks.
“It’s huge. So happy for Dave because that’s a guy that deserves it. He works hard. He’s battling through injury all the time to get there. Again, one of the greatest teammates on our team for everything he does and one of the most productive guys. I don’t know if there’s another tight end in the league I’d rather have than David.”
Is it almost full circle for him to see him progress from a guy that embraces his role as a blocker, and then now to be able to get those touchdown passes, to be able to get those deep balls from Joe?
“Again, couldn’t be more happy for Dave. When we first got here, it wasn’t always smooth sailing and he’s really bought in, and it shows. And Kevin’s (Stefanski) got a great trust and belief in him as well, and it’s great to see that he’s thriving right now. Really happy.”
Kevin mentioned how many toy pickup trucks he’s gotten so far this year. Where do you get these toy trucks? And maybe you can bring one in sometime.
“I can bring a truck in, for sure. You know, the toy trucks. I don’t know. Probably Toys-R-Us would be my guess. They’re nice big trucks. Dave’s probably had five or six on the season so far. He won one last week as well as Harry (Harrison Bryant). So our tight end group has a ton of pickups, and that’s what we’re all about. When we play connected as a unit, as a team, and we play for each other, we generally have good days.”
Where did that idea come from and how long have you been doing that?
“As a quarterback when I played, I always tried to be the first one to help guys up off the field. That’s just something I always believed in. The tighter the group, the more success you have, and that’s just something that I’ve always done. And these guys have all bought in across the board as a team, and it’s awesome to see. You hate to see a guy lay there and then guys walk away, and we won’t put that on film.”
Alex, you’ve seen them all for 30 years. What makes Myles Garrett different than those pass rushers?
“He’s a generational pass rusher. His strength, his power, his quickness. He’s special. I don’t know if we blocked him out there on the edge when we do compete periods yet, so, I mean, he’s dynamic, and I’m glad he’s on our team. We don’t have to block him in a game.”
What are some of the nuances about the way you guys teach and then run the play action game? Because even on a day like Sunday where the run game wasn’t really working for you, that was still such a weapon for you guys?
“Yeah, I mean, we take pride in our ability to ball handle and fake as well with our line and our backs and our quarterback is really good at it. It’s a point of emphasis for us to make our play actions look like real runs. Really until a team tries to stop your run with the middle field open, it takes away some of those play actions, but they continue to close the middle of the field and give us opportunities in the play action game, which was good.”
How tough was it to see Joel (Bitonio) have the back early pregame and then not be able to finish it for you?
“Yeah, it was tough. I mean, you lose a leader of your offense, a great player, Pro Bowler, it’s tough. Backs are tricky and his just slipped out and that was it. Appreciate him trying to battle to get through that, but at some point, obviously he had to tap out. And what a great job by Dunny (Micheal Dunn). Again, Dunny just steps in and does his job to the best of his effort. Last week he won a game ball because of it. So really proud of him. But hopefully as we move forward we can get our guys healthy and get them back in. We’ll see.”
Obviously, you guys didn’t run the ball if you wanted to. How much of that is having four guys that aren’t usually out there? That’s pretty big.
“Yeah, it’s big, but it’s no excuse. We got to find a way to be productive in the run game, regardless of who’s on the field.”
As you guys have doubled the struggles in the run game though, what has just impressed you about the passing game? And I know part of that’s Joe, but your receivers, the way that they’ve been able to have success in the passing game.
“It’s been great. I mean, everybody has stepped up across the board. I think we had eight or nine different completions of different players again last week. So the ball is getting spread around the field. We’re using everybody and that makes the defense play the whole field.”
Joe (Flacco), is he moving maybe even a little bit better than you thought he would in the keeper game? And then also he was limited or would have been limited yesterday with the calf injury. Is he totally fine and how might that impact the keeper game?
“Yeah, no, I mean, he’s been moving probably better than I expected. We get some huge three big plays on a scramble drill during the game, including the touchdown to Dave. His calf, he tweaked it a little bit, but I don’t see that as being an issue. But man, he’s made some great plays moving out of the pocket and he’s also made some great plays buying time in the pocket versus pressure. The big one to Dave late in the game was that.”
Have you changed how you guys are calling anything, knowing that he is moving better than expected?
“Yeah, I think it opens up some more things to us, for sure.”
Going back to David, when you mentioned it wasn’t always smooth sailing early, it doesn’t always work out like this for guys in situations like that. So I guess what is it about him that allowed him to sort of overcome that stuff and sort of turn things around?
“The person. You know, I think the person he is, he’s prideful. He wants to be successful. And a lot of times when guys get frustrated early, it’s because they’re not having the success that they feel like they need to have. And Dave, he worked through that, and then he became an unbelievable blocker. Took his game to the next level in the blocking and just stayed the course and worked and worked and worked. And again, I can’t be more proud of anybody on this team than I am with Dave, just for his energy, his work ethic and his ability. Just the resiliency just to keep going and great player, man. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
When you look at that Houston defense, where does it start for you?
“Up front. Yeah, that’s a really good front across the board. The front four, they rotate in, but they’re really good up front. So that’s where I think what drives that defense, is the front.”
And then I know we talk about Amari all the time, but close to becoming the first Browns receiver to go a thousand yards in back-to-back seasons. What is it about him that allows him to be as consistent as he is?
“I mean, he’s a pro. I think that’s the biggest thing. He’s a dynamic route runner. He can create space. He can break leverage, which is another one teams, they try to play true to their leverage. He has a tendency to be able to break that to his explosiveness of route running.”
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