QB P.J. Walker (10.15.23)

­­ You have a knack for winning your first game with new teams.

“I mean, it’s God, man.  I want to just first and foremost thank God for just the opportunity. We went out there today and battled as a team. We played our tails off, both sides of the ball. As an offense, we can’t give our defense that much stress and try to put them in better positions, and try to limit us as offense, giving them points.”

 

That field goal. Where were you? Were you watching it? 

“I was sitting next to Coop (Amari Cooper) and DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) and I told him that he was going to miss it, so he did. I mean it was a good moment.”

 

Take us through that last drive to get that game winning field goal.

“Yeah. Just trying to get completions. We knew what they was going to do defensively. They wasn’t going to give us opportunity to go over the top, so were just trying to find ways to get the ball into our receiver’s hands and let them make plays. We had a big fourth-down conversion to David Bell, which was huge. And I think that right there just kept it going as an offense.”

 

What went through your mind after the interception you were trying to throw to Amari (Cooper)? 

“There’s still a lot of time left. Been in this situation before. It’s football, man. You’re going to make mistakes, but you can overcome mistakes as well, right after. Because you’ll get another opportunity right after that. So for me, it’s always about bouncing back. I mean, things happen, just keep going.”

 

David Bell said he knew that ball was coming to him before the snap. Did you see that pretty quickly? 

“I saw it quick. I saw them drop out of the cover two. And the minute they dropped, I saw that little void and just tried to fit it in there to him.”

 

What did you see on Amari Cooper to the deep ball?

“Just give him a chance. Coop did a hell of a job winning on the route and just give him a chance to go make a play. He did the rest from there. It was all Coop.”

 

We talked about on Friday. You guys are big underdogs obviously, missing a couple of big guys. What gave you the confidence that you guys will be able to come in and win this? 

“They tie their shoes like us, man. At the end of the day, they’re good, but we are all here for a reason. And at the end of the day, that’s what it’s about. I mean, they’re a great team. They’re a great football team. And for us, it’s just go out there and battle. We ain’t going to bow down to nobody and that’s it.”

 

What were you thinking on that pass in the endzone? 

“Yeah, that was a terrible mistake by me. That right there was something that I knew I shouldn’t have did. Came back to the sideline, told Kev (Kevin Stefanski), I shouldn’t have made a stupid decision like that. And we made the field goal at the end of it and God was with us on that play right there, for sure.”

 

It just seemed like the defense would not be denied. What was that like? 

“It was two great defenses and I think our defense had a point to prove today. And they went out there and proved it. They did a hell of a job playing, and they did a hell of a job giving us as an offense, an opportunity to go out there and keep going. And that’s all we can ask for as a team, is just continue to battle for each other, keep having each other’s back and just go play for each other.”

 

This is the best team you’ve probably been on. What does this win mean to you? 

“It meant a lot, man. Just the preparation throughout the week, just getting here six weeks ago, it’s been great, man. Just trying to build relationships with the guys on the team and continuing to build relationships with the guys. And as I just continue to just progress as a player here, I’m just continuing to build those relationships with the guys, not just on the team, but around the building in general. Just keep going. I think we got a great group of guys that can go out there and play a lot of good football.”

 

You got to feel like you belong now?

“I been knew I belonged to be honest. So that’s just my opinion.”

 

What do you say about the way you guys ran the ball, especially on that last drive? 

“That was huge. We had some big runs, and that right there is unexpected because we were going into a two-minute drive and we hit some runs, and then we going. Those runs we hit early was able to keep us ahead of the chains, and they were big for us.”

 

So the interception you threw to Amari (Cooper) down the sideline, what did you see on that? 

“I was just trying to give him a chance to go up and make a play. I felt like I threw it too low, though, for Coop I just got to give him a higher ball, let him go jump up and get it.”

 

In that play at the end of the first half, they called incompletion and intentional grounding. Did you know that it was an incompletion? Were you worried?

“Yea I did. No, I wasn’t worried. I felt myself throw the ball out my hand.”

 

P.J. Congrats on the win brother. It was a little scuffle before the game. You think that was kind of a message sent by the Brown to 49ers that we here? 

“I don’t even know who started it, so for me, I was just over there watching what was going on. But I knew our guys was locked in, man, all week, you could just see the guys, like Kev (Kevin Stefanski), he said, with team. You can see it in everybody’s eyes this week that we was going out there to have something prove, we was going out there with a purpose. And at the end of the day we did that and we came out victorious.”

 

Do you think that it was just a week full of everybody was against you guys, nobody believed you could do it. Do you think you guys are just sick and tired of hearing, you can’t do this? 

“Ain’t nobody listening to that. I’m not and I don’t know what the other guys in the locker room is, but I ain’t listening to the outside noise, man. That’s just a distraction. And it’s all about the guys in this building. At the end of the day, we the ones that got to play for each other. We got to go out there and compete against the other squad, so for us just to go out there and do what we do as a team, don’t worry about what other guys are doing.”

 

Just to make sure, is Wednesday the first day you ever threw to (Amari) Cooper, DPJ (Donovan Peoples-Jones) and (David) Njoku?

“A couple of guys? Yeah. Wednesday was the first time for a lot of that, and I just took advantage of every rep that I got and just trying to see it and continue to see it continue to get better every day. I think I’ll continue to grow better chemistry with the receivers as I just continue to develop. This week was my first time throwing to those guys, and I thought it went well.”

 

Kevin (Stefanski) said the attitude at Thursday’s practice was the best he saw all year. Did you notice that, too? 

“Absolutely. When you got a group of guys that’s, when you got a team that’s with a group of energetic young guys, that you know your leaders as well, got the same type of passion as the young guys, that right there is going to bring the whole group together, and it’s going to be really good. You could just feel the energy throughout the building, and I think it starts off with our defense. They go out there with so much energy every day, and I think as an offense, we feed off that and we just continue to just try to match their energy, on a week-to-week basis.”

 

What was practice like for you on your first day of first team reps?

“It was tough because there are a lot of different things we do as offense. And for me, I jumped offsides probably three times the first day I started this week. So for me, it’s just to continue to try to learn the offense and continue to get better with it, and I’m going to just continue to develop and we’ll see how things go.”

 

When did Kevin tell you were going to start? 

“Sometime during this week. I don’t remember when, but it was sometime during this week. It was early.”

 

 

 

Just this opportunity to get this. What did it mean to you? 

“It meant the world. Being in a situation I was in a couple of months ago in Chicago being released. It happened at the end of the day, but I feel like I’m in a great place. I’m in a better place. And God don’t make mistakes, so he brought me here for reason.”

 

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