Wes Welker – January 12, 2023
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Thursday, December 22, 2022
Wide Receivers Coach Wes Welker
(We’ve seen fewer touches for WR Tyreek Hill and WR Jaylen Waddle in the games QB Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t played for obvious and understandable reasons. Do you tell Head Coach Mike McDaniel and Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith, and you obviously have the credibility with them to do it, let’s find other ways to get them the ball? We saw obviously a jet sweep for Waddle last week. Is that something that you can tell them this week? Or do you assume they know it?) – “I think we all work together and try to obviously get our best players the ball any way we can. But also not sitting there doing it against double coverage over and over, or trying to put ourselves in not ideal situations because when they’re getting doubled or anything like that, it just becomes very frustrating for those guys. When we get our opportunities to get single coverage, or whatever it is, (we have to) try to get our best players to the ball. But yeah, we’re always trying to get our best players the ball if the opportunity presents itself.”
(It’s good to get to ask you about WR Erik Ezukanma after a game in which he actually played. What was the thought process in keeping him active in the regular season finale?) – “’Ced’ (Cedrick Wilson Jr.) had a deal in his hip or whatever, so Erik got the nod to come up and he did really well. He did some really nice things, especially in the run game, and all those things. I was happy with Erik and he’s progressing very, very well. We’ll see where that kind of continues and he’s got a long offseason ahead of him and all of those different things. We’ll see if we need him here in the playoffs or not and kind of go from there. But I’m very happy with Erik, very happy with the way that he performed in the game and we’ll just keep on working with him and he’ll continue to develop and continue to get better.”
(As a player, you had a few concussions. What did you learn about taking care of yourself and best navigating that with the assistance of the doctors as a player?) – “I think the main thing was rest, obviously, and all those different things, and listening to the doctors. There’s different techniques and different things that people do. It’s hard to say what works, what doesn’t and all these different things. To me, it’s more about keeping your mind active, staying into things that you love and have a passion for and all those different things to keep your mind working and moving and doing whatever you need to do to not go into a funk, and just keep yourself kind of busy. Rest obviously, especially initially afterwards. But when you have a passion for something and it’s taken away, where do you go from there? I think that’s something that every athlete or football player that’s had those type of deals kind of deals with.”
(Did you wear a special helmet at some point? Is that something someone convinced you was a good idea?) – “Yeah, I think the helmets and everything are getting better and better as we go on. I think I was the first one – like everybody was calling me Spaceballs there for a while with my big old helmet that I had and stuff. Helmets are helmets and concussions are still going to happen. You just you try to prevent them the best you can and at the same time, it’s part of the game.”
(Did you ever have two in the same season?) – “I did. Yeah.”
(Have you talked about that experience with QB Tua Tagovailoa at all? Is that perhaps a source of hope for him, if you’ve shared that with him?) – “No, we haven’t really talked about it. I think every individual is different. I think every athlete just about is, especially if you play football, you’ve experienced some sort of concussion from playing. To each his own. I think everybody responds differently to them. It’s all a doctor’s recommendation, from that standpoint, of whether you’re good to play or not and being able to provide for your family or not.”
(You’ve been in that stadium many times and you know,= how it charges up to Bills. When you add in the fact that it’s a playoff game and the one variable we don’t know right now is whether S Damar Hamlin will be there or not. What sort of impact do you think that’s going to have? Not just on you guys, but how it might charge up the Bills?) – “Obviously they have all the motivation in the world to go out and win this game. I think when you’re talking about playoff football, I don’t think there’s more of a heightened type of urgency than playoff football. Whatever the motivation is, and all those different things, these are things that all these guys and every player in the playoffs have been dreaming about since they were little kids. Getting to the playoffs is hard and winning in the playoffs becomes even harder because of this sense of urgency and the way that guys practice going into that week and understanding that it’s everything that week of whether we’re going to keep our season alive or not. And that’s kind of exhilarating and fun. So you just kind of have to bring that energy and know what’s at stake. These opportunities don’t come around very often, so try to make the most of it.”
(As the guy with maybe the most playoff experience on the staff or the roster, have you kind of conveyed your message about what to expect in these types of games?) – “Yeah, I think it’s going to be fun. I think the last Buffalo game that we had up there with the energy and the way the weather was and the snow, that’s about as close to playoff football as you’re going to get. I thought our team and our receivers, or whoever, I think we played very, very well and had a chance to win that game. You see an environment like that and you know what we’re capable of, and hopefully we can go up there and finish that type of performance that we had and finish it this time.”
(You had 13 career playoff games. Do you remember what happened in your first?) – “In my first playoff game? I want to say it was in 2007 against Jacksonville. I think I had a couple touchdowns or something?”
(Were you nervous going into that game at all?) – “No, I was excited. That’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little kid and then I played down here for three years and didn’t make the playoffs. So getting that opportunity and especially the team we had that year was stupid (good). When you have a bunch of guys that are that good on your team, it makes you pretty confident.”
