Kelly praises 'football mind' of Bills' Van Pelt
Published: September 05, 2009, 12:21 am
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Jim Kelly was in his next-to-last year as the Buffalo Bills' quarterback when Alex Van Pelt joined the team as a backup. Kelly was immediately impressed with his new teammate's intelligence and knowledge of the game.
Kelly believes those attributes will serve Van Pelt well as the Bills' new offensive coordinator.
"As an offensive mind, I think definitely think he can do it, there's no doubt in my mind, Kelly said shortly after Van Pelt replaced Turk Schonert, who was fired Friday. "Just being around him and being in game-type situations and of course talking with him the last couple of years, I know where his mind-set is.
"Sometimes it takes football smarts and not educational smarts. It takes a special mind to be able to see something without having to think too much. I think that's what Alex has. I think he has the intangible it takes to be a good football mind."
Van Pelt is entering his fourth year as an NFL coach, but his first as coordinator. He was hired as quarterbacks coach in 2006. He did call plays in 2005 when he was quarterbacks coach of the Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europe.
Kelly is confident Van Pelt can handle the job at the NFL level.
"I think he's got everything he needs," Kelly said. "The only thing he might lack right now is the experience. But in order to get that experience, you've got to be thrown into the fire and you've got to experience it first hand. Unfortunately, he's not getting a chance to do it in the preseason. He's getting thrown right into the fire right from the beginning.
"But I know how Alex was when I played with him. I know how our minds thought alike on a lot of things that I did when I was out there playing and I do have a lot of confidence in him. I just wish personally he had more time to be able to make sure Trent [Edwards] and him were on the same page, even though he was Trent's quarterbacks coach."
Head coach Dick Jauron said Friday the Bills are sticking with the no-huddle offense that was installed during the offseason. Van Pelt is very familiar with the no-huddle after watching Kelly operate the K-Gun attack.
Kelly doesn't like what he's seen from the Bills' current version of the no-huddle, which had very little success in the preseason.
"If you're going to run the no-huddle offense there are a few things you need to change up, and hopefully I'll get a chance to sit down and talk with Alex a little bit," Kelly said.
With high-powered offenses like New England and New Orleans on the schedule in the first three weeks, Kelly thinks the Bills will have problems on both sides of the ball if they don't execute the no-huddle efficiently.
"I know they were committed to the no-huddle, but when you play as bad and as poorly as they have and their offense doesn't put any points on the board, it's hard to stick with that because what's going to happen is your defense is going to start complaining that you're going three-and-out too many times and they're getting too tired," Kelly said. "And when it comes to the fourth quarter the defense is not going to be able to do anything because they are so damn exhausted. These next six or seven days might determine what they are going to do because basically we'll see how things will work under Alex. I'm sure he'll have some adjustments to make. You can't just totally overhaul your whole offense. You have to stick with a lot of similar things.
"But I have confidence he'll be able to do things. Again, I just wish he had more time for everybody to grasp his thought process. It might take a little time, but unfortunately some of those guys on that sideline don't have a lot of time. So we'll see what happens."
Kelly said he and Van Pelt have talked about Van Pelt's future goals. Topping his wish list were becoming an offensive coordinator and eventually a head coach.
Goal number one has now been accomplished.
"It's kind of interesting because as I was looking across the TV I saw how many offensive coordinators were getting fired lately," Kelly said. "And the way our offense has been going, I joked with my wife that, "If things keep going the way it is, Alex might become our offensive coordinator sooner than you think.'
"The bottom line is it's a great opportunity for him. Do I think he can do it? There's no doubt in my mind he can do it. I wish him the best of luck because he is one of my best friends."
mgaughan@buffnews.com, awilson@buffnews.com
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