Becoming a Buffalo Man

Former Bills QB Alex Van Pelt is feeling more and more at home

Alex Van Pelt during his playing days in Buffalo. (Courtesy of the Buffalo Bills)

He may have been born in Pittsburgh and may have risen to football stardom with the Pitt Panthers, but the city of Buffalo has adopted former Bills quarterback Alex Van Pelt as its own.

A backup for Hall of Famer Jim Kelly early in his career and for Drew Bledsoe toward the end of it, Van Pelt earned his stripes as a longtime backup and spot starter, remaining with the Bills through the 2003 season. After several seasons in the Bills radio booth, Van Pelt joined Dick Jauron's coaching staff, where he was promoted to quarterbacks coach in January 2008.

"To have a chance to coach here has been a dream come true," Van Pelt told BuffaloBills.com in October. "To be able to stay in Buffalo for 14 years now... Obviously in this business there’s a lot of moving around, but I’ve been very fortunate and lucky to be able to stay here."

FanAwards.com spoke recently with Van Pelt, 38, on being a highly touted high school athlete, the importance of playing by the rules and his hopes for the Bills in 2009.

FAN: You grew up in Pittsburgh and were a college star at Pitt. But you spent your entire NFL career as a member of the Bills. You've been in the area now for about 15 years. Talk to me about Buffalo as a football town. What are the fans like? What stood out about playing in that city?

Van Pelt: (The support for the Bills) is unbelievable. It's as close to a college atmosphere as you can get in a professional league. The city just has a smaller feel when it comes to the support of the team. Not to poke at any of the other teams around the NFL, but when you go to a game in Washington, there's much more of a business or corporate feel to it. Buffalo is more about family, more a "supporting your alma mater" type of feeling.

There are very, very educated fans there… die-hard fans… very loyal. But the knowledge really stands out. They understand when it's a critical situation in a game, they understand when an opponent's quarterback is trying to audible and they get louder immediately. They're very astute about the sport in just about all situations.

FAN: What's it like to be a professional quarterback in this town? As a player, did you feel a lot of pressure to perform?

Van Pelt: All in all, it was an excellent experience. You have to earn the fans' respect. And once you earn their respect, they're going to be loyal to you no matter what. That's one of the things that I found. I didn't play a lot, but when I came in, I played well enough to earn their respect and from that point on… man, I don’t know if my mom and dad are bigger fans (of me) than some of the people in Buffalo (laughs).

The pressure (of being a quarterback), no matter what city you're in, is pretty fierce. Obviously Buffalo doesn't have the press that New York or Chicago have, for example, but every time you step out onto the field as a professional player at any position, there's a lot of pressure on you. But preparation is the biggest thing. If you're prepared, you can go out and let your abilities take over and hopefully they'll show well that day. The times I was most nervous out there were the times I didn't have the most complete understanding of our game plan. But once you're prepared and can just go out there and perform, that's when you're most likely to succeed.

FAN: You played for several different coaches during your years in Buffalo. Did each of them create a different feeling for you as a quarterback?

Van Pelt: It's different playing for different coaches, of course. No two guys are really the same. With Coach (Marv) Levy, we're talking about a guy who is an extreme intellect. He would motivate us by quoting an anonymous 15^th century Scottish poet… and making it apply (to what we were doing). He rarely had to raise his voice. But when he did raise his voice, you knew it was something important.

Then you had coach (Wade) Phillips, who was more of a player's coach. He was more laid back and not quite as tough on the guys.

Then Gregg Williams came in and he was the total opposite. He'd get after guys and chew them out. I had three very different styles of coaching while I was there.

And you'd have to adapt as each coach and game plan came in. I was a part of the K-Gun with Dan Henning for a year, then Kevin Gilbride's variation of the run-and-shoot for a year, then a part of Mike Sheppard and a West Coast offense for a year. So I had four or five different systems that I played in.

FAN: The Bills of the early '90s are often considered a dynasty in NFL circles despite never winning a Super Bowl. Is that a fair characterization?

Van Pelt: Yes, definitely. Just to get to the Super Bowl four times is miraculous. Obviously those guys would have loved to have won one. In fact, we were talking about it at dinner (recently)… the talent on those Bills teams. There were just some great, great players.

FAN: Who were your favorite teammates during your time on the field? Are you still close with any of them?

Van Pelt: Oh yeah, (I'm still close with) a ton of them. The guy I'm probably closest with is Ruben Brown, a nine-time Pro Bowler (who recently retired on Feb. 2). He was my left tackle in college. So I played with him there and then he got drafted by the Bills a year after I got there. So I basically played my entire football career, at least in college and the pros, with Ruben on my team. We're still very close. Our families are very close. That's one of my best buddies.

Obviously, Jim (Kelly)… I'm still doing a lot of things with him. There aren’t a lot of guys that live around Buffalo anymore, but I still see Steve Tasker and Thurman (Thomas) every once in a while. But then when everyone comes back for an event, I'll see Andre (Reed) and Bruce (Smith) and Cornelius (Bennett) and all those guys.

Kent Hull is also one of my all-time favorites. I thought he was a great player and was as instrumental in making that offense run as Jim was. There were some great friendships made, and I still stay in touch with a lot of them. 

FAN: Pro teams are getting more and more involved in the communities in which they play. What kinds of charity work were you involved with in the Buffalo area and are you still involved?

Van Pelt: Yeah, there were three charities that I associated myself with. The Children's Hospital was probably my favorite, because you get to help out with sick kids… sick kids is a tough thing to see, so it's nice to help them if you can. Having kids myself, that has a special place in my heart.

Juvenile diabetes is another one that I did some work with. My father is a type 1 diabetic. My mom was a type 2 diabetic. So that hit close to home also.

Then the Food Bank of Western New York. They were all great experiences and I enjoyed my time helping out with all of them.

FAN: What's your fondest memory of being a Buffalo Bill?

Van Pelt: My fondest game memory would probably be my first start. It was against Dan Marino and the Dolphins (on November 2, 1997), another former Pitt guy. It was a real high-scoring shootout. I think we won 9-6 (laughs). Nobody scored a touchdown, it was rainy and it was cold. But I beat the Dolphins and Dan Marino in my first start. That would have to be way up there.

FAN: Much of the focus in this event and in our company is on high school sports. What do you remember about growing up in Pittsburgh as a high school athlete?

Van Pelt: The biggest thing I remember is the friendships that you make when you're a part of a team like that. When you're playing in college or in the pros, you may not all work out together as teammates. Lots of players will go to wherever they're from to work out and train in the offseasons. But when you're on a high school team, you're together. You're together in the weight room, you're together in the offseason, you're together in the summer… and that's when those friendships are made. And for a majority of those guys, it's their last chance to play organized football, so it means a lot to them. Those types of bonds and those types of friends that you make… they're different. They're powerful.

FAN: Did you play other sports aside from football in high school?

Van Pelt: I played all three sports: football, basketball, baseball.

Van Pelt now serves as the Bills quarterbacks coach. (Courtesy of the Buffalo Bills)

FAN: But football was presumably your main sport and your main focus in terms of playing after high school. What was the pressure like, being a highly touted prospect? How did you deal with it?

Van Pelt: Oh yeah, the pressure was tough, especially because it's the first time that you feel pressure like that as a young adult. You have to figure out which college, if any, you're going to have the best chance of getting a scholarship to. Early on during my senior football season, I didn't have any offers and I was kind of scrambling about what to do if I wasn't going to have the chance to go on and play football. But as the season wore on, I started to get a few more offers and it takes a little bit of pressure off after you make that decision (of where you're going the following year). It was a pressure-packed portion of my life… the first real-life, adult pressure I think I faced.

But shoot, nowadays, they're offering scholarships to sophomores! They're getting commitments a lot earlier.

FAN: We talk all the time about the importance of being a student-athlete. How did you balance being a major college football prospect and being a solid student in the classroom?

Van Pelt: For me, it was pretty easy. If I didn't make good grades, I wasn’t gonna play football. And it wasn't a matter of being ineligible… it was a matter of my dad not letting me play. He had a high expectation for me on the academic side, and if I didn't live up to that, I wasn't going to get to do what I loved to do, which was to play football. I wasn't allowed to get anything much less than a B. If I got anything lower than that, I was pretty much in trouble.

FAN: If you had any words of wisdom for today's top high school prospects both in Buffalo and around the country, what would they be? What should they be doing to be successful both on the field and in life?

Van Pelt: My big thing now is to make sure kids do it the right way. Do it the right way. Don’t take any shortcuts. Don't cheat. Don’t use these supplements that promise an easier way to your goals. You see so many athletes who taint the game by taking shortcuts, both in school and in whatever sport they're playing, and that is so upsetting to me.

Being a good teammate is important, too. Not everyone gets to be the starting quarterback. Not everyone gets to be the starting running back. But it doesn't mean you're not important to the team and it doesn't mean you can't be a good teammate. Be a good teammate, know your role and do it the right way. And don't cheat.

FAN: So after some time recently in the Bills radio booth, you rejoined the Bills in 2006 in another capacity. Let's discuss what head coach Dick Jauron brought you in to do, first, as Offensive Quality Control Coach.

Van Pelt: Right, right. My job there was basically to make sure everybody had everything they needed. If one of the coaches needed a pencil, I'd get him a pencil. Early in the week, I'd help break down film on the upcoming opponent. Tuesday, I'd get the playbooks put together for the players. And as the week went on, the duties changed, but generally, my job was to help the coaching staff and players with anything they needed help with… to control the quality of what went out there.

FAN: Then after the 2007 season, you were promoted to the position of quarterbacks coach. What were you responsible for in that role?

Van Pelt: Yeah, that was a completely different role. Game-planning. Preparing our quarterbacks on what they should be expecting each week. Going over certain plays, certain audibles we'll switch to if we need to. We'd talk about film, study the other team's defense in depth and explain why we're running certain plays against the opponent at certain times. I hadn't done any of that before. (Previously) I had almost nothing to do with the game plan or coming up with ideas for an opponent, so it's definitely a different position. It's more hands-on.

FAN: As the Bills' QB coach, I'm sure you have plenty of information to share on the team's current situation at quarterback. Trent Edwards and JP Losman both got time last year, but Edwards seems to be the guy you're looking to in 2009. What's your take on the situation behind center in Buffalo?

Van Pelt: Right now, we have three quarterbacks on the roster. JP is a free agent (as of Feb. 27) and will probably not be back with us next year. Trent will be our starter and we'll look for a guy in free agency with some experience to come in and back him up… and compete with our 3^rd and 4^th guys right now -- Gibran Hamdan and Matt Baker -- and we'll see how that works out throughout camp.

But as far as Trent goes, I think he made great strides from year 1 to year 2. This is the year we really expect a lot out of him. And he won't be able to blame any problems on the "rookie mistakes" anymore. And it's not that you don't understand football as a first- or second-year player in the NFL… But in your third year, you really start to understand defenses and see things more clearly. He'll also be in the third year of our system, so he'll understand that better, too. We're expecting big things from Trent this year.

FAN: The Bills got off to a 5-1 start in 2008 before faltering down the stretch and missing the playoffs. What are you trying to address this offseason as a team, how are you going to do it and how are you hoping to improve things in 2009?

Van Pelt: I just think you have to improve your whole game. We weren't good enough in a lot of areas last year. Maybe it's not about us doing more, maybe it's about us doing less. We need to find out what we do well and do more of that. That's one of the things we've targeted as coaches this offseason: figure out what we do well and do a lot of it.

But we also need to work on doing more things together. I've never been on a great team that wasn't super-close. I think there needs to be a family atmosphere on the team before you can be a champion. So I'd encourage going out and having… I don't know… team bowling parties. Do stuff together, keep each other out of trouble and get to know each other better, because when it all comes down to it, you're playing for each other.

FAN: What are your predictions for 2009? Are the playoffs a viable hope for this Bills team?

Van Pelt: I think so. I think they were (a viable hope) last year, but we had that slump in the middle of the season. I think that if we start off hot again this year, we'll know how to handle it a little bit better. We'll be a year older, a year wiser. And I think the guys understand now that it's not about how you start, but how you finish in December that's most important. We have the talent to get (to the playoffs). There's no question about that.

FAN: What would it mean to bring a championship to Buffalo and the fans there?

Van Pelt: Ohhh, it would be great. If there's anyone more deserving, I don't know who it would be. When it does happen, I hope I have a chance to be a part of it. I really do.