A (Brian) Quick Start --Pearce

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RamBill

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A Quick Start
By Casey Pearce

View: http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/A-Quick-Start/e36f478c-743c-4040-bf80-862d89e5e77c


On a recent Friday afternoon following practice, a group of reporters huddled around the locker of Rams WR Brian Quick. 


The third-year receiver was nowhere to be found. So the group waited. And waited.
Finally after roughly 30 minutes, with the rest of the locker room largely cleared out, Quick appeared, sweat dripping off his face as he removed his practice jersey and gathered his breath before politely engaging the half dozen writers and reporters.
He began by apologizing for their wait. As has been his routine for the last three years, he’d been busy fetching balls from the JUGS machine.
It’s Quick’s belief that while the JUGS machine kept them waiting, his post-practice friend was largely responsible for the reporters being there in the first place.
A Plan Coming Together
Quick has a good perspective on the early part of the 2014 season.
“It’s early and I’ve still got a lot more work to do,” Quick said.
But you can hardly blame him for taking some time to enjoy the success he enjoyed through the first few weeks of his third NFL campaign.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Quick said. “It’s been exciting. I’m seeing the hard work paying off.”
Quick arrived in St. Louis in 2012 with high expectations from everyone around him: his coaches, his teammates and Rams fans. As the 33rd overall selection in the draft, the first pick at the top of the second round, there was anticipation that he’d become a key contributor to the offense.
In his first two NFL seasons, Quick totaled just 29 receptions, although four of those were touchdown grabs, and there were signs both on the practice field and during games that excited those around him and allowed his coaches to be patient as the young player developed.
“You saw flashes that he had the ability to be that guy,” Rams wide receivers coach Ray Sherman said. “Sometimes what he would do, he may take a route a little too deep. Or he didn’t play with that confidence. That comes with having a chance to play. He showed flashes of what he’s capable of doing. We believed it was going to happen.”
A strong 2014 offseason and training camp had his coaches raving, with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer calling Quick “the most improved player I’ve seen this year” during August. Schottenheimer also cited Quick as the receiver who had the best summer of any Ram at his position.
The challenge for Quick was to translate his May through August success into September and October performance, which is exactly what he did through the team’s first month.

“What we’re pleased with is what he did from the standpoint of carrying over what he did through OTAs and camp on the practice field, into the game,” Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher said recently. “That was, for the lack of a better word, that was probably a shortcoming of his last year. But, it’s behind him now. So, he’s carrying those things over and it’s translating into plays.”
It took Quick just four games this season to surpass his 2013 catch total. He hauled in 21 passes in the first quarter of the 2014 campaign alone after recording 18 receptions all of last season. His early 2014 performance included seven catches in each of the team’s first two games, which stood as Quick’s single-game high for his career, a 51-yard touchdown grab against the Cowboys and his first two-touchdown game of his career, which came in Week 5 at Philadelphia.
So is it as simple as the light suddenly coming on?
According to Sherman, saying that would be a disservice to the work Quick has done.
According to Quick, you must at least in part go back to that JUGS machine.
Hard Work Pays Off
Quick estimates that he catches approximately 300 footballs during two separate sessions with the JUGS machine each day. Both before and after practice, he stands a few yards away from the blue machine that sits on a tripod as a member of the team’s equipment staff fires ball after ball at him.
“It allows you to practice all the little things that are so important to a receiver,” Quick said. “Looking the ball in, attacking the ball and catching it different ways. That’s what you have to practice every day. I catch them forward, sideways. I’m running sideways. I catch low balls, high balls. I’ll stand there all day.”
The machine isn’t solely responsible for Quick’s improvement, but it is a big part of it, and his pre- and post-practice routines are good illustrations of his commitment to his craft that has led him to where he is today. It’s a journey that started more than two years ago when he was drafted but intensified this offseason.
“After our last game last season, we talked about it,” Sherman said. “Brian knew that he needed to come back and be ready to step his game up. He needed to play aggressive, play smart, play fast, play big. He worked his tail off this offseason to get himself ready. He came back in great shape. At 220 pounds, he was one of the best conditioned guys. It was great to see him take that step.”
For Quick, there wasn’t some magical formula. He didn’t get away to some exotic location to work out and he didn’t change up his routine all that much. With the maturity of two NFL seasons under his belt, Quick knew he needed to raise the bar for himself.
“I actually worked as hard as I ever worked,” Quick said. “I knew that I needed to step things up for myself and for my teammates. It took a couple of years. Everybody said it was going to take a couple years to know what’s going on, seeing things that you really need to do. I’ve made sure to take care of my business.”
Sherman takes great pride in seeing Quick succeed, mostly because according to Sherman, his young pupil is “a great person.” While Quick by his own admission required some patience from his position coach during his first couple of years, Sherman was more than willing to be gracious in that area because of Quick’s approach to his job.
“He’s a hard worker,” Sherman said. “He wants to get better. He wants to learn. Even from the beginning he’s been an excellent note taker. He writes down everything you say. He literally studies it. He watches video. He watches his opponent.”
Sherman chuckles as he provides another example of how Quick has grown mentally.
“The first couple of years,” Sherman said, “I was always saying, ‘Quickie, why’d you do that? Quickie, where are you going? Quickie, why’d you line up there?’ Now I don’t have to do that. Now I can be watching something on the other side of the field and I’ll look at him and he’ll come back, ‘Coach, I was a little short on that.’ I’ll say, ‘You’re right. You’ve got to take another step.’ He knows right away when he makes a mistake, and it’s amazing how he’s stepped up his game. He’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
Staying the Course
If Quick was ever frustrated early in his career, he never showed his hand publicly. He tried to keep his head up with a smile on his face as he grinded away on the practice field, knowing that things would eventually come together for the Columbia, South Carolina native.
“It’s never been hard,” Quick said. “There are a lot of things that I can’t control, and I’m well aware of that. I can control the effort that I give on the field, and you’re always going to get my best. If anything else happens, that’s how it goes. I can’t pout about it, I can’t whine about it. I just have to stay focused and stay positive. That’s what I love to do. That’s the type of person I am.”

He was well aware of the expectations that came with his lofty draft status, but as patience may have worn thin from fans expecting more from him earlier in his career, Quick made sure to tune out the negative and never allowed the chatter to get to him.
“I don’t listen to what goes on outside of our team,” Quick said. “I never listen to other people. They can say things about me but they’ve never been in my shoes and their words don’t affect me. When you listen to other people, you start to lose confidence. I never did, and I never will. I say this with humility, but I know what I’m capable of. My coaches have seen it in me, but it’s up to me to bring it out.”
Quick never heard any negativity from his coaches either, and that was a very intentional approach to grooming the young prospect.

“I always stayed positive with him because I never wanted him to get down on himself,” Sherman said. “You knew he had it. He was just waiting for that opportune time for everything to click. Playing wide receiver in this league, it’s tougher than what people think. You’ve got a lot of things to worry about and focus on. You’ve got to read techniques and coverages. Brian has worked extremely hard and I’m proud of him.”
Quick believes the approach of Sherman, Fisher and Schottenheimer has been extremely beneficial to him. In a “what have you done for me lately” world, the third-year pro feels fortunate that he was given the time to blossom.
“I’m blessed to have those coaches in my corner,” Quick said. “For them to be patient with me and work with me the way they have, I’m blessed beyond words. I can’t even explain to you how blessed I am to even get the opportunity.”
Scratching the Surface
While Quick enjoyed his early season success, he’s been quick to put into perspective. He sees it as a small sample of what he hopes to become and what he feels like he needs to be in order to contribute to Rams victories.
“I’ve got to get a lot better,” Quick said. “I know what I don’t know, meaning that I’m fully aware that I’ve still got a lot to learn. I can’t think about anything other than continuing to grow and find ways to help my team.”
With that attitude, Quick has begun to fulfill the great expectations that accompanied his draft status.
“He’s still young at a lot of things and we’re still working to get him to that next point,” Sherman said. “The more that he plays he’s getting better and better and better. He’s the player that we thought he would be when we drafted him. We knew it might take a little time, but he’s really playing like that and he’s been fun to watch.”
 

Fatbot

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Just makes the lack of targets (4) last game more frustrating. Quick has become their best WR and AD threw plenty up for grabs, just not enough towards Quick.
 

DaveFan'51

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This coming Sunday is as big a game as quick has ever played in, I hope he breaks things wide open!!