Brian Quick: "Don't call it a come back"

[RamBill]

Rams receiver Brian Quick cleared to play against Colts
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...ver-brian-quick-cleared-to-play-against-colts

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- While St. Louis Rams running back Todd Gurley took the next step in his progress from a knee injury Tuesday afternoon, receiver Brian Quick took the biggest step of all in his own recovery from a devastating shoulder injury.

Quick, who has been practicing fully throughout camp but did so with the caution sign of a yellow "no contact" beanie, has been fully cleared to shed the beanie and will play in the team's third preseason game on Saturday night against the Indianapolis Colts.

"Brian is cleared and ready to go," coach Jeff Fisher said. "He's ready to go. We expect him to play this week. So it was tremendous effort considering the news that we got once we examined the shoulder after the Kansas City game, because there was significant damage to it and there was some question as to whether he would return. (Head Athletic Trainer) Reg (Scott) and his staff, the doctors and you have to credit Brian for the hard work, so he's back and ready to go.”

Quick, who spoke openly about disliking the yellow beanie, was happy to shed it and be back at full speed in Tuesday's practice. Before the workout, he passed off the beanie to Gurley.

Of more importance, during team drills, Quick split defenders down the right sideline and went up to snare a deep ball from quarterback Case Keenum for a big gain.

Now, he'll get a chance to do it in a game for the first time since Oct. 26 of last year.

"I'm thankful just to be here but for the opportunity and to actually get to play is more exciting," Quick said.

We'll have more on Quick and his recovery soon.

For now, some other notes from Tuesday's practice:

Among those sitting out were CB Brandon McGee, LB Marshall McFadden, LB Daren Bates, LB Korey Toomer, OL Andrew Donnal, OT Steven Baker, OL Rodger Saffold, DT Michael Brockers, TE Brad Smelley and defensive tackle Doug Worthington. Saffold, who is dealing with a shoulder issue, did some running on the side early in practice.

Safety Cody Davis had a nice read and interception of quarterback Nick Foles near the goal line in red zone drills. Davis has been a core special teams player but anything he can add defensively only bolsters his roster cause.

Receiver Isiah Ferguson suffered a torn ACL and meniscus last week and the team waived/injured him over the weekend. He passed through and has reverted to the Rams' injured reserve list for now. He also watched Tuesday's practice from the sideline.

The Rams will be back on the practice field Wednesday afternoon.

 

[RamBill]

Beanie's off, Quick's on at wide receiver
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_0be6f4c1-aed8-5ffb-a295-3a14be4e49c1.html

Brian Quick has spent a lot of time this summer wearing the yellow beanie on his helmet. Every day, once the Rams went to 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 work in practice, he was handed the yellow beanie by a member of the team’s athletic trainer staff.

Quick grew to hate the yellow beanie. At Rams Park, the yellow beanie means no contact allowed — the defense has to keep hands off of anyone wearing the yellow beanie in practice.

But on Tuesday, Quick cut all ties with the yellow beanie. He’s done with it and never wants to see it again.

That’s because his surgically repaired shoulder is good to go. In fact, coach Jeff Fisher indicated after practice that Quick will play in Saturday’s preseason game vs. Indianapolis at the Edward Jones Dome with an eye toward being on the field in the regular-season opener Sept. 13 against Seattle.

Fisher had joked Monday that the coaches might have a ceremony in practice Tuesday, transferring the yellow beanie from Quick to running back Todd Gurley. (Gurley has been cleared to go from individual drills to team drills, but with no contact.)

Fisher didn’t take part in any such ceremony Tuesday, but Quick took it upon himself to have a quick transfer moment himself with Gurley.

“I did,” Quick said. “Me and Reggie went over there to Todd,” Quick said, referring to head athletic trainer Reggie Scott. “I just kind of presented him with the yellow hat. I was a little dramatic with it, to make sure that he knew that I was passing the yellow hat to him.”

That made Tuesday a bit emotional for Quick — his long journey back from a severe shoulder injury suffered last Oct. 26 against Kansas City is over.

“I was more excited than anything else,” Quick said. “The guys got a chance to rough me up a little bit.”

Out of respect, his defensive teammates didn’t actually rough him up.

“They kind of put a little hands on me, just to welcome me back,” Quick said.

Overall progress has come slowly for Quick since the Rams made him the first player chosen in the second round, and the fourth wide receiver taken overall, in the 2012 draft out of Appalachian State.

But it looked like the light switch had finally come on in 2014. Quick earned a starting spot, caught seven passes apiece in the first two games of the season, and had three touchdown catches through four games. Six games into the season he was roughly on pace to become the Rams’ first 1,000-yard receiver since Torry Holt in 2007.

But then came the shoulder injury on an innocent-looking comeback route, catch, and tackle early in the Kansas City game. You know the story: Fisher said the injury was so severe that for a time it was thought to be career-threatening.

Quick would have none of that.

“There was not even a doubt in my mind,” Quick said. “I told Coach when I got hurt, I’ll be back out there. I didn’t know how serious it was.”

Quick never backed down or let his spirits sag when it came to the long, grinding rehabilitation process.

“Every day, I’d come in and I’m telling myself, you’ve got to get back out there,” Quick said. “You just keep that in your mind that one day hopefully it will come true. I came in every day positive. I don’t know about anybody else, but for me it was just every day I’m glad to be here.”

The rehab wasn’t always pleasant. There were days when he could be heard literally screaming in the trainer’s room when Byron Cunningham, the team’s physical therapist and assistant athletic trainer, was stretching out the shoulder.

“Oh yeah,” Quick said. “There were moments where Byron was stretching me over the limit. I was just like, ‘Look man, I don’t know.’ ”

But just like the wearing of the yellow beanie, those days are over.

The Rams now have another big receiving target on the field in Quick (6-3, 218), who has the range to get down field, and with some mentoring from teammate Kenny Britt, the ability to come down with 50-50 balls.

So barring a setback in the next few weeks, quarterback Nick Foles will have another option in the passing game in the opener against the Seahawks.

“Oh, I’m excited to have him back out there just running routes, getting the cap off his head,” Foles said. “He’s such a big target, and he’s got a big range of catching the ball. He’s a big piece of this offense.”

Granted, it might not come immediately because Quick has some rust to scrape off. But Fisher says there’s no reason Quick isn’t capable of reaching or exceeding his pre-injury level of play from last year.

“At that point, he was productive,” Fisher said. “He was making a lot of big plays for us. He was in the right place at the right time. He was blocking really well. So we just have to get him back in a couple of preseason games before he’s ready to go.”

Soon, Gurley will grow weary of the yellow beanie like Quick did. But for now as Quick told Gurley on Tuesday, “It’s a transition. It’s a step towards getting it off later on.”

 

[iced]

I've met this guy twice and gotten autograph each time..

funny story - my gf got me a Tavon Austin Jersey for my birthday, which ended up being too small. I had gotten her a Quinn jersey for inquiring minds.... So we go to Tampa, where I proceeded to meet much of ROD brethren @LesBaker , @RamFan503 , @Selassie I , and many more (sorry for the ones I didn't tag)... anyway, I had joked with the GF that since she was short (5'3) she would probably end up with Tavon's autograph and I would get Quick's just due to the fact it's easier height wise for them to sign (I'm almost 6'2)...

In the end,I wore a bradford jersey - gotta a couple signatures, including Cook on a Ram hat, and I met Quick again - got his autograph...he and Quinn are by far my two favorite players when it comes to players that I have met - so cool, so humble, and very respectful..The game we went to was the Tampa game, where Tavon got hurt. He limps out for maybe 5 minutes with an ice pack to sign autographs - guess who gets one? lol yep my girl, and she also got chris given's autograph...I was so happy for her but I couldn't help but laugh at the dynamics - I got the "big boys" auto graphs, and she got the "smurf's autographs".... lol couldn't have written it any better

 

[Selassie I]

I've met this guy twice and gotten autograph each time..

funny story - my gf got me a Tavon Austin Jersey for my birthday, which ended up being too small. I had gotten her a Quinn jersey for inquiring minds.... So we go to Tampa, where I proceeded to meet much of ROD brethren @LesBaker , @RamFan503 , @Selassie I , and many more (sorry for the ones I didn't tag)... anyway, I had joked with the GF that since she was short (5'3) she would probably end up with Tavon's autograph and I would get Quick's just due to the fact it's easier height wise for them to sign (I'm almost 6'2)...

In the end,I wore a bradford jersey - gotta a couple signatures, including Cook on a Ram hat, and I met Quick again - got his autograph...he and Quinn are by far my two favorite players when it comes to players that I have met - so cool, so humble, and very respectful..The game we went to was the Tampa game, where Tavon got hurt. He limps out for maybe 5 minutes with an ice pack to sign autographs - guess who gets one? lol yep my girl, and she also got chris given's autograph...I was so happy for her but I couldn't help but laugh at the dynamics - I got the "big boys" auto graphs, and she got the "smurf's autographs".... lol couldn't have written it any better

That story reminds me of an autograph seeking story that I have from years ago.

The Rams played a preseason game in Jacksonville (pre-Jags) against the falcons. There really weren't that many fans in attendance. I was getting autographs after the game right in my front row seat of the stadium. Many many players were coming up to me and just offering. I wanted Kevin Greene's... but he had me on complete ignore. So I came up with a plan.

I waited outside at the Ram buses for the players to come out. I didn't stand in the area where the players would be coming through... instead, I sent my hot ass (very "fun" looking) girlfriend over to seek Kevin's autograph. And as shocking as this may sound,,, Kevin bee-lined it right up to my girl and totally ignored everyone else who was out there looking for his john hancock. Hahhahahaa

He was happy to get a little convo going with her too... but that's when she told Kevin that she was only getting this autograph for her man,,, and she pointed over to me and I waved at him. I know he remembered me from inside the stadium. He laughed and gave me a grin as he then jumped on the bus.

 

[RamBill]

Brian Quick: Every Day I Kept Telling Myself I’ll Be Back
Wide receiver Brian Quick talks to several media members after Tuesday’s practice at Rams Park.

Watch Quick Interview