Jeff Fisher Press Conference (12:03)
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Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – News Conference – October 29, 2013
(On if the loss stings today knowing the team played well)
“Yeah. It was the same. We put it into perspective last night. Just felt bad for the players. They played. They did everything we asked them to do all week long after the loss of (QB) Sam (Bradford) and felt bad for them last night because they played pretty well.”
(On the health of RB Zac Stacy)
“We’ll have an injury report ready tomorrow, but we’re still doing tests right now.”
(On the health of RG Harvey Dahl)
“We’re still undergoing tests. He did not return. The suspicion there is an MCL and then the degree is what we’re concerned about right now.”
(On if there was anything CB Janoris Jenkins could have done differently on Seahawks WR Golden Taint’s 80-yard touchdown reception)
“No. It was really...‘Jenks’ (Jenkins) actually was in really good position considering the coverage. We had some confusion and we were checked in and out of coverages and ‘Jenks’ actually was just sinking. He was in underneath coverage, but he still was in position nonetheless. He sorted things out and was in position to make the play, just got his legs tangled.”
(On if there was confusion in the secondary on Seattle’s first touchdown pass)
“No. They quick-snapped and there was some communication stuff going on but no. I think we’re nitpicking here. I thought the secondary played pretty good yesterday. I thought the safeties played well in the run game. I thought they pressured well. We gave them multiple looks, and like I said last night, we asked the corners to do a lot of stuff by themselves the whole game. That’s how you have to defend this run game and the read-option and everything associated with (RB) Marshawn Lynch. So, I thought overall the guys played pretty well.”
(On if the corners played more man-to-man coverage than normal)
“Yeah. Man and then variations of that, three deep, post defense. That’s what you have to do.”
(On DE Robert Quinn’s level of play halfway through the season with 10.0 sacks)
“The pass rush stuff is one thing. His defense against the run is where he’s really standing out. But yeah, he’s playing great and the reason he’s having the production along with (DE) Chris (Long) is because we’ve got guys behind them. They’re fresh all the time because there’s really not a drop-off. When (DE) Will (Hayes) comes in for Chris we get production. When (DE) Eugene (Sims) comes in for Rob we get production. So, we’re able to keep them fresh. He’s off to a great start. Again, we keep things in prospective upstairs. They were without their two starting tackles and we didn’t anticipate them putting their tackles in that situation. You expect to get them help. When they had to throw it in the basic drop back game they had trouble blocking them.”
(On if it’s been a while since he’s had a defense play as well as it did on Monday)
“Yeah. It’s been a while, but it’s one of those things. We had a good plan. We spent a lot of time during the week on the things that they were doing. They had five extra days to prepare for this thing and somehow it just all came together. The big thing in the game is that their punter had the same number of touches as Marshawn Lynch. That’s the difference in the ball game. We held them to 2-for-11 on third down and when you do that they just don’t get the opportunities.”
(On Seattle protecting the ball and not turning it over)
“That’s the thing. We were -2 in takeaways. That was really the difference in the ball game, the two turnovers. During that little stretch where we were +7 we were winning ball games, but we turned it over a couple time and didn’t get any. But again, the reason for the close game and the chance to win at the end was our defense’s stops on third down.”
(On Zuerlein’s missed field goal being close)
“It was a missed field goal. Are you implying I should have reviewed it? It started almost down the middle and it just kind of drifted outside. He just missed. He had plenty of distance. Those things, the ball over the top of the upright’s not reviewable. He hit it good. It’s just one of those things. He’s perfect from inside 50 (yards) this year.”
(On the offensive line’s performance against Seattle)
“Again as I mentioned, when you have an offensive line that’s working very well together – there is some rotation going on and I think that even speaks more for what they’re doing because (G) Shelley’s (Smith) getting to play, (RT) Rodger’s (Saffold) getting to play – but you take the offensive line and the tight ends and in particular (TE) Cory (Harkey) at the fullback spot that’s really been effective and that’s created the holes. Then, the design, the staff did a nice job designing things.”
(On T Jake Long)
“Jake’s doing fine. Feels good, doing fine and he was excited to play. One of the few guys on the offensive line that’s played in Monday night games before, so he had them ready to go.”
(On QB Kellen Clemens’ performance last night)
“I thought he managed the game well, he handled things. I think he settled down, 5:36 left to go in the game and he took it 96 yards. I thought that was a pretty impressive job.”
(On if he feels comfortable moving forward with Clemens)
“Yeah, we’re good. He’s a little sore. I don’t know if he’ll do much tomorrow, but he’ll be fine. I think he only stands to improve.”
(On the offensive line is that close in talent to be able to rotate them)
“Yeah, they are. Rodger (Saffold) was a starter, (T) Joe (Barksdale) steps in and Joe plays well, and we just felt like to get Rodger back in the flow, it makes sense to get him in the ballgame and let them alternate. So, we’ll probably continue with that.”
(On the reason for the decline in red zone efficiency)
“First off, Kellen’s first attempt at it, and so that’s going to be a reason. I’ll just have to go back to Houston being (No.) 1, Carolina being (No.) 3 and Seattle being (No.) 2 in the league in defense. That makes it hard, so that’s something we’re going to continue to work on.”
(On if Clemens stayed loose and had fun playing last night)
“Yeah, he did. He was great…before the game, but really relaxed at halftime. Little sore trying to work some things out but came out, and he was excited to play – just wanted to play. He and ‘Schotty’ (Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer) were communicating very well through the whole thing. Brian was asking him what he likes, what he doesn’t like and things like that. It was good. It was really good and you can see when your quarterback scrambles for a first down and there’s a bunch of people on top, opponents on top of him and your entire offensive line runs down there and strips them off to get him off the ground. The guys have a great deal of respect for him.”
(On how far they’ve come in running the ball and defending the run)
“Well, I think we’re in a place now where we’re different – we’re a different team. We were pretty much forced into that, I think, because of some situations that happened, but I kind of like where we’re at. Two hundred yards rushing against the second rated defense in the National Football League, so not a bad deal, especially when they had four or five extra days to prepare for you. We just have to keep it up. We’ll have to wait and see how Harvey (Dahl) is, and if Harvey can’t go, we’ve got options. We’ve got guys, with (G) Shelley (Smith) playing, natural transition moving Shelley over there, and we just have to keep running the football. That’s going to help ‘Kell’ and that’s going to help our defense.”
(On if RB Benny Cunningham will practice this week)
“I would say he’s got a pretty good chance, yeah.”
(On deciding to go with an empty backfield on the final play of the game)
“It was the play selection. That’s what we had. That’s what we thought gave us the best chance to score a touchdown.”
(On if it would have been better to keep a running back in the backfield to leave the possibility of a run)
“What if we would have had a back back there and ran it and didn’t get in? We’d be asking about, ‘Why’d you run it and why didn’t you go empty and give Kellen a chance to throw the football?’ So, that was what we prepared to do. We thought it gave us the best chance.”
(On if a play-action pass would have been more effective)
“No. Did it work the play before?”
(On facing his former team this week)
“I’m not playing, and I think there’s 16 players on the roster that were there when I was there. So, it’s a different football team, so I’m excited for our guys. We’ll get them back and have them ready to go.”
(On Tennessee having an extra week to prepare)
“Yes, they have.”
(On having a short week and no control over the schedule)
“No, we didn’t. The schedule makers felt like we could overcome these things and we will. Often times, when you have so much time off, the timing’s off, so we’ll see.”
(On if it is hard to fall asleep after losing a tough game)
“Yes. Just for the record, coaches don’t like Monday Night Football games. I’m being sarcastic. It’s just the short week’s hard. It’s hard. We got in here, we had a power failure here yesterday. We lost half the stuff on our computers, so guys are even working longer, so you just go on. You’ve got to go on, so players’ day off. They’re in here getting treatments and we’ll have them in tomorrow. We’re going to put this to rest and get ready for the next one. We’ll sleep in the offseason.”
(On if the loss stings today knowing the team played well)
“Yeah. It was the same. We put it into perspective last night. Just felt bad for the players. They played. They did everything we asked them to do all week long after the loss of (QB) Sam (Bradford) and felt bad for them last night because they played pretty well.”
(On the health of RB Zac Stacy)
“We’ll have an injury report ready tomorrow, but we’re still doing tests right now.”
(On the health of RG Harvey Dahl)
“We’re still undergoing tests. He did not return. The suspicion there is an MCL and then the degree is what we’re concerned about right now.”
(On if there was anything CB Janoris Jenkins could have done differently on Seahawks WR Golden Taint’s 80-yard touchdown reception)
“No. It was really...‘Jenks’ (Jenkins) actually was in really good position considering the coverage. We had some confusion and we were checked in and out of coverages and ‘Jenks’ actually was just sinking. He was in underneath coverage, but he still was in position nonetheless. He sorted things out and was in position to make the play, just got his legs tangled.”
(On if there was confusion in the secondary on Seattle’s first touchdown pass)
“No. They quick-snapped and there was some communication stuff going on but no. I think we’re nitpicking here. I thought the secondary played pretty good yesterday. I thought the safeties played well in the run game. I thought they pressured well. We gave them multiple looks, and like I said last night, we asked the corners to do a lot of stuff by themselves the whole game. That’s how you have to defend this run game and the read-option and everything associated with (RB) Marshawn Lynch. So, I thought overall the guys played pretty well.”
(On if the corners played more man-to-man coverage than normal)
“Yeah. Man and then variations of that, three deep, post defense. That’s what you have to do.”
(On DE Robert Quinn’s level of play halfway through the season with 10.0 sacks)
“The pass rush stuff is one thing. His defense against the run is where he’s really standing out. But yeah, he’s playing great and the reason he’s having the production along with (DE) Chris (Long) is because we’ve got guys behind them. They’re fresh all the time because there’s really not a drop-off. When (DE) Will (Hayes) comes in for Chris we get production. When (DE) Eugene (Sims) comes in for Rob we get production. So, we’re able to keep them fresh. He’s off to a great start. Again, we keep things in prospective upstairs. They were without their two starting tackles and we didn’t anticipate them putting their tackles in that situation. You expect to get them help. When they had to throw it in the basic drop back game they had trouble blocking them.”
(On if it’s been a while since he’s had a defense play as well as it did on Monday)
“Yeah. It’s been a while, but it’s one of those things. We had a good plan. We spent a lot of time during the week on the things that they were doing. They had five extra days to prepare for this thing and somehow it just all came together. The big thing in the game is that their punter had the same number of touches as Marshawn Lynch. That’s the difference in the ball game. We held them to 2-for-11 on third down and when you do that they just don’t get the opportunities.”
(On Seattle protecting the ball and not turning it over)
“That’s the thing. We were -2 in takeaways. That was really the difference in the ball game, the two turnovers. During that little stretch where we were +7 we were winning ball games, but we turned it over a couple time and didn’t get any. But again, the reason for the close game and the chance to win at the end was our defense’s stops on third down.”
(On Zuerlein’s missed field goal being close)
“It was a missed field goal. Are you implying I should have reviewed it? It started almost down the middle and it just kind of drifted outside. He just missed. He had plenty of distance. Those things, the ball over the top of the upright’s not reviewable. He hit it good. It’s just one of those things. He’s perfect from inside 50 (yards) this year.”
(On the offensive line’s performance against Seattle)
“Again as I mentioned, when you have an offensive line that’s working very well together – there is some rotation going on and I think that even speaks more for what they’re doing because (G) Shelley’s (Smith) getting to play, (RT) Rodger’s (Saffold) getting to play – but you take the offensive line and the tight ends and in particular (TE) Cory (Harkey) at the fullback spot that’s really been effective and that’s created the holes. Then, the design, the staff did a nice job designing things.”
(On T Jake Long)
“Jake’s doing fine. Feels good, doing fine and he was excited to play. One of the few guys on the offensive line that’s played in Monday night games before, so he had them ready to go.”
(On QB Kellen Clemens’ performance last night)
“I thought he managed the game well, he handled things. I think he settled down, 5:36 left to go in the game and he took it 96 yards. I thought that was a pretty impressive job.”
(On if he feels comfortable moving forward with Clemens)
“Yeah, we’re good. He’s a little sore. I don’t know if he’ll do much tomorrow, but he’ll be fine. I think he only stands to improve.”
(On the offensive line is that close in talent to be able to rotate them)
“Yeah, they are. Rodger (Saffold) was a starter, (T) Joe (Barksdale) steps in and Joe plays well, and we just felt like to get Rodger back in the flow, it makes sense to get him in the ballgame and let them alternate. So, we’ll probably continue with that.”
(On the reason for the decline in red zone efficiency)
“First off, Kellen’s first attempt at it, and so that’s going to be a reason. I’ll just have to go back to Houston being (No.) 1, Carolina being (No.) 3 and Seattle being (No.) 2 in the league in defense. That makes it hard, so that’s something we’re going to continue to work on.”
(On if Clemens stayed loose and had fun playing last night)
“Yeah, he did. He was great…before the game, but really relaxed at halftime. Little sore trying to work some things out but came out, and he was excited to play – just wanted to play. He and ‘Schotty’ (Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer) were communicating very well through the whole thing. Brian was asking him what he likes, what he doesn’t like and things like that. It was good. It was really good and you can see when your quarterback scrambles for a first down and there’s a bunch of people on top, opponents on top of him and your entire offensive line runs down there and strips them off to get him off the ground. The guys have a great deal of respect for him.”
(On how far they’ve come in running the ball and defending the run)
“Well, I think we’re in a place now where we’re different – we’re a different team. We were pretty much forced into that, I think, because of some situations that happened, but I kind of like where we’re at. Two hundred yards rushing against the second rated defense in the National Football League, so not a bad deal, especially when they had four or five extra days to prepare for you. We just have to keep it up. We’ll have to wait and see how Harvey (Dahl) is, and if Harvey can’t go, we’ve got options. We’ve got guys, with (G) Shelley (Smith) playing, natural transition moving Shelley over there, and we just have to keep running the football. That’s going to help ‘Kell’ and that’s going to help our defense.”
(On if RB Benny Cunningham will practice this week)
“I would say he’s got a pretty good chance, yeah.”
(On deciding to go with an empty backfield on the final play of the game)
“It was the play selection. That’s what we had. That’s what we thought gave us the best chance to score a touchdown.”
(On if it would have been better to keep a running back in the backfield to leave the possibility of a run)
“What if we would have had a back back there and ran it and didn’t get in? We’d be asking about, ‘Why’d you run it and why didn’t you go empty and give Kellen a chance to throw the football?’ So, that was what we prepared to do. We thought it gave us the best chance.”
(On if a play-action pass would have been more effective)
“No. Did it work the play before?”
(On facing his former team this week)
“I’m not playing, and I think there’s 16 players on the roster that were there when I was there. So, it’s a different football team, so I’m excited for our guys. We’ll get them back and have them ready to go.”
(On Tennessee having an extra week to prepare)
“Yes, they have.”
(On having a short week and no control over the schedule)
“No, we didn’t. The schedule makers felt like we could overcome these things and we will. Often times, when you have so much time off, the timing’s off, so we’ll see.”
(On if it is hard to fall asleep after losing a tough game)
“Yes. Just for the record, coaches don’t like Monday Night Football games. I’m being sarcastic. It’s just the short week’s hard. It’s hard. We got in here, we had a power failure here yesterday. We lost half the stuff on our computers, so guys are even working longer, so you just go on. You’ve got to go on, so players’ day off. They’re in here getting treatments and we’ll have them in tomorrow. We’re going to put this to rest and get ready for the next one. We’ll sleep in the offseason.”