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Nope, Arians still doesn't like Rams
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_41b0fa82-ee9d-5c30-b78c-db3c41f0ee40.html
Bruce Arians played nice Wednesday on his conference call with reporters in St. Louis.
He talked about how he has been going against Rams coach Jeff Fisher and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams for a long time, and how the Rams have a great coaching staff.
“I respect the heck out of them,” Arians added. “It’s been a great game every time we’ve played since we got here. It’s a big division game.”
That’s called laying it on a little thick. By now we all know better from Arians, the crusty, straight-shooting coach of the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals.
Following the Cardinals’ hard-fought 19-13 victory over San Francisco this past Sunday, Arians said the Big Red must now get ready to play “that team we don’t like.” And he was up to his usual high jinks talking to Arizona reporters Wednesday, when he again talked about his dislike of the Rams.
“I’ll have dinner with ’em, but I ain’t liking ’em,” Arians said. “I ain’t drinking with ’em.”
OK, part of this is pure showmanship. But you also get the feeling that Arians probably won’t be exchanging Christmas cards with Fisher later this month. Then again, that’s what division rivalries are supposed to be like.
Does it hurt the Rams’ feelings that Arians doesn’t like them?
“No,” tight end Lance Kendricks said, laughing. “It’s motivation for both sides.”
“If they don’t like us, that’s perfectly OK,” linebacker James Laurinaitis added.
The Arians barbs were more pointed last Dec. 11 after a hard-fought 12-6 Arizona victory in a Thursday night game at the Edward Jones Dome.
“Everybody wanted to say how great their defense is, but I think they saw a good defense tonight, and it was in red and white,” Arians said at the time.
The Rams were coming off back-to-back shutouts entering that game, so their defense was receiving some hype.
“I love it when nobody says that you will have a chance to win,” Arians said after the game. “There is an 11-3 team, and a team that is always 8-8. You figure it out.”
The 8-8 remark is a now-familiar shot at Fisher’s résumé, and it’s one that the Rams’ coach not surprisingly doesn’t like. Even so, he has steered clear of any war of words with Arians and the Cardinals. And Wednesday was no different.
“I think we’ve got a rivalry going in the division with all three teams,” Fisher said. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say we don’t like them. We respect them and they play hard. We greeted (Arians) when the game’s over.
“Unfortunately for them, we were one of the two games that they lost.”
OK, maybe a slight jab there by Fisher. That was a reference to the Rams’ 24-22 victory at Arizona on Oct. 4, only the fourth loss by Arians in 21 games at University of Phoenix Stadium.
“I’m sure that there’s extra motivation there in addition to their playoff run and trying to secure a home-field advantage and all those kinds of things,” Fisher continued. “But we’re going to play; we’re going to play hard.”
Arizona (9-2) can’t clinch a playoff berth with a victory Sunday in St. Louis, but it can guarantee a 12th consecutive non-winning season for the Rams (4-7).
Amazingly, the Rams are unbeaten against the NFC West this season (3-0), but just 1-7 against the rest of the NFL. Although not quite so lopsided, that’s been the way it has gone since Fisher got here in 2012. The Rams are 10-10-1 against the NFC West, one of football’s toughest divisions in recent years, but 14-24 against everybody else.
“We built this team to compete in the division,” Fisher said. “There’s familiarity. I’m disappointed that we haven’t played good football outside the division, but we have good matchups (in the division). We understand the matchups. We understand the challenges.”
With hopes for a playoff berth all but extinguished, and the prospect of another losing season looming unmistakably on the horizon, that 3-0 record against the division is about all the Rams have to hang their hat on these days.
And to some Rams, this season is more about what the Rams haven’t done outside the division, than what they have done inside it.
“Honestly, it just comes down to us not finishing games this year,” defensive end William Hayes said. “You could put your finger on three games and say that it could’ve been a coin toss, it could’ve went either way.
“And that’s the big thing. I don’t think it has nothing to do with Coach (Fisher). I just think us as a collective group — the players — we’re not doing a good job of finishing plays and doing the things we need to do to win these football games.”
The three games Hayes was referring to were losses to Pittsburgh (12-6), Minnesota (21-18, in overtime), and Baltimore (16-13).
“You win those three games, now you’re talking about us being a wild-card team,” Hayes said. “And all this stuff that’s been going on in the media (about Fisher’s job security) is not even being mentioned.”
Those three games — Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Baltimore — are the difference between 4-7 and 7-4.
“Exactly,” Hayes.
And the difference between two teams headed in opposite directions — the Cardinals have won five straight; the Rams have lost four in a row.
“We know what our challenges are,” Laurinaitis said. “We know that they have an unbelievable offense. They obviously have a couple backs out. They’re gonna come in here probably thinking they can throw it all around. Nobody’s gonna give us a chance to win.”
Probably not. Not even with feature back Chris Johnson (knee, leg) definitely out and third-down back Andre Ellington (turf toe) not expected to play Sunday for the Big Red.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_41b0fa82-ee9d-5c30-b78c-db3c41f0ee40.html
Bruce Arians played nice Wednesday on his conference call with reporters in St. Louis.
He talked about how he has been going against Rams coach Jeff Fisher and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams for a long time, and how the Rams have a great coaching staff.
“I respect the heck out of them,” Arians added. “It’s been a great game every time we’ve played since we got here. It’s a big division game.”
That’s called laying it on a little thick. By now we all know better from Arians, the crusty, straight-shooting coach of the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals.
Following the Cardinals’ hard-fought 19-13 victory over San Francisco this past Sunday, Arians said the Big Red must now get ready to play “that team we don’t like.” And he was up to his usual high jinks talking to Arizona reporters Wednesday, when he again talked about his dislike of the Rams.
“I’ll have dinner with ’em, but I ain’t liking ’em,” Arians said. “I ain’t drinking with ’em.”
OK, part of this is pure showmanship. But you also get the feeling that Arians probably won’t be exchanging Christmas cards with Fisher later this month. Then again, that’s what division rivalries are supposed to be like.
Does it hurt the Rams’ feelings that Arians doesn’t like them?
“No,” tight end Lance Kendricks said, laughing. “It’s motivation for both sides.”
“If they don’t like us, that’s perfectly OK,” linebacker James Laurinaitis added.
The Arians barbs were more pointed last Dec. 11 after a hard-fought 12-6 Arizona victory in a Thursday night game at the Edward Jones Dome.
“Everybody wanted to say how great their defense is, but I think they saw a good defense tonight, and it was in red and white,” Arians said at the time.
The Rams were coming off back-to-back shutouts entering that game, so their defense was receiving some hype.
“I love it when nobody says that you will have a chance to win,” Arians said after the game. “There is an 11-3 team, and a team that is always 8-8. You figure it out.”
The 8-8 remark is a now-familiar shot at Fisher’s résumé, and it’s one that the Rams’ coach not surprisingly doesn’t like. Even so, he has steered clear of any war of words with Arians and the Cardinals. And Wednesday was no different.
“I think we’ve got a rivalry going in the division with all three teams,” Fisher said. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say we don’t like them. We respect them and they play hard. We greeted (Arians) when the game’s over.
“Unfortunately for them, we were one of the two games that they lost.”
OK, maybe a slight jab there by Fisher. That was a reference to the Rams’ 24-22 victory at Arizona on Oct. 4, only the fourth loss by Arians in 21 games at University of Phoenix Stadium.
“I’m sure that there’s extra motivation there in addition to their playoff run and trying to secure a home-field advantage and all those kinds of things,” Fisher continued. “But we’re going to play; we’re going to play hard.”
Arizona (9-2) can’t clinch a playoff berth with a victory Sunday in St. Louis, but it can guarantee a 12th consecutive non-winning season for the Rams (4-7).
Amazingly, the Rams are unbeaten against the NFC West this season (3-0), but just 1-7 against the rest of the NFL. Although not quite so lopsided, that’s been the way it has gone since Fisher got here in 2012. The Rams are 10-10-1 against the NFC West, one of football’s toughest divisions in recent years, but 14-24 against everybody else.
“We built this team to compete in the division,” Fisher said. “There’s familiarity. I’m disappointed that we haven’t played good football outside the division, but we have good matchups (in the division). We understand the matchups. We understand the challenges.”
With hopes for a playoff berth all but extinguished, and the prospect of another losing season looming unmistakably on the horizon, that 3-0 record against the division is about all the Rams have to hang their hat on these days.
And to some Rams, this season is more about what the Rams haven’t done outside the division, than what they have done inside it.
“Honestly, it just comes down to us not finishing games this year,” defensive end William Hayes said. “You could put your finger on three games and say that it could’ve been a coin toss, it could’ve went either way.
“And that’s the big thing. I don’t think it has nothing to do with Coach (Fisher). I just think us as a collective group — the players — we’re not doing a good job of finishing plays and doing the things we need to do to win these football games.”
The three games Hayes was referring to were losses to Pittsburgh (12-6), Minnesota (21-18, in overtime), and Baltimore (16-13).
“You win those three games, now you’re talking about us being a wild-card team,” Hayes said. “And all this stuff that’s been going on in the media (about Fisher’s job security) is not even being mentioned.”
Those three games — Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Baltimore — are the difference between 4-7 and 7-4.
“Exactly,” Hayes.
And the difference between two teams headed in opposite directions — the Cardinals have won five straight; the Rams have lost four in a row.
“We know what our challenges are,” Laurinaitis said. “We know that they have an unbelievable offense. They obviously have a couple backs out. They’re gonna come in here probably thinking they can throw it all around. Nobody’s gonna give us a chance to win.”
Probably not. Not even with feature back Chris Johnson (knee, leg) definitely out and third-down back Andre Ellington (turf toe) not expected to play Sunday for the Big Red.
