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Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher
RE: Today’s game
“Boy there were a lot of things that took place out there today and we as coaches talk about things making a difference. We were soft in pass protection, had a chance to throw a homerun touchdown the first play of the game and instead things go the other way. We had some other, many other opportunities we didn’t capitalize on, the touchdown pass to Tavon (Austin). Jake (Long) doesn’t know what happened. I didn’t see the play. They ruled tripped. So be it. And then things started to get out of hand with the manner in which the players were handling themselves post play. I thought the crew, I thought Bill (Vinovich – Referee) did a pretty good job getting things under control. I’m disappointed that Chris (Long) made the decision that he did. He suffered the consequences. He should not ever put himself in the position where he’s watching the game from the locker room. He should be on the field and he understands that. I don’t have any information on Sam (Bradford) right now. We’ve done x-rays. We’re going to do an MRI tonight immediately after we land. We’ll get that information to you as soon as we can with respect that.”
RE: Bradford’s injury
“It is a knee, yes. It’s a left knee and it’s the knee with the brace on it. As I said we’re going to get off the airplane and he’ll go have an MRI so we’ll have some information on that later.”
RE: Deflating first play of the game?
“Well it is. Sam’s thrown four now and all four have been deflected and three have been returned for touchdowns. We’ve got to catch the football is what we’ve got to do. Way too many drops today. Missed way too many opportunities. I thought he played well.”
RE: With Bradford down, what now?
“He went down and couldn’t come back in the game. I’m not going to speculate. I’m not going to deal with hypotheticals until I find out what’s going on with him. It makes no sense to rush to any conclusion with him. Not until we know. We’ll get a medical opinion and go from there. He was in significant pain on the sideline.”
RE: Penalties
“My take on it was there were some hard feelings on their sideline after our hit on Cam (Newton). We got to the mesh point, we hand the ball off, came back in and it was fine. I think there was a little bit of retaliation from that and then things just escalated from that. I thought I saw an official early going to his flag, well before Chris’ deal, but he couldn’t get to it because he got caught up in the scrum, so anyway, Bill had it under control and he told me he had it under control and thought he had everything settled down and then Chris lost his poise, he threw a punch and lost his poise.”
RE: Did you feel confident watching films coming into today that you could win?
“Yes, we did. That was part of our plan. We weren’t effective, but... We had people open and that was our plan. Our plan was also to run the football and of course we had to get away from it at the end. Obviously we ran out of time. I decided to punt the ball, we’ll use a timeout. Fourth and real longs are hard to convert. I figured we’d be able to pick up an extra series, but we didn’t.”
RE: How do you address your players regarding retaliation?
“Don’t hurt the football team. And that’s what Ron’s telling his team right now too. They got third and inches on the goal line and ended up third and fifteen because of unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and they kicked a field goal. That’s exactly what happens when those things happen. When “Quickie” (Brian Quick) lost his poise and Harvey (Dahl) lost his poise we gave the three points. We’re backed up, punting and field position cost us three points.”
Rams QB Kellen Clemens
RE: Possible increased role next week with Sam Bradford’s injury
“Well I think we’re all talking about ‘ifs’ right now. Obviously, if called upon this week after a week of practice and an opportunity to work with the guys we’ll be ready to go.”
RE: Watching Sam Bradford’s injury
“You know what, it’s never easy when you see a teammate go down. When you see a person that you spend as much time with as I do with Sam and genuinely care about as a person; I have a great respect for what he does on the field, but just a genuine concern for him as a person, it was not easy to see. Hopefully whatever it is, it’s quick and obviously we’d appreciate any prayers sent his way.”
RE: Finding out the actual injury
“I’m not sure what the plan is, I think the plan right now is to get on a plane and have a safe flight back to St. Louis. We’ve got a little regrouping to do after this football game just in general and we’re hoping for the best for Sam and how that plays out. We’ll make whatever adjustments we have to going forward.”
Rams TE Jared Cook
RE: Having a game like this after two straight wins
“It’s more disappointing than anything; to come out and not execute the way you know you are capable of executing. We feel that a lot of the things we did were self-inflicted and they are things that can be prevented, things that can be corrected, and we have to do that in order to move on.”
RE: If the “extra stuff” after the whistle blew affected the game
“No, I don’t think that threw us off the game. I think it’s just things that happened in the heat of the battle. Again, going back to execution, we have to go out there and execute the way we are capable of doing, the way we have shown in the past couple of weeks and get back to playing Rams football.”
RE: Sam Bradford’s injury
“Obviously, it’s upsetting anytime you see your quarterback injured like that. Thoughts and prayers are with him, hoping he is okay and he can bounce back strong. We have to move forward.”
RE: If he thinks the hit on Bradford was a dirty hit
“That’s for people above me to question. My job is to go out there and to play and to perform the way I know I can and let the decisions like that be made by the people who are responsible for those decisions.”
RE: If the turnovers were a big deal
“Obviously. You can’t turn the football over against a good opponent. Turnovers always hurt.”
Rams DE Chris Long
RE: Being ejected
“I apologized to my teammates for hurting the team and giving them 15 yards. Having to watch the game in the locker room was probably the low point in my career. I can’t let that happen again. I’ll always stick up for my teammates. When my teammates are in trouble, I’ll always stick up for them. I’m not sorry for that, but I am sorry for losing my cool.”
RE: What caused him to get so mad
“I don’t really have any comments about what was really kind of a situation that was a little bit out of control. There was a lot going on in there so I don’t really have any comment on that, but again, I just apologize for losing my cool. That did happen. I don’t want to hurt this football team, but I’ll always stick up for my teammates.”
RE: The person retaliating being the person who gets called for the foul
“You know how that goes. They are always going to get the second guy, so I need to be smarter than that. I play this game with a lot of emotion. I won’t change that, but there has to be a point where I can reel it in and I can’t let people provoke me. I can’t hurt the team. Those guys played hard. We were playing hard out there. We played the game with a lot of emotion but sometimes you have to know when to reel it in.”
RE: If the frustration was with the officiating or the Panthers
“I was just frustrated. It was a frustrating situation. We weren’t playing to our potential at the time and there was a big scuffle in there. I just got caught and probably lost my cool the most. I apologize for that. That was wrong and I need to be more composed. There is a fine line, when you play with a lot of emotion, there is a fine line between being over the line and reeling it back in. I need to reel it back in.”
RE: Sam Bradford’s injury
“It’s really tough. Sam has been playing well. Whatever that situation might be, it’s just tough to see him in pain and it’s tough to see him get some bad luck on that one. It was just a bang-bang play. It’s football. It’s a very physical game and sometimes, you are going to get hurt. Hopefully, we’ll have Sam back soon. That is really difficult. Sam fights hard for this team and works his ass off. For him to have to exit early, that’s really hard for the team.”
RE: If he apologized
“Most guys came up to me and said don’t worry about it. I’ve apologized to certain guys because I can’t be out there. They understand. I’m always going to stick up for my teammates. It goes without saying that I need to reel it. I’ve apologized to those guys but they understand when you are on a team together, we all play with a lot of emotion and we all stick up for each other. Those guys get it. I don’t have to worry about these guys in the locker room. We all have a lot of love for each other. They’d rather me be out there battling hard than to be out there not doing that.”
Rams DE Robert Quinn
RE: Chris Long’s ejection
“Things just got out of hand. Everybody’s got to keep their cool. We can’t allow things to affect us, we know better. Like I said, things got out of hand. We’re professionals we can’t have things like that happen. It is what it is.”
RE: Young team losing composure
“You can’t let it slow you down, you still have to go out there and continue the game. We fought to the end…We wish we could’ve made a lot more plays. But the Panthers got ahead of us, they got the W. Great job for them, but we’ll keep preparing for Seattle next week.”
RE: Speaking to the younger players
“We’ve got to keep our head it in, finish the game strong. You don’t want to ever put bad tape on film. Keep your head it in, play till the clock says zero, play hard and get out of the game healthy.
RE: Hit on Cam
“It was a legal hit, just out there trying to make plays. Say I did pull up and didn’t hit him and he pulled the ball out, he could’ve made a huge play. I was just out there playing football, not trying to do anything to hurt our team. Like I said, just out there making plays to help this team win.”
Rams C Scott Wells
Re: The fights on the field
“It just got bad. Tempers flared. Things got out of control. What can you do? We just have to do a better job keeping our composure and not let them influence our play. You have to play with your pads. The biggest thing that you can take from a team is the wind out of their sails if you score or get a sack. You have to pressure them with your plays.”
RE: If the turnovers were the biggest issue in the game
“Definitely. The first, when Sam got hit throwing the ball, to the pick, it’s the little things, man. It’s just the little things that we have to take care of and things that we have to get better on as an offense. It’s not what we needed. It was kind of a step in the wrong direction this week. It was definitely not what we needed, but you have to show resilience and you always have to bounce back from it.”
RE: If he was surprised with the way the team played after two straight wins
“Of course. It always is. I feel like even after the first half, we were still in the game. We still had a chance to come out and make some things happen. Even in the fourth quarter, we still had a chance to make some things happen. But that’s just the way the game went.”
RE: The offense having to respond if Sam Bradford is out for an extended period
“Even if Sam wasn’t hurt, we still have some heavy lifting to do. But this adds extra to it, but like Coach said, we are going to move on and we are going to bouce back from it. We have to. There is no other choice.”
Panthers Head Coach Ron Rivera
RE: Today’s game
“It was a physical game. When you play a Jeff Fisher coached football team they are going to be physical and you have to be physical back. I appreciate the fact that our guys hung in there and fought back. You wish you didn’t have those kinds of fouls but at the same time it was physical and that is the nature of this game.”
RE: Most penalties going against Rams
“For the most part we tried to maintain our composure and at the same time you only want to take so much. I thought our guys handled that part of it very well. I’m very pleased with them in maintaining their composure.”
RE: Today most spirited game Rivera coached
“It’s one of them. I’m tired. It really was. Our guys fought and that’s what you want from your players. We want our guys to play hard, do things they are supposed to. We made some dumb mistakes as well. We got a couple penalties that I’m not pleased about and we will get those things corrected and those guys will answer to me about those things. The thing they have to understand is that we can’t leave points on the field. I’ve talked about that. We had a very unfortunate penalty on the one yard line. We got a bad penalty and we had to settle for a field goal. Again, that could be the difference. We have to maintain our composure at all times and just hang in there.”
RE: Mike Tolbert’s penalty on 1-yard line
“He flailed on the ground trying to get up. Whether he flailed too hard or what have you, it’s unfortunate. Mike was under the pile and he was just trying to get up.”
RE: Meeting with Coach Jeff Fisher after the game cordial
“Yes it was a lot of pleasantries. Jeff and I played together and were teammates. I understand and Jeff understands that this is a tough physical game, guys want to win and they are going to get very physical. That’s unfortunate that it happens. It’s too bad. But it is a physical game.”
RE: Impressions on fight that led to Long’s ejection
“There was a mix up. Guys were going back and forth. I’m not quite sure what happened. All I know is that it’s unfortunate that it happens.”
RE: Expect penalties from Rams since they led the league in them last season
“Not the penalties. It’s unfortunate because it happens. It’s part of the game. Guys are going to get upset and uptight because they want to win. They are very competitive. Jeff is a very competitive coach and he wants his players to be competitive as well.”
RE: Does winning a game like this help the team?
“That’s exactly it. It does a lot for them. All of a sudden something bad happens and we give up a big play needlessly and they score right away. But we went down and answered. That’s the mark of a football team is that you answer, you just don’t sit there and take it. I’m very pleased with that.”
RE: Captain Munnerlyn’s interception on first play of the game
“Sean McDermott was aggressive with his play calling and opened up the game with the pressure. We got pressure on the quarterback and were able to do that. Captain owed up two interceptions so he made up for it with the interception and the touchdown.”
RE: Wide receivers improvement
“I think they are meshing and molding themselves as a unit. Ted Ginn Jr. has really helped a lot. He has helped Steve Smith an awful lot in situations. He has helped Brandon LaFell and they have helped him. I think also a thing too is our running game. It’s been very solid. We didn’t get as many rushing yards as I would like today. We did get over 100 yards but our guys are capable of more. Again you have to give them credit because they are very stout and physical upfront.”
RE: Offensive motivation after slow start
“I’m not sure why we sputtered at first but I do know this – once Mike Shula got into a rhythm with his guys and had a real good feel for the offensive side, the play calling was outstanding. I knew we found a couple things that we could do really well. They knew we wanted to run the ball. They loaded up the box a couple times. We had to make something happen and we did. Once we got them loosened up I thought we were able to run the ball and handle it a little bit better.”
RE: Steve Smith’s play today and need to challenge call to keep momentum
“Absolutely. We would have loved for that to be a touchdown without a doubt. If that’s a touchdown it would just keep going. As it turns out we kick a field goal so I would have loved to see that reversed but the referee called it the correct way.”
RE: Next game could lead to first winning record since 2008
“It is very big. Every win is very big. Every game we play is big and this will be our next biggest game because it is the one we play. That’s the thing that players need to understand. We have to go into this wanting it, understanding how important it is and then going out and making it happen.”
RE: Winning with Newton and Kuechly not performing as high as they usually do
“It means a lot. It means the guys up front are doing what they need to do in terms of getting penetration and making plays at the line of scrimmage as far as the defense is concerned. Offensively it means they are taking the pressure off of our quarterback and we are giving him the opportunity to make plays and other guys are making plays as well.”
RE: Newton more efficient as a quarterback
“He had a 136.3 quarterback rating. 15 for 17. I thought he was very efficient. He got sacked twice for minus 24 yards that is probably the biggest negative all day. He has to be comfortable enough and willing enough to throw those away.”
RE: Newton’s decision making, not forcing things
“He has done a great job. It’s funny, you talk about the things that he does and his reads and learning to go through his progressions the right way. We talked about it last week with LaFell’s touchdown, he was the third option. When you start seeing him doing those types of things to give us a chance to win, you know he has matured.”
RE: Robert Lester not playing today
“Believe me with a short week coming up, you would hate for him to come out and tweak it again. So we wanted to make sure. Quintin Mikell is healthy right now and we feel we have a good rotation of guys there.”
RE: Kawann Short’s play today
“I was very impressed with our guys up there today. Short and Star Lotulelei both played a heck of a football game. Those two young guys are really coming along and because of that you see that Luke Kuechly isn’t making as many plays. It’s to Luke’s detriment but to our benefit. I believe Luke would take that any day of the week.”
RE: Offensive line play today
“I thought our offensive line settled in pretty good. This is a very physical bunch we played against and they did a nice job putting pressure on them up front.”
Panthers QB Cam Newton
RE: Keeping composure during the fights and flags.
“It’s challenging, especially playing such a physical sport, but at the same time, it’s emotions that get involved, things are going to be said. But you know, you still have to keep your head and play smart.”
RE: His performance and having only two incompletions
“I feel like I was erratic on a lot of things, checks, a lot of things. But you still have to come back and watch the film tomorrow and make due to our mistakes. We played a great team that just came off a big win. We have to focus in this particular week, especially it being such a short week, but I think we’ll be alright.”
RE: Being on the verge of above .500 for the first time with the Panthers
“I have a lot of talent around me that I feel very confident about. I’ve got Smitty [Steve Smith], Greg [Olsen] and those guys. With the running game, with Mike [Tolbert] and DeAngelo [Williams], you know it’s great. For us, we have to continue to execute to make everybody’s job easier.”
RE: Not being on the field much in the first quarter
“We just got to keep chugging. Obviously we have to be on the field for that to happen. Opportunity presented itself; we can’t go three-and-out. I feel as if we weren’t thorough at the end of the game, we have to work on that, because we put up 30 points this game, but there’s going to be times in a year that we’re going to have to keep our defense off the field and get a long methodical drive. We had one, but we can’t make a silly penalty on the one yard line, with us going in, making things hard for ourselves. But we’ll make those corrections coming in tomorrow and we’ll be alright.”
RE: Touchdown to Steve Smith
“Well Smitty was pinpointing a lot of things with him being singled up. That’s one thing that Smitty prides himself, is when he gets man-to-man coverage, he has to win. So we challenged him to get open in that particular situation, and he did, and he made a guy miss, made two guys miss, and got a big score, a much-needed score for us.”
RE: Believing that momentum is building after back-to-back wins
“I really do, but I don’t want to stunt any growth for us right now. We’ve just got to continuously have the mentality to be 1-0 each and every week. Our main focus right now, we’re 3-3, we’re .500, but we have to find a way. Our preparation leading up into this week, is to put ourselves into a situation where we can be 4-3 on Thursday.”
RE: Winning games that would have been losses in the past
“Well for us, we have to finish. We know what the situation is at hand, and it’s going to be challenges that we can’t just make a phone call over to the opposing team and say ‘Hey, we need a score right now, let us get a score.’ There’s no negotiating that. It comes down to us just doing our task at hand, and being accountable for each and every thing. Coach says it all the time; it’s about one guy, focusing on their particular roles. Not one guy worrying about 11 other roles. So, if we do that we’ll be alright.”
RE: Atmosphere of today’s game
“I think one thing that goes unnoticed in a game like this is our home crowd. You know, it was very emotional and just to get a first down, and just to get a response out of the BoA [Bank of America Stadium] the way we did today was unbelievable. It’s not on the stat sheet, it’s not going to make SportsCenter, but when you got a lot of people screaming at you, just with the momentum that’s going on with the drive, that little extra ‘umph,’ it gives us the spirit to stay up and finish the drive. But, like the drive that it got ugly on, we had put ourselves in the situation where we’re on the one and we can’t make a bonehead mistake. Mike [Tolbert]’s better than that, and I don’t think if he’s put in that situation again, he’ll make the same mistake. We’ll learn from it, and that’s the only thing we can do. So if that situation presents itself again, we’ll do something different.”
Panthers T Byron Bell
RE: Offensive Turnaround
“We got stopped early with the safety and went three and out one series and we had to regroup. We made some adjustments on the sideline and from there we started moving the ball.”
RE: Captain Setting the Tone
“That was huge, to get an interception for the first play of the game and take it back for six, that was huge and that set the tone for the game and we rolled on that momentum. If we keep playing like that we should be fine.”
RE: Quick Turnaround with Tampa Bay
“The challenge is to get in the ice tubs and get our bodies healthy as quick as possible so we will be ready to roll against Tampa Bay on Thursday night.”
Panthers LB Thomas Davis
RE: Playing as a team
“As a team, we’re playing together. We’re playing for each other, and that’s what it’s about. When we come together and we play together as a team, I think it’s going to be really hard to beat us.”
RE: Earning a 3-3 record today
“Everybody in this locker room and on this team has bought in. We know where we are at this point in the season, and we know where we want to get to. We finally made it back to .500; it took us a couple weeks, but we’re here.
RE: Today’s game
“Boy there were a lot of things that took place out there today and we as coaches talk about things making a difference. We were soft in pass protection, had a chance to throw a homerun touchdown the first play of the game and instead things go the other way. We had some other, many other opportunities we didn’t capitalize on, the touchdown pass to Tavon (Austin). Jake (Long) doesn’t know what happened. I didn’t see the play. They ruled tripped. So be it. And then things started to get out of hand with the manner in which the players were handling themselves post play. I thought the crew, I thought Bill (Vinovich – Referee) did a pretty good job getting things under control. I’m disappointed that Chris (Long) made the decision that he did. He suffered the consequences. He should not ever put himself in the position where he’s watching the game from the locker room. He should be on the field and he understands that. I don’t have any information on Sam (Bradford) right now. We’ve done x-rays. We’re going to do an MRI tonight immediately after we land. We’ll get that information to you as soon as we can with respect that.”
RE: Bradford’s injury
“It is a knee, yes. It’s a left knee and it’s the knee with the brace on it. As I said we’re going to get off the airplane and he’ll go have an MRI so we’ll have some information on that later.”
RE: Deflating first play of the game?
“Well it is. Sam’s thrown four now and all four have been deflected and three have been returned for touchdowns. We’ve got to catch the football is what we’ve got to do. Way too many drops today. Missed way too many opportunities. I thought he played well.”
RE: With Bradford down, what now?
“He went down and couldn’t come back in the game. I’m not going to speculate. I’m not going to deal with hypotheticals until I find out what’s going on with him. It makes no sense to rush to any conclusion with him. Not until we know. We’ll get a medical opinion and go from there. He was in significant pain on the sideline.”
RE: Penalties
“My take on it was there were some hard feelings on their sideline after our hit on Cam (Newton). We got to the mesh point, we hand the ball off, came back in and it was fine. I think there was a little bit of retaliation from that and then things just escalated from that. I thought I saw an official early going to his flag, well before Chris’ deal, but he couldn’t get to it because he got caught up in the scrum, so anyway, Bill had it under control and he told me he had it under control and thought he had everything settled down and then Chris lost his poise, he threw a punch and lost his poise.”
RE: Did you feel confident watching films coming into today that you could win?
“Yes, we did. That was part of our plan. We weren’t effective, but... We had people open and that was our plan. Our plan was also to run the football and of course we had to get away from it at the end. Obviously we ran out of time. I decided to punt the ball, we’ll use a timeout. Fourth and real longs are hard to convert. I figured we’d be able to pick up an extra series, but we didn’t.”
RE: How do you address your players regarding retaliation?
“Don’t hurt the football team. And that’s what Ron’s telling his team right now too. They got third and inches on the goal line and ended up third and fifteen because of unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and they kicked a field goal. That’s exactly what happens when those things happen. When “Quickie” (Brian Quick) lost his poise and Harvey (Dahl) lost his poise we gave the three points. We’re backed up, punting and field position cost us three points.”
Rams QB Kellen Clemens
RE: Possible increased role next week with Sam Bradford’s injury
“Well I think we’re all talking about ‘ifs’ right now. Obviously, if called upon this week after a week of practice and an opportunity to work with the guys we’ll be ready to go.”
RE: Watching Sam Bradford’s injury
“You know what, it’s never easy when you see a teammate go down. When you see a person that you spend as much time with as I do with Sam and genuinely care about as a person; I have a great respect for what he does on the field, but just a genuine concern for him as a person, it was not easy to see. Hopefully whatever it is, it’s quick and obviously we’d appreciate any prayers sent his way.”
RE: Finding out the actual injury
“I’m not sure what the plan is, I think the plan right now is to get on a plane and have a safe flight back to St. Louis. We’ve got a little regrouping to do after this football game just in general and we’re hoping for the best for Sam and how that plays out. We’ll make whatever adjustments we have to going forward.”
Rams TE Jared Cook
RE: Having a game like this after two straight wins
“It’s more disappointing than anything; to come out and not execute the way you know you are capable of executing. We feel that a lot of the things we did were self-inflicted and they are things that can be prevented, things that can be corrected, and we have to do that in order to move on.”
RE: If the “extra stuff” after the whistle blew affected the game
“No, I don’t think that threw us off the game. I think it’s just things that happened in the heat of the battle. Again, going back to execution, we have to go out there and execute the way we are capable of doing, the way we have shown in the past couple of weeks and get back to playing Rams football.”
RE: Sam Bradford’s injury
“Obviously, it’s upsetting anytime you see your quarterback injured like that. Thoughts and prayers are with him, hoping he is okay and he can bounce back strong. We have to move forward.”
RE: If he thinks the hit on Bradford was a dirty hit
“That’s for people above me to question. My job is to go out there and to play and to perform the way I know I can and let the decisions like that be made by the people who are responsible for those decisions.”
RE: If the turnovers were a big deal
“Obviously. You can’t turn the football over against a good opponent. Turnovers always hurt.”
Rams DE Chris Long
RE: Being ejected
“I apologized to my teammates for hurting the team and giving them 15 yards. Having to watch the game in the locker room was probably the low point in my career. I can’t let that happen again. I’ll always stick up for my teammates. When my teammates are in trouble, I’ll always stick up for them. I’m not sorry for that, but I am sorry for losing my cool.”
RE: What caused him to get so mad
“I don’t really have any comments about what was really kind of a situation that was a little bit out of control. There was a lot going on in there so I don’t really have any comment on that, but again, I just apologize for losing my cool. That did happen. I don’t want to hurt this football team, but I’ll always stick up for my teammates.”
RE: The person retaliating being the person who gets called for the foul
“You know how that goes. They are always going to get the second guy, so I need to be smarter than that. I play this game with a lot of emotion. I won’t change that, but there has to be a point where I can reel it in and I can’t let people provoke me. I can’t hurt the team. Those guys played hard. We were playing hard out there. We played the game with a lot of emotion but sometimes you have to know when to reel it in.”
RE: If the frustration was with the officiating or the Panthers
“I was just frustrated. It was a frustrating situation. We weren’t playing to our potential at the time and there was a big scuffle in there. I just got caught and probably lost my cool the most. I apologize for that. That was wrong and I need to be more composed. There is a fine line, when you play with a lot of emotion, there is a fine line between being over the line and reeling it back in. I need to reel it back in.”
RE: Sam Bradford’s injury
“It’s really tough. Sam has been playing well. Whatever that situation might be, it’s just tough to see him in pain and it’s tough to see him get some bad luck on that one. It was just a bang-bang play. It’s football. It’s a very physical game and sometimes, you are going to get hurt. Hopefully, we’ll have Sam back soon. That is really difficult. Sam fights hard for this team and works his ass off. For him to have to exit early, that’s really hard for the team.”
RE: If he apologized
“Most guys came up to me and said don’t worry about it. I’ve apologized to certain guys because I can’t be out there. They understand. I’m always going to stick up for my teammates. It goes without saying that I need to reel it. I’ve apologized to those guys but they understand when you are on a team together, we all play with a lot of emotion and we all stick up for each other. Those guys get it. I don’t have to worry about these guys in the locker room. We all have a lot of love for each other. They’d rather me be out there battling hard than to be out there not doing that.”
Rams DE Robert Quinn
RE: Chris Long’s ejection
“Things just got out of hand. Everybody’s got to keep their cool. We can’t allow things to affect us, we know better. Like I said, things got out of hand. We’re professionals we can’t have things like that happen. It is what it is.”
RE: Young team losing composure
“You can’t let it slow you down, you still have to go out there and continue the game. We fought to the end…We wish we could’ve made a lot more plays. But the Panthers got ahead of us, they got the W. Great job for them, but we’ll keep preparing for Seattle next week.”
RE: Speaking to the younger players
“We’ve got to keep our head it in, finish the game strong. You don’t want to ever put bad tape on film. Keep your head it in, play till the clock says zero, play hard and get out of the game healthy.
RE: Hit on Cam
“It was a legal hit, just out there trying to make plays. Say I did pull up and didn’t hit him and he pulled the ball out, he could’ve made a huge play. I was just out there playing football, not trying to do anything to hurt our team. Like I said, just out there making plays to help this team win.”
Rams C Scott Wells
Re: The fights on the field
“It just got bad. Tempers flared. Things got out of control. What can you do? We just have to do a better job keeping our composure and not let them influence our play. You have to play with your pads. The biggest thing that you can take from a team is the wind out of their sails if you score or get a sack. You have to pressure them with your plays.”
RE: If the turnovers were the biggest issue in the game
“Definitely. The first, when Sam got hit throwing the ball, to the pick, it’s the little things, man. It’s just the little things that we have to take care of and things that we have to get better on as an offense. It’s not what we needed. It was kind of a step in the wrong direction this week. It was definitely not what we needed, but you have to show resilience and you always have to bounce back from it.”
RE: If he was surprised with the way the team played after two straight wins
“Of course. It always is. I feel like even after the first half, we were still in the game. We still had a chance to come out and make some things happen. Even in the fourth quarter, we still had a chance to make some things happen. But that’s just the way the game went.”
RE: The offense having to respond if Sam Bradford is out for an extended period
“Even if Sam wasn’t hurt, we still have some heavy lifting to do. But this adds extra to it, but like Coach said, we are going to move on and we are going to bouce back from it. We have to. There is no other choice.”
Panthers Head Coach Ron Rivera
RE: Today’s game
“It was a physical game. When you play a Jeff Fisher coached football team they are going to be physical and you have to be physical back. I appreciate the fact that our guys hung in there and fought back. You wish you didn’t have those kinds of fouls but at the same time it was physical and that is the nature of this game.”
RE: Most penalties going against Rams
“For the most part we tried to maintain our composure and at the same time you only want to take so much. I thought our guys handled that part of it very well. I’m very pleased with them in maintaining their composure.”
RE: Today most spirited game Rivera coached
“It’s one of them. I’m tired. It really was. Our guys fought and that’s what you want from your players. We want our guys to play hard, do things they are supposed to. We made some dumb mistakes as well. We got a couple penalties that I’m not pleased about and we will get those things corrected and those guys will answer to me about those things. The thing they have to understand is that we can’t leave points on the field. I’ve talked about that. We had a very unfortunate penalty on the one yard line. We got a bad penalty and we had to settle for a field goal. Again, that could be the difference. We have to maintain our composure at all times and just hang in there.”
RE: Mike Tolbert’s penalty on 1-yard line
“He flailed on the ground trying to get up. Whether he flailed too hard or what have you, it’s unfortunate. Mike was under the pile and he was just trying to get up.”
RE: Meeting with Coach Jeff Fisher after the game cordial
“Yes it was a lot of pleasantries. Jeff and I played together and were teammates. I understand and Jeff understands that this is a tough physical game, guys want to win and they are going to get very physical. That’s unfortunate that it happens. It’s too bad. But it is a physical game.”
RE: Impressions on fight that led to Long’s ejection
“There was a mix up. Guys were going back and forth. I’m not quite sure what happened. All I know is that it’s unfortunate that it happens.”
RE: Expect penalties from Rams since they led the league in them last season
“Not the penalties. It’s unfortunate because it happens. It’s part of the game. Guys are going to get upset and uptight because they want to win. They are very competitive. Jeff is a very competitive coach and he wants his players to be competitive as well.”
RE: Does winning a game like this help the team?
“That’s exactly it. It does a lot for them. All of a sudden something bad happens and we give up a big play needlessly and they score right away. But we went down and answered. That’s the mark of a football team is that you answer, you just don’t sit there and take it. I’m very pleased with that.”
RE: Captain Munnerlyn’s interception on first play of the game
“Sean McDermott was aggressive with his play calling and opened up the game with the pressure. We got pressure on the quarterback and were able to do that. Captain owed up two interceptions so he made up for it with the interception and the touchdown.”
RE: Wide receivers improvement
“I think they are meshing and molding themselves as a unit. Ted Ginn Jr. has really helped a lot. He has helped Steve Smith an awful lot in situations. He has helped Brandon LaFell and they have helped him. I think also a thing too is our running game. It’s been very solid. We didn’t get as many rushing yards as I would like today. We did get over 100 yards but our guys are capable of more. Again you have to give them credit because they are very stout and physical upfront.”
RE: Offensive motivation after slow start
“I’m not sure why we sputtered at first but I do know this – once Mike Shula got into a rhythm with his guys and had a real good feel for the offensive side, the play calling was outstanding. I knew we found a couple things that we could do really well. They knew we wanted to run the ball. They loaded up the box a couple times. We had to make something happen and we did. Once we got them loosened up I thought we were able to run the ball and handle it a little bit better.”
RE: Steve Smith’s play today and need to challenge call to keep momentum
“Absolutely. We would have loved for that to be a touchdown without a doubt. If that’s a touchdown it would just keep going. As it turns out we kick a field goal so I would have loved to see that reversed but the referee called it the correct way.”
RE: Next game could lead to first winning record since 2008
“It is very big. Every win is very big. Every game we play is big and this will be our next biggest game because it is the one we play. That’s the thing that players need to understand. We have to go into this wanting it, understanding how important it is and then going out and making it happen.”
RE: Winning with Newton and Kuechly not performing as high as they usually do
“It means a lot. It means the guys up front are doing what they need to do in terms of getting penetration and making plays at the line of scrimmage as far as the defense is concerned. Offensively it means they are taking the pressure off of our quarterback and we are giving him the opportunity to make plays and other guys are making plays as well.”
RE: Newton more efficient as a quarterback
“He had a 136.3 quarterback rating. 15 for 17. I thought he was very efficient. He got sacked twice for minus 24 yards that is probably the biggest negative all day. He has to be comfortable enough and willing enough to throw those away.”
RE: Newton’s decision making, not forcing things
“He has done a great job. It’s funny, you talk about the things that he does and his reads and learning to go through his progressions the right way. We talked about it last week with LaFell’s touchdown, he was the third option. When you start seeing him doing those types of things to give us a chance to win, you know he has matured.”
RE: Robert Lester not playing today
“Believe me with a short week coming up, you would hate for him to come out and tweak it again. So we wanted to make sure. Quintin Mikell is healthy right now and we feel we have a good rotation of guys there.”
RE: Kawann Short’s play today
“I was very impressed with our guys up there today. Short and Star Lotulelei both played a heck of a football game. Those two young guys are really coming along and because of that you see that Luke Kuechly isn’t making as many plays. It’s to Luke’s detriment but to our benefit. I believe Luke would take that any day of the week.”
RE: Offensive line play today
“I thought our offensive line settled in pretty good. This is a very physical bunch we played against and they did a nice job putting pressure on them up front.”
Panthers QB Cam Newton
RE: Keeping composure during the fights and flags.
“It’s challenging, especially playing such a physical sport, but at the same time, it’s emotions that get involved, things are going to be said. But you know, you still have to keep your head and play smart.”
RE: His performance and having only two incompletions
“I feel like I was erratic on a lot of things, checks, a lot of things. But you still have to come back and watch the film tomorrow and make due to our mistakes. We played a great team that just came off a big win. We have to focus in this particular week, especially it being such a short week, but I think we’ll be alright.”
RE: Being on the verge of above .500 for the first time with the Panthers
“I have a lot of talent around me that I feel very confident about. I’ve got Smitty [Steve Smith], Greg [Olsen] and those guys. With the running game, with Mike [Tolbert] and DeAngelo [Williams], you know it’s great. For us, we have to continue to execute to make everybody’s job easier.”
RE: Not being on the field much in the first quarter
“We just got to keep chugging. Obviously we have to be on the field for that to happen. Opportunity presented itself; we can’t go three-and-out. I feel as if we weren’t thorough at the end of the game, we have to work on that, because we put up 30 points this game, but there’s going to be times in a year that we’re going to have to keep our defense off the field and get a long methodical drive. We had one, but we can’t make a silly penalty on the one yard line, with us going in, making things hard for ourselves. But we’ll make those corrections coming in tomorrow and we’ll be alright.”
RE: Touchdown to Steve Smith
“Well Smitty was pinpointing a lot of things with him being singled up. That’s one thing that Smitty prides himself, is when he gets man-to-man coverage, he has to win. So we challenged him to get open in that particular situation, and he did, and he made a guy miss, made two guys miss, and got a big score, a much-needed score for us.”
RE: Believing that momentum is building after back-to-back wins
“I really do, but I don’t want to stunt any growth for us right now. We’ve just got to continuously have the mentality to be 1-0 each and every week. Our main focus right now, we’re 3-3, we’re .500, but we have to find a way. Our preparation leading up into this week, is to put ourselves into a situation where we can be 4-3 on Thursday.”
RE: Winning games that would have been losses in the past
“Well for us, we have to finish. We know what the situation is at hand, and it’s going to be challenges that we can’t just make a phone call over to the opposing team and say ‘Hey, we need a score right now, let us get a score.’ There’s no negotiating that. It comes down to us just doing our task at hand, and being accountable for each and every thing. Coach says it all the time; it’s about one guy, focusing on their particular roles. Not one guy worrying about 11 other roles. So, if we do that we’ll be alright.”
RE: Atmosphere of today’s game
“I think one thing that goes unnoticed in a game like this is our home crowd. You know, it was very emotional and just to get a first down, and just to get a response out of the BoA [Bank of America Stadium] the way we did today was unbelievable. It’s not on the stat sheet, it’s not going to make SportsCenter, but when you got a lot of people screaming at you, just with the momentum that’s going on with the drive, that little extra ‘umph,’ it gives us the spirit to stay up and finish the drive. But, like the drive that it got ugly on, we had put ourselves in the situation where we’re on the one and we can’t make a bonehead mistake. Mike [Tolbert]’s better than that, and I don’t think if he’s put in that situation again, he’ll make the same mistake. We’ll learn from it, and that’s the only thing we can do. So if that situation presents itself again, we’ll do something different.”
Panthers T Byron Bell
RE: Offensive Turnaround
“We got stopped early with the safety and went three and out one series and we had to regroup. We made some adjustments on the sideline and from there we started moving the ball.”
RE: Captain Setting the Tone
“That was huge, to get an interception for the first play of the game and take it back for six, that was huge and that set the tone for the game and we rolled on that momentum. If we keep playing like that we should be fine.”
RE: Quick Turnaround with Tampa Bay
“The challenge is to get in the ice tubs and get our bodies healthy as quick as possible so we will be ready to roll against Tampa Bay on Thursday night.”
Panthers LB Thomas Davis
RE: Playing as a team
“As a team, we’re playing together. We’re playing for each other, and that’s what it’s about. When we come together and we play together as a team, I think it’s going to be really hard to beat us.”
RE: Earning a 3-3 record today
“Everybody in this locker room and on this team has bought in. We know where we are at this point in the season, and we know where we want to get to. We finally made it back to .500; it took us a couple weeks, but we’re here.
