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Rams' Quick finally fulfilling lofty expectations
By Nate Latsch
http://stl.scout.com/2/1456748.html
ST. LOUIS — There were always going to be high expectations for Rams wide receiver Brian Quick. That’s what happens when you’re a high-profile draft pick, at a position of need for a rebuilding franchise and a national sports website immediately labels you as the next Terrell Owens.
Even the announcement of Quick’s selection at the 2012 NFL Draft was done by both Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, two potential Hall of Fame wide receivers from the Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf era.
“He’s a tall, athletic, talented receiver,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher told Michael Silver of Yahoo Sports after selecting Quick with the first pick of the second round in the 2012 draft. “He’s got great speed and impressive ball skills. He might not be a big name, but we believe he'll do some big things for us.”
It has taken some time, but Quick is making Fisher and general manager Les Snead look pretty smart for picking him and then sticking with him as he has become one of the league’s biggest breakthrough performers so far this season.
The third-year wide receiver leads the Rams (1-2) in every major receiving category and also ranks among the NFL leaders in receptions (16), receiving yards (235), yards per reception (14.7), receptions longer than 20 yards (three), receptions longer than 40 yards (one) and first downs (10).
Silver was embedded with Fisher and the Rams during the 2012 draft — the first of the Fisher and Snead era in St. Louis — and detailed how the Rams’ decision makers traveled the country to look at wide receivers like Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon, Notre Dame’s Michael Floyd, Baylor’s Kendall Wright and A.J. Jenkins of Illinois and Quick, from Appalachian State, leading up to the draft.
Blackmon, Floyd, Wright and Jenkins were all selected in the first round, but the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Quick was still available when the Rams opened the second round with the 33rd overall pick.
Even though the expectations for Quick were high, there figures to be an adjustment period for a small-college standout with limited football experience making the jump to the NFL.
But after two rocky seasons, in which he combined to catch 29 passes for 458 yards and four touchdowns in 31 games, it was reasonable to question whether the second-round pick would ever become the kind of contributor that many envisioned when the Rams selected him.
After offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer called him probably the team’s most improved player, Quick said that he felt much more comfortable going into his third season in the offensive system and was looking to show what he was capable of.
“Man, I’m going to go out there and I’m going to try to kill it,” Quick said then. “Make sure we go to the playoffs. Whatever we have to do, whatever I have to do, I’m going to give it my all. That’s my goal, just put it all on the field and give it all. Lay it all on the line for the coaches, especially for Coach Fish, and Les Snead. Just make sure everything is crisp and make sure they have confidence in me to go out there.”
He’s done just that and much much more after three games this season.
Fisher was asked following Thursday’s practice, the final practice session of the team’s bye week, if he was surprised by Quick’s performance so far this season.
“Not surprised, no,” Fisher said. “It was an expectation. 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. 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.”
One of those plays came last Sunday, early in the second quarter against the Cowboys, when Quick lined up wide left, ran past cornerback Morris Claiborne and then hauled in a 51-yard touchdown reception from Austin Davis.
Quick had a microphone on him as part of a video feature that would later run on the Rams’ website. After celebrating with his teammates in the end zone, Quick headed to the sidelines where he was met by Fisher, the coach who placed his faith in the wide receiver with that second-round pick years earlier.
“I expect that out of you, okay?” Fisher told Quick. “That’s a great job.”
