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Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – Post-Practice – December 5, 2013
(On Arizona spreading the ball around more at this point in the season)
“Statistically they are. (WR Michael) Floyd’s got 54 catches and ‘Fitz’ (WR Larry Fitzgerald) has 55 or vice versa. Then, (RB Andre) Ellington’s got a lot of touches, tight ends, (TE Rob) Housler’s catching the ball. Then, everybody’s taking turns running the football. They do a nice job, offensively. (Cardinals Head Coach) Bruce (Arians) is an outstanding offensive coach.”
(On what he sees from Floyd)
“He’s in his second year and really with Carson and having spent or at least getting a number of games under their belt, Carson’s very comfortable now just putting the ball up to him. He knows he can jump and elevate. So, he’s just trusting him to put the ball up then he’s coming down with it. He’s doing a nice job. He can run and is a big target in the end zone.”
(On the Arizona defense, specifically if they are more aggressive than Week 1)
“They’re pressuring on every down, but it’s sound pressure. They’re doing a lot of unique things. They just don’t line up and do the same thing over and over again. They’re going to game plan you. They’re going to have a sophisticated pressure package on third down. SO, you’ve got to be sound in your protections and they defend the run very well.”
(On how LT Jake Long is doing)
“Practiced today. He’s pushing through the protocol, doing fine.”
Rams Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer – Post-Practice – December 5, 2013
(On the Cardinals’ defense looking a little different compared to Week 1)
“Yeah, I’ll tell you what, they’re playing really well. Very athletic group, obviously having (LB Daryl) Washington back, obviously watching ‘Honey Badger’ (S Tyrann Mathieu) kind of get more comfortable now that he’s in a starting role. The defensive line’s playing really, really well. They’ve got (LB John) Abraham rolling now off the edge, so a very athletic group. Playing really hard and they do a bunch of stuff that creates problems just from some of the third down defenses they give you, some of the first, second down coverages that they play. We all know, obviously, about (CB) Patrick Peterson on the outside and his ability just to try to take people out of a game is well known.”
(On if Mathieu is playing safety in base defense)
“Yeah, they’re moving him around, but he’s a starting free safety and when it goes sub, they move him inside. Obviously, he’s a great athlete, good coverage player. You see him match up on receivers all the time playing man-to-man and he looks very, very comfortable in the role they have him in. He’s making a lot of plays.”
(On if Arizona’s defense is more aggressive)
“Yeah, I think so, absolutely. You look at first, second down, there’s a lot of pressure. Third down it jumps off the roof. There’s a bunch of pressure that they’re doing, some real exotic stuff, multiple stuff, but they’re doing a great job. I think (Defensive Coordinator) Todd Bowles has been doing it for a long time at a very high level, and those guys are having a lot of fun. It’s kind of a veteran group with a few young players in there, but a very, very good group.”
(On TE Jared Cook’s big game against Arizona in Week 1)
“Yeah, he played well. Obviously, again they play a lot of man-to-man, so he’s going to get isolated. He made some plays on (LB) Yeremiah Bell in that first game. They’ll certainly do some things differently, but obviously ‘Cookie’s’ got that type of ability when people want to play him one-on-one he can certainly match-up and make plays.”
(On if he likes Cook’s progress this season)
“Absolutely. He always is a good target for us in the money zone on third down. Again, the thing I’m most pleased about is the effort in the run game. Obviously, we know what he is as a pass receiver, but the run game, he’s taken a lot of steps up, working really hard with (Tight Ends) Coach (Rob) Boras and he’s doing some things in the run game that we never saw him do before in Tennessee that we’re really pleased about.”
(On not getting huge games out of Cook due to distributing the ball to other players)
“Absolutely. What that game did for him is, obviously, it made people aware of him. He gathers a lot of attention in the passing game, but again we’ve got a lot of weapons. The design of the plays is with multiple progressions in mind and sometimes he’s not the first progression and he’s open and the ball goes someplace else. But, again very, very pleased with what he’s doing. I think as a whole group we can all catch the ball a little bit better, make some of the tough catches for (QB) ‘Kell’ (Kellen Clemens), but in general I think he’s had a really, really good year.”
(On how to get WR Chris Givens going)
“It’s just one of those deals that we kind of look at the hit chart each week of how we go. Last game, of course, when we played them, they matched Patrick (Peterson) on him which makes it certainly more difficult. But again, the way the passing game’s set up is we’ve got multiple progressions. We plug guys in, we try to put them in different spots so they can’t find the same people, and hopefully the first progression gets open and sometimes if you’re not the first progression you don’t get the ball. But again, he’s a guy, obviously with his speed, that we like to challenge people deep with a little bit, and again had a chance last week and just kind of got stumbled up on the one deep ball. But his time’s coming and he’s played well against these guys in the past.”
(On the health of the offensive line and if injuries affects the game plan)
“I think all we try to do is to move guys around to different spots. It got pretty thin there at the end of that San Francisco game. We were plugging guys in and stuff, but again we just move guys around because we don’t know – we’re not sure yet. But just put guys in different spots and that’s one of the reasons we do that kind of going all the way back to training camp because they have to be interchangeable wherever you carry. Whether you get seven up for the game or whatever it is, they’ve got to be interchangeable and ready to go play different spots.”
(On Cardinals LB Daryl Washington)
“One of the more athletic linebackers in the league. I saw a couple plays he’s made just in pass coverage that’s obviously top-flight defensive stuff – interceptions, plays on the ball, things like that. But just another athlete in there. You put him in there with (LB Karlos) Dansby and those guys, you’ve got Abraham coming off the edge. Like I said, it’s a veteran group, they’re very, very athletic. They run to the ball well and they create problems because they’re fast flowing and they close seams that open up in the run game in a hurry.”
(On DE Calais Campbell)
“Again, he’s probably one of the elite run defenders in the league – big man. Again, they’re moving him some, doing some things in a different spot, but a big, powerful guy that can disrupt things obviously in the running game. But, then in the passing game he knocks balls down, he gets a good push inside and kind of forces those guys back to the wide edge rushers. So, we have a lot of respect for this defense, and Campbell is certainly one of those guys that we know will be a big challenge for us in the running game.”
(On facing many elite defenses this season)
“The way we look at it, even the defenses that are ranked maybe in the bottom 10, they’re still a tough challenge, they’ve still got great players. But this stretch we’re in is, luckily for us, I guess, they’re all in our division, so at least we have a familiarity with these guys. You see them twice a year which certainly helps, but we’re ready to get out there and bounce back. We didn’t play as well as we could have played last week in San Francisco, and I think we’ve made some nice adjustments. The guys have had a good week of practice, and we’ll be excited to tee it up against Arizona.”
Rams Defensive Coordinator Tim Walton – Post-Practice – December 5, 2013
(On how the Arizona offense has changed since Week 1)
“Obviously, the quarterback is playing really well. He’s making some nice throws and (Cardinals WR Michael) Floyd has stepped up well. At their receiver position, he’s kind of the go-to-guy on first and second down. His playmaking ability and the quarterback has been in the system for a little while now through the season. So, he’s understanding their stuff better and delivering he ball really good and they still mix it up with that run-pass balance. That’s now coming together for them.”
(On if Arizona offense has been trying to stick to the run)
“Yeah. They’re keeping their mix with it. They’re doing the zone-kick stuff and then some of the bootleg stuff and misdirection off the pass game just to keep you honest. And they’re staying with it enough that you have to honor it all the time, which that play-action stuff opens it up for (Cardinals WR Larry) Fitzgerald, Floyd and those guys to push the ball down the field, which they’ve been doing a good job. Big receivers that can finish well at the top of the route and they’ve been making plays down the field.”
(On what he sees from Floyd)
“He’s just a guy that finishes well at the top of the route. He’s a guy that when he’s coming out of his break, the quarterback puts the ball up at the highest point and he does it well of going up and getting it. He makes the acrobatic catch. He has great range when the ball is being delivered to him. So, that makes it tough on defenders.”
(On the Cardinals spreading the ball around)
“They’re moving the ball around and, like I said, that balance keeps it…they use (Cardinals RB Andre) Ellington a lot out of the backfield, throwing the ball to him. They’re getting into a lot of no-back and empty sets. So, they’re spreading you out and trying to find a matchup and trying to get the ball to the open receiver.”
(On how the cornerbacks handled pressure against San Francisco last week considering the defense’s emphasis on stopping the run)
“We’ve just got to keep growing with it. We have to try to do things, coverage-wise, to help them out and mix it up a little bit more. We emphasized stopping the run and we have to keep going in that direction and just mix coverages up a little bit more to try to help balance that up when teams start to throw the ball a lot.”
(On if he likes the feistiness shown by CBs Trumaine Johnson and Janoris Jenkins against the 49ers)
“Yes sir. They’re getting better each week. They’re growing, they’re developing, they’re competing and they’re making some plays. That’s the nature out there. When guys throw the ball a lot, they’re going to get some on you at times. We just have to keep working on finishing and me do a better job of just keep mixing coverages with them to help them out, to keep give different looks out there.”
(On if S T.J. McDonald looked better in his second game back from injury)
“Yeah. He’s starting to get back to it a little bit. The rust is starting to get off of him a little bit, and he’s starting to get back and get feeling. You expect that the first game, but that second game you saw a big improvement, a big step forward, and we look for even a bigger one this week because now it’ll be his third game back under his belt.”
(On the 1-2 punch of Cardinals RBs Rashard Mendenhall and Ellington)
“Ellington likes to get the ball on the edge, good in space. They throw the ball to him out of the backfield. They flex him out in their no-back stuff and try to create the one-on-one matchup. Their inside runner will be Mendenhall. So, they have a good 1-2 punch and they try to keep you off balance with that stuff. They rotate them in and out of games. So, you have to be ready for all the different looks they’ll give you.”
(On if he’s told the defensive line that he needs another six sacks from them like they had in Week 1 against the Cardinals)
“We go out and just try to do the best we can and stop the run and then try to be positive on the backend and then they’ll come. We just keep playing hard.”
(On Arizona spreading the ball around more at this point in the season)
“Statistically they are. (WR Michael) Floyd’s got 54 catches and ‘Fitz’ (WR Larry Fitzgerald) has 55 or vice versa. Then, (RB Andre) Ellington’s got a lot of touches, tight ends, (TE Rob) Housler’s catching the ball. Then, everybody’s taking turns running the football. They do a nice job, offensively. (Cardinals Head Coach) Bruce (Arians) is an outstanding offensive coach.”
(On what he sees from Floyd)
“He’s in his second year and really with Carson and having spent or at least getting a number of games under their belt, Carson’s very comfortable now just putting the ball up to him. He knows he can jump and elevate. So, he’s just trusting him to put the ball up then he’s coming down with it. He’s doing a nice job. He can run and is a big target in the end zone.”
(On the Arizona defense, specifically if they are more aggressive than Week 1)
“They’re pressuring on every down, but it’s sound pressure. They’re doing a lot of unique things. They just don’t line up and do the same thing over and over again. They’re going to game plan you. They’re going to have a sophisticated pressure package on third down. SO, you’ve got to be sound in your protections and they defend the run very well.”
(On how LT Jake Long is doing)
“Practiced today. He’s pushing through the protocol, doing fine.”
Rams Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer – Post-Practice – December 5, 2013
(On the Cardinals’ defense looking a little different compared to Week 1)
“Yeah, I’ll tell you what, they’re playing really well. Very athletic group, obviously having (LB Daryl) Washington back, obviously watching ‘Honey Badger’ (S Tyrann Mathieu) kind of get more comfortable now that he’s in a starting role. The defensive line’s playing really, really well. They’ve got (LB John) Abraham rolling now off the edge, so a very athletic group. Playing really hard and they do a bunch of stuff that creates problems just from some of the third down defenses they give you, some of the first, second down coverages that they play. We all know, obviously, about (CB) Patrick Peterson on the outside and his ability just to try to take people out of a game is well known.”
(On if Mathieu is playing safety in base defense)
“Yeah, they’re moving him around, but he’s a starting free safety and when it goes sub, they move him inside. Obviously, he’s a great athlete, good coverage player. You see him match up on receivers all the time playing man-to-man and he looks very, very comfortable in the role they have him in. He’s making a lot of plays.”
(On if Arizona’s defense is more aggressive)
“Yeah, I think so, absolutely. You look at first, second down, there’s a lot of pressure. Third down it jumps off the roof. There’s a bunch of pressure that they’re doing, some real exotic stuff, multiple stuff, but they’re doing a great job. I think (Defensive Coordinator) Todd Bowles has been doing it for a long time at a very high level, and those guys are having a lot of fun. It’s kind of a veteran group with a few young players in there, but a very, very good group.”
(On TE Jared Cook’s big game against Arizona in Week 1)
“Yeah, he played well. Obviously, again they play a lot of man-to-man, so he’s going to get isolated. He made some plays on (LB) Yeremiah Bell in that first game. They’ll certainly do some things differently, but obviously ‘Cookie’s’ got that type of ability when people want to play him one-on-one he can certainly match-up and make plays.”
(On if he likes Cook’s progress this season)
“Absolutely. He always is a good target for us in the money zone on third down. Again, the thing I’m most pleased about is the effort in the run game. Obviously, we know what he is as a pass receiver, but the run game, he’s taken a lot of steps up, working really hard with (Tight Ends) Coach (Rob) Boras and he’s doing some things in the run game that we never saw him do before in Tennessee that we’re really pleased about.”
(On not getting huge games out of Cook due to distributing the ball to other players)
“Absolutely. What that game did for him is, obviously, it made people aware of him. He gathers a lot of attention in the passing game, but again we’ve got a lot of weapons. The design of the plays is with multiple progressions in mind and sometimes he’s not the first progression and he’s open and the ball goes someplace else. But, again very, very pleased with what he’s doing. I think as a whole group we can all catch the ball a little bit better, make some of the tough catches for (QB) ‘Kell’ (Kellen Clemens), but in general I think he’s had a really, really good year.”
(On how to get WR Chris Givens going)
“It’s just one of those deals that we kind of look at the hit chart each week of how we go. Last game, of course, when we played them, they matched Patrick (Peterson) on him which makes it certainly more difficult. But again, the way the passing game’s set up is we’ve got multiple progressions. We plug guys in, we try to put them in different spots so they can’t find the same people, and hopefully the first progression gets open and sometimes if you’re not the first progression you don’t get the ball. But again, he’s a guy, obviously with his speed, that we like to challenge people deep with a little bit, and again had a chance last week and just kind of got stumbled up on the one deep ball. But his time’s coming and he’s played well against these guys in the past.”
(On the health of the offensive line and if injuries affects the game plan)
“I think all we try to do is to move guys around to different spots. It got pretty thin there at the end of that San Francisco game. We were plugging guys in and stuff, but again we just move guys around because we don’t know – we’re not sure yet. But just put guys in different spots and that’s one of the reasons we do that kind of going all the way back to training camp because they have to be interchangeable wherever you carry. Whether you get seven up for the game or whatever it is, they’ve got to be interchangeable and ready to go play different spots.”
(On Cardinals LB Daryl Washington)
“One of the more athletic linebackers in the league. I saw a couple plays he’s made just in pass coverage that’s obviously top-flight defensive stuff – interceptions, plays on the ball, things like that. But just another athlete in there. You put him in there with (LB Karlos) Dansby and those guys, you’ve got Abraham coming off the edge. Like I said, it’s a veteran group, they’re very, very athletic. They run to the ball well and they create problems because they’re fast flowing and they close seams that open up in the run game in a hurry.”
(On DE Calais Campbell)
“Again, he’s probably one of the elite run defenders in the league – big man. Again, they’re moving him some, doing some things in a different spot, but a big, powerful guy that can disrupt things obviously in the running game. But, then in the passing game he knocks balls down, he gets a good push inside and kind of forces those guys back to the wide edge rushers. So, we have a lot of respect for this defense, and Campbell is certainly one of those guys that we know will be a big challenge for us in the running game.”
(On facing many elite defenses this season)
“The way we look at it, even the defenses that are ranked maybe in the bottom 10, they’re still a tough challenge, they’ve still got great players. But this stretch we’re in is, luckily for us, I guess, they’re all in our division, so at least we have a familiarity with these guys. You see them twice a year which certainly helps, but we’re ready to get out there and bounce back. We didn’t play as well as we could have played last week in San Francisco, and I think we’ve made some nice adjustments. The guys have had a good week of practice, and we’ll be excited to tee it up against Arizona.”
Rams Defensive Coordinator Tim Walton – Post-Practice – December 5, 2013
(On how the Arizona offense has changed since Week 1)
“Obviously, the quarterback is playing really well. He’s making some nice throws and (Cardinals WR Michael) Floyd has stepped up well. At their receiver position, he’s kind of the go-to-guy on first and second down. His playmaking ability and the quarterback has been in the system for a little while now through the season. So, he’s understanding their stuff better and delivering he ball really good and they still mix it up with that run-pass balance. That’s now coming together for them.”
(On if Arizona offense has been trying to stick to the run)
“Yeah. They’re keeping their mix with it. They’re doing the zone-kick stuff and then some of the bootleg stuff and misdirection off the pass game just to keep you honest. And they’re staying with it enough that you have to honor it all the time, which that play-action stuff opens it up for (Cardinals WR Larry) Fitzgerald, Floyd and those guys to push the ball down the field, which they’ve been doing a good job. Big receivers that can finish well at the top of the route and they’ve been making plays down the field.”
(On what he sees from Floyd)
“He’s just a guy that finishes well at the top of the route. He’s a guy that when he’s coming out of his break, the quarterback puts the ball up at the highest point and he does it well of going up and getting it. He makes the acrobatic catch. He has great range when the ball is being delivered to him. So, that makes it tough on defenders.”
(On the Cardinals spreading the ball around)
“They’re moving the ball around and, like I said, that balance keeps it…they use (Cardinals RB Andre) Ellington a lot out of the backfield, throwing the ball to him. They’re getting into a lot of no-back and empty sets. So, they’re spreading you out and trying to find a matchup and trying to get the ball to the open receiver.”
(On how the cornerbacks handled pressure against San Francisco last week considering the defense’s emphasis on stopping the run)
“We’ve just got to keep growing with it. We have to try to do things, coverage-wise, to help them out and mix it up a little bit more. We emphasized stopping the run and we have to keep going in that direction and just mix coverages up a little bit more to try to help balance that up when teams start to throw the ball a lot.”
(On if he likes the feistiness shown by CBs Trumaine Johnson and Janoris Jenkins against the 49ers)
“Yes sir. They’re getting better each week. They’re growing, they’re developing, they’re competing and they’re making some plays. That’s the nature out there. When guys throw the ball a lot, they’re going to get some on you at times. We just have to keep working on finishing and me do a better job of just keep mixing coverages with them to help them out, to keep give different looks out there.”
(On if S T.J. McDonald looked better in his second game back from injury)
“Yeah. He’s starting to get back to it a little bit. The rust is starting to get off of him a little bit, and he’s starting to get back and get feeling. You expect that the first game, but that second game you saw a big improvement, a big step forward, and we look for even a bigger one this week because now it’ll be his third game back under his belt.”
(On the 1-2 punch of Cardinals RBs Rashard Mendenhall and Ellington)
“Ellington likes to get the ball on the edge, good in space. They throw the ball to him out of the backfield. They flex him out in their no-back stuff and try to create the one-on-one matchup. Their inside runner will be Mendenhall. So, they have a good 1-2 punch and they try to keep you off balance with that stuff. They rotate them in and out of games. So, you have to be ready for all the different looks they’ll give you.”
(On if he’s told the defensive line that he needs another six sacks from them like they had in Week 1 against the Cardinals)
“We go out and just try to do the best we can and stop the run and then try to be positive on the backend and then they’ll come. We just keep playing hard.”
