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Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – News Conference – October 21, 2013
(Opening remarks on QB Sam Bradford)
“Well, as I mentioned at the conclusion of the game yesterday in Carolina, that we were going to bring Sam back and do the tests, the MRIs and such, and then we would follow up with an announcement. As we reported this morning, he does have a torn ACL. The knee itself is in really good shape with the exception of the ACL, so we expect a full and complete recovery. He will be lost for this season, and to add upon our report this morning, he’ll be undergoing surgery to repair that sometime over the next two to three weeks, which is typical with this type of injury. You typically want to wait until the swelling is reduced and there is a range of motion and strength back in the quad, so it will be done in the next two to three weeks. Very difficult loss for us, especially for him. He was playing very, very well, not only yesterday, but was just improving weekly with the group around him. We will move forward. (QB) Kellen (Clemens) is obviously the only other quarterback on our roster at this point. He will start this week. He has a very good understanding of our offense and we’ll have him ready to play. As far as replacing Sam, we have a plan in place. We’re going to take advantage of the extra day with the Monday night game and make sure we make the right decisions that will include potentially working out a number of potential replacements. It would not include a trade. We’re not going to go ahead and trade for a quarterback, but we have some names. We’ve made some contact and I’m not at liberty to discuss those names at this point.”
(On not yet having brought in a quarterback)
“That’s correct. There’s a lot of speculation out there and everybody’s talking, and everybody knows more than we do right now. OK? So, trust me, we have a process in place and we are going through that process right now.”
(On the team’s mood)
“Yeah, it’s a difficult day for us, but we’ll move forward. Fortunately, we have an extra day and we met with the team this morning, explained to them the situation and the challenge is obvious in this world where you have an impact player go down with a season ending injury, everybody else just has to step up – coaches included. Everybody in the building has to pick it up and we’ll move forward. I’m especially disappointed for Sam just because of the work and the effort and the progress that he’s made. Even yesterday, the throws that he made yesterday. He had the one touchdown to (RB) Zac (Stacy), but he has a beautiful throw to (WR) Tavon (Austin) called back because of a tripping penalty and then he has a touchdown pass dropped in the end zone by (WR) Brian (Quick). And so, he was off to a great start so it was unfortunate, but he’ll be back. He’s our quarterback.”
(On if there were noticeable improvements in Bradford’s play this year)
“Well, it’s a reflection of him being in the second year of the system and having such a great relationship with (Offensive Coordinator) Brian (Schottenheimer) and (Quarterbacks Coach) Frank (Cignetti) and then having the support system from Kellen the last two years. So, he’s done a great job. He’s got a good feel and now the football team hasn’t necessarily done a great job around him with…off to the slow start and getting behind and things like that. But, our plan was efficient and was working for a period of time yesterday with respect to the run game, the play action game, protection against a very good defense and his accurate throws. So, there’s a role reversal now. Sam’s going to remain part of what we’re doing, and he’s going to become Kellen’s support system now.”
(On if he expects Bradford to be cleared to play by the start of next season)
“There is no reason to think otherwise, yeah. I’m not going to make a soap opera out of the thing. He’s going to have his surgery and he’s going to rehab and he’s going to push through the offseason. When he’s ready, he’ll be ready but there’s no reason to expect otherwise.”
(On Bradford’s mindset)
“He’s disappointed but he accepts it. That’s part of what we do. That’s part of competition. Disappointed but he was excited about the direction we were headed but he’ll be fine.”
(On Clemens’ personality)
“Kellen is great in the building. On the field, he does a great job. His former role as of yesterday was to help the defense get ready and then support him, be ready to come off in the event that he needed to play. He prepares himself, he has a really good understanding of this offense, and he’s kind of a gun slinger. He’s going to run around and just make plays. He’s a tough guy and he’s a great teammate.”
(On if he can eliminate any potential quarterback prospects that are being discussed)
“I’m not going to mention any names whether we’re considering them or not considering them at this point.”
(On if they will prepare the new backup quarterback with a limited part of the playbook for the next game)
“There would be a limited package this week, but fortunately we have an extra day. So, whoever ends up being (No.) 2 and/or (No.) 3 would have a limited package to get us through the ballgame.”
(On what won Clemens the backup job over QB Austin Davis in training camp)
“His experience. Clearly, his experience and everything that took place on the practice field, and how productive he was on the field and his understanding of this offense.”
(On if it is a possibility they will bring in more than one backup quarterback)
“It is a possibility, yes. There is a possibility we will bring a number of prospects in, and there is a good possibility we will sign more than one, yes. So, we would then have to make a roster move, but those are kinds of things we’re discussing now.”
(On if he thought T Jake Long’s tripping penalty was actually a penalty)
“Yeah, you know what it is? They’re an excellent rushing defensive team, especially at the ends, and Jake periodically will get help as you help most tackles through it by a tight end or a back. So, (TE) Cory (Harkey) did a nice job of just banging on the way out and caught Jake off surprise and Jake went down. The defender, the end, was already on his way down when Jake lost his balance and his leg went out, and so the appearance is that it’s a trip. His leg did not affect the course or trip the defender. The defender was going down, but I could see what the umpire saw there. It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances and took a big play away from us, and it’s kind of what happened yesterday in a lot of areas was we got very close. We drop a touchdown pass, we have that called back, we have a ball tipped and returned for a touchdown, and so it was unfortunate for us yesterday.”
(On if the tripping penalty called on T Jake Long was correct)
“Yes. You know what it is…they’re an excellent rushing defensive team, especially at the ends. Jake periodically will get help, as you help most tackles by a tight ends or a back. So, (TE) Cory (Harkey) did a nice job of just banging on the way out and caught Jake off surprise and Jake went down. The defender, the end was already on his way down when Jake lost his balance and his leg went out. So, the appearance is that it’s a trip. His leg did not affect the course or trip the defender, but the defender was going down. I could see what the umpire saw there. It’s just an unfortunate set of circumstances and took a big play away from us. That’s kind of what happened yesterday in a lot of areas was we got very close. We drop a touchdown pass. We have that called back. We have a ball tipped and returned for a touchdown. It was unfortunate for us yesterday.”
(On if the run defense showed improvement against Carolina)
“I thought we did, yeah. I think they were well over 30 attempts, which include (QB) Cam’s (Newton), and we held them to 2.7 (yards) a carry. So, I thought we improved quite a bit against the scheme, a very difficult scheme to defend. The other side of that is we were 3 yards per carry, just didn’t have enough carries. So, that was us improving in both areas.”
(On how T Rodger Saffold played against the Panthers)
“Rodger played well. It was good to see him. He was very active, second level in the run game. Pass protection was good, strong, short of dominating at times in the game. As did (T) Joe (Barksdale). I think we’ll stick with that, the rotation right now.”
(On how things escalated in the game against the Panthers)
“Things were chippy, but not out of the ordinary. And then, they started to escalate, as I mentioned yesterday. We were called for defensive offsides and that was two plays after (DE) Rob (Quinn) had made contact with Cam in the backfield at the mesh point. So, we’re called for defensive offsides. It was not defensive offsides. The guard was moving. He was backing out. You don’t get to see it in the TV tape, particularly because all the attention went to everything else. Guys were frustrated there and then, I think there was a bit of retaliation towards Rob for hitting Cam and that’s when things escalated. But, we got through that. We settled down. They got that...that incorrect call gave them a first down. It was third down. Then, (WR) Steve Smith takes a ball inside the 1 (-yard line) and we get two defensive stops. Then, they’re penalized and then we held them to a field goal. Then, we come back down in three plays, score and now we’ve got an 8-point game. That’s at 5:22 left in the third quarter. Then, obviously we couldn’t get off the field. We gave up the score. Other than that… and then of course, when Sam got hit out of bounds – that’s when things escalated as far as (RG) Harvey (Dahl) and the rest of the guys. I can’t blame, I will not blame a player for doing what he did, particularly with the way that the defensive player was celebrating on the sideline. Now to give the defensive player credit, he may not have known that Sam was hurt, but the appearance did not look good.”
(On if it looks like Bradford was giving himself up by running out of bounds on the play that he was injured)
“I was sitting right in front. He was flattening out, yeah. He was not trying to gain yards. He flattened out and went to the boundary, but I can’t say it was a foul as far as the contact and the hit’s concerned. It was just a really unusual play. He got pulled in the back and he was trying to maintain his balance. The thing that was probably the most alarming or confusing was that that was the knee that was braced. That typically doesn’t happen. He was really put in an awkward position as he’s trying to come to balance.”
(On if the defensive player should have been called for taunting when Bradford was injured)
“In my opinion, yes. He did it twice. He did it initially. Then, when Harvey grabbed him, tried turning him around, he did it again. Again, I can’t say that he knew Sam was hurt. I couldn’t imagine a player taunting over an injured player.”
(On what he told his players as they were getting penalized for retaliation)
“A lot? We got caught once and that was (WR Brian) Quick. We got caught once in the game. Brian needs to know that and he’s been told that. Our future opponents will see that. So, he’s got to know that he’s got to learn to walk away. Young players have to learn that.”
(On if envisions Stacy as a three-down back in the NFL)
“Yes, we did. We drafted him because of that, because of his instincts and his intelligence and his understanding of what we’re doing and his pass protection. He was a little soft on the first play of the game and (S) Quintin (Mikell) makes a great play. We come back and repeat the play. That’s the exact same play to Brian (Quick) on the 73-yard pass and Zac also is in protection. This time he has to block a linebacker and he was very efficient with his protection.”
(On what he tells the players when everyone outside the building thinks their season is over)
“What I’ve told the players is between me and the players, but one would expect that I would not the players something along those lines. We’re going to play. We’re going to play hard. We let this one go. There were plays in this game that we could have made that may have changed the outcome, but that was a good football team and I thought overall our team improved. Now, yes we’ve been dealt with a setback but we’ll come around. They’ll come around. They’re excited about having a chance to play on Monday against the Seahawks.”
(On still have nine games to play in the season)
“Got plenty of game, got plenty of games. There was a book written in the late 90s – by I think the author’s name was (Willie Jolley) – the title is ‘A Setback is a Setup for Your Comeback.’ I referenced that back to them. So, that’s what we’re going to do. Our comeback’s already in place.”
(On this week’s practice schedule)
“We’re going to do some things on Wednesday just in preparation for the Seahawks.”
(Opening remarks on QB Sam Bradford)
“Well, as I mentioned at the conclusion of the game yesterday in Carolina, that we were going to bring Sam back and do the tests, the MRIs and such, and then we would follow up with an announcement. As we reported this morning, he does have a torn ACL. The knee itself is in really good shape with the exception of the ACL, so we expect a full and complete recovery. He will be lost for this season, and to add upon our report this morning, he’ll be undergoing surgery to repair that sometime over the next two to three weeks, which is typical with this type of injury. You typically want to wait until the swelling is reduced and there is a range of motion and strength back in the quad, so it will be done in the next two to three weeks. Very difficult loss for us, especially for him. He was playing very, very well, not only yesterday, but was just improving weekly with the group around him. We will move forward. (QB) Kellen (Clemens) is obviously the only other quarterback on our roster at this point. He will start this week. He has a very good understanding of our offense and we’ll have him ready to play. As far as replacing Sam, we have a plan in place. We’re going to take advantage of the extra day with the Monday night game and make sure we make the right decisions that will include potentially working out a number of potential replacements. It would not include a trade. We’re not going to go ahead and trade for a quarterback, but we have some names. We’ve made some contact and I’m not at liberty to discuss those names at this point.”
(On not yet having brought in a quarterback)
“That’s correct. There’s a lot of speculation out there and everybody’s talking, and everybody knows more than we do right now. OK? So, trust me, we have a process in place and we are going through that process right now.”
(On the team’s mood)
“Yeah, it’s a difficult day for us, but we’ll move forward. Fortunately, we have an extra day and we met with the team this morning, explained to them the situation and the challenge is obvious in this world where you have an impact player go down with a season ending injury, everybody else just has to step up – coaches included. Everybody in the building has to pick it up and we’ll move forward. I’m especially disappointed for Sam just because of the work and the effort and the progress that he’s made. Even yesterday, the throws that he made yesterday. He had the one touchdown to (RB) Zac (Stacy), but he has a beautiful throw to (WR) Tavon (Austin) called back because of a tripping penalty and then he has a touchdown pass dropped in the end zone by (WR) Brian (Quick). And so, he was off to a great start so it was unfortunate, but he’ll be back. He’s our quarterback.”
(On if there were noticeable improvements in Bradford’s play this year)
“Well, it’s a reflection of him being in the second year of the system and having such a great relationship with (Offensive Coordinator) Brian (Schottenheimer) and (Quarterbacks Coach) Frank (Cignetti) and then having the support system from Kellen the last two years. So, he’s done a great job. He’s got a good feel and now the football team hasn’t necessarily done a great job around him with…off to the slow start and getting behind and things like that. But, our plan was efficient and was working for a period of time yesterday with respect to the run game, the play action game, protection against a very good defense and his accurate throws. So, there’s a role reversal now. Sam’s going to remain part of what we’re doing, and he’s going to become Kellen’s support system now.”
(On if he expects Bradford to be cleared to play by the start of next season)
“There is no reason to think otherwise, yeah. I’m not going to make a soap opera out of the thing. He’s going to have his surgery and he’s going to rehab and he’s going to push through the offseason. When he’s ready, he’ll be ready but there’s no reason to expect otherwise.”
(On Bradford’s mindset)
“He’s disappointed but he accepts it. That’s part of what we do. That’s part of competition. Disappointed but he was excited about the direction we were headed but he’ll be fine.”
(On Clemens’ personality)
“Kellen is great in the building. On the field, he does a great job. His former role as of yesterday was to help the defense get ready and then support him, be ready to come off in the event that he needed to play. He prepares himself, he has a really good understanding of this offense, and he’s kind of a gun slinger. He’s going to run around and just make plays. He’s a tough guy and he’s a great teammate.”
(On if he can eliminate any potential quarterback prospects that are being discussed)
“I’m not going to mention any names whether we’re considering them or not considering them at this point.”
(On if they will prepare the new backup quarterback with a limited part of the playbook for the next game)
“There would be a limited package this week, but fortunately we have an extra day. So, whoever ends up being (No.) 2 and/or (No.) 3 would have a limited package to get us through the ballgame.”
(On what won Clemens the backup job over QB Austin Davis in training camp)
“His experience. Clearly, his experience and everything that took place on the practice field, and how productive he was on the field and his understanding of this offense.”
(On if it is a possibility they will bring in more than one backup quarterback)
“It is a possibility, yes. There is a possibility we will bring a number of prospects in, and there is a good possibility we will sign more than one, yes. So, we would then have to make a roster move, but those are kinds of things we’re discussing now.”
(On if he thought T Jake Long’s tripping penalty was actually a penalty)
“Yeah, you know what it is? They’re an excellent rushing defensive team, especially at the ends, and Jake periodically will get help as you help most tackles through it by a tight end or a back. So, (TE) Cory (Harkey) did a nice job of just banging on the way out and caught Jake off surprise and Jake went down. The defender, the end, was already on his way down when Jake lost his balance and his leg went out, and so the appearance is that it’s a trip. His leg did not affect the course or trip the defender. The defender was going down, but I could see what the umpire saw there. It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances and took a big play away from us, and it’s kind of what happened yesterday in a lot of areas was we got very close. We drop a touchdown pass, we have that called back, we have a ball tipped and returned for a touchdown, and so it was unfortunate for us yesterday.”
(On if the tripping penalty called on T Jake Long was correct)
“Yes. You know what it is…they’re an excellent rushing defensive team, especially at the ends. Jake periodically will get help, as you help most tackles by a tight ends or a back. So, (TE) Cory (Harkey) did a nice job of just banging on the way out and caught Jake off surprise and Jake went down. The defender, the end was already on his way down when Jake lost his balance and his leg went out. So, the appearance is that it’s a trip. His leg did not affect the course or trip the defender, but the defender was going down. I could see what the umpire saw there. It’s just an unfortunate set of circumstances and took a big play away from us. That’s kind of what happened yesterday in a lot of areas was we got very close. We drop a touchdown pass. We have that called back. We have a ball tipped and returned for a touchdown. It was unfortunate for us yesterday.”
(On if the run defense showed improvement against Carolina)
“I thought we did, yeah. I think they were well over 30 attempts, which include (QB) Cam’s (Newton), and we held them to 2.7 (yards) a carry. So, I thought we improved quite a bit against the scheme, a very difficult scheme to defend. The other side of that is we were 3 yards per carry, just didn’t have enough carries. So, that was us improving in both areas.”
(On how T Rodger Saffold played against the Panthers)
“Rodger played well. It was good to see him. He was very active, second level in the run game. Pass protection was good, strong, short of dominating at times in the game. As did (T) Joe (Barksdale). I think we’ll stick with that, the rotation right now.”
(On how things escalated in the game against the Panthers)
“Things were chippy, but not out of the ordinary. And then, they started to escalate, as I mentioned yesterday. We were called for defensive offsides and that was two plays after (DE) Rob (Quinn) had made contact with Cam in the backfield at the mesh point. So, we’re called for defensive offsides. It was not defensive offsides. The guard was moving. He was backing out. You don’t get to see it in the TV tape, particularly because all the attention went to everything else. Guys were frustrated there and then, I think there was a bit of retaliation towards Rob for hitting Cam and that’s when things escalated. But, we got through that. We settled down. They got that...that incorrect call gave them a first down. It was third down. Then, (WR) Steve Smith takes a ball inside the 1 (-yard line) and we get two defensive stops. Then, they’re penalized and then we held them to a field goal. Then, we come back down in three plays, score and now we’ve got an 8-point game. That’s at 5:22 left in the third quarter. Then, obviously we couldn’t get off the field. We gave up the score. Other than that… and then of course, when Sam got hit out of bounds – that’s when things escalated as far as (RG) Harvey (Dahl) and the rest of the guys. I can’t blame, I will not blame a player for doing what he did, particularly with the way that the defensive player was celebrating on the sideline. Now to give the defensive player credit, he may not have known that Sam was hurt, but the appearance did not look good.”
(On if it looks like Bradford was giving himself up by running out of bounds on the play that he was injured)
“I was sitting right in front. He was flattening out, yeah. He was not trying to gain yards. He flattened out and went to the boundary, but I can’t say it was a foul as far as the contact and the hit’s concerned. It was just a really unusual play. He got pulled in the back and he was trying to maintain his balance. The thing that was probably the most alarming or confusing was that that was the knee that was braced. That typically doesn’t happen. He was really put in an awkward position as he’s trying to come to balance.”
(On if the defensive player should have been called for taunting when Bradford was injured)
“In my opinion, yes. He did it twice. He did it initially. Then, when Harvey grabbed him, tried turning him around, he did it again. Again, I can’t say that he knew Sam was hurt. I couldn’t imagine a player taunting over an injured player.”
(On what he told his players as they were getting penalized for retaliation)
“A lot? We got caught once and that was (WR Brian) Quick. We got caught once in the game. Brian needs to know that and he’s been told that. Our future opponents will see that. So, he’s got to know that he’s got to learn to walk away. Young players have to learn that.”
(On if envisions Stacy as a three-down back in the NFL)
“Yes, we did. We drafted him because of that, because of his instincts and his intelligence and his understanding of what we’re doing and his pass protection. He was a little soft on the first play of the game and (S) Quintin (Mikell) makes a great play. We come back and repeat the play. That’s the exact same play to Brian (Quick) on the 73-yard pass and Zac also is in protection. This time he has to block a linebacker and he was very efficient with his protection.”
(On what he tells the players when everyone outside the building thinks their season is over)
“What I’ve told the players is between me and the players, but one would expect that I would not the players something along those lines. We’re going to play. We’re going to play hard. We let this one go. There were plays in this game that we could have made that may have changed the outcome, but that was a good football team and I thought overall our team improved. Now, yes we’ve been dealt with a setback but we’ll come around. They’ll come around. They’re excited about having a chance to play on Monday against the Seahawks.”
(On still have nine games to play in the season)
“Got plenty of game, got plenty of games. There was a book written in the late 90s – by I think the author’s name was (Willie Jolley) – the title is ‘A Setback is a Setup for Your Comeback.’ I referenced that back to them. So, that’s what we’re going to do. Our comeback’s already in place.”
(On this week’s practice schedule)
“We’re going to do some things on Wednesday just in preparation for the Seahawks.”