TRANSCRIPT: Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher Press Conference (12-22-14)

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

Blue and Gold

Pro Bowler
Joined
Jan 6, 2014
Messages
1,741
Name
B and G
TRANSCRIPT: Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher Press Conference (12-22-14)

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – Postgame Press Conference – December 22, 2014


(Opening Statement)
“Well we got together, looked at it this morning and actually coaches are moving ahead. We created a short week for us because we’re going to give players Thursday off and you as well. Coaches are kind of moving ahead on Seattle. A lot of things I said yesterday after the ball game…the biggest difference in this game was the two turnovers. Basically, if you look at it we were two possessions short, from a standpoint of time of possession, from a standpoint of carries. They had 67 plays, we had 54 plays. Two more opportunities and maybe a third-down conversion then we have a different result. There were great things in the game, great effort, we just didn’t make the plays, we gave up to many big plays. As I said, I’ll credit (Giants QB) Eli (Manning) for really playing an outstanding game. He was in control. Didn’t have much difficulty on the line of scrimmage getting in and out things and he made some big time throws yesterday. We had some good things, I mean the blocked field goal and another punt return and some outstanding defensive efforts at times, but too many big plays. I thought offensively, (QB) Shaun’s (Hill) numbers were good enough to win. He probably wouldn’t tell you that, missed a couple throws, but we’re moving on. (CB) E.J.’s (Gaines) status, he was better this morning. He’ll be required to follow the concussion evaluation protocol this week, so we won’t know until later on in the week. But, most everybody came through it OK.”

(On if he’s OK with RB Benny Cunningham’s decision to make a spin move prior to the fumble on the kickoff)
“Yeah, no it was…you need to secure the ball. We got tangled up and he had an unblocked guy coming and wasn’t anticipating that. He’s pretty good with the ball security, specifically as it relates to kickoff returns. He’s had a productive year for us. Just kind of one of those things that happened.”

(On if the Giants ran illegal pick plays where they had receivers crossing throughout the game)
“Well they were called once. The design on longer down and distances, as a lot of people are doing it now, is to just release and block and get the ball underneath. Sometimes the contact is before the ball is thrown. The rule states it has to be more than a yard or two yards or more for contact. There was a couple times in there where it could’ve been called, but it wasn’t.”

(On if the Giants no-huddle offense caused problems for the defense)
“Not at all. No, we didn’t have any problems with it. We practiced that way every day on the practice field from a defensive standpoint. That wasn’t the issue.”

(On the status of C Scott Wells’ elbow)
“He’s been playing with it all year. Unfortunately, it’s one of those things that happened. They run the same exact play and throw a touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone and they get a good snap. We get (WR) Stedman (Bailey) open in the corner of the end zone in the same exact scheme play, but the ball was snapped high and we had to settle for a field goal. From Scott’s standpoint, it’s just a protective brace. He’s not getting treatment on the elbow, he’s strong. I think it’s more of a scary thing for him. His knot affected it, but something went wrong yesterday.”

(On if he thinks the bad snaps were injury related)
“No.”

(On if he still will go forward with Wells)
“Yeah, I‘m going to go forward with Scott. Scott does a good job inside communicating, identifying things, getting protections called. We’ll go forward. He’s just going to have to not allow that to happen, especially up there this week.”

(On if the players were in today)
“All the players came in today on their own.”

(On if he discussed the brawl)
“I didn’t. I just actually discussed it with (DE) Will (Hayes). He was the only one I discussed it with. The league will handle it. The league will handle the appropriate discipline as far as that’s concerned. I would be very surprised if we had anybody that was fined for that.”

(On what he would be surprised about regarding NFL disciplined)
“If we had someone fined or disciplined.”

(On if he would be surprised if Hayes was fined)
“Yes. I would be surprised. Now I can see what the officials are seeing with respect to (LB) Alec (Ogletree) and the late hit out of bounds, but when you look at it really close (WR) Odell (Beckham Jr.) has his face mask and he’s pulling him out of bounds, so it’s hard for him to let up. There were some other things that happened in there that were very disappointing, but I’m confident that the league will handle it. In addition to the discipline of their kicker. People get ejected for kicking people in the game and he was penalized, but there’s some sentiment, I thought he should have been ejected as well. If you buy into all the our ‘friskiness’ or all this stuff that they referred to, I think it would be good if they looked themselves in the mirror. They played really good and they played hard and they played physical. They beat us physically in a number of instances, but I don’t think we had a lot to do with those things on the sideline other than an attempt to break things up.”

(On he thinks Beckham Jr. got in his players’ heads)
“No, we just played hard.”

(On if he was saying that there was a Giants player that kicked someone that wasn’t seen by the officials)
“It was seen. He was penalized. It was their kicker on the kickoff. Typically when that happens they go. Could have been the difference in the game, going on finishing the game without a kicker.”

(On if what frustrated Hayes was having his helmet torn off)
“Yeah, he was head locked, drug out of there, helmet ripped off and then punched.”

(On if Giants K Josh Brown threw himself into the fight)
“Being involved in trying to make a tackle is one thing. A lot of people get involved to make tackles, but just don’t retaliate that way.”

(On if CB Trumaine Johnson’s performance was due to injury)
“He’s working through some things. I don’t know if he’s 100 percent, but I don’t think anybody was a 100 percent yesterday. He needs to play better. His technique was poor at times. He gave up uncharacteristic plays. He gave up plays that you would expect him to make.”

(On if he agrees Johnson has played well since returning from injury)
“Played pretty well. As I said, last night, there’s a reason that (Giants QB) Eli (Manning) has two rings.”

(On the third down defense)
“We got them into third down, which was…I don’t know how many times, I didn’t look at it, but it was 16 or 17 times in third-down or something like that, which is good. We have to do a better job. Our goal was to get them into third down and get off. Conversely, our offense only had six. Now, you take the possessions away we’ve got to be better there, we were just one-of-six. When you’re not in third down a lot that means you’re making plays on first-down, second, and getting down and making a lot of first downs. We have to do better there on third down.”

(On DT Aaron Donald having a ‘quiet game’)
“They did a nice job protecting, a lot of doubles. They were, as we say, nudging our ends. Keeping the tight ends in, a lot of seven-man protections, turn-protections, which is hard. He did make some plays however. He played hard.”

(On if on the first touchdown Johnson was supposed to stay with Beckham Jr.)
“Yeah, he’s supposed to sink and have that ball go to the flat.”

(On if Johnson didn’t play it right)
“Correct.”
 

A.J. Hicks

Hall of Fame
Joined
Aug 12, 2014
Messages
2,563
Name
zoomy
Some of the questions Jeff gets asked are so ridiculous. . . There are multiple occasions in which he answers a question and then someone asks the exact question.

I just finished watching the game myself. I really think Jeff's overall view of the game pretty much sums up what we saw yesterday. The turnovers were the killer. I think if you put the Giants on the slate for us again we would beat them. They just came to the Lou and won.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
(On if on the first touchdown Johnson was supposed to stay with Beckham Jr.)
“Yeah, he’s supposed to sink and have that ball go to the flat.”
sbgp06u.jpg
 

CGI_Ram

Hamburger Connoisseur
Moderator
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
48,082
Name
Burger man
Eli showed us what good QB play can do for a team.

I'm a Hill fan. He's a real pro. But Eli made throws Hill can't. Nothing against Hill... It's just what it is.
 

MTRamsFan

Montana is God's Country
Joined
Jun 24, 2010
Messages
4,048
Name
Greg
I just wish for once Fisher would come out and say... "Fellas, before we get to questions let me start by saying we played like shit. I take full responsibility for this team's poor performance because we did not have them ready to play. Player's need to make plays and coaches need to put players into position to have success. We didn't do that so it falls on me to makes sure this kind of poor performance never happens again going forward. I hope that answers your dumbass questions. Thank you and have a great day!" These guys need start asking more pointed questions regarding why this team is so inconsistent, etc. They ask questions they already know the answer to more times than not. They let Fisher off the hook too many times. I'm tired of the canned responses given each week. Some of his responses include too many "ifs," "ands," and "buts." However, I would love to hear some of the really dumb questions he gets asked that never get posted in an article. It seems these guys are too easy on him, or they don't know how to ask the right questions.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
I just wish for once Fisher would come out and say.. "Fellas, before we get to questions let me start by saying we played like crap. I take full responsibility for this team's poor performance because we did not have them ready to play. Player's need to make plays and coaches need to put players into position to have success
All due respect, but no. There's no way I'd believe that these coaches didn't put their players in the position to succeed. Especially after reading some of the comments from Fisher saying that so-and-so was supposed to be here, or was supposed to be doing that, but he wasn't there or didn't do that. They HAVE to be running these plays in practice over and over. I can't, for one minute, think that they weren't prepared to play. It's like saying the Giants weren't ready to cover our two TD's. Of course they were. Sometimes someone else wins individual battles, and sometimes someone just blows an assignment or makes an incorrect read or just guesses wrong.
 

MTRamsFan

Montana is God's Country
Joined
Jun 24, 2010
Messages
4,048
Name
Greg
All due respect, but no. There's no way I'd believe that these coaches didn't put their players in the position to succeed. Especially after reading some of the comments from Fisher saying that so-and-so was supposed to be here, or was supposed to be doing that, but he wasn't there or didn't do that. They HAVE to be running these plays in practice over and over. I can't, for one minute, think that they weren't prepared to play. It's like saying the Giants weren't ready to cover our two TD's. Of course they were. Sometimes someone else wins individual battles, and sometimes someone just blows an assignment or makes an incorrect read or just guesses wrong.

So that begs the question, are the coaches good at evaluating guys that can play? Are we getting guys with great talent, but no smarts or visa versa? I'm positive the coaches had these guys prepared, but what is dumbfounding is the fact we continue to play guys making the same mistakes. If we have a bunch of guys that cannot understand our schemes then we have only two options. First, replace them with someone who does. But if by replacing a player we get worse at that position, then we need to simplify the game plan. Line up and play hard. Make it simple so the probability of making a mistake is limited. If guys have to do too much thinking because the schemes are so involved then we are toast. I know if a guy has to think more than just being able to read and react he will never have great success because by the time he reacts to a play he is already beat. My two cents.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
So that begs the question, are the coaches good at evaluating guys that can play? Are we getting guys with great talent, but no smarts or visa versa? I'm positive the coaches had these guys prepared, but what is dumbfounding is the fact we continue to play guys making the same mistakes. If we have a bunch of guys that cannot understand our schemes then we have only two options. First, replace them with someone who does. But if by replacing a player we get worse at that position, then we need to simplify the game plan. Line up and play hard. Make it simple so the probability of making a mistake is limited. If guys have to do too much thinking because the schemes are so involved then we are toast. I know if a guy has to think more than just being able to read and react he will never have great success because by the time he reacts to a play he is already beat. My two cents.
I dunno, man. The way I see it is, we're in every game we play and have a chance to win every game we play. But then something happens. Be it an ill-timed penalty, an ill-timed turnover, or an ill-timed miscue, and the whole thing gets shot to pieces. I guess I think that this team is young, and has very little experience in the art of winning in high stress situations. Couple that with the idea that our QB situation has been tenuous at best, and it's just too much to overcome. I wish I had THE answer, bro. But I don't. Really, really wish I did though. I can think of four games off-hand where one or two plays reverses the outcome. That puts us at 10-5 right now (with a backup QB and no Brian Quick). Now we're having an entirely different kind of conversation. Know what I mean?
 

rhinobean

Hall of Fame
Joined
Jul 19, 2013
Messages
2,152
Name
Bob
Got to put the players on the carpet for not playing to their ability, not the coaches, when it comes to games like this! When they play to their ability, they beat teams like Denver, Seattle. When it becomes frustrating is when we expect them to beat teams like the giants! Or, minnie, or san diego and so on! Can't let nfl teams have much wiggle room, period!
 

PA Ram

Pro Bowler
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
1,339
(On if he still will go forward with Wells)
“Yeah, I‘m going to go forward with Scott. Scott does a good job inside communicating, identifying things, getting protections called. We’ll go forward. He’s just going to have to not allow that to happen, especially up there this week.”

Jim-Halpert-Looks-at-Computer-Shakes-Head.gif
 

MTRamsFan

Montana is God's Country
Joined
Jun 24, 2010
Messages
4,048
Name
Greg
I dunno, man. The way I see it is, we're in every game we play and have a chance to win every game we play. But then something happens. Be it an ill-timed penalty, an ill-timed turnover, or an ill-timed miscue, and the whole thing gets shot to pieces. I guess I think that this team is young, and has very little experience in the art of winning in high stress situations. Couple that with the idea that our QB situation has been tenuous at best, and it's just too much to overcome. I wish I had THE answer, bro. But I don't. Really, really wish I did though. I can think of four games off-hand where one or two plays reverses the outcome. That puts us at 10-5 right now (with a backup QB and no Brian Quick). Now we're having an entirely different kind of conversation. Know what I mean?
I hear you. I think we are all the same. We're tired of seeing our RAMS lose and when we see glimmers of hope, we shake our head in disbelief when we shoot ourselves in the foot. My biggest fear, and I have stated it so many times, with this being a young team, will they ever get over the hump and learn how to win on a consistent basis. In my mind, losing is much more contagious than winning. Losing is easy where as winning involves so much more. We all want to see this franchise win, and I'm hoping for a brighter future in 2015. I can only hope!
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
(On if he still will go forward with Wells)
“Yeah, I‘m going to go forward with Scott. Scott does a good job inside communicating, identifying things, getting protections called. We’ll go forward. He’s just going to have to not allow that to happen, especially up there this week.”

----

There's the answer about what he does that Jones doesn't have down yet. I suspect this will be his last year here, and I don't think that Jones playing one more game is going to advance his career any further than if he didn't play next week. I'm not down on Jones, and don't think that he's worse than Wells either. It just means that maybe he's not recognizing things as quickly or as easily as Wells does (in practice). Being flanked by you know who doesn't help much either, I'd imagine.
 

blackbart

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
6,212
Name
Tim
I still believe in Fisher even though I am exasperated with some of this nonsense.

He did not discuss the brawl with the team??? The youngest team in the league? That isn't a teaching opportunity?
He doesn't know if Tru is 100%?? WTF he is the head coach who believes he doesn't know? I mean I get it you don't want to set him up for more attention this week but really?

Just so tired of we practiced hard there were some good things we are better than our record we see improvement our record sucks again PLEASE keep spending your hard earned money to support this franchise.