- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
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- Name
- The Dude
(On how DE Michael Sam fits into the Rams’ locker room)
“I think when you watch the highlights that he had from college, and just being in St. Louis and seeing a couple Missouri games, the kid’s a football player. Michael is Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC, in what people consider the greatest conference in college football. You put him in a D-line group that is already extremely talented and productive, and we just added a couple of other pieces over the weekend, I think he’ll fit in great. From what everybody talks about, I was talking to (Rams WR and Missouri grad) T.J. Moe about him and just the kid is going to come in and work hard. I think that’s just kind of the DNA of those guys in the room right now. They just go to work. They work hard in the weight room, out on the field. They’re a bunch of good guys. I think he’ll fit in great.”
(On if he could think of a better group to sit in with than the Rams’ defensive line group)
“No. Not only does he have the opportunity to be around, definitely like you said, a diverse group in there, but I think he has a lot of guys in that room that he can learn from football-wise. I think that’s the most important thing. He has a guy like Robert (Quinn) and Chris (Long) and William (Hayes) and Eugene (Sims). There’s a lot of players in there that are really good football players that, obviously, the competition is really deep there in that room. However, I do think we’re getting an extremely productive guy that’s going to come in and work hard. I think he’s going to want to prove himself and we’re excited about that. I think from the reaction you’ve seen from people on our team on Twitter and all that, I think it just shows we’ve got a group of guys that all we care about is, hey, if you can come in and help this football team and win football games and get to where we want to go, I think that answer is definitely yes.”
(On if he thinks it was a courageous move by the team to draft Sam)
“I don’t think it was courageous. I think with the selections that we had, I don’t think you have many opportunities to get a defensive player of the year of a conference in the seventh round, especially with a compensatory pick like we did. I think it’s a calculated move by the organization. I was reading something that we were going to offer him as an undrafted guy anyway, so I think if you have the opportunity to draft a guy that you think is extremely productive and maybe you had a higher grade on him than where he is, you go ahead and take that. I think football-wise, it was a very smart decision.”
(On the moves the Rams made defensively in the draft)
“I like really almost everything we did. Obviously the first day, they’ve been praised by the picks and they should have been. They were great. Obviously, any time you draft D-linemen for me, I’m going to be happy. I love having those extra guys in here. Aaron Donald is a guy, you just kept hearing his name pop up every weekend. You would see him making plays and just hear about how disruptive he was. Greg Robinson - big mammoth of a guy - he’s going to help our offense. I think you got an understanding of what the Rams’ identity is after this weekend. You kind of had an idea before, but after this weekend, it’s all about the interior and the other guys we got. Lamarcus Joyner, you watch him on tape and you see him all over the field flying around. Tre Mason, tough runner, guy that breaks tackles. I remember watching Auburn football games and just thinking to myself, ‘It’s dang near impossible for one guy to get him down on the ground.’ He has a variety of ways of making guys miss and running through people. You just see the guys that we picked over even today. I know Christian Bryant, and talking to the defensive coordinator at Ohio State, we’re still friends from when I played there. He said when Christian went down, he thought that their defense lost their heart beat and that he was the toughest guy that maybe he’s ever coached. Knowing the identity of what Coach (Jeff) Fisher wants the guys in our locker room to be like, I think it was reinforced over the weekend with the players that we picked.”
(On what Sam will have to do win a job on a deep defensive line)
“This league is all about production. Really you’re only good as your last performance in this league. Heck, if you have a couple bad games in a row sometimes, people start to think that maybe you’ve passed your playing ability and you should get out of the league. It’s that competitive all the time. Every day is an interview. (Defensive Coordinator) Gregg Williams says that to us all the time: every single day is an interview. You’re interviewing in either a positive way or a negative way. The best way that he can make our football team is just come in and work and make plays. Prove that he knows the playbook and gets in here and studies. Prove that you know it mentally and then get out there when the physical stuff happens. You can’t really do much until training camp as a defensive lineman. OTAs are good and all, but you can’t really tell who the playmakers are in the trenches until you put the pads on. That’s in August. When that time comes around, the more and more he has opportunities on the field to make plays and get out there and just do what he did at Mizzou, I think that will better suit him. That’s his best chance of making it for us.”
(On working with Williams)
“I’m just really excited to work with him. He comes in the meeting, he sets the tempo. He’s big on just guys’ effort and how much they care about the game of football. There’s not any excuses. What I love about him is that it doesn’t matter about the name on the back of your jersey. If you go out and produce, he doesn’t care what round you were drafted in. He doesn’t care about your pedigree. He doesn’t care about anything. He’s going to play the best 11 (players). He’ll find ways for the best 11 in certain packages to get on the field. The first day, he puts up a list of all the packages that we run and the list is so creative that I don’t think you’ve ever seen before. It’s just stuff that two years ago with (former Rams Linebackers Coach) Blake (Williams) we got to see a sneak peek of some of it when Blake was trying to run the stuff. But, to have Gregg here and actually see how much he knows the defense, it’s extremely impressive. In walkthru, he will go through every single person and just knows exactly how it has to be run, from a shade (defensive lineman) to the safety to if the nickel is blitzing on something, he has to sell it this way if it’s pass or it has to be this way if it’s run and here’s why. The overall knowledge that he brings to our defense and the confidence that he gives you as a player and freedom, it’s exciting. I’m excited for all of our young guys to grow with this and see what we can become. So far, I think the reaction has been great from the guys.”
(On who the Ohio State defensive coordinator is)
“Luke Fickell.”
“I think when you watch the highlights that he had from college, and just being in St. Louis and seeing a couple Missouri games, the kid’s a football player. Michael is Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC, in what people consider the greatest conference in college football. You put him in a D-line group that is already extremely talented and productive, and we just added a couple of other pieces over the weekend, I think he’ll fit in great. From what everybody talks about, I was talking to (Rams WR and Missouri grad) T.J. Moe about him and just the kid is going to come in and work hard. I think that’s just kind of the DNA of those guys in the room right now. They just go to work. They work hard in the weight room, out on the field. They’re a bunch of good guys. I think he’ll fit in great.”
(On if he could think of a better group to sit in with than the Rams’ defensive line group)
“No. Not only does he have the opportunity to be around, definitely like you said, a diverse group in there, but I think he has a lot of guys in that room that he can learn from football-wise. I think that’s the most important thing. He has a guy like Robert (Quinn) and Chris (Long) and William (Hayes) and Eugene (Sims). There’s a lot of players in there that are really good football players that, obviously, the competition is really deep there in that room. However, I do think we’re getting an extremely productive guy that’s going to come in and work hard. I think he’s going to want to prove himself and we’re excited about that. I think from the reaction you’ve seen from people on our team on Twitter and all that, I think it just shows we’ve got a group of guys that all we care about is, hey, if you can come in and help this football team and win football games and get to where we want to go, I think that answer is definitely yes.”
(On if he thinks it was a courageous move by the team to draft Sam)
“I don’t think it was courageous. I think with the selections that we had, I don’t think you have many opportunities to get a defensive player of the year of a conference in the seventh round, especially with a compensatory pick like we did. I think it’s a calculated move by the organization. I was reading something that we were going to offer him as an undrafted guy anyway, so I think if you have the opportunity to draft a guy that you think is extremely productive and maybe you had a higher grade on him than where he is, you go ahead and take that. I think football-wise, it was a very smart decision.”
(On the moves the Rams made defensively in the draft)
“I like really almost everything we did. Obviously the first day, they’ve been praised by the picks and they should have been. They were great. Obviously, any time you draft D-linemen for me, I’m going to be happy. I love having those extra guys in here. Aaron Donald is a guy, you just kept hearing his name pop up every weekend. You would see him making plays and just hear about how disruptive he was. Greg Robinson - big mammoth of a guy - he’s going to help our offense. I think you got an understanding of what the Rams’ identity is after this weekend. You kind of had an idea before, but after this weekend, it’s all about the interior and the other guys we got. Lamarcus Joyner, you watch him on tape and you see him all over the field flying around. Tre Mason, tough runner, guy that breaks tackles. I remember watching Auburn football games and just thinking to myself, ‘It’s dang near impossible for one guy to get him down on the ground.’ He has a variety of ways of making guys miss and running through people. You just see the guys that we picked over even today. I know Christian Bryant, and talking to the defensive coordinator at Ohio State, we’re still friends from when I played there. He said when Christian went down, he thought that their defense lost their heart beat and that he was the toughest guy that maybe he’s ever coached. Knowing the identity of what Coach (Jeff) Fisher wants the guys in our locker room to be like, I think it was reinforced over the weekend with the players that we picked.”
(On what Sam will have to do win a job on a deep defensive line)
“This league is all about production. Really you’re only good as your last performance in this league. Heck, if you have a couple bad games in a row sometimes, people start to think that maybe you’ve passed your playing ability and you should get out of the league. It’s that competitive all the time. Every day is an interview. (Defensive Coordinator) Gregg Williams says that to us all the time: every single day is an interview. You’re interviewing in either a positive way or a negative way. The best way that he can make our football team is just come in and work and make plays. Prove that he knows the playbook and gets in here and studies. Prove that you know it mentally and then get out there when the physical stuff happens. You can’t really do much until training camp as a defensive lineman. OTAs are good and all, but you can’t really tell who the playmakers are in the trenches until you put the pads on. That’s in August. When that time comes around, the more and more he has opportunities on the field to make plays and get out there and just do what he did at Mizzou, I think that will better suit him. That’s his best chance of making it for us.”
(On working with Williams)
“I’m just really excited to work with him. He comes in the meeting, he sets the tempo. He’s big on just guys’ effort and how much they care about the game of football. There’s not any excuses. What I love about him is that it doesn’t matter about the name on the back of your jersey. If you go out and produce, he doesn’t care what round you were drafted in. He doesn’t care about your pedigree. He doesn’t care about anything. He’s going to play the best 11 (players). He’ll find ways for the best 11 in certain packages to get on the field. The first day, he puts up a list of all the packages that we run and the list is so creative that I don’t think you’ve ever seen before. It’s just stuff that two years ago with (former Rams Linebackers Coach) Blake (Williams) we got to see a sneak peek of some of it when Blake was trying to run the stuff. But, to have Gregg here and actually see how much he knows the defense, it’s extremely impressive. In walkthru, he will go through every single person and just knows exactly how it has to be run, from a shade (defensive lineman) to the safety to if the nickel is blitzing on something, he has to sell it this way if it’s pass or it has to be this way if it’s run and here’s why. The overall knowledge that he brings to our defense and the confidence that he gives you as a player and freedom, it’s exciting. I’m excited for all of our young guys to grow with this and see what we can become. So far, I think the reaction has been great from the guys.”
(On who the Ohio State defensive coordinator is)
“Luke Fickell.”