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Fisher no longer in Montana state of mind
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_c0747ac5-4388-5203-8e2e-12a9aeb4f600.html
For the Rams and NFL teams everywhere, these are the happy days of training camp. For the players, their bodies feel about as good as they will for the next six months. Even the coaches come back refreshed after the summer break, Jeff Fisher included.
“Every year’s a challenge. Every roster’s different,” Fisher said, as he begins his 19th full season as an NFL head coach, and his third in St. Louis.
“It’s the players; the players keep me going,” Fisher said. “I enjoy the relationships, and I enjoy seeing them develop. Enjoy the chemistry in the locker room and welcome the challenge in the division. All it takes is two or three weeks in Montana and here we go again.”
Montana is where Fisher spent nearly all of his time between now and the end of OTAs in late June. He owns a place in Big Sky Country, and suffice it to say does a lot of fishing there. Except for a brief side trip to Los Angeles for the ESPYs, where Michael Sam received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award in mid-July, Fisher didn’t budge from Montana.
But from now until January — maybe longer with a playoff berth — Fisher won’t budge from Rams Park. It doesn’t take a mind reader to figure out that Fisher likes this team, these 2014 Rams. Whether he still likes it in December remains to be seen.
As the Rams finish off their first weekend of camp with an evening practice Sunday, team energy has been high on the practice field and in the meeting rooms. Fisher doesn’t need to give any pep talks at this point — more often than not, he has to back down the players a little. Youngsters, after all, have a lot of energy.
“I know everyone on the team’s excited, especially building up through OTAs,” said fourth-year wide receiver Austin Pettis. “I think both sides of the ball have big expectations this year. And being able to finally get camp started, get that much closer to the games, is a good feeling.”
Potential can be a dangerous word, as veteran defensive end Chris Long points out. And excitement alone won’t be enough to get the Rams where they need to be. Namely, their first winning season since 2003, and their first playoff season since 2004.
“Every year, you think this could be the year,” Long said. “It could be the year for you personally. It could be the year for you as a team. ... Everybody has that attitude I think. And that’s just the excitement off it.
“Every team in the NFL has hopes, and we’re all undefeated right now. But pretty quickly, you’ve just got to move from excitement to intense focus.”
Otherwise, you’ll get left behind. This Rams team has plenty of potential, but that doesn’t guarantee victories.
“That stuff has to play itself out on the field,” Long said. “Potential can only get you so much. We’ve been here before, where we’ve said this has got to be the year. Well, it’s gotta be the year if we make it the year. We have to play it out.”
The “playing out” part of Long’s equation got underway over the weekend. The Rams dodged the weather on Friday and Saturday — with rain leaving the area just before practice Friday, and some rain coming in just as practice ended early Saturday evening. Cloud cover and an occasional breeze made Saturday’s mid-90s temperatures much more bearable.
“We need some heat, in particular because we’re gonna go down in Week 2 to Tampa Bay,” Fisher said after Saturday’s practice. “We’ll get our opportunities (for heat). But from an acclimation standpoint, it’s ideal what we’ve been through the last couple days.”
Even with the weather concerns, the crowds have been good over the weekend. It used to be rare for the Rams to draw 1,000 spectators to Earth City for camp. But they’ve drawn over 1,400 on the first two days: 1,484 Friday and 1,434 Saturday.
The intimate setting at Earth City has fans close to the players. That’s especially true this season because of a new offensive line drill added by line coach Paul Boudreau.
Every day, team security ropes off an area on a hill and temporarily clears the crowd out in that area. But the fans are still only a few feet away from the players as one offensive lineman pushes another up the hill.
On Saturday, Boudreau had Auburn’s Greg Robinson and Alabama’s Barrett Jones take part in a “race” to see which one could push a player up the hill first. The rest of the offensive linemen, who were watching, quickly dubbed it Iron Bowl II — in honor of the Alabama-Auburn rivalry game.
Alabama won, with Jones pushing his player up the hill first.
At one point or another, most fans have taken a look at Mizzou defensive end Michael Sam during practice, and he didn’t disappoint Saturday. He had a stellar day rushing the passer from the left end position, mainly against offensive tackles Sean Hooey and R.J. Dill.
“He’s improving — he is,” defensive line coach Mike Waufle said of Sam. “And like all rookies, they’re baby steps. But the baby steps are good.”
Day 2 featured big plays by quarterback Sam Bradford and the receiving corps — particularly Kenny Britt and Tavon Austin. No. 2 overall draft pick Robinson continues to work at left tackle as Jake Long works his way back into practice/game readiness.
“He’s learned that Rob Quinn is a really good rusher,” Fisher joked when asked how Robinson was faring at tackle. “I think he knew that before he got out here, but it’s different in person.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_c0747ac5-4388-5203-8e2e-12a9aeb4f600.html
For the Rams and NFL teams everywhere, these are the happy days of training camp. For the players, their bodies feel about as good as they will for the next six months. Even the coaches come back refreshed after the summer break, Jeff Fisher included.
“Every year’s a challenge. Every roster’s different,” Fisher said, as he begins his 19th full season as an NFL head coach, and his third in St. Louis.
“It’s the players; the players keep me going,” Fisher said. “I enjoy the relationships, and I enjoy seeing them develop. Enjoy the chemistry in the locker room and welcome the challenge in the division. All it takes is two or three weeks in Montana and here we go again.”
Montana is where Fisher spent nearly all of his time between now and the end of OTAs in late June. He owns a place in Big Sky Country, and suffice it to say does a lot of fishing there. Except for a brief side trip to Los Angeles for the ESPYs, where Michael Sam received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award in mid-July, Fisher didn’t budge from Montana.
But from now until January — maybe longer with a playoff berth — Fisher won’t budge from Rams Park. It doesn’t take a mind reader to figure out that Fisher likes this team, these 2014 Rams. Whether he still likes it in December remains to be seen.
As the Rams finish off their first weekend of camp with an evening practice Sunday, team energy has been high on the practice field and in the meeting rooms. Fisher doesn’t need to give any pep talks at this point — more often than not, he has to back down the players a little. Youngsters, after all, have a lot of energy.
“I know everyone on the team’s excited, especially building up through OTAs,” said fourth-year wide receiver Austin Pettis. “I think both sides of the ball have big expectations this year. And being able to finally get camp started, get that much closer to the games, is a good feeling.”
Potential can be a dangerous word, as veteran defensive end Chris Long points out. And excitement alone won’t be enough to get the Rams where they need to be. Namely, their first winning season since 2003, and their first playoff season since 2004.
“Every year, you think this could be the year,” Long said. “It could be the year for you personally. It could be the year for you as a team. ... Everybody has that attitude I think. And that’s just the excitement off it.
“Every team in the NFL has hopes, and we’re all undefeated right now. But pretty quickly, you’ve just got to move from excitement to intense focus.”
Otherwise, you’ll get left behind. This Rams team has plenty of potential, but that doesn’t guarantee victories.
“That stuff has to play itself out on the field,” Long said. “Potential can only get you so much. We’ve been here before, where we’ve said this has got to be the year. Well, it’s gotta be the year if we make it the year. We have to play it out.”
The “playing out” part of Long’s equation got underway over the weekend. The Rams dodged the weather on Friday and Saturday — with rain leaving the area just before practice Friday, and some rain coming in just as practice ended early Saturday evening. Cloud cover and an occasional breeze made Saturday’s mid-90s temperatures much more bearable.
“We need some heat, in particular because we’re gonna go down in Week 2 to Tampa Bay,” Fisher said after Saturday’s practice. “We’ll get our opportunities (for heat). But from an acclimation standpoint, it’s ideal what we’ve been through the last couple days.”
Even with the weather concerns, the crowds have been good over the weekend. It used to be rare for the Rams to draw 1,000 spectators to Earth City for camp. But they’ve drawn over 1,400 on the first two days: 1,484 Friday and 1,434 Saturday.
The intimate setting at Earth City has fans close to the players. That’s especially true this season because of a new offensive line drill added by line coach Paul Boudreau.
Every day, team security ropes off an area on a hill and temporarily clears the crowd out in that area. But the fans are still only a few feet away from the players as one offensive lineman pushes another up the hill.
On Saturday, Boudreau had Auburn’s Greg Robinson and Alabama’s Barrett Jones take part in a “race” to see which one could push a player up the hill first. The rest of the offensive linemen, who were watching, quickly dubbed it Iron Bowl II — in honor of the Alabama-Auburn rivalry game.
Alabama won, with Jones pushing his player up the hill first.
At one point or another, most fans have taken a look at Mizzou defensive end Michael Sam during practice, and he didn’t disappoint Saturday. He had a stellar day rushing the passer from the left end position, mainly against offensive tackles Sean Hooey and R.J. Dill.
“He’s improving — he is,” defensive line coach Mike Waufle said of Sam. “And like all rookies, they’re baby steps. But the baby steps are good.”
Day 2 featured big plays by quarterback Sam Bradford and the receiving corps — particularly Kenny Britt and Tavon Austin. No. 2 overall draft pick Robinson continues to work at left tackle as Jake Long works his way back into practice/game readiness.
“He’s learned that Rob Quinn is a really good rusher,” Fisher joked when asked how Robinson was faring at tackle. “I think he knew that before he got out here, but it’s different in person.”
