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Fisher wants Rams to think about one move -- up in the standings
Lindsay H. Jones,
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ord-houston-oilers-tennessee-titans/31773791/
EARTH CITY, Mo. – Jeff Fisher is trying to keep his locker room and practice fields and cafeteria and weight room at Rams Park a Los Angeles-free zone.
Yet for as much as Fisher wants his players to treat every day as if the threat of relocation to California didn’t exist, it is, in fact, the Rams’ reality. He knows his players will be asked about a potential move by their wives, parents, neighbors and even by strangers at the grocery store.
So Fisher presented his team with an analogy for how they should handle those uncomfortable questions, because for players, there is no right answer.
“When and if this stuff starts going, they're going to become kids in a divorce. Do you want to go to mom's side? Or do you want to go to dad's side. You don't want to be put in a position to choose. So just play, and let it work itself out,” Fisher told USA TODAY Sports.
It’s easy for players to trust Fisher’s message because, in a league where head coaches are hired and fired in quick succession, Fisher has managed to survive for 20 seasons, with just two organizations. Though he will try to make his 21st year – and his fourth with the Rams – routine for his players, it won't be for Fisher, who was the head coach of the Houston Oilers when NFL owners approved that franchise’s move to Tennessee.
“What I learned was the importance of communication, and just laying it out there and telling the truth. I never had a situation when we were going through it that I didn't, but it was reaffirmed that that was the only way to get through it,” Fisher said.
But openness isn’t just Fisher’s style when it comes to a sensitive subject like relocation, it’s how he treats players when they first arrive as draft picks or free agents, and it’s why general manager Les Snead so sure that Fisher is the right man to lead the Rams through what will surely be an unusual year, full of potential off-field distractions.
“We're lucky to have Jeff in all situations. When I say all situations, there is nothing I leave out,” Snead told USA TODAY Sports. “If we've got a problem, he knows how to fix it, and he does it in a very calming way. I think that's the number one thing. It comes with experience, and the confidence that we can handle this.”
But Fisher said he isn’t feeling any pressure that this a playoffs-or-bust kind of year for him. There is urgency, he said, but he feels that from within the locker room, from leaders like defensive end Chris Long and tight end Jared Cook, from players that are so desperate for a change of fortunes.
“I don't feel pressure, because that's the worst thing that can happen. I just want it for the players,” Fisher said. “This year they want to be there, so I'm pulling for them. I'm going to do everything I can to help.”
To players, Fisher shows that by being in tune with the pulse of the locker room, of knowing when players might be feeling sluggish and in need of a non-padded practice, identifying which players might need a pep-talk, or who might need some extra assistance with some real-life issues.
A half dozen players each used the words “players coach” as their first descriptor for Fisher, and their explanation for how he has engendered so much loyalty from them, despite the lack of winning seasons.
Cook, defensive end Williams Hayes and wide receiver Kenny Britt each followed Fisher to St. Louis after he was fired by the Tennessee Titans in 2010. Hayes was contemplating retirement before Fisher called him in 2012, and said the only way he’d continue his career is if he could do it for Fisher. When Hayes played well on his one-year contract, he eschewed the chance to make more money or start elsewhere in the NFL to stay with the Rams.
“It was the fact that I know I have a coach that cares about me and truly just wants me to be the best William Hayes I can be,” Hayes said. “It's not about just contributing, he wants me to be a good person. That means more to me than anything.”
But certainly there have been plenty of nice guys who have failed as head coaches, who couldn’t survive a 20-27 record over three years, or back-to-back finishes at the bottom of the NFC West. Of the seven coaches hired in 2012 along with Fisher, four were fired by last September. Three of the eight hired in 2013 have also been fired within two years.
Perhaps Fisher gets leeway because of his league-wide reputation built over two decades as a head coach, the respect he’s garnered from his peers (Fisher, for example, is a longtime member of the NFL’s competition committee), as well as an understanding from management that the team’s biggest on-field issue each of the past two years was one he couldn’t solve.
After former No. 1 pick Sam Bradford suffered a pair of season-ending knee injuries, the Rams were left to play 25 games with a host of backup quarterbacks. But now that Fisher has a new starter – and a proven one – in Nick Foles, acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles in March, and a rookie class that includes No. 1 pick running back Todd Gurley and four offensive linemen, the Rams believe they have a playoff-worthy roster. With a stacked defensive front that includes star defensive end Robert Quinn and 2014 defensive rookie of the year defensive tackle Aaron Donald, the Rams are hoping that stability and proficiency at quarterback will put them in postseason contention.
“I'm not going to say the door is open, because that would be implying there is no favorite. And the favorite is Seattle. Until someone knocks off Seattle, it's not wide open. But you have to go into the situation thinking, here's an opportunity,” defensive end Chris Long told USA TODAY Sports. “If we stay healthy and have a little luck, we're going to be right there to be able to try to take this thing.”
The calendar that Fisher handed out to players when they arrived at training camp runs all the way through early 2016 — for all 17 weeks of the regular season, with contingencies for the playoffs that run through the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. That’s as far into 2016 that Fisher is willing to let his players look.
“You just try to win for the city of St. Louis this year. Beyond this year, that's something we have no control over,” Long said.
Lindsay H. Jones,
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ord-houston-oilers-tennessee-titans/31773791/
EARTH CITY, Mo. – Jeff Fisher is trying to keep his locker room and practice fields and cafeteria and weight room at Rams Park a Los Angeles-free zone.
Yet for as much as Fisher wants his players to treat every day as if the threat of relocation to California didn’t exist, it is, in fact, the Rams’ reality. He knows his players will be asked about a potential move by their wives, parents, neighbors and even by strangers at the grocery store.
So Fisher presented his team with an analogy for how they should handle those uncomfortable questions, because for players, there is no right answer.
“When and if this stuff starts going, they're going to become kids in a divorce. Do you want to go to mom's side? Or do you want to go to dad's side. You don't want to be put in a position to choose. So just play, and let it work itself out,” Fisher told USA TODAY Sports.
It’s easy for players to trust Fisher’s message because, in a league where head coaches are hired and fired in quick succession, Fisher has managed to survive for 20 seasons, with just two organizations. Though he will try to make his 21st year – and his fourth with the Rams – routine for his players, it won't be for Fisher, who was the head coach of the Houston Oilers when NFL owners approved that franchise’s move to Tennessee.
“What I learned was the importance of communication, and just laying it out there and telling the truth. I never had a situation when we were going through it that I didn't, but it was reaffirmed that that was the only way to get through it,” Fisher said.
But openness isn’t just Fisher’s style when it comes to a sensitive subject like relocation, it’s how he treats players when they first arrive as draft picks or free agents, and it’s why general manager Les Snead so sure that Fisher is the right man to lead the Rams through what will surely be an unusual year, full of potential off-field distractions.
“We're lucky to have Jeff in all situations. When I say all situations, there is nothing I leave out,” Snead told USA TODAY Sports. “If we've got a problem, he knows how to fix it, and he does it in a very calming way. I think that's the number one thing. It comes with experience, and the confidence that we can handle this.”
But Fisher said he isn’t feeling any pressure that this a playoffs-or-bust kind of year for him. There is urgency, he said, but he feels that from within the locker room, from leaders like defensive end Chris Long and tight end Jared Cook, from players that are so desperate for a change of fortunes.
“I don't feel pressure, because that's the worst thing that can happen. I just want it for the players,” Fisher said. “This year they want to be there, so I'm pulling for them. I'm going to do everything I can to help.”
To players, Fisher shows that by being in tune with the pulse of the locker room, of knowing when players might be feeling sluggish and in need of a non-padded practice, identifying which players might need a pep-talk, or who might need some extra assistance with some real-life issues.
A half dozen players each used the words “players coach” as their first descriptor for Fisher, and their explanation for how he has engendered so much loyalty from them, despite the lack of winning seasons.
Cook, defensive end Williams Hayes and wide receiver Kenny Britt each followed Fisher to St. Louis after he was fired by the Tennessee Titans in 2010. Hayes was contemplating retirement before Fisher called him in 2012, and said the only way he’d continue his career is if he could do it for Fisher. When Hayes played well on his one-year contract, he eschewed the chance to make more money or start elsewhere in the NFL to stay with the Rams.
“It was the fact that I know I have a coach that cares about me and truly just wants me to be the best William Hayes I can be,” Hayes said. “It's not about just contributing, he wants me to be a good person. That means more to me than anything.”
But certainly there have been plenty of nice guys who have failed as head coaches, who couldn’t survive a 20-27 record over three years, or back-to-back finishes at the bottom of the NFC West. Of the seven coaches hired in 2012 along with Fisher, four were fired by last September. Three of the eight hired in 2013 have also been fired within two years.
Perhaps Fisher gets leeway because of his league-wide reputation built over two decades as a head coach, the respect he’s garnered from his peers (Fisher, for example, is a longtime member of the NFL’s competition committee), as well as an understanding from management that the team’s biggest on-field issue each of the past two years was one he couldn’t solve.
After former No. 1 pick Sam Bradford suffered a pair of season-ending knee injuries, the Rams were left to play 25 games with a host of backup quarterbacks. But now that Fisher has a new starter – and a proven one – in Nick Foles, acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles in March, and a rookie class that includes No. 1 pick running back Todd Gurley and four offensive linemen, the Rams believe they have a playoff-worthy roster. With a stacked defensive front that includes star defensive end Robert Quinn and 2014 defensive rookie of the year defensive tackle Aaron Donald, the Rams are hoping that stability and proficiency at quarterback will put them in postseason contention.
“I'm not going to say the door is open, because that would be implying there is no favorite. And the favorite is Seattle. Until someone knocks off Seattle, it's not wide open. But you have to go into the situation thinking, here's an opportunity,” defensive end Chris Long told USA TODAY Sports. “If we stay healthy and have a little luck, we're going to be right there to be able to try to take this thing.”
The calendar that Fisher handed out to players when they arrived at training camp runs all the way through early 2016 — for all 17 weeks of the regular season, with contingencies for the playoffs that run through the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. That’s as far into 2016 that Fisher is willing to let his players look.
“You just try to win for the city of St. Louis this year. Beyond this year, that's something we have no control over,” Long said.
