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Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher
(On his favorite part of the game)
“Watching the game clock tick to zero. That’s my most favorite part. You know, we’re really excited. You take them when you get them like that. We were very excited to be able to open the season with a win here at home against a divisional opponent, but we have a long way to go. The staff was talking this week about feeling pretty good about where we are, but really realistically with the new players and the youth of the football team, we were looking forward to getting into this ballgame to see which direction we have to go and what we have to address. So there’s a lot of errors that we have to address, but most of those are just the self-inflicting wounds, just the penalties. I mean, ‘Cookie’ (TE Jared Cook) he’s got a running 40 to the end zone. You’ve got to remind him every so often that you always have to carry that ball high and tight because you never know when something’s going to happen. So it’s the little things like that that we can get corrected. We do that, then we’ve got a chance to win some games.”
(On if the goal of the last possession was to get the ball close enough for K Greg Zuerlein to kick the field goal)
“Obviously, we thought we’d have a chance to get a first down on the crack toss, but if for some reason the ball’s incomplete and they’ve got a time out there might be a different ending there because he calls time out on the sack. We were in field goal range. We wanted to get him to use his timeout and get the first down then we run it down to one second and kick it and we’re home. But that was the thought process there, was yeah, trust our kicker and win the ballgame for us.”
(On DE Robert Quinn’s performance)
“It was an exceptional job. We thought that they were going to try to get the tackle some help, and they did at times, and when they did he was able to take advantage of it. He made big plays when we needed them.”
(On finally recovering a fumble)
“Yeah in the game we had the special teams fumble that we don’t get. We get the first fumble that we don’t get and you start thinking, ‘Oh boy, one of these has got to bounce our way,’ and then we open the half and their defensive tackle scores an interception for a touchdown. So now you know you’re going to have to go make some plays.”
(On the importance of winning the first game of the season)
“Well it is. There’s nothing better than watching the game after a win, especially with a young football team and early in the season, that’s what you do because we have to get a lot of these things corrected. It’s getting obvious, I mean we’re going to have some great battles with the Cardinals. He’s (Cardinals Head Coach Bruce Arians) done a great job there. (Cardinals QB) Carson Palmer is the real deal. This is a much improved football team.”
(On Cook’s performance)
“Near perfect, with the exception. That’s why he’s here. We’ve got an accurate passer that can find him and he can make plays with the ball. He’s outstanding. Again, one of the many self-inflicted wounds that we had in this ballgame going in the end zone.”
(On what Cook could have done different on the fumble)
“No, just protect it. I think he assumed he was going to score.”
(On Arizona’s pressure)
“Yeah, they’re very talented. They’re a pressure-oriented defense. It’s a good front. We’re three games now in a row, if you go back to last year, without a sack. That’s a credit to the offensive line, but also a credit to Sam and his teammates to get in the right place in the right time and Sam getting rid of the football.”
(On QB Sam Bradford’s fourth quarter performance)
“Great job. He’s got a good feel for our offense and made the throws and made the conversion. Turned himself into a running back there for the two-point conversion.”
(On if Bradford’s run on the two-point conversion was a called play)
“It’s a called play, yeah. He’s got options. That’s common in the game, but I don’t think they expectead that out of him.”
Rams QB Sam Bradford
(On how nice it is to have TE Jared Cook on offense)
"It's great. Obviously, he made some huge plays for us out there today. We've seen him do it all training camp, so I don't think it surprised anyone, and I expect him to keep playing like that. He's going to help us tremendously this year."
(On if it was important for him to go right back to Cook after his fumble on the goal line in the first quarter)
"Absolutely, and that's what I told him. We came to the sideline and I said, 'Hey bro, be ready because it's coming right back to you.' Yeah, I thought he did a great job because it would have been really easy for him to get down right there, but he showed a ton of maturity and confidence coming back and playing the way he did after that."
(On how he would describe the win)
"Crazy. There were so many ups and downs in this game. We had so many opportunities to score and didn't. Then, go down after the turnover. I think it says a lot about the guys in this locker room. For a young team to endure some of the things we did today, I'm so proud of those guys. No one ever lost their cool. We knew that if we went out there and kept executing, things would start to go our way and sure enough they did."
(On if scoring the game's final 14 points when they were down by 11 shows the maturity of the team)
"Absolutely. I think, just like I said, it would have been real easy for this team, as young as we are, to get down after going down 11 - the first game at home. But, the mood on the sideline never changed. The confidence, nothing ever left us. We knew that we were the ones stopping ourselves and that if we went out there and executed things were going to be OK."
(On if Arizona pressured as much as they anticipated)
"They brought quite a bit of pressure tonight. It'll be interesting to see what the percentage was when we turn the tape on, but that's something we were expecting."
(On if they expected the Arizona linebackers to be right up on the line of scrimmage)
"Yeah."
(On how the offensive line played in the win)
"I can't say enough about those guys up front. They played outstanding today, and I think it shows that we've taken leaps and bounds from where we were last year. I thought the communication between myself and the line - I thought (C) Scott (Wells) did a great job of getting things solved. They threw some looks at us, especially on third down, that we hadn't seen in the preseason and those guys didn't flinch at all. They kept doing their jobs, kept me protected, and allowed us to make some plays towards the end of the game."
(On if this win is an example of the progress the team has made with talent that he can make mistakes and still win)
“Absolutely. I think in the past people looked at us…we had to play pretty close to perfect to win a game, especially a game like this. We blew so many opportunities today. Obviously, the turnover giving them the seven points didn’t help. I think it shows we’ve got a lot to correct, but with the guys we have in this locker room now there’s no doubt that we can overcome that.”
(On if the Cardinals trying to cover WR Chris Givens’ deep threat opened up other options)
“Exactly. Obviously, with the big plays that Givens was able to create in the preseason we knew that they were going to come out and obviously be a little scared of that. I thought that they played a little soft over him tonight, tried to take away those shots, but it just opened up everything underneath.”
(On if it was surprising to him that this was the first time TE Jared Cook ever had more than one touchdown in a game)
“That’s really surprising. A guy with his talent, his ability, for this to be his first game with two touchdowns, that’s almost shocking. Hopefully this is the first of many multiple touchdown games for him.”
(On if that QB run is going to be part of the offense now)
“Yeah, how’d you guys like that? That was pretty good, huh? That was pretty good. I think they had no idea that I was going to run the ball on that play and I think that’s why it worked so well. But hey, we’ll take what they give us.”
(On what he thought of DE Robert Quinn’s play today)
“Oh man, extremely happy that him and (DE) Chris (Long) aren’t lining up opposite of me. We had to face them every day in training camp, those two guys are as good a tandem as there is.”
(On if there was a read option in the game plan)
“Yeah I think so. I think we were saving that for Week 2, so you guys keep your eyes out for that one.”
(On if the tipped interception for a touchdown was a fluke)
“Yeah, obviously you’d like to try to maneuver it around him somehow so he doesn’t get his hand on it, but things like that happen. Unfortunately it did today and it resulted in seven points for them and that’s just something I’ve got to get cleaned up to make sure it doesn’t happen again if we run a naked boot.”
(On how RB Daryl Richardson played today)
“I thought Daryl did great today. Like I said, I think they threw a lot of different looks at us. I think he showed that he has matured a lot since last year, both in his ability to run the football and to pick up blitzes. I’m extremely proud of him and I’m excited for what this year is going to be for him.”
Rams TE Jared Cook
(On how feels about his first game as a Ram)
“I’m happy we got the win, so that’s what matters. We came out with a ‘W’. We made it a lot harder than it should have been. But, we came out with a ‘W’, that’s all that matters.”
(On if this type of start was what he had in mind this season)
“Most definitely. Coach ‘Schotty’ (Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer) he did a heck of a job. There’s a lot of guys on this offense that contributed – it was awesome.”
(On how he rebounded after fumbling early in the game)
“That’s never something you want to happen. I wish I could have that one back and I still wish I could have it back after that type of game. It’s just a battle of mistakes that you come back from. It’s part of the game. He made a good play. It’s just part of the game, you’ve got to bounce back from it and come back stronger.”
(On how good the team can be this year)
“I’ve been saying it all offseason, this could be a great team. We’ve got something special going on in this locker room and in this organization. So, as long as we know what we can accomplish and put our minds to it, there shouldn’t be anybody that can stop us. We have a great team and organization here.”
(On QB Sam Bradford running the offense)
“Sam did a great job. He kept his composure the whole time. He put everybody on his back and on his shoulders, and he carried us to victory. The O-line did a great job protecting him today as well, so hats off to him.”
Rams DE Robert Quinn
(On Chris Long calling him a freakish athlete)
“I was just going out there trying to perform, trying to help this team win. If Chris says I’m a freakish athlete, I’ll take it. Same thing to him, Chris is definitely a great athlete himself. I’m glad to have him on the other side, and with (DEs) William (Hayes) and Eugene (Sims) on the team.”
(On staying motivated despite adversity in the game)
“We get a lot of energy, not just from yourself, but from your teammates rooting you on and stuff like that. You want to win, so you’ve got that extra motivation going, so you just keep pushing no matter how tired you are. When you’re performing well, that helps a lot also.”
(On if the Cardinals started to defend him differently)
“I was definitely starting to get chipped a lot more, but I just tried to work my craft, get around the corner, and take inside moves. You can’t let it slow down your fastball. You’ve just got to keep going out there trying to make plays.”
(On his personal style of play)
“I like to credit myself as a pretty fast end, so I like the speed rush of course, as I’m sure y’all can tell. I’ve been working … my pass rush moves, and I’m happy I got three (sacks) today. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes.”
Rams CB Cortland Finnegan
(On his personal foul penalties)
“I just can’t do that. I’ve got it all out of my system. We’ve got 15 more (games), you won’t get another one out of me. You don’t want to hurt the team. I did that today. I’m glad we got a win. You’ve just got to learn from that.”
(On if the Arizona Cardinals are better than last year)
“They’re a more dynamic team with the offensive coordinator and (QB Carson) Palmer back there. Their strength is receivers, we said that all week and you saw that. All of the receivers had about 80 yards receiving. (Larry) Fitz(Gerald) was the only one to get into the endzone, so we just tried our best to limit what he could do.”
(On how QB Carson Palmer improves the Cardinals Offense)
“He can make all the throws. He’s just another elite quarterback in the NFL. You’ve got to pick your poison. Sometimes we have to move coverage and everything. Everyone including myself wanted to play better today.”
Rams DE Chris Long
(On the team winning despite mistakes)
“Well it shows we can be good. It certainly shows today that we were good enough to win. That is saying something as many times as we shot ourselves in the foot. Like Coach Fish(er) says, it’s all about keeping perspective whether we win or we lose. One or two plays different and we feel miserable in here. We have to just rate the way we played, break it down, and see how it is.”
(On DE Robert Quinn)
“I’ve been saying he’s (DE Robert Quinn) is a top 5 … eventually a top 3 pass rusher. He’s as dangerous as anybody in the league. He’s just going to continue to show it, and it’s scary how good he can be.”
(On overcoming adversity)
“We’re better if we’ve been through the fire. We better get this stuff out of our system early. We don’t want to do this in Week 10. Hats off to Arizona. They’re a lot better ball club than they were last year, and it showed. (QB) Carson (Palmer) made a big difference for them, and on defense they’re still pretty tough. We’re going to have to see them again, and we’re going to have to play a lot better to beat them next time. I just think we’re a tough team. Today, we just beared down. We were talking on the sidelines and said if we can’t overcome this adversity, we’re not going to be worth much. That was big for us to overcome that, and that’s a start.”
Rams WR Tavon Austin
(On how he feels)
“I’m definitely feeling good. We got the win, that’s all that matters. I’m just glad a lot of the players on the defensive side, offensive side made plays today and contributed to the win – that’s all that matters today.”
(On being active on the offense)
“I made a couple big plays deep, a couple first downs to set us up for scores. I’m just thankful that (QB) Sam (Bradford) and the coaches believed in me and I was able to come up with the plays.”
(On not playing the last punt smart and letting it go for a touchback)
“When it came off his foot, it was kind of a hard ball to read. It was kind of like a knuckle ball, so I just played my chances. At the end of the day, I knew I could have blocked if it was getting close to it and that’s what I did.”
(On Bradford in the huddle)
“Pretty much, he just keeps calm and puts us in the right position to make plays – that’s all he did.”
Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Bruce Arians
(On the game)
“Overall I was very pleased with the effort put forth. The execution at times was not as good as we needed it to be. Late in the ball game offensively we have to make some plays on third downs and keep drives alive to win the game. We ended up putting their offense back on the field and that is what cost us the ball game. It was an evenly fought ball game. We have to continue to make those third downs, and pressure on the quarterback and incomplete passes. Overall I was pleased with a lot of phases, but I was also very disappointed in a couple. We put too many balls on the ground. Although we only lost one, we had the ball on the ground too many times. I think that obviously, they have a great pass rush and no I am not concerned about the offensive line. We have to play 15 more games and we will play in a couple more dome stadiums that will be tough on them also. They are our guys and we are going to live with them and I am not concerned with them.”
(On how Cardinals QB Carson Palmer and Rams QB Sam Bradford handled the pass rush)
“Sam broke out of there a couple of times and got out of trouble when we had him clean to rights. He did a nice job. We did not protect him (Palmer) well enough to get the ball out. You start to hurry up a little bit as a quarterback. The kick before the half was big, when we were playing extremely well in a 26 second drive for three points. We couldn’t have executed it any better. You have to make that kick and that was the deciding factor in the ball game.”
(On the third down wheel route to RB Andre Ellington)
“(QB) Carson Palmer was wanting to hit him a little bit earlier because of the rush some, but we had him blocked up ok on that play. We just didn’t hit it.”
(On considering a position change for T Levi Brown)
“He is our guy. No, there is no position change, someone would have already beaten him out. “
(On the first quarter forced fumble of S Tyrann Mathieu)
“It was one of the best plays I have ever seen at this level. It was all out hustle. The only one I can think of was in the Super Bowl when WR Don Bebeeran down and got it away from the big defensive tackle in Dallas.”
(On the play of WR Andre Roberts)
“Andre played extremely well, I knew he would. He has had a great offseason; all three of those guys have been growing and growing. I think we have a lot of things to build on. (TE) Jim Dray stepped in and played solid. I thought we ran the ball effectively but not well enough in the second half. I thought we had a chance to break some runs out of there but our running backs just didn’t come out.”
(On what he wanted from the game)
“I wanted to win. We didn’t’ come to play close and build for next year. This team is all about winning for right now and there is a very disappointed locker room and coaching staff. We felt like we gave this game away.”
(On the play of KR Javier Arenas)
“You have to make better decisions. Stay in there. With the ball kicked that high you are not going to get out to the 20-yard line, it was a poor decision. It ended up in a fumble that we luckily got back.”
(On the interception)
“The guy dumped the outside receiver and he didn’t see him. There was a late double coverage on Larry (Fitzgerald) and we thought we had it open, but the guy made a really nice play on it.”
(On team injuries)
“As far as I know we don’t have anything major.”
Cardinals QB Carson Palmer
(On Arizona’s play today)
“I though we did some really good things and then we have some things we need to improve on as well. Obviously, we’d like to score more points than we did and win the game. There were some good plays and I thought some guys played really well. There’s some things we definitely need to clean up. It hurts to come in and lose a division game, but you can’t look at it in any other way than to say you’ve got 15 more. Yes, it’s a game that we’d like to come out with a win. Now, we have to continue to work and next week we have a home game and we get to play in front of our crowd. We get to use our stadium as an advantage and come out and try to get a win against a good NFC North team and move on from there.”
(On being encouraged by the overall play of his team)
“I think we did a good job, obviously not good enough. I need to play better, I need to make more plays. It always falls on you as a quarterback and I expect more of myself. There are couple of plays I’d like to have back. I’ll continue to work. I need to get better and I’m very optimistic about who we are as a team and especially who we are as an offense and we’ll try to keep going.”
(On what was different with the offense late in the game)
“Not converting. Not converting on third down. We did a really good job for the most part, but there at the end you’ve got to convert and stay on the field and keep our defense off and we didn’t do that as an offense.”
(On the St. Louis Rams)
“They’re a good football team and I want to give credit to them. They have a very good pass rush in Chris Long – a double digit sack guy year in and year out. Robert Quinn is another first round pick and is probably going to be a double digit sack guy and they have good players. You have (Cortland) Finnegan who is a great defensive back, (James) Laurinaitis is a good player, (Alec) Olgetree is a really good player and I think he has a chance to really be good – he’s all over the place. But at the end of the day it doesn’t matter who’s over there, who’s playing what. We need to execute better.”
Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald
(On Arizona’s play today)
“We definitely had opportunities and we had some explosive plays and those are the same things we practiced. We knew this was going to be a tough game, highly contested against a division opponent and we got what we were looking for. We got a good fight and we just came up a little short today.”
(On what Arizona needs to work on moving forward)
“Outside with us (wide receivers) we need to continue to get to our spots and be where Carson (Palmer) needs us to be so we can be efficient on first, second and third down. In the first half I felt we were really clicking, especially on third downs. The key to that we were in third and manageable, with down and distance. We were 3rd and four, 3rd and five, 3rd and six and those are manageable down and distances and you can pick those up. In the second half, the drives weren’t as sustained and we have to improve on that.”
(On Arizona stretching the field)
“You look at Michael (Floyd), he made some big plays. Andre (Roberts) made some unbelievable plays. Those guys stepped up and made some explosive plays for us. Obviously, we would love to have more from the run game and the pass game, but this is a step in the right direction. But we’re not happy about losing, so it’s hard to take anything too positive from today’s game because it wasn’t good enough.”
(On it being a long season)
“It would have been great to start it off against a division opponent on the road and get a win. That would have been great and that’s what we expect of ourselves. But we go back to work on Monday, we’ll watch the tape, correct the mistakes and get ready for Detroit.”
Cardinals WR Michael Floyd
(On if he feels like this game was a missed opportunity)
“No, I think we just fell short. There are plays that you want back on offense and there are plays that you want back on defense. Collectively, we fell short today. If there was anything positive out there, we will see tomorrow. You can obviously see great production by both sides and that’s all that we can take from it.”
(On if he was encouraged by the way the offense was able to move the ball)
“Yeah, we know what we are capable of doing. The guys that we have are explosive guys and we expect that out of everybody, to make plays when they come their way.”
(On his long reception against Rams CB Cortland Finnegan)
“He’s a feisty guy and he doesn’t let anything go past him. To get a play like that on him was pretty good. Obviously, if I did not make the play, a flag was not going to be thrown even though it was a pretty aggressive play by him. It was a good thing that I made the play.”
(On what the offense needs to focus on most and if it is third down conversions)
“I think we did pretty good on third down today. I think Monday will show what we have to work on, just to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Cardinals S Tyrann Mathieu
(On what the defensive mindset was when leading 24-13)
“We felt pretty confident there. We mentioned on the sideline that we just have to finish. It just came down to who wanted it the most. The Rams were able to bounce back, and definitely showed they can handle adversity. We’ve got to play better. Defensively, we can’t have those long drives that end in big-time field goals. We’ve got to get off the field.”
(On the defensive focus on the final drive in a tie game)
“At that point, we don’t want those guys to run any double moves. We have to keep everything in front of us. At the same time, we want to get pressure on the quarterback because in two-minute drills, usually it’s a passing situation. Up front, you’ve got to win one-on-ones, and defensively, you’ve got to keep everything in bounds.”
(On if he expected the Rams to target TE Jared Cook as much as they did today)
“Yeah, we expected it. We expected them to target him. We expected them to get Tavon (Austin) involved, which they did. He played about three different positions. We expected them to get their tight ends involved.
(On his favorite part of the game)
“Watching the game clock tick to zero. That’s my most favorite part. You know, we’re really excited. You take them when you get them like that. We were very excited to be able to open the season with a win here at home against a divisional opponent, but we have a long way to go. The staff was talking this week about feeling pretty good about where we are, but really realistically with the new players and the youth of the football team, we were looking forward to getting into this ballgame to see which direction we have to go and what we have to address. So there’s a lot of errors that we have to address, but most of those are just the self-inflicting wounds, just the penalties. I mean, ‘Cookie’ (TE Jared Cook) he’s got a running 40 to the end zone. You’ve got to remind him every so often that you always have to carry that ball high and tight because you never know when something’s going to happen. So it’s the little things like that that we can get corrected. We do that, then we’ve got a chance to win some games.”
(On if the goal of the last possession was to get the ball close enough for K Greg Zuerlein to kick the field goal)
“Obviously, we thought we’d have a chance to get a first down on the crack toss, but if for some reason the ball’s incomplete and they’ve got a time out there might be a different ending there because he calls time out on the sack. We were in field goal range. We wanted to get him to use his timeout and get the first down then we run it down to one second and kick it and we’re home. But that was the thought process there, was yeah, trust our kicker and win the ballgame for us.”
(On DE Robert Quinn’s performance)
“It was an exceptional job. We thought that they were going to try to get the tackle some help, and they did at times, and when they did he was able to take advantage of it. He made big plays when we needed them.”
(On finally recovering a fumble)
“Yeah in the game we had the special teams fumble that we don’t get. We get the first fumble that we don’t get and you start thinking, ‘Oh boy, one of these has got to bounce our way,’ and then we open the half and their defensive tackle scores an interception for a touchdown. So now you know you’re going to have to go make some plays.”
(On the importance of winning the first game of the season)
“Well it is. There’s nothing better than watching the game after a win, especially with a young football team and early in the season, that’s what you do because we have to get a lot of these things corrected. It’s getting obvious, I mean we’re going to have some great battles with the Cardinals. He’s (Cardinals Head Coach Bruce Arians) done a great job there. (Cardinals QB) Carson Palmer is the real deal. This is a much improved football team.”
(On Cook’s performance)
“Near perfect, with the exception. That’s why he’s here. We’ve got an accurate passer that can find him and he can make plays with the ball. He’s outstanding. Again, one of the many self-inflicted wounds that we had in this ballgame going in the end zone.”
(On what Cook could have done different on the fumble)
“No, just protect it. I think he assumed he was going to score.”
(On Arizona’s pressure)
“Yeah, they’re very talented. They’re a pressure-oriented defense. It’s a good front. We’re three games now in a row, if you go back to last year, without a sack. That’s a credit to the offensive line, but also a credit to Sam and his teammates to get in the right place in the right time and Sam getting rid of the football.”
(On QB Sam Bradford’s fourth quarter performance)
“Great job. He’s got a good feel for our offense and made the throws and made the conversion. Turned himself into a running back there for the two-point conversion.”
(On if Bradford’s run on the two-point conversion was a called play)
“It’s a called play, yeah. He’s got options. That’s common in the game, but I don’t think they expectead that out of him.”
Rams QB Sam Bradford
(On how nice it is to have TE Jared Cook on offense)
"It's great. Obviously, he made some huge plays for us out there today. We've seen him do it all training camp, so I don't think it surprised anyone, and I expect him to keep playing like that. He's going to help us tremendously this year."
(On if it was important for him to go right back to Cook after his fumble on the goal line in the first quarter)
"Absolutely, and that's what I told him. We came to the sideline and I said, 'Hey bro, be ready because it's coming right back to you.' Yeah, I thought he did a great job because it would have been really easy for him to get down right there, but he showed a ton of maturity and confidence coming back and playing the way he did after that."
(On how he would describe the win)
"Crazy. There were so many ups and downs in this game. We had so many opportunities to score and didn't. Then, go down after the turnover. I think it says a lot about the guys in this locker room. For a young team to endure some of the things we did today, I'm so proud of those guys. No one ever lost their cool. We knew that if we went out there and kept executing, things would start to go our way and sure enough they did."
(On if scoring the game's final 14 points when they were down by 11 shows the maturity of the team)
"Absolutely. I think, just like I said, it would have been real easy for this team, as young as we are, to get down after going down 11 - the first game at home. But, the mood on the sideline never changed. The confidence, nothing ever left us. We knew that we were the ones stopping ourselves and that if we went out there and executed things were going to be OK."
(On if Arizona pressured as much as they anticipated)
"They brought quite a bit of pressure tonight. It'll be interesting to see what the percentage was when we turn the tape on, but that's something we were expecting."
(On if they expected the Arizona linebackers to be right up on the line of scrimmage)
"Yeah."
(On how the offensive line played in the win)
"I can't say enough about those guys up front. They played outstanding today, and I think it shows that we've taken leaps and bounds from where we were last year. I thought the communication between myself and the line - I thought (C) Scott (Wells) did a great job of getting things solved. They threw some looks at us, especially on third down, that we hadn't seen in the preseason and those guys didn't flinch at all. They kept doing their jobs, kept me protected, and allowed us to make some plays towards the end of the game."
(On if this win is an example of the progress the team has made with talent that he can make mistakes and still win)
“Absolutely. I think in the past people looked at us…we had to play pretty close to perfect to win a game, especially a game like this. We blew so many opportunities today. Obviously, the turnover giving them the seven points didn’t help. I think it shows we’ve got a lot to correct, but with the guys we have in this locker room now there’s no doubt that we can overcome that.”
(On if the Cardinals trying to cover WR Chris Givens’ deep threat opened up other options)
“Exactly. Obviously, with the big plays that Givens was able to create in the preseason we knew that they were going to come out and obviously be a little scared of that. I thought that they played a little soft over him tonight, tried to take away those shots, but it just opened up everything underneath.”
(On if it was surprising to him that this was the first time TE Jared Cook ever had more than one touchdown in a game)
“That’s really surprising. A guy with his talent, his ability, for this to be his first game with two touchdowns, that’s almost shocking. Hopefully this is the first of many multiple touchdown games for him.”
(On if that QB run is going to be part of the offense now)
“Yeah, how’d you guys like that? That was pretty good, huh? That was pretty good. I think they had no idea that I was going to run the ball on that play and I think that’s why it worked so well. But hey, we’ll take what they give us.”
(On what he thought of DE Robert Quinn’s play today)
“Oh man, extremely happy that him and (DE) Chris (Long) aren’t lining up opposite of me. We had to face them every day in training camp, those two guys are as good a tandem as there is.”
(On if there was a read option in the game plan)
“Yeah I think so. I think we were saving that for Week 2, so you guys keep your eyes out for that one.”
(On if the tipped interception for a touchdown was a fluke)
“Yeah, obviously you’d like to try to maneuver it around him somehow so he doesn’t get his hand on it, but things like that happen. Unfortunately it did today and it resulted in seven points for them and that’s just something I’ve got to get cleaned up to make sure it doesn’t happen again if we run a naked boot.”
(On how RB Daryl Richardson played today)
“I thought Daryl did great today. Like I said, I think they threw a lot of different looks at us. I think he showed that he has matured a lot since last year, both in his ability to run the football and to pick up blitzes. I’m extremely proud of him and I’m excited for what this year is going to be for him.”
Rams TE Jared Cook
(On how feels about his first game as a Ram)
“I’m happy we got the win, so that’s what matters. We came out with a ‘W’. We made it a lot harder than it should have been. But, we came out with a ‘W’, that’s all that matters.”
(On if this type of start was what he had in mind this season)
“Most definitely. Coach ‘Schotty’ (Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer) he did a heck of a job. There’s a lot of guys on this offense that contributed – it was awesome.”
(On how he rebounded after fumbling early in the game)
“That’s never something you want to happen. I wish I could have that one back and I still wish I could have it back after that type of game. It’s just a battle of mistakes that you come back from. It’s part of the game. He made a good play. It’s just part of the game, you’ve got to bounce back from it and come back stronger.”
(On how good the team can be this year)
“I’ve been saying it all offseason, this could be a great team. We’ve got something special going on in this locker room and in this organization. So, as long as we know what we can accomplish and put our minds to it, there shouldn’t be anybody that can stop us. We have a great team and organization here.”
(On QB Sam Bradford running the offense)
“Sam did a great job. He kept his composure the whole time. He put everybody on his back and on his shoulders, and he carried us to victory. The O-line did a great job protecting him today as well, so hats off to him.”
Rams DE Robert Quinn
(On Chris Long calling him a freakish athlete)
“I was just going out there trying to perform, trying to help this team win. If Chris says I’m a freakish athlete, I’ll take it. Same thing to him, Chris is definitely a great athlete himself. I’m glad to have him on the other side, and with (DEs) William (Hayes) and Eugene (Sims) on the team.”
(On staying motivated despite adversity in the game)
“We get a lot of energy, not just from yourself, but from your teammates rooting you on and stuff like that. You want to win, so you’ve got that extra motivation going, so you just keep pushing no matter how tired you are. When you’re performing well, that helps a lot also.”
(On if the Cardinals started to defend him differently)
“I was definitely starting to get chipped a lot more, but I just tried to work my craft, get around the corner, and take inside moves. You can’t let it slow down your fastball. You’ve just got to keep going out there trying to make plays.”
(On his personal style of play)
“I like to credit myself as a pretty fast end, so I like the speed rush of course, as I’m sure y’all can tell. I’ve been working … my pass rush moves, and I’m happy I got three (sacks) today. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes.”
Rams CB Cortland Finnegan
(On his personal foul penalties)
“I just can’t do that. I’ve got it all out of my system. We’ve got 15 more (games), you won’t get another one out of me. You don’t want to hurt the team. I did that today. I’m glad we got a win. You’ve just got to learn from that.”
(On if the Arizona Cardinals are better than last year)
“They’re a more dynamic team with the offensive coordinator and (QB Carson) Palmer back there. Their strength is receivers, we said that all week and you saw that. All of the receivers had about 80 yards receiving. (Larry) Fitz(Gerald) was the only one to get into the endzone, so we just tried our best to limit what he could do.”
(On how QB Carson Palmer improves the Cardinals Offense)
“He can make all the throws. He’s just another elite quarterback in the NFL. You’ve got to pick your poison. Sometimes we have to move coverage and everything. Everyone including myself wanted to play better today.”
Rams DE Chris Long
(On the team winning despite mistakes)
“Well it shows we can be good. It certainly shows today that we were good enough to win. That is saying something as many times as we shot ourselves in the foot. Like Coach Fish(er) says, it’s all about keeping perspective whether we win or we lose. One or two plays different and we feel miserable in here. We have to just rate the way we played, break it down, and see how it is.”
(On DE Robert Quinn)
“I’ve been saying he’s (DE Robert Quinn) is a top 5 … eventually a top 3 pass rusher. He’s as dangerous as anybody in the league. He’s just going to continue to show it, and it’s scary how good he can be.”
(On overcoming adversity)
“We’re better if we’ve been through the fire. We better get this stuff out of our system early. We don’t want to do this in Week 10. Hats off to Arizona. They’re a lot better ball club than they were last year, and it showed. (QB) Carson (Palmer) made a big difference for them, and on defense they’re still pretty tough. We’re going to have to see them again, and we’re going to have to play a lot better to beat them next time. I just think we’re a tough team. Today, we just beared down. We were talking on the sidelines and said if we can’t overcome this adversity, we’re not going to be worth much. That was big for us to overcome that, and that’s a start.”
Rams WR Tavon Austin
(On how he feels)
“I’m definitely feeling good. We got the win, that’s all that matters. I’m just glad a lot of the players on the defensive side, offensive side made plays today and contributed to the win – that’s all that matters today.”
(On being active on the offense)
“I made a couple big plays deep, a couple first downs to set us up for scores. I’m just thankful that (QB) Sam (Bradford) and the coaches believed in me and I was able to come up with the plays.”
(On not playing the last punt smart and letting it go for a touchback)
“When it came off his foot, it was kind of a hard ball to read. It was kind of like a knuckle ball, so I just played my chances. At the end of the day, I knew I could have blocked if it was getting close to it and that’s what I did.”
(On Bradford in the huddle)
“Pretty much, he just keeps calm and puts us in the right position to make plays – that’s all he did.”
Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Bruce Arians
(On the game)
“Overall I was very pleased with the effort put forth. The execution at times was not as good as we needed it to be. Late in the ball game offensively we have to make some plays on third downs and keep drives alive to win the game. We ended up putting their offense back on the field and that is what cost us the ball game. It was an evenly fought ball game. We have to continue to make those third downs, and pressure on the quarterback and incomplete passes. Overall I was pleased with a lot of phases, but I was also very disappointed in a couple. We put too many balls on the ground. Although we only lost one, we had the ball on the ground too many times. I think that obviously, they have a great pass rush and no I am not concerned about the offensive line. We have to play 15 more games and we will play in a couple more dome stadiums that will be tough on them also. They are our guys and we are going to live with them and I am not concerned with them.”
(On how Cardinals QB Carson Palmer and Rams QB Sam Bradford handled the pass rush)
“Sam broke out of there a couple of times and got out of trouble when we had him clean to rights. He did a nice job. We did not protect him (Palmer) well enough to get the ball out. You start to hurry up a little bit as a quarterback. The kick before the half was big, when we were playing extremely well in a 26 second drive for three points. We couldn’t have executed it any better. You have to make that kick and that was the deciding factor in the ball game.”
(On the third down wheel route to RB Andre Ellington)
“(QB) Carson Palmer was wanting to hit him a little bit earlier because of the rush some, but we had him blocked up ok on that play. We just didn’t hit it.”
(On considering a position change for T Levi Brown)
“He is our guy. No, there is no position change, someone would have already beaten him out. “
(On the first quarter forced fumble of S Tyrann Mathieu)
“It was one of the best plays I have ever seen at this level. It was all out hustle. The only one I can think of was in the Super Bowl when WR Don Bebeeran down and got it away from the big defensive tackle in Dallas.”
(On the play of WR Andre Roberts)
“Andre played extremely well, I knew he would. He has had a great offseason; all three of those guys have been growing and growing. I think we have a lot of things to build on. (TE) Jim Dray stepped in and played solid. I thought we ran the ball effectively but not well enough in the second half. I thought we had a chance to break some runs out of there but our running backs just didn’t come out.”
(On what he wanted from the game)
“I wanted to win. We didn’t’ come to play close and build for next year. This team is all about winning for right now and there is a very disappointed locker room and coaching staff. We felt like we gave this game away.”
(On the play of KR Javier Arenas)
“You have to make better decisions. Stay in there. With the ball kicked that high you are not going to get out to the 20-yard line, it was a poor decision. It ended up in a fumble that we luckily got back.”
(On the interception)
“The guy dumped the outside receiver and he didn’t see him. There was a late double coverage on Larry (Fitzgerald) and we thought we had it open, but the guy made a really nice play on it.”
(On team injuries)
“As far as I know we don’t have anything major.”
Cardinals QB Carson Palmer
(On Arizona’s play today)
“I though we did some really good things and then we have some things we need to improve on as well. Obviously, we’d like to score more points than we did and win the game. There were some good plays and I thought some guys played really well. There’s some things we definitely need to clean up. It hurts to come in and lose a division game, but you can’t look at it in any other way than to say you’ve got 15 more. Yes, it’s a game that we’d like to come out with a win. Now, we have to continue to work and next week we have a home game and we get to play in front of our crowd. We get to use our stadium as an advantage and come out and try to get a win against a good NFC North team and move on from there.”
(On being encouraged by the overall play of his team)
“I think we did a good job, obviously not good enough. I need to play better, I need to make more plays. It always falls on you as a quarterback and I expect more of myself. There are couple of plays I’d like to have back. I’ll continue to work. I need to get better and I’m very optimistic about who we are as a team and especially who we are as an offense and we’ll try to keep going.”
(On what was different with the offense late in the game)
“Not converting. Not converting on third down. We did a really good job for the most part, but there at the end you’ve got to convert and stay on the field and keep our defense off and we didn’t do that as an offense.”
(On the St. Louis Rams)
“They’re a good football team and I want to give credit to them. They have a very good pass rush in Chris Long – a double digit sack guy year in and year out. Robert Quinn is another first round pick and is probably going to be a double digit sack guy and they have good players. You have (Cortland) Finnegan who is a great defensive back, (James) Laurinaitis is a good player, (Alec) Olgetree is a really good player and I think he has a chance to really be good – he’s all over the place. But at the end of the day it doesn’t matter who’s over there, who’s playing what. We need to execute better.”
Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald
(On Arizona’s play today)
“We definitely had opportunities and we had some explosive plays and those are the same things we practiced. We knew this was going to be a tough game, highly contested against a division opponent and we got what we were looking for. We got a good fight and we just came up a little short today.”
(On what Arizona needs to work on moving forward)
“Outside with us (wide receivers) we need to continue to get to our spots and be where Carson (Palmer) needs us to be so we can be efficient on first, second and third down. In the first half I felt we were really clicking, especially on third downs. The key to that we were in third and manageable, with down and distance. We were 3rd and four, 3rd and five, 3rd and six and those are manageable down and distances and you can pick those up. In the second half, the drives weren’t as sustained and we have to improve on that.”
(On Arizona stretching the field)
“You look at Michael (Floyd), he made some big plays. Andre (Roberts) made some unbelievable plays. Those guys stepped up and made some explosive plays for us. Obviously, we would love to have more from the run game and the pass game, but this is a step in the right direction. But we’re not happy about losing, so it’s hard to take anything too positive from today’s game because it wasn’t good enough.”
(On it being a long season)
“It would have been great to start it off against a division opponent on the road and get a win. That would have been great and that’s what we expect of ourselves. But we go back to work on Monday, we’ll watch the tape, correct the mistakes and get ready for Detroit.”
Cardinals WR Michael Floyd
(On if he feels like this game was a missed opportunity)
“No, I think we just fell short. There are plays that you want back on offense and there are plays that you want back on defense. Collectively, we fell short today. If there was anything positive out there, we will see tomorrow. You can obviously see great production by both sides and that’s all that we can take from it.”
(On if he was encouraged by the way the offense was able to move the ball)
“Yeah, we know what we are capable of doing. The guys that we have are explosive guys and we expect that out of everybody, to make plays when they come their way.”
(On his long reception against Rams CB Cortland Finnegan)
“He’s a feisty guy and he doesn’t let anything go past him. To get a play like that on him was pretty good. Obviously, if I did not make the play, a flag was not going to be thrown even though it was a pretty aggressive play by him. It was a good thing that I made the play.”
(On what the offense needs to focus on most and if it is third down conversions)
“I think we did pretty good on third down today. I think Monday will show what we have to work on, just to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Cardinals S Tyrann Mathieu
(On what the defensive mindset was when leading 24-13)
“We felt pretty confident there. We mentioned on the sideline that we just have to finish. It just came down to who wanted it the most. The Rams were able to bounce back, and definitely showed they can handle adversity. We’ve got to play better. Defensively, we can’t have those long drives that end in big-time field goals. We’ve got to get off the field.”
(On the defensive focus on the final drive in a tie game)
“At that point, we don’t want those guys to run any double moves. We have to keep everything in front of us. At the same time, we want to get pressure on the quarterback because in two-minute drills, usually it’s a passing situation. Up front, you’ve got to win one-on-ones, and defensively, you’ve got to keep everything in bounds.”
(On if he expected the Rams to target TE Jared Cook as much as they did today)
“Yeah, we expected it. We expected them to target him. We expected them to get Tavon (Austin) involved, which they did. He played about three different positions. We expected them to get their tight ends involved.