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Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – News Conference – December 2, 2013
(On getting WR Chris Givens going)
“He had targets yesterday. He had a couple drops, he had a significant drop. We’re trying to get the ball to him.”
(On Givens being targeted but not bringing in receptions)
“Credit the defense. Credit a lot of different things. He’s still playing hard and running fast and doing the best he can right now, but would’ve loved to see him make that catch yesterday.”
(On what he thought about the Rams’ penalties)
“We had two on offense, one that I didn’t like. One was called a block in the back on (TE) Jared (Cook) and then we had delay of game. We had one on special teams at the end and the whistle didn’t blow. I didn’t have a problem with that with (S) Cody (Davis) because you play through the whistle and the whistle hadn’t blown. The defensive penalties were of a concern. We had two defensive offsides. Then we had…when you’re playing man-to-man against physical receivers it’s going to happen. They had their share as well. (LB) Jo-Lonn’s (Dunbar) penalty I wasn’t really crazy about. I don’t think that was a foul, but we understand that’s the world we’re in now under player safety. With respect to (CB) Trumaine’s (Johnson) penalty on third down, the coaches’ tape didn’t show much, but you look at the TV tape there is contact with his arm to the helmet. That’s a player trying to prevent a ball carrier from getting a first down. Again, that’s the world we’re in. They had two personal fouls. We had one called that I don’t think was. It’s a lot of penalties and it hurt us, but we’ve got to teach our corners that you can’t grab now. I don’t know if you saw ‘Jenks’ (CB Janoris Jenkins) holding penalty, but (49ers WR) Anquan (Boldin) is a very physical receiver. He came off the ball and initiated contact and then clubbed ‘Jenks.’ And ‘Jenks’ lost his balance, and so, ‘Jenks’ grabbed him.”
(On if Jenkins grabbed Boldin to regain his balance)
“No, he grabbed him so he doesn’t give up a touchdown pass. That’s smart football and just kind of one of those things. Looking back at the game, we’re going to play week-in and week-out. We’re going to play hard. We’re going to play fast and we’re going to play tough and we’re going to play physical. The two previous weeks we probably played a little smarter than we did yesterday from the standpoint of we executed better. The execution was really our issue. It was the issue on offense. When you gain four first downs in the first half to their 12 or whatever it was, you’re not executing. That was part of our problem and we credit their defense. They’re an outstanding defense. But, I’m not sitting here thinking all of a sudden that we’re a penalty-plagued football team because if you look at each and every one of them. Now, you don’t want the defensive offsides, especially…we had a first-and-10, gave them a first-and-5. We had a second-and-3, they gave them a first down. But, we’re also getting off the football. We’re getting sacks. We had four sacks in the first half.”
(On if officials have gone too far erring on the side of player safety)
“We have encouraged them to do that. I think that we need to look at some things. I think Trumaine’s penalty, for example, is a really good example of a player who’s trying to make a play, yet the helmet of the ball carrier – whether or not he’s defenseless or not – is lowering and lowering and lowering and he’s trying to make a play. But, the responsibility is placed on the defensive player and that’s the way they are. I think there’s a chance we’ll look at some things and discuss them. I’m sure there will be a lot of things discussed this offseason.”
(On if the slow start to the run game is a tribute to the 49ers defense)
“Yeah, that’s a good front and they’re healthy. And they’ve been playing together now with the group, the original group of starters for a couple weeks since (No.) 52 (LB Patrick Willis) and 99 (DE Aldon Smith) came back, so they’re a good front. But it was good, we stayed with it. We got some things going and it was hard yards, but we found a way to get a run game going.”
(On if the consistent run defense has been a strength of the team lately)
“It has and we felt like it would be a big test again for us considering what happened in the first game against them. We made adjustments. There were some good things in this ball game, that’s one of them was our run defense and tackles for losses and pressure that we put on the quarterback.”
(On how C Tim Barnes played)
“He played pretty well. Tim, he’s a pro, he prepares. He gets a minimal amount of reps on the practice field, and he played well with (C) Scott (Wells) being down. Scott’s going to be down for four to six (weeks) now, he’s got a fractured fibula. So, Tim will be our guy.”
(On Wells’ injury)
“We’re still evaluating it, but it’s a four to six week injury. It’s very similar to (S) T.J.’s (McDonald) – very similar. Non-displaced and so we’re just kind of evaluating what we’re going to do with the roster.”
(On T Jake Long)
“Jake is concussion protocol. He felt pretty good today.”
(On how McDonald has played the last two weeks)
“Much better this week than he was last week. Last week was his first one back with the injury. At times he had difficulty decelerating last week. This week he was a completely different player. I think a lot had to do with the surface and then an extra week of healing and practice, but he played pretty well.”
(On how playing in these games will help him moving forward in his career)
“I think he’ll finish up strong. There was a couple plays yesterday that you say, ‘Wow, that’s why we drafted him.’ First run game, I think, of the third quarter, we had both T.J. and (LB) Alec (Ogletree) show up at the same time on the back for a three-yard loss. It’s pretty impressive to watch their speed and their physical approach.”
(On QB Kellen Clemens saying his throws were inaccurate on Sunday)
“There was a little of that, yeah, but you want to see the guys make the tough catch. I appreciate Kellen taking responsibility for it, but guys are out there, they’ve got to make the catch. So, there was a little of that, balls were a little off target a little bit but they still should be made.”
(On if he has a problem with his defensive backs being vocal with the opposing receivers)
“No, a lot of it could have been initiated by him (49ers WR Anquan Boldin). Our guys were talking and congratulating him every time he had made a catch and stuff.”
(On Boldin)
“He’s a good football player – very physical receiver.”
(On what he saw on tape on their fake punt attempt)
“We were really close to a really big play. We got penetration on the left side. The design of the punt was to ‘Gio’ (S Matt Giordano) to take the snap and run and just kind of flip it back to ‘Sted’ (WR Stedman Bailey) coming back on the reverse and the wall was set. All the angles were there, all the blocks were there. Got penetration and Matt, he was afraid of the turnover when he saw the color (of the 49ers jerseys). Had he been able to just hand it off to him, it probably would have worked out well. Of concern beyond the lack of execution, there was a flag on the play. They were called for illegal formation, so I was concerned about that because it wasn’t an illegal formation. I’ll to get an explanation on that.”
(On if he received the referee’s explanation for the flag)
“I will. I haven’t yet.”
(On if Giordano should have made the reverse on the fake punt anyways)
“Not toss it, they were too close. He might have had a chance to hand it off but the design was just to normal reverse toss.”
(On if the wall was established to block for Bailey on the reverse)
“Yeah, if you get a chance to look at it, it was there. He was running a long way.”
(On the penalty that would have been called on the fake punt)
“I asked the official what the penalty was. He said, ‘I’ve got illegal formation, but it will be declined.’ And I asked what was wrong with the formation and he said, ‘It will be declined,’ – something to that effect.”
(On the team’s mindset)
“Good, they’re good. They’re fine. Twenty-four hour rule, come back. Cards are playing good, not looking ahead. Playing really good defense, great challenges on special teams. I mean, they’re disappointed. They felt like we had a chance, we just couldn’t get it done. As we always do in these situations, you pull out the positives – a lot of good things happened in this game.”
