Fisher, Williams … 11/7 … transcripts

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – November 7, 2014

(On his thoughts about the military veterans at today’s practice)
“It’s something we do on an annual basis in addition to recognizing a wounded warrior for the home games. This is a tribute to military month. This has been in the works. It’s really great to have them out. The players picked things up a little bit today, it gets quite out here. We just can’t say enough about how much we appreciate them and what they’ve done for our country.”

(On his story about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro)
“What happened was I got contacted from the league. I had just started my year off in 2011 and didn’t have any plans. Then, I got contacted from the group we had done the USO tour with because I previously, several years earlier, went to Iraq with the USO tour. When they called me they said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in climbing Kilimanjaro with the wounded Warrior project?’ I said, ‘Hey, let me check my schedule and I’ll get back with you.’ I didn’t have anything to do, so I googled Kilimanjaro and I saw this 6,036. I called him back and said, ‘Shoot, that’s a mile it’s no big deal.’ It was meters. 19,300 feet, a little different.”

(On if he was able to complete the mountain climb)
“Yes. It was awesome. One of the best things I’ve ever done. Especially, with the soldiers. We went with four wounded warriors. Two single (leg) amputees and two of the soldiers finished the climb. The other two had problems with altitude sickness. One of the soldiers was the first single (leg) amputee to reach the summit and then come back down. It was a great experience.”

(On CB Janoris Jenkins returning to practice and if there’s a chance he could play Sunday)
“Yes. Janoris had a limited practice and he’s questionable.”

(On if there is an opportunity to take advantage of the big plays Arizona has given up in the past)
“They’re playing pretty good. Like I said, we’re going to have to run the football and keep (Cardinals QB) Carson (Palmer) off the field. They’re a very talented defense and put a lot of pressure on your passer.”

(On what kind of week did CB Trumaine Johnson had)
“A much better week than he did last week. He’s got a week under his belt. Played good in the game, like we said earlier in the week. I think he’s in position to play at least, to pick up where he left off before the injury. I’d say he’s 100 percent. ”

Rams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – November 7, 2014

(On the military personnel at practice today)
“I’m so impressed and have so much respect for what they do. I’ve had an opportunity to go around and tour a lot of places that they train. Those years when I was with the (Washington) Redskins, I was in that town and was able meet with a lot of the different bodies that govern and kind of organized the whole thing, with some of the generals and that kind of stuff. I have tremendous respect. I’m a great historian. I love reading about everything, every aspect of that. There’s a reason why we’re able to train young men, young women the way we do to protect our country because of the things they go through and we’ve got it down pretty good. I have a lot of respect for them. I’m glad they’re out here. I share a lot of stories with what those people do with guys that sometimes think they’re a little bit entitled in what they do on who I get a chance to coach. Some of the things, the sacrifices that these people make are good examples for them too and I’m glad to see our guys out here participated with them, going over and sharing some stories and paying their respects. It’s very, very, very good. Good timing.”

(On the defensive performance last Sunday)
“They played very well, all of these guys. Every single week we’ve played phases of the game where it’s been dominant. If you watch our film and everybody in the league, a lot of my counterparts in the league, they shake their head about how dominant we play week in and week out. We’ll have a player or two that skews statistics. We’ll have a player or two that gets away from us. For the most part, this group of guys have played dominant. Now, they had a chance to put together a pretty good game. I’m still irritated about the one that we gave up, when we came in after the turnover. We had a chance to put the fire out there. We’ve played great sudden-change defense all year long, but we gave up a touchdown on a scramble play, on a plaster play that we call plaster coverage and stuff, where the quarterback extended the pocket a little bit on us that really, we had an answer it and we just didn’t produce in that situation. For the most part, it was good to see these guys, good confidence builder, but it doesn’t get any easier. This division is built around big offenses, high competition each week. We’ve got our work cut out for us this week.”

(On if last week’s performance would be considered a complete game performance)
“It was a very complete game in respect at how we were able to tackle, how we played on third-down, how we played in the red zone, another goal line stand. Played very well on first down, put us in some positive situations to play really good third down defense. When your defensive line controls the line of scrimmage the way we have, and we have controlled the line of scrimmage for the most part for the whole season. They were able to finish some plays this past weekend. It was fun to see their energy. It also was fun to see how it impacted the guys playing behind them too. Our d-line set our tone for the game. It was nice to see that.”

(On if he tweaked something in the blitz calls that aided in the eight-sack performance)
“No, we really didn’t. There was a lot of things that people want to say that are new but our guys just did a great job in the execution part of it. We’ll blend some things in to what we call, can we get the quarterback to reset? When you say the reset, can you get his eyes to change? Can you get him to go to his second read? Can you get him to do something that’s not primary in the call? We did a pretty good job of that, but the big thing was is that the primary and the call was the d-line. The d-line won one-on-one match-ups. Our eyes and our focus most of the time for people who are fans or want to watch the game is you see the secondary one-on-ones. Sometimes, your eyes get clouded up when you see the interior one-on-ones in pass rush. We were able to finish some one-on-one pass rush and not allow (49ers QB Colin) Kaepernick to extend the play. He’s been very, very good on extending plays with his feet. I think our plan was sound in what we tried to do to make sure he stayed in the pocket. We finished some of those one-on-one rushes, which was nice.”

(On if he’s seen anything on tape that he can attribute to how the Cardinals are 7-1)
“They’re a lot like this team here that Jeff is building. I have a lot of respect for (Cardinals Head Coach) Bruce (Arians), he and I have been for a long, long time. They’re playing as a complete team, not just in one phase of the game, but offensively, defensively, special teams are complimenting each other. Then (Cardinals QB) Carson’s (Palmer) playing very well. I’ve gone against him for a long time and he’s executing at a high level, extending plays, making some tough plays. They as a team, have a good belief in the systems that they’re. Have a good belief on playing off of one another, being able to help each other out in certain situations. The offense staying on the field for quite a while and giving the defense a rest. The defense have done some good jobs on taking the ball away for them in some times and have been able to stop the run for them. Their special teams are solid too. It’s a well-rounded game, well-round team and Bruce has done a really good job out there putting it together in a quick amount of time.”

(On DB Lamarcus Joyner’s adjustment to the speed of the NFL)
“Each week he learns something he didn’t learn the week before. As coaches…this is a strong staff in experience on understanding every aspect of the positions that they are coaching. Our secondary coaches are very well versed and experienced. I’ve been doing this for a long time too, but you can’t tell them everything. They’ve got to experience some things. They’ve got to fight through some trials that happen in that rookie year. He played a high level of college football, but it’s not even close to what he has to play at this level. He’s usually on a feature guy, none more featured than he is this week. Each week he’s improving. He has tremendous energy. He’s very tough, not only physically, but mentally he’s tough too and understands how he’s on the spotlight. I can’t wait to see how he plays and evolves as the season goes on because he’s made a lot of strides from where we started at the start of the season. Typically, rookies make the biggest jump their second and third year. We’re asking him to do it now in the second part of the season. So let’s do it the second part of this first season and it’ll really helps us out on defense when he does.”

(On the challenge that Cardinals RB Andre Ellington presents)
“He’s very good and he’s very versatile, does a lot of things similar to some of the other guys we’ve played, we’ve been playing some of those guys already. We’ve had a gauntlet of types of running backs that we’ve had to face, but he’s kind of a mixture of several of the guys that we’ve faced. He has been able to keep the chains moving for them. We’re going to have to make sure we know where he’s at, at all times.”

(On if he sees the defense developing some momentum)
“We always hope that, but you know what? They’ve never played with a lack of confidence. They’ve always played each and every week extremely hard, extremely tough. Never had them one time come into a meeting room, one time come on to the practice field, one time get on the airplane without a ton of confidence. These guys will play that way. None of them back off and it doesn’t make any difference who’s up, who’s down. That’s been the fun part of seeing this group of guys is that next man up. If a guy gets a little bit of an injury, misses a part of a game, misses a whole game, misses several games, the next guy up has been up. We’ve got to take the next step. This is a tough division. I’m anxious to watch this group of guys get ready this week.”

(On if he’s made any changes to his approach)
“We’re the way we are. We’re going to play the same way. Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve adjusted defensively to the skill set of the players we have. Not only for that season, but for that series. They are guys that we’re going to have to adjust to when they play on the field. As you’ve seen some of things we’ve done when certain d-lineman play, we play a certain way. When certain DBs play we play a certain way. When certain linebackers play, we play a certain way. The answer to your question is whatever package we put out there we’ve got to play to those guys strength to give us the best shot. We do a good job of that here.”

(On S Mark Barron’s adjustment to the system)
“He’s done very, very well. I’ve been extremely impressed with the things that he’s done above and beyond the call of duty. He’s been putting coaching hours in. He’s been in here really late at night doing a lot of studying, a lot of catching up. There’s a classic example of a guy that hasn’t been through OTAs, training camp. Football is football so you’ve got to learn the verbiage, you’ve got to learn the language, you’ve got to speak the language. He had to get quickly into the language, but the other thing it’s been fun for me to see him and his eyes light up seeing how aggressive we play. Him wanting to play in that real, aggressive fashion. Hopefully, you guys will get a chance to see him play some this week. He’s done a very good job and has earned the right to play in some packages.”