Fisher, Williams … 9/11 … transcripts

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher — 9/11/15

(On RB Tre Mason’s status)
“He did not practice today and he will be listed as questionable.

“(RB) Todd Gurley was limited in practice and he is out, as we discussed. (LB) Daren Bates was limited practice/questionable.”

(On how he thought LB Daren Bates looked today)
“He looked like he had a limited practice and he would be questionable for the game.”

(On his thoughts of going with RB Benny Cunningham this weekend)
“He’s had a really good week. His production speaks for itself. If (RB) Tre (Mason) can’t go, Benny will go. (RB) Isaiah (Pead) will go. (RB) Chase (Reynolds) will go. We’ll be in good shape.”

(On any advice he can give his young O-linemen going into Week 1 and their first real pro game)
“I think the big thing is just to calm them down. They’re going to be excited to play, but the great part about (G) ‘JB’ (Jamon Brown) and (T) Rob (Havenstein) is that they’ve played a lot of snaps in the preseason. And they’ve played and matched-up against some good players in the preseason and they play good players out here every day in practice. They have respect for their defense. We all do. Their defense is not overly complicated. It’s just it becomes…the challenge with their defense becomes a one-on-one matchups. They’re prepared. They’re studied, and I think they’re only going to get better.”

(On what he thinks about RB Isaiah Pead’s perseverance)
“He finished up really strong two years ago for us on special teams, and last year was a really big year for him we thought and then he had the injury. But he’s come back and he’s returned right back to where he was. The injury’s not an issue anymore and he’s a productive (special) team’s player for us. He knows our offense and he’s definitely going to play.”

(On if he has any last minute details to fix as a coach or if he is ready to go this weekend)
“We have a few reminders and things like that, that we go through. I think most teams go through their ‘first fifteen’ or ‘dirty dozen’, whatever they call it. We’ll let them know in the morning what our openers are and just go through some last minute reminders, really. I think on (special) teams, we’re ready to go. Tomorrow night we’ll have our meetings and here we go.”

(On if he likes the expectations of his team this year and if he believes that they are a different team and have made strides)
“Well we are. We knew it was going to take some time. Again I thought like we talked at the end of last year, I thought we were a better team last year than we were the year before; the record didn’t reflect it. We have to learn how to do the little things. We have to learn how to win close games. We have to learn how not to hurt ourselves; respect your opponent and just play. Don’t get caught up looking at the scoreboard. Just go out and play. That approach turns into wins. Our guys feel good about this season. We have 100 percent respect for our opening opponent because of what they’ve done in the past and what their expectations are. We’re just going to have to see. We’ll just go play and see how we match-up.”

(On if he thinks it’s nice to have a defense back and hit their stride late last season)
“Well like I said, yeah, we hit stride last year but you have to do it all over again. You just can’t expect to pick up where you left off and so we have to prove that on Sundays, not through the OTAs and through camp. That’s the challenge there. Defense will often times win games for you. I’m not anticipating struggles on offense, but in the event that there are, the defense is going to have to find a way to play well and keep people out of the end zone.”

(On if he’s even taken a team in Gillette Stadium and had problems with his headset)
“I’m not going to comment on that. I’m not going to get involved in that.”

(On if in general problems he’s had problems with headsets around the league no matter where he’s been)
“Well we had a lot of problems in Oakland. I mean in the preseason game, but it’s preseason and that’s an older stadium. It’s really hard to pinpoint and identify. I’ve heard of teams having difficulty there in the past, but as to whether or not we did or not, I’m not going to comment.”

Rams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – 9/11/15

(On the game plan)
“You probably have to ask (LB) James (Laurinaitis). James and (DE) Will Hayes. It’s funny that Will Hayes has been telling me that he’s going to be helping me call the game this year, so we laugh and joke about it, because that will not happen.”

(On how important it is to get a fast start)
“The thing about how we have to start each game, how we have to start the season, how we start practice, how we start meetings. The thing I feel comfortable about is it’s been covered. It’s been discussed. Any person that’s a teacher, if it’s a coach that’s a mentor, when it becomes more important to the person, to the participant that’s actually out on the field, when it becomes their idea, it’s when you have a chance to make change. All I do is present the ideas. This has been a fun group to see how they grasp that and they’ve used that in all of the things they’re doing, so we’ll see. This is a good opponent. This is a division opponent. We all know what they’ve accomplished and the things that they’ve done out there. I think (Seahawks Head Coach) Pete’s (Carroll) has done a great job on how he promotes competition. We’ve talked a long time in the coaching fraternity. You saw how some of the things, I was with the Redskins at the time back he was in college football still with the competition part of it. This is a good start and we need to start fast, we really do.”

(On if he’s kept doing the reminders)
“Oh, it’s every day. Every meeting that we have. Every single, solitary meeting that we have, the very first thing that’s on the screen is, ‘Start fast.’ Some days we discuss it. Other days we just look at it. What I’ve done is played with them a little bit. When they come into the meeting room, it’s not on the screen. ‘Where is it?’ Then I click the button. ‘Oh, I just wanted to see if you saw it.’ So, it’s their idea, so it’s good.”

(On now that he’s lead the horse to water…)
“Hopefully they’ll be drinking a lot, is what we hope. This is a good group. It’s a fun group. I’ve said this before, there’s really nobody on this team – (Head Coach) Jeff (Fisher) has done a great job with assembling the team here – that I don’t want to be around. Everybody I want to be around and now it’s fun to see the familiarity of what we do, why we do. There’s not very many questions anymore about, ‘How do you do this? Why do you do this.’ So the next step is for our players, and you’ll watch this in the games this year, our players will have more say. We’re still one of the few defenses in the National Football League, because of my upbringing, that gives players a lot of say. It takes a while for players to understand what is appropriate to say that I can say. That is very familiar now. We do a good job with that. Our leadership is good in the room and their understanding in the room is good too.”

(On Seattle QB Russell Wilson)
“His way, from a coaching perspective, is hard on coaches, is that he’s able to improvise. All of the sudden it takes you out of the rhythm of what you’re providing for the players. Now the player has to go. Whenever he turns it into a backyard game, out there improvising and doing things, we have to make sure that, athletically, understanding mentally what the concept is of what he’s trying to do to extend the play. Those are the things that are frustrating as a coach, when things don’t stay on time. I think he is one of the best in our league right now. I’ve gone against lots of different guys throughout the years that could do that, but in our game right now, when things go back into his hands – you see a lot of that in the second half of games, in the critical plays of games – is when he tries to take over the game and try to extend it. It makes it frustrating. And those are the things I think our guys are ready for.”

(On what Seahawks TE Jimmy Graham adds that they didn’t have before)
“He’s not your typical basketball player. When we smile and laugh that a lot of guys in basketball are always complaining about getting fouled. He understands the tough guy. He was a tough guy when he played basketball. His ability to be good around the ball, his ability to catch all kinds of balls outside of the space of his framework, he’ll be a big red zone target for them, we understand that. We saw a guy last night for the Patriots that provided an example of what can happen when you’re a big body and a big presence with good hand skills. He does those things and so it’s been eye-opening for lots of people that haven’t seen him, what he can bring to them and how they’ve changed a little bit of the tools that they have now to work with, especially when you get down into the red zone. We’re going to have to make sure that we understand where he’s at.”

(On being in year two and if he believes this will be a typical Gregg Williams defense)
“What we said in the room is this: from a talent aspect, the makings are there to be pretty doggone good. The places I’ve been, when they were pretty doggone good is when the players took ownership. It’s when the players had say and these guys have that say right now. I think when you guys are talking to them behind the scenes now, you see them be a little bit more understanding, a little bit more forceful in what they believe in. When it’s more important to them than it is to me, you got a chance to be special. Now, hopefully the opponents will cooperate because we have a tough schedule. There’s no easy schedules in the National Football League, but we’re playing some big-time quarterbacks, some big-time running backs, some big-time receives, so we’re going to have to do our job and do our job well. I do like the makings of this group of guys, I do.”

(On LB James Laurinaitis being 15 tackles away from being the all-time leader in tackles for the organization and some people thinking he’s not a great linebacker and characterizing how good he is)
“Those some that probably don’t think that are the same guys that probably thought they should’ve been All-Conference in high school that didn’t get a chance to play after this. I laugh and I smile when about the all-time leading tackler, that says something. It says something a lot. Here in St. Louis, you guys also had a guy that was undrafted that everybody didn’t like. Remember the comments about London Fletcher. He just played 17 years without missing a game and he tackled pretty well too. James Laurinaitis is the epitome of ‘tackler.’ What a better person, I can’t think of a better person than him to be the all-time leading tackler here. I didn’t know he was that close. I’m going to wonder why he doesn’t have all of those tackles in the first quarter this week.”

(On LB Akeem Ayers and what he’s added)
“He’s added some good strength on the line of scrimmage and he has a flexibility of also not only being on the line of scrimmage, but I think it’s underestimated on how he plays behind the ball. He’s been a very good mix into the room. He fits in with the personality. He fits in with the toughness with this group. But, his versatility to put his hand down, his versatility to blitz, I think is a little bit underrated. I’m hoping I get a chance to see him around the quarterback this year.”

(On the challenges that Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch presents)
“As a special running back that you could have him swarmed, because of his power, because of his instincts, because of his ability to change direction. People underestimate how powerful he is in the upper body. We’ve got to do a good job of staying down on his lower body. He becomes a common running back at that time. If you try to tackle him up around his face, up around his shoulder pads, he’s embarrassed a lot of people. We’ve got to do a good job with him in the run game.”