Fisher, Foles, Gurley, Quinn, JL, Barron, + 1 comment from Bell

Rams Coach Jeff Fisher

(Opening Remarks)
“Well, six points isn’t going to win you a whole lot of games and we’re averaging eight points a game the last two weeks and that’s not going to get it done for you. That’s my biggest area of concern. We played good defense today, but nonetheless, with all due respect to (K) Greg Zuerlein, I don’t want to see him on the field as much. We need to put the ball in the end zone. We’ve got to keep working on that because that doesn’t win you a lot of games that way. I thought they fought hard, I thought our defense could have played better early. Time of possession was really skewed in the first quarter because of (Steelers QB) Ben (Roethlisberger). He’s really good. We fortunately held them to three, which was a big deal for us, the one three. Then we gave up the touchdown. The two-point conversion, our ability to defend the two-point conversion gave us a shot. But nonetheless you’ve got to score points. Penalties were at the wrong time. There weren’t a lot of them, but wrong time. I have to look at them, I haven’t seen them. The holding penalty on the punt return, get the ball at the 30 (-yard line) and takes us down at the 10 (-yard line) in a field position game, that’s not good. I’ve seen it, but I’ll look at it. We won’t tolerate those things anymore.”

(On his view on the reversed fourth-down catch and explanation from officials)
“He told me that the ball definitely came loose. When the receiver goes to the ground you have to maintain possession of the ball. He said all the pictures led up to that, the ball was loose. From what I saw, which I thought was what he saw, on the jumbotron, you could make the case it was maybe inconclusive and then the call on the field stands. But he felt the ball was loose and that’s enough.”

(On TE Lance Kendricks’ dropped pass and drops throughout the game and how difficult they were to overcome when points came at a premium in this game)
“It’s hard. That’s hard. We had three drops today and you’re in a field position game like that where there’s potential swings, or potential additional first downs, those are hard to overcome. We didn’t drop them on purpose, but we need to make that play.”

(On if the Rams had to go to a silent count due to opposing team crowd noise)
“We did a little bit, down at the goal line. They travel great, they really travel great. So we welcome them. Hey, when the game started to swing in our favor, our fans got loud. So it’s good.”

(On QB Nick Foles’ interception and if he didn’t look the safety off)
“He’s not supposed to look the safety off, it just sailed. The ball sailed on him.”

(On the game delay)
“I thought it was handled properly. (The officials) and I got together right away. That’s not in the rulebook for the officials, but we talked about it. The most important thing that we did was we had our doctor, our team physician, come over and identify the ingredients on the fire extinguisher and there were toxins in there. It was toxic and it was powder and so we had to get that up because it could cause irritations for the eye. Then when we realized it was going to take a little bit of time, it made sense for us to come in and relax and then come back out and re-stretch. So, I thought the league handled everything very well from an officiating standpoint.”

QB Nick Foles

(On how he feels the offense performed overall)
“We didn’t put enough points on the board. We have to…I know our third down conversions weren’t good. There was a lot of good things out there throughout the game, but we just have to get the ball into the end zone. We have to convert third downs. We have to sustain drives. That’s something we were trying, working towards last week from the previous game. It’s something that we have to stay positive about, keep working day-to-day. It’s not an easy process, but it’s a process that we go through. That’s where you stick together as a team. There’s no one in the locker room hanging their head. It’s definitely emotional. It’s definitely tough. We all want to go out there and win. We gave ourselves an opportunity today, but we have to hit those plays. We had opportunities. Hats off to the Steelers. They went out there and they played well. We’ll be saying our prayers for (QB) ‘Big Ben’ (Roethlisberger). You never want to see a competitor and a guy like that go down, so I’ll be saying my prayers for him.”

(On what he saw on the throw to WR Kenny Britt that was ruled incomplete)
“I thought he had the ball. When I led it…Kenny’s one of those guys, big receiver and thought it was a first down and we were going to keep rolling.”

(On Britt receiving the ball a lot today)
“Like I’ve said before, I count on my receivers no matter what. So I know based on the play, based on the defensive look…you do look at matchups, but they were playing a zone coverage, so they were trying to find some weaknesses in the zone.”

(On the pass intended for TE Lance Kendricks that ended in an interception)
“It was something that I’d seen throughout the day, and I was just trying to take advantage of a middle of the field shot. That ball had gone back…it was a forced throw. It was a bad decision by me, but it’s one of those things where our defense gives us another opportunity to go out there and score and we have to make sure in that situation, we drive. We were driving down. We just have to convert and make plays, but that’s on me. That’s something I never want to happen, but it’s not going to…game goes on. We have to keep playing.”

(On if the pass he threw to Kendricks sailed on him)
“Yeah, it was a just bad decision. The safety sometimes…I see now that blitz and down the middle, the safety was getting wide and on that one, he just made a play. It was a poor decision. It really was just a poor decision.”

(On if the false starts in the fourth quarter by the offensive line were possibly caused by the noise of the Steeler fans)

“Yeah, I mean when we were in a red zone situation, it was getting pretty loud. They travel well. It’s a historic franchise. Everybody knows about their fans. You could probably go all around the world and there’s Steeler fans. They traveled well, but our fans were loud too throughout the day, so it was evenly matched. (I’m) thankful for our fans coming out as well.”

(On if he felt like he was playing in a bowl game with the noise from both sets of fans)
“Yeah, it is. It’s definitely a weird dynamic. It’s just something you deal with through the course of the game and just part of it.”

(On if it’s unfair to say that the offense has taken a step back since the Seattle victory)

“I wouldn’t say a step back. We definitely haven’t shown…we have to put points on the board. That’s the big thing. That’s on us. Our defense did a tremendous job today. They gave us an opportunity. We have to score more points than them in those situations. So our defense did a great job…our special teams. As an offense, that’s something that we’re learning. Sometimes it’s tough. This is a tough situation. This is just part of it, and it’s just how do you learn from this and you’re positive about it. Don’t let it get you down. I mean, it’s early in the season. We’re 1-2. The world’s not ending. We will figure it out. We have a bunch of young guys that go to work every day and they want to get better and that’s what I see. That’s why I’m optimistic, because of the guys we have. My goal is just to keep grinding forward, and by the end of the year, we’ll be where we want to be. It’s just this part, we have to keep figuring out. We have to put more points on the board for our defense. Defense did an outstanding job today. We will figure it out for them because it’s a team game and we have to hold up our end of the bargain.”

(On getting RB Todd Gurley back today)
“It’s great to have him out there. It’s great to have him healthy. Your first rookie game, it’s always a lot of emotions. Just having him out there is going to be a huge threat. We have talented running backs and so he’s going to add to it. Once he really gets going, it’s going to be something to see.”

(On having to run the ball better)
“Yeah, it’s one of those things where have to be able to…we have talented running backs. Our O-line’s doing a great job week-to-week of just working hard together and grinding. Once we get the run game going better, it’s going to really open up a lot of things. That’s part of it. We’ll come in to work tomorrow. We’ll be ready to go. I know our O-line will be there bright and early lifting and grinding like they always are, win or lose. You have to look at yourself on film and work to get better. That’s part of the deal. We’re fortunate to play in the NFL. You have to take each day as a professional and our O-linemen do that. I know they’re going to be in tomorrow working hard.”

(On how much he had to use the silent count)
“We had to use it a little bit at the end in the red zone, but other than that, we were able to go on cadence.”

(On if he feels like guys are still trying to find their roles)
“I think it’s just really…sometimes there’s growing pains. You’ll learn…I’ve gone through this before. You don’t start out…you’re trying to figure out week-to-week and you’re working. Every week you go into it optimistic and you’re working hard. We had a great week of practice and it’s a few plays here or there, that really opened up the game for us. So like I said, we can’t get down on it. We make plays, we’re going to be alright. We’re going to put ourselves in a situation where we’re in the red zone more, we convert on third downs more and we’ll be alright. I say it’s early in the season just because it’s not like the season stops today. We’ll play next week and we’re going to work hard this week to be better because that’s the guys we have in the locker room.”

(On if he’s experienced a delayed start to a game like the one today)
“Yeah, I guess you had a fire hazard on the field with the opening ceremony. I haven’t experienced anything like that, but our strength coaches and Coach Fisher did a great job of getting us in the locker room, getting us ready. Guys did their things before we go out and just sort of activating everything again.”

Rams RB Todd Gurley

(On if he felt rusty)
“No, it’s the first game. I’ve got to get in the groove of things. I’m just looking forward to tomorrow, looking at film, seeing what we’ve done wrong and just trying to get better next week.”

(On when they told him he would play today)
“It was like yesterday.”

(On if he needed to work out in front of the coaches this morning)
“No, it was fine. I had a good couple of weeks of practice in. They asked me how I felt and it went on from there.”

(On if he expects to be sore tomorrow)
“I think I should be fine. Nothing a cold tub won’t help, so that’s about it.”

(On if they had a cap on the number of touches he would get)
“No.”

(On how it felt to finally be playing in a real game)
“It’s definitely been a long time. It definitely felt good. Didn’t get the win, but just come back next week and get better.”

(On how he felt when he woke up this morning of if he slept at all knowing he would be playing today)
“I definitely slept. I went to sleep at like 9:30 last night. I knew it was going to be a long day, so I had to get ready.”

(On if he felt like his explosiveness was there from prior to the injury)
“I felt like I still have the explosiveness. Definitely didn’t get to show it today, but like I said, we’ll pick back up on things and try to get things rolling next week.”

Rams S Mark Barron

(On what happened on the play Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger got hurt )
“I stumbled on the way in and just caught his leg. Some kind of way, he ended up hurt. I caught him down around his lower leg. He was grabbing his knee. I didn’t have anything to do with his knee.”

(On if he saw Roethlisberger fall)
“Yeah, I saw him fall. I didn’t see how he fell, I just saw him fall. I don’t know exactly what happened to him. Like I said, I just caught him down around his ankle and he fell and grabbed his knee.”

(On Roethlisberger being a big person to bring down)
“Oh yeah, most definitely.”

(On how the defense played)
“We played a decent game, most definitely. It wasn’t perfect, but we played a decent game.”

(On trying to keep WR Antonio Brown under control)
“He’s one of the best in the game. I feel like we did okay with him overall. He started out kind of hot, but we got a grip on him and I think we finished well with him.”

Rams LB James Laurinaitis

(On the play of the defense)
“Quite frankly, we’ve got to find a way to get another turnover. They fumbled on a sack. We dropped a couple of other picks. You’ve got to make those plays, especially against a really good (offense). I thought we played really well, minus really early in the game, the first quarter. That’s a very talented team. Antonio Brown is the real deal and Le’Veon Bell is the real deal. Ben (Roethlisberger) is obviously the real deal. We fought back, we fought hard in the second half…really the second quarter on. We’ve got to find a way to get a couple more turnovers, flip the field position and do our part.”

(On becoming the Rams’ all-time leading tackler)
“I’ve just been really blessed by the Lord to stay healthy for seven years. I really wish we could have won. I’ve been saying it all week, I just want to be on one of those pictures in the hallway like the ’99 team. You can look at everything that’s nice and pretty at Rams Park, but you know the ’99 team got it done. That’s what I really care about. I’ve been blessed to stay healthy and just humbled that the Rams have believed in me for seven years. Just glad to be able to stick here.”

Rams DE Robert Quinn

(On if he feels good about holding Pittsburgh to 12 points)
“I think we did a great job constantly giving ourselves a chance of staying in the game. We missed a few big plays. They made a few good plays. We just have to figure out how, when the opportunity presents itself, we get our hands on balls that we’ve got to come away with. They made some incredible plays on the other side, so we’ve just got to knock those few little plays out and I think we’ll be alright. But, back to work we go.”

(On if he feels like they let one slip away today)
“Yeah, like I said, we we’re there. Tough ball game. Great opponent. Of course, we thought we had a play here, a play there. The big plays are what hurt us. We’ve just got to capitalize. They made some huge plays when they needed it and gave themselves a chance to win the ball game. When it’s our turn or opportunity to make a play, we’ve got to make the play or do something to put momentum on our side. I trust the guys in the locker room. Nothing to worry about.”

(On holding the Steelers to 12 points and thinking that would be enough for a victory at home)
“Yeah, you would think that, but it was a defensive ball game. Unfortunately, the accident on Ben Roethlisberger, he was out of the game. (No.) 26 was running his tail off. We gave ourselves a chance. 12 points – you expect to win those. But, they held us to six. We’ve just got to do a little bit better. When the time on the clock says zero, we’ve got one more point than our opponent. Like I said, we’ve got some work to do.”

RB Le’Veon Bell

(On why it was so hard to run today)
“Well, those guys are good up front. Obviously, we knew that coming in. It was going to be challenging running the ball on those guys and even passing the ball on those guys because those guys are so good up front. They got all first rounders up front. No. 99 (Aaron Donald) is the real deal. I know why he was a Pro Bowler last year. You know he really gets the rest of those guys going up front and they’re really talented.”