TRANSCRIPT: Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher (11-14-16)

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – Press Conference – November 14, 2016

(Opening remarks)

“I want to first start off by addressing the (DE) Robert Quinn situation. I spoke with Rob several hours ago, in addition to Christina, his wife, and he was in fact admitted to the hospital this morning for tests. He’s feeling much better. He kept saying to me over and over, ‘Coach, I just want to get back, get my body right and get on the practice field as fast as I can.’ We’re still undergoing tests and things look encouraging. He was fine after the game. As a matter of fact, he sits behind me on the bus – we had the long bus ride back from the airport – I was actually sharing some thoughts on the game and watching some plays on the game with him. So, and, something happened between the time we got back last night and this morning, but we’re very encouraged. We’re still doing tests and when I have more information for you, I’ll get it to you. ”

“As far as the game is concerned, it’s a win, we’ll take it. It was a hard fought game. Players, as I said yesterday, bounced back. We had guys return from injuries and finish the game in (DB) Lamarcus (Joyner) and (C) Tim Barnes. It was a valiant effort on behalf of some of those players. Certainly we’re disappointed as we look at it from a staff prospective and the lack of scoring. But when you look at the big picture, we’re 2-1 when we haven’t scored a touchdown. So, I don’t know what you guys are making such a big deal over not scoring touchdowns for (laughs). Obviously, it’s a big deal for us. It’s an area that needs to improve for us to make the push we want to make. We had the ball on the 1-yard-line, got stuffed, had a penalty – its opportunities, possessions in the red zone and just couldn’t get it in. But I’ll credit their defense and also point to some things that just weren’t executed appropriately. Had a few calls in the game that should’ve gone our way, would’ve given us more scoring opportunities – but they didn’t. When you’re playing as well as we are on special teams and as well on defense, sometimes you’ve got to find a way to win the game. This week’s going to be completely different and we’ve moved on to Miami, there’s no question about it.”

(On whether Quinn has had any prior health concerns and if anything like this has happened to him before)

“No issues. Nothing. He’s been feeling fine. He had to overcome a shoulder, kind of a neck thing, and he missed a couple of games because of it. But he’s been great since. He played well. He played quite a bit of snaps and played well – applied realistic pressure on the quarterback.”

(On if this is related to Quinn’s tumor)

“I’m not going to go into specifics. We’re still doing tests, but it’s highly unlikely.”

(On how much he had to convince Quinn from returning to prepare for the next game before first getting cleared medically)

“It’s a part of the process. When there’s a moment – and everyone has moments on occasion – you’ve got to do the research and make sure that there’s no issues. So, we’re still doing tests.”

(On how and when the news concerning Quinn came to his attention)

“I got the call early this morning, probably while he was in route, from Reggie (Scott) our trainer.”

(On the status of DT Eugene Sims)

“He’s in the protocol. He felt much better today. He was kind of cranky yesterday. He did not want to stay in, but we placed him in the protocol. He came back out after halftime. I had to send him back in, and he understood that. So we’re following that procedure, but he felt much better today.”

(On how the defense will be affected if Quinn and Sims are unable to play)

“It affects us, but I’m encouraged from the medical information I’ve gotten thus far. So, we certainly haven’t ruled him out. I think both of them have a chance to play.”

(On the where QB Sean Mannion fits in the quarterback rotation)

“Sean is ready to go if we need him. It’s fun to watch both of the young ones develop (Mannion and QB Jared Goff).”

(On QB Jared Goff)

“He’s number two and he’s a play away from playing. He’s ready, he’s preparing, and doing well”

(On facing situations earlier in his career where he had to play a player when the circumstances weren’t ideal and if he is facing that scenario now)

“Going back in time, Steve (McNair) got some opportunities to play, and he was less than perfect. Then once it was time, it was time, and then he got on a roll. The Vince (Young) situation is really completely different. We can’t add that to the mix. You take the same approach as you take with a veteran quarterback. You know the system, you feel comfortable, and he’s comfortable with his teammates, and can run the huddle and do all of those kinds of things, then he plays. And that’s the same approach we’ve taken with Jared.”

(On if Goff is pushing to play)

“He’s pushing. Yeah, he’s pushing. He’s anxious and confident.”

(On if there’s a sigh of relief after getting the win on Sunday)

“We go into every game expecting to win. I think the players had a realistic approach this week knowing that travel is an issue, it wasn’t easy. Playing the early game is an issue. You’ve got to prepare yourself for that. Then, we prepared ourselves for a huge battle against their defense. When they made a decision to go with the young quarterback, I think the defense decided to take it on their shoulders. We gave up one big play down the sideline, which we’d like to have. But beyond that, I thought the defense handled things appropriately. They’re excited. They’re happy about the win. They know we have to keep going. They respect the talent level of our next opponent. We’ve already talked about that. They’ve won four straight. They’re staying on the west coast, and they’re preparing for us, and we have to prepare for them.”

(On the reasons for WR Tavon Austin not having the same season, statistically, to this point compared to last year)
“It’s snaps, it’s opportunities. As we talked, it’s our inability to sustain drives – although we had some drives yesterday. But it’s opportunities to give him the football, people are taking him away. His presence on the field creates some other opportunities for other players. We created a lot of one-on-ones with (WR) Kenny (Britt) and Kenny answered. Kenny answered against a good corner. It’s an ongoing process, we’re not disappointed because he’s a highly-talented player. We just need to give him more opportunities.”

(On how far CB Troy Hill has come since his first start)
“When Lamarcus was having some issues, we moved (CB) E.J. (Gaines) inside, put Troy outside and Troy just made plays. He tackles well, recognizes things, I completely trust him. He can play and I’m glad we’ve got him because if he’s not in the defensive plan as one of those starters, then he’s in a position on special teams where he’s having an impact. He’s an inside guy, despite his size, on kickoff coverage, he’s going down and weaving and moving and knocking returners down. He does a good job in all aspects of special teams for us.”

(On how to improve their scoring offense)
“Score (laughs), score. We’ve got to execute. You get the ball on the 1-yard-line, but before you get the ball on the 1-yard-line, come on (RB) Benny (Cunningham), get in the end zone. It’s those things. Benny’s killing himself, we have to talk him off the ledge right now because he thought he was in – he didn’t get in. Get the ball in the end zone. We had potential on another first-and-goal, if they don’t pick up the flag on Tavon. It was clearly pass interference. They talked themselves out of it. So there’s another first-and-goal – it’s those little things. It’s the things that we’re not doing, we had some big play opportunities, we had some mistakes up front, some protection mistakes with people running down the field. Now granted, credit the opponent, because they’re creating those problems because that’s how (Jets Head Coach) Todd (Bowles) is with his defense, he creates problems for you. We talked about this, it was before Detroit, I think. We talked about finding a box of touchdowns in the storage room – we have to get back to that. We have to get back to scoring.”

(On if there was anything he saw on tape from RB Todd Gurley that he hadn’t previously seen in the first eight games)
“We got the opportunities in the second half. That was the big difference, we got the opportunities. So we made some adjustments against the defensive front and tweaked some run concepts in the game and we got him going. It’s unfortunate that his biggest run in the game was called back because of a hold, but you saw it there. As I’ve been telling you for weeks, I don’t have any concerns about Todd. Now, coming off the thigh, it was hard, he had to stay warm and things like that, he wasn’t 100 percent, but you still saw the flashes.”

(On how good the defense has been and how good they can be when they’re at full strength)
“We look at our defensive standpoint and every week, it’s how did you do on third down, did you get turnovers, and what did you do in scoring? We can do better, we gave up a touchdown drive – a 99-yard touchdown drive. That’s not acceptable from our defensive players’ standpoint and their mentality, it’s not. (LB) Alec (Ogletree) had 11 tackles, an assist and a pass broken up. The pass broken up, in our view, is not a ‘PBU,’ we call it an ‘MOBP’ and that’s a ‘missed opportunity for a big play.’ That’s the mindset that you take defensively and that’s the mindset and standard that (Defensive Coordinator) Gregg (Williams) sets with his group, and that’s where they are. But you have to do it week after week. For three weeks now, we’ve put in a winning effort, if you look at the stats, defensively, so we have to keep that going. This challenge this week is unique in that they can run it. They can really run it and their defensive front is extraordinary – they gave San Diego all they could handle up front. They can rush, rush the passer, stop the run and run the football and that’s where we’ve got to get to in a short period of time.”

(On if the Dolphins were interested in hiring him back in 2012)
“Yeah, it’s accurate. I was very fortunate during my year off to have some options, which is really unusual. But nonetheless, as I went through the journey, I narrowed it down to two clubs. I spent time, first with the Dolphins, and then came out and spent time with the Rams and decided that this was the place.”