Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – Postgame Quotes – December 11, 2016
(Opening remarks)
“Extremely disappointing from a standpoint of we came off a long road trip, had a really good week of practice and expected to play much better than we did. We got some glimmer of hope over the last couple of days when we found out that their two most explosive players weren’t going to be available, so we felt like we’d have a good matchup defensively. Regardless of who you play, and they’re if not the top offensively, anytime you spot someone three touchdowns, one basically on special teams and give up two defensive touchdowns on offense, it’s hard to overcome. Then you add to that drops and penalties at the wrong time, it doesn’t happen. As I told the players, we have perhaps what is the biggest challenge of the year right now because we get on an airplane in three days and we’re going to go up to Seattle and play, which is one of the toughest places to play in the National Football League. We’ll get through this. We’ll bounce back tomorrow. We’ve got to get on to Seattle, so that’s kind of where we are, but very, very disappointed. The fans have every right to be disappointed as well. We wanted to come back and put a win on the board for our organization, for the fans and for our players, but it didn’t happen today.”
(On how he encourages QB Jared Goff from here)
“I’m not pressing on (QB) Jared (Goff) by any means. Jared’s gaining valuable experience for his career. He’s going to be our quarterback for a long, long time. He showed some things today that were impressive. He’s not happy and he does not like losing, but I think from a coaching perspective you can see improvement each week.”
(On whether or not he feels like things are spiraling out of his control)
“You come out to practice and watch them practice and watch them prepare. No. We have a drop ball that’s returned for a touchdown. We put a ball down on the five or seven yard line on the opening kickoff. Those things happen, you have to evaluate and overcome them.”
(On the recent happenings with Rams General Manager Les Snead and the effect on today’s game)
“I was focused on the game, the offense, the defense, the special teams and the opponent. I felt like I addressed things on Friday as he did, and we’re fine. We had a really good visit before the game. (GM) Les (Snead) and I are fine.”
(On how much he missed RB Benny Cunningham and RB Malcolm Brown in today’s game)
“You know I think (RB) Benny (Cunningham) might be second or third in the league in kickoff returns. He makes really good decisions. He’s got great ball skills. (RB) Malcolm (Brown) is usually pretty solid about not putting the ball on the ground, I can’t remember him putting the ball on the ground, and so credit them they ripped it out. You still can’t allow that to happen. We miss Benny and we miss Rob (DE Robert Quinn) and we miss (TE Cory) Harkey, but everybody’s going through that.”
(On what aspects are not carrying over from practice to the games)
“Offense. It’s offense. We’re not moving the ball consistently, not converting on third downs and not scoring points. That’s the problem.”
(On the players’ reactions and his responsibility for their losses)
“I have great respect for each and every player in that locker room, and I’ve developed relationships with them. My job is to help them to maximize their strengths, identify their weaknesses and help them to be as good of players as they possibly can. That’s my job. I have one-on-one relationships with them, so if they’re saying that I appreciate that. I have to take it. The head coach takes it. It’s obvious, that’s the National Football League. I feel responsible for this.”
Los Angeles Rams QB Jared Goff
(On three straight losses and whether it changes the way he approaches the game)
“It doesn’t really change much. Obviously, you want to be in the lead, but playing from behind is something I’ve done in the past and something I’ve been good at – rather not do it. But if the game dictates, sometimes you have to.”
(On how he would measure his growth given the tough situations he’s faced)
“A lot. I feel like I’ve grown a lot. Like you said, even in these tough games, even when things aren’t going our way – I’m trying to use every experience as something to build with, something to get better with. Hopefully, sometime from now – hopefully sooner rather than later – you can look back and be thankful for these experiences and be thankful that you went through these. I hope the same with my teammates. Obviously, it’s not fun. It’s not easy. We’re not having fun and we’re not enjoying any of it – it’s awful and it’s hard. But again, hopefully we can come out on the other side with the light at the end of the tunnel and look back at days like today and know that those days made us better.”
(On the pressure and noise from the fans in today’s game)
“It’s LA. I’m pretty used to it.”
(On what happened on the overthrown ball to WR Tavon Austin in the second quarter)
“Yeah, I think I got hit on that one. Would’ve loved to have had that one back and be able to put it on him. But unfortunately, got my arm hit on that and couldn’t put it where I wanted.”
(On being a rookie starting quarterback in the NFL and whether there have been any aspects of the experience that have surprised him this season)
“No. I think it’s been everything I kind of expected. Like I said, I’ve learned a lot. There’s definitely little things each game that I can take away – even in the tough ones – take away and get better from. But, I hope everything gets better sooner than later, obviously, like I said. One thing I know, is that we’ve got guys with great character in that room – guys that want to win.”
(On if the defenses that he has faced have been good)
“Yeah, they’ve been pretty good. But that’s nothing we can’t compete against and doesn’t mean we can’t win them.”
(On whether he still thinks he’s continually progressing each week or if he thinks he took a step back today)
“I don’t know. I think I’m always improving, always trying to progress. But again, I’m trying to use it as a learning experience. I don’t think I took a step back. But obviously, we got our ass kicked – excuse me. But I’m not happy if we don’t win and really, I don’t care how many yards. I mean, today wasn’t a place where I played well and we lost. Either way, I’m not really happy unless we win.”
(On Coach Fisher saying that he will be the quarterback for a very long time and what that vote of confidence means to him)
“It means a lot. Obviously, I had the vote of confidence feel, when they went and picked me. But him saying something like that, makes me feel even better about it and feel more confident. It’s my team, I need to take control and I need to make things happen.”
(On if Falcons QB Matt Ryan had any encouraging words for him after the game)
“Yeah. He said, ‘Just keep battling. Keep your head up, and keep battling. Keep doing your thing.’”
(On his first career pick-six and whether the ball was misplaced or it was dropped)
“The pick-six was just a bad ball. Threw it right to the defender. He made a good play, a really good play on it and took it back.”
(On why the play is not translating from the practice field to the game)
“Yeah. That’s the question. Every day in practice, we do, we practice well. We practice hard. We have good effort in practice, every practice. But for some reason, it hasn’t been able to translate very well, at least recently. That’s something we need to work on and fix. Again, like I said, it’s not lack of effort, it’s not lack of character. We have the guys in that room to do it, we have to coaches to do it – we need to just put it all together on the field. Until we do that, it’s going to be the same thing.”
(On how he feels the chemistry is between him and the receivers)
“Great. Great. I feel good with all of them.”
(On the quick turnaround this coming week playing Thursday night in Seattle)
“If there is ever a game to leave behind you quickly, it’s this one. We got to play in four days and we got to fly in three days. We have to put this one behind us. We got some walk-thru practice stuff tomorrow, then Tuesday will be a regular practice and we’ll fly Wednesday. It’s going to be a quick week, but we have to be ready to go. We know they’re coming off a similar game that we just came off of – they’re going to be hungry and so are we.”
(On how he sees his leadership role after four games in his career as a starting quarterback)
“I think I can take a pretty big leadership role. I think I can continue to even get better at that. It’s something I need to do. Like I said, it’s my team. I need to step up and take control, and try to encourage and try to keep everyone on the right page.”
(On how that leadership role has progressed this season)
“It grows gradually. It comes with playing well and getting the respect of the guys. Being able to be a little more vocal and everything in between. I’ve done it before, so I kind of understand the process. I think I’m to the point now, where I can continue to take that step and continue to be the leader I need to be for this team.”
Los Angeles Rams WR Kenny Britt
(On the pressure from fans on Coach Fisher)
“We’re in L.A., of course. Big media market, that means you’re going to hear it from the fans, you’re going to hear it from everybody. We do a great job of closing out the noise and focusing on ourselves, and do what we’ve got to do for the next three weeks. We’ve got to finish strong.”
(On how the team will revive itself and turn its performance around)
“We count on each other. We lean on each other. We go in like this is a regular week – come to work and work hard. That’s the one thing about this team, regardless if it’s a win or a loss, and there’s been a lot of losing, these guys never gave up. They come in to work each and every day, and they come to work harder.”
(On what’s not translating from the practice field to the game for him)
“Execution. Execution on our offense in the beginning of the game, to tell you the truth…In the first quarter when the ball is kicked off, and we get the ball, we can’t put our defense in bad situations at all. If they score, we’ve got to score back.”
Los Angeles Rams RB Todd Gurley
(On what he thinks the team needs to do to get over the hump)
“I really don’t know. We’re all trying to figure that out.”
(On what the team is playing for, for the rest of the season)
“We’ve got to play. I don’t care if we’re out the playoffs or not. Just come up, show up, and play. That’s why we play this game – show up and play.”
(On if he thinks the losing falls on the coaches or players)
“No, the coaches aren’t out there playing. The coaches don’t have anything to do with it. This is us. We’re on the field.”
Los Angeles Rams S T.J. McDonald
(On how they shake this game off when they have a game on Thursday)
“You have no choice. The Seahawks lost today, too. They don’t care about what we have going on, we don’t care about what they have going on. We know that it’s a Thursday Night game, we’ll have a lot of eyes on us. There are no moral victories, but we’ll have a chance to feel better about what’s going on.”
(On if there is something they can put their finger on with regards to how they are playing recently after starting the season winning three of their first four)
“You just have got to play team ball. That’s one thing that’s been going on for a while – we have to play team ball. We’ve been saying the same thing over and over, just put it together for four quarters, play team football – we have to do it, we have to do it, otherwise we’re not going to win.”
Los Angeles Rams DT Michael Brockers
(On what he learned about the team in this game moving forward)
“That we just keep fighting, just keep fighting defensively. We don’t focus on the score, we just focus on having our pride and just keep going. We don’t look at the score – you give all the effort you can give. That’s all we ask for.”
Los Angeles Rams CB Trumaine Johnson
(On how Atlanta not having WR Julio Jones changed the defense’s mindset or the Falcons’ game plan)
“The mindset was the same, for the most part – slight adjustments, he wasn’t playing, he was a big part of their offense, but the mindset was the same.”
(On if he was surprised that Falcons QB Matt Ryan was able to be so effective without Jones)
“He’s a great quarterback. But we made mistakes that we shouldn’t have made. I really feel like we beat ourselves today.”
(On the breakdowns he saw from the secondary)
“We gave up some points. Just coverage-wise, as a whole, that we shouldn’t have. We’ve seen everything, they weren’t throwing anything at us extra. Like I said, we just beat ourselves today.”
Los Angeles Rams LB Alec Ogletree
(On how Atlanta not having WR Julio Jones changed the defense’s mindset or the Falcons’ game plan)
“They still did what they were going to do. Definitely not having him on the field takes away part of their offense. They did a good enough job today to win the game.”
(On what the team hasn’t shown that they hope to show the fans in the final three games of the regular season)
“We have a talented team, but, like you said, penalties kill us, mistakes kill us. You don’t know how to rebound from it, you get exposed and that’s what happens. We have guys that work hard and do the right stuff, but when it comes to game day, we have to put a full, 60-minute game together.”
Rams WR Tavon Austin
(On how frustrating the loss is)
“It’s definitely very frustrating, knowing how hard we worked, and the talent we’ve got on this team. It’s just not going our way for some reason. Some of the penalties we’re making, we’ve just got to overcome those and stay together. Hopefully, we go up there Thursday with no mistakes.”
(On if it’s frustrating when the team found themselves down 21-0)
“No, this isn’t the first time. All of us probably have been down 21-0. It comes with the game. This is the NFL. It’s just not a game you can pick it up and start it when you want to. You’ve got to come out firing. One play can change the game, it can change the game. We had multiple of those. We shot ourselves in the foot. (There isn’t anybody) to blame but us.”
(On how he felt out there after being inactive last week)
“I felt good. When you sit out, it really lets you appreciate how much this sport is. Sitting on the sidelines, watching your brothers go to war, and you can’t do nothing. When you come back with them next week, it makes you want to go that much harder for them, seeing them suffering out there. That’s all it is. I just try to keep everything fun for me. Go out there and have fun. The best thing is to try to stay injury-free.”
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Agamemnon
