Fisher, Williams – 9/12 … transcripts, video

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher– September 12, 2014

(On the state of readiness for Sunday’s game)
“Everybody’s excited to go down and play. We have respect for out opponent and had a good week of practice. Obviously, Shaun (Hill) didn’t do much today. He’ll probably be a game-time decision. But we got Austin (Davis) some reps. Austin’s much better suited to play this game, this week because of the starter reps that he’s taken this week. We’ll see what happens.”

(On if Hill is getting any closer to returning)
“He made progress. He was limited today though, in practice.”

(On if Hill could start on Sunday even though he didn’t practice all week)
“Yes he can. He’s got a good enough feel for what we’re doing.”

(On his plan to evaluate Hill’s status)
“He’s improving. We’ll evaluate him tomorrow. And then of course, probably evaluate him pregame warm-ups.”

(On what he will base his decision on if Hill will play on Sunday)
“It’s all about risking additional injury and missing more play time. That’s what the decision will be based on.”

(On if he is OK with potentially starting Davis)
“Yes. He’s excited. He’s excited for the opportunity if it happens.”

(On how fast QB Case Keenum is learning the offense)
“He’s done a great job with it. He didn’t get many reps but he’s got a package. We have a decision to make whether we keep two or three up, right now. A lot can happen in the next 48 hours.”

(On if WR Stedman Bailey’s suspension would change if the new drug policy is approved)
“I can’t go there. I’m seeing what you guys are seeing. So, we just don’t know. We heard there was a potential for a vote earlier in the week. I think a lot of teams prepared as if the vote was going to take place and you may get suspended players back. And then as it progressed through the week the assumption is nothing’s going to happen prior to kickoff.”

(On if there there’s a set date for DE Chris Long’s return)
“No, nothing, different then what I told you earlier in the week.”

(On Long’s ankle surgery)
“The surgery went good, should be back in the building on Monday. Sam’s (Bradford) in the building feeling really good right now. His surgery went well.”

(On the weather in Tampa Bay this weekend)
“It’ll be 89, 50% chance of precipitation late in the afternoon, heat index probably about 105.”

(On if the team is ready for the heat in Tampa Bay)
“We’re ready for it. Good day for football.”

Rams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – September 12, 2014

(Opening statement)
“It’s amazing how much chipper and how much faster they are moving around, liking the practice and they’re not dreading about coming out here. It’s kind of the fun of it. It might be a little warm down there, we’ll see.”

(On what he sees out of Tamp Bay’s Offense)
“There’s some carry over similarities to what we saw last week. The big thing is, I see a (Buccaneers Head Coach) Lovie Smith influence on the whole team, not just offense, on the whole team. I have so much respect for him. He’s in that defensive fraternity that all of us are in, in this league. Just from the toughness aspect, the things you’re trying to control the line of scrimmage, be a hard-nosed football team. He’s been a really good influence and I see a lot of his characteristics in that football team.”

(On if he’s preparing to see Buccaneers RB Doug Martin)
“We have to wait and see. We’re preparing for whoever touches the football. We’re going to have to do a good job for whoever touches the football. He’s a good football and has gotten a lot of people’s attention around here before playing against him before. We’ll have to wait and see whoever they trot out there. ”

(On how it’s been adjusting to DE Chris Long’s injury)
“Chris is a great spirit here and one of our defensive captains. It’s Just one of those things you go through, next man up. He’ll be back. He’ll be involved. I tease him a little bit about… now he’ll get a chance to do some of the things I’m doing, I’m going to keep him involved coaching. He and his dad and I are good friends, too, but that’s just part of this business. That’s one of the first times he’s had to go through that. It’s tough to get through, but he will get through because he’s a tough man. He’s very well liked on this team. He’s very well respected on this team. So, as soon as he gets back, he’ll move into the coaching ranks and get guys ready to go. It keeps his mind fresh, too. It keeps him involved in the game plan and what’s going on and all the preparation part of it because those habits you don’t want to die either. He’ll come back, he’ll bounce back and he’ll do a good job and now we’ve just got to have our next man up philosophy. Those are some of the things I’ve preached wherever I’ve been, is next man up and we’ve got to get ready to go. ”

(On if replacing Long will be difficult)
“We’re pretty talented at that position. That’s been one of the good things here. We’ve got a lot of guys playing a lot of positions, so we’ll just have to rotate them in. From a respect standpoint, he’s one of our captains and also one of things our guys believe is they’ve got to step up there and help him out too. They don’t want to see any fall off. They don’t want to let him down is what I’m saying. We’ll rise up, we’ll do what we have to do.”

(On the importance of getting takeaways)
“We had our hands on five balls, not that I would count. Three of them legitimately in both hands, so we’ve had a little bit of some chap conversations about those kind of things going on. Takeaways are real important especially helping our offense, field positions and other kind of things. I’ve also preached for a long time that back-to-back and especially three consecutive three-and-outs are the equivalent in field position to a takeaway. We’ve got to do those type of things to help our offense, to help this football team. It’s a team game. Scoring on defense, taking the ball away, stealing a possession here and there, those are primary and those are things we’ve emphasized. I think you guys see that on how much we emphasize that here. First time since I’ve been here, we haven’t gotten one and we had plenty opportunity. We needed to come away with some.”

(On tackling performance thus far)
“Wherever we’ve been we’ve been recognized as a really good tackling team and you’ve seen all preseason long about how each week has gotten better and better and better and better. That’s one of the things when you have all the restrictions now on what you can and can’t do in practices and stuff like that that there’s a little bit of a let off. Nowhere have I ever been has there been a let off. We’ve improved tremendously in a lot of areas. We had two plays, two significant plays, that stood out and both times 84 (Vikings WR Cordarrelle Patterson) had his hands on the ball. Other than that we tackled pretty well in most conditions especially on arguably the best running back in the National Football League. We just didn’t do a very good job on a couple of plays, of the three times 84 (Patterson) touched the ball, two of those plays we had multiple missed tackles and it’s not acceptable. Obviously, as you know as you guys have been around practices, we’ve even emphasized it more. You can’t emphasize it too much, that’s how you’re measured on defense.”

(On playing one of the tallest receiver tandems in the league)
“It looks like we’re playing basketball. Talked to a lot of our guys here and it looks like we’re going to have to play basketball with point guards compared to their forwards they’ve got down there. It’ll be a challenge, but one of the things that we’ll do is, is that we feel pretty good about how we go about surrounding some of those tall guys in some of our concepts and stuff. We’re going to have to do a good job on the line of scrimmage, our defensive line is going to have to do a good job of affecting the timing of plays and then our secondary, they’ve been really good all year long. They’ve haven’t been giving up big plays and we’ve just got to continue to do that.”

(On DT Ethan Westbrooks state of readiness)
“He’s improved tremendously. Now he’s going to have a chance to see in a regular season game on how it speeds up. Until a young guy gets into a preseason game, coming from college to preseason all of a sudden it’s a shock on how it speeds up. Then we you move from preseason to regular season there’s a shock on how it speeds up. He’ll go through that a little bit. They’ll be an acclimation phase early in the game. I have a lot of confidence in him. He’s got a lot of talent and he’s picked things up very well for us and he’s gone above and beyond the call of duty behind the scenes. Things that you guys can’t see, from extra time on the field, extra individual time with ‘Wauf” (Defensive Line Coach Mike Waufle) on what he’s doing. A lot of extra meeting time throughout this whole preseason attitude, so it’s time for him to play and now we’ll see. He’s going to get his opportunity.”

(On what he saw from CB EJ Gaines last Sunday)
“Saw a calmness. I saw a kid that fit in, didn’t see a kid that gets rattled at all. Was put in some lonely situations out there. I hung him out to dry several times. The game wasn’t too big for him. Froze a little bit on one red zone play where he just hesitated slightly. That’s not characteristic of him and what he’s shown out here. But he’s improving every day. He’s been a good hire here and he’s fit in well. Our team is quickly getting used to him and quickly feeling confident with him because he knows what to do.”

(On if the absence of Long requires MLB James Laurinaitis to be more of a leader)
“Everybody’s a leader. I’ve said this ever since we started here, everybody’s a leader positively or negatively. So, what happens is with Chris stepping out of there, James is already vocal enough but that whole group of guys and we don’t have anybody that I’m really worried about on the whole defensive side of the ball that doesn’t understand that everybody has to be a leader in one shape, form or fashion. Vocal leadership is way overstated. Leadership comes from the example you set, how hard you work. And when you’re doing the right things people will listen to you when you open your mouth. So, if you’re not doing the right things or working hard to start with, we don’t care what you’re saying because we’re not listening to you anyways.”

(On if he’s seen many injuries to the ankle similar to one that happened to Long)
“Not very many. Well we see a lot of that rolled up stuff. That particular injury just happens to be the first one I’ve ever had. But you see a lot of that, and that’s some of the things you see the competition committee trying to help on defense. Trying to eliminate some of that rollling up stuff that happens to D-Lineman, just a freak accident in a time. Usually guys are able to get their feet out of those situations, he wasn’t on that one and it’s unfortunate. But that’s the first time I’ve had that one happen to a player that I have coached.”