All kinds of post-game quotes

HEAD COACH JEFF FISHER

(Opening statement…)
“What do you think! It was raining. I haven’t worn a hat in a long, long time. Great effort, practice was good. The guys were into it. It was great to get off to the start we did. Mark’s play on the short yard, third and one, the hit and the caused fumble set the tempo.

We had to overcome some difficult things. Defensively we lost four guys out of the rotation, that’s not easy. Those guys that played, stepped up and played hard and played well. It gave the younger guys an opportunity. Three guys are in the concussion protocol. It’s all good right now but they couldn’t return. We’ll keep you posted on that. That would include Mark, Ethan and Tru (Trumaine Johnson). Tru came back but Nick did not come back. Nick seems to be okay. We’ll see how that goes.

The guys played hard. Case (Keenum) made good decisions. I thought the offensive line played well against that front. That front is really good. I thought we were able to keep the run game going throughout the game and we got creases. Todd made some plays. What can you say about Tim Barnes? That’s a great effort. You don’t want to see some balls on the ground but we got some bounces and Tim made two big plays.”

(Did you consider putting Barnes in on the hands team at the end…)
“Uh, no. The hands team is a hard place to play. There was some heavy contact there before, fortunately our guys made a good decision and the ball went out of bounds.”

(What does that say about Tim? He was 25 yards down the field…)
“That’s the way their coached, their down field in case that happens. That’s why you go down the field. They all do it, Tim just happened to be in the right place.”

(How did your defensive line play…)
“They played hard. We got good pressure. Wilson is so good at getting out of the pocket. We got good pressure on him. We got him down a couple of times. You can see what he can do when he scrambles around and makes plays, like the last play of the game. That last touchdown pass was just classic Russell Wilson. We had him bottled up, he got out, he found out we were playing zone, trying to shorten the game. He makes a great throw. That’s what he has been doing.”

(How well is Tru Johnson playing right now…)
“He’s getting his hands on the ball and he is making plays. In addition to the interceptions, he is breaking up a lot of passes, which is good. So he’s feeling good. I think you could also agree that he is tackling very well. He is bring a lot of contact to the ball carriers, to receivers and tight ends. I wasn’t crazy about that call. I think it was on him but I wasn’t crazy about that call. That shows you the type of contact he is playing with.”

(What did William Hayes do to be so impactful…)
“We got him into passing situations and that’s what defensive lineman prefer is to rush. He is an outstanding rusher in addition to that he has got tremendous lower body strength and can separate and get off and help us in the run game.”

(Have you had a game like that with as many players being checked for concussions…)
“No we have not, to that extent. Usually on occasion there’s one but it was one of those things that happened today. We’re on top of it and we’ll keep you posted on how they come around.”

(Did Barron hurt himself on that forced fumble…)
“No it was later.”

(What does it say about the team, turning it around after starting 4-8…)
“It’s those guys in that room in there. They enjoy each other, they like to work hard, practice and have fun. They are in there celebrating, so I need to get back in there, their having fun.”

(How meaningful is this for you…)
“It’s nice. We made some difficult changes with respect to the quarterback and coordinator change. Some of those things are paying off for us now. It’s nice to win three straight against good teams. We have a chance to go 5-1 in the division and finish on a winning note, that’s what our focus is going to be.”

QB CASE KEENUM

(On the importance of beating Seattle…)
“It’s an incredible win to come up here. I’ve never been here before, so to see their fans and their atmosphere. It’s a playoff team and it’s a playoff atmosphere. It’s incredible. You’ve got to give it to our guys. Our guys fought hard, across the board—offense, defense and special teams. I think we played an extremely smart football game today. I think we flipped the field when we needed to. The defense turned it over. Big turnovers. Huge turnovers, and we made it count when we got down there. Just hand it to Todd (Gurley); hand it to 30 and watch him do what he does. It was a great day. It was a lot of fun.”

(On if the weather and crowd issues were a factor…)
“Yeah, they were. It was tough. Obviously you could tell guys were missing a few they would usually catch or dropping a few fumbles. But I thought we handled it very well. (Center) Timmy (Barnes) did a great job with snaps and cadence. Really, nobody hears me except maybe Tim and the guards. He did a great job. I don’t think we had very many penalties when it comes to that, and I didn’t touch the ground. We didn’t have any quarterback hits. When that happens, it’s a pretty good day.”

(On the trajectory of the team after three straight wins.…)
“We’re having fun. We’re playing football. We’ve got nothing to lose. It was an incredible atmosphere, an incredible game, and why not play hard and see what happens? I think that’s the mindset our guys have got. Let’s go play. It doesn’t matter what it’s for, it doesn’t matter what happened before, it doesn’t matter what’s going to happen ahead. Let’s go play.”

(On how he would assess his own performance…)
“First off, I grade myself on if we won or not. For that, obviously I’m really happy about it. Not turning it over I think was huge today. Getting in and out of the huddle, the operation with the crowd noise wasn’t perfect, but we got the job done. We got some third downs, we had some big drives when we needed to, and it was just an incredible team game. I think we played really well together today, especially offensively. You know, the whole team, but offensively I thought we really played well together today, and it was a lot of fun.”

(On if he took satisfaction on any one part of his performance today…)
“Not in particular. It’s always fun throwing touchdown passes, but sometimes they’re not even the biggest plays. Sometimes it’s third-and-five and you throw it away. There are different plays where you take care of the football, and those are big plays, too. But touchdowns are always fun, and it’s fun throwing to Kenny (Britt).”

(On the value of getting ahead early…)
“I don’t know if it deflated them, but we put the pressure on them pretty quick, which I think was big. Getting midfield position on the one drive and getting a field goal was big, and then our defense goes right out with a fumble recovery for a touchdown and we’re up 10 early. I thought that was big. Really big. We just continued to put the pressure on them. The defense did a great job. We ran the ball extremely well in the second half, and it was great.”

(On if the Rams do extra preparation for Seattle…)
“They’re a great football team. We try to put in as much preparation as we can every week no matter who we’re playing. That’s something you preach no matter who you’re playing—smart football, being smart with the football. I think today it just came together.”

(On the importance of St. Louis recovering its own fumbles…)
“It seemed like Timmy had the magic touch getting all those back, so it was huge.”

CB TRUMAINE JOHNSON

(On today’s win…)
“It feels great especially after my four years here. This is my first time beating the Seahawks here. Shout out to my teammates that was a team win. I’m so proud now.”

(On the play of linebacker Akeem Ayers…)
“Big time, the whole game, all four quarters. He made some plays early that set the tone and sparked our defense.”

(On how the pressure generated by the defensive line impacted the secondary…)
“First off, shout out to the d-line. I feel like we have the number one d-line in the NFL. They make it easy on us. Hurry up and pressuring the quarterback makes the [defensive backs] job easier.”

(On having an interception in four straight games…)
“It’s a blessing. A lot of film study. I’m speechless right now. I’m happy we got the win. It’s not even about the interceptions. I’m happy that we got the win in Seattle.”

(On the frustration of losing in Seattle so many times recently…)
“We’ve come up here the last three years, like you said, and come up short. We battled the guys for three quarters straight. I just feel like the last three years the fourth quarter we always slipped up and let them win. I’m glad we got the W.”

LB AKEEM AYERS

(On the first fumble recovery…)
“It was Mark [Barron]. It was a great hit by Mark. Mark came through and hit the fullback. It happened to come my way. That’s when I just scooped it and ran for the end zone.”

(On if he knew the second fumble would be ruled that way…)
“Yeah, I was the first one to run over there so I had a pretty good view of it. Soon as Eugene [Sims] hit him the ball was coming out. They blew the whistle, but I just fell on it because I knew it was a fumble if we reviewed it.”

(On if he felt the game was over following that fumble…)
“Yeah, we made a lot of big plays. We kind of kept them in the game with a few penalties. We had a lot of plays where we could’ve have ended the game, but unfortunately we had penalties. We just got to continue to play and the plays will continue to come and when they come we just got to make them.”

(On why their defense causes Seattle trouble…)
“We just really know them. We really study our opponents. We study for teams each week and we are always pretty prepared every time we play. Just having this team in our division, we really know this team inside and out. We really know what to expect from them.”

DE WILLIAM HAYES

(On his performance today…)
“AD (Aaron Donald) has been carrying the team all year. I just wanted to put a little bit on my shoulders and take a little pressure off him. He’s basically been carrying our d-line since Rob (Robert Quinn) went out. Just wanted to help him and do my part today.”

(On the pressure applied to quarterback Russell Wilson…)
“This week we were really focused on our attention to detail. We did a lot more studying this week. I think that helped out for the most part. Getting a sack on him is hard anyway. Any time you get one you got to appreciate those because he’s so mobile.”

(On earning the Rams’ first win in Seattle in 11 seasons…)
“It feels good. I haven’t won since I’ve been here. I have been here four years. The goal is to carry this stuff over into next year, this momentum, this success we’ve had.”

DE CHRIS LONG

(On this team’s resiliency since going 4-8…)
“They aren’t giving participation trophies for this team not quitting. But this team, it’s not what we do. It starts with coach Fish (head coach Jeff Fisher). Coach Fish preaches we’re going to come to work and fight every day. Even when the chips are down, that’s when you find out what people are made of. I think we got the right kind of guys in this locker room. It’s on purpose. It’s no accident we have those guys.”

(On what role the defensive touchdown played in the game…)
“It was the difference in the game. Mathematically it was the difference in the game. It ended up being a six-point game. It was huge. Opportunistic, that’s how we played defense today.”

(On the mood in the locker room following the win…)
“It’s great. This is what football is about. We aren’t going to playoffs, but not everybody in this league plays it out to the end and not everybody in this league cares when everybody says there is nothing on the line. This locker room is totally different than that. It’s a blessing to be in this room.”

RB TODD GURLEY

(On how it feels to sweep Seattle, a two-time Super Bowl team…)
“It feels good to end on a good note. We might not be going to the playoffs, but we’ve got three in a row. That’s all we care about, just trying to finish off the season strong.”

(On if it is fun playing in a hostile environment…)
“I always love playing on the road. That’s what it’s all about, going into someone else’s place and give them a loss.”

(On his touchdown run…)
“They knew what was coming. They knew we were going to run the ball, but the offensive line did a great job. We were just trying to do some tough running out there.”

(On if it’s a point of pride to be able to get into the end zone in those circumstances…)
“It means a lot. Everybody knew what we were going to do. You just go out there and execute anyway.”

(On what St. Louis has done to turn things around after being 4-8…)
“Executing. Not making mistakes. Not getting interceptions, fumbles. We put two balls on the ground, but we were able to get them back. Not killing ourselves.”

(On what it means knowing the team being committed to the running game…)
“Obviously, you look at the games before, we were down, so you can’t run the ball when you’re down, so we’ve been able to stay in the game and not hurt ourselves.”

C TIM BARNES

(On if Brandon Mebane is the largest human he has ever seen…)
“He’s pretty big. I’ve played him a few times now, and you always know what you’re in for whenever you’re going to play him. You can watch film on him, but even then until you get out and play him it’s still different. He’s big and he’s quick, and he’s a good player.”

(On if he has ever touched a ball twice in one game…)
“Not since I was in high school and I had to do emergency running back. That was a long time ago. We had run out of guys. Let’s see, that year I was a freshman so I was probably only 20 pounds lighter and the same height. I was a big kid in high school.”

(On why he was far downfield in both fumble-recovery situations…)
“You’ve got to follow the ball. That’s what we try to do on every play. That’s what we do as an O-line. We try and chase the ball, keep guys from hitting our guys downfield. That’s something we want to do. That’s something we preach; that’s what coaches preach to us: If you’re around the pile at the end, good stuff will happen. And today, it just fell in our favor.”