Fisher, 1/4 … transcript (this p.c. is an important one)

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – 1/4/16

(Opening statement)
“It’s a bittersweet day, I’ll say. We had checkout physicals this morning after a late flight. Everything went fairly well as far as the physicals were concerned. Then we had our wrap up meeting at 1 o’clock. There’s a lot of energy in the building. Guys are looking forward to getting started, but obviously they need some rest.

“I’ll start with the (49ers) game I guess and then go backwards. We were a field goal away from winning this football game. There was a lot of great effort out on the field. (DT) Aaron Donald in particular – I’ve said this week after week, but this was a very, very dominating game up front by Aaron. It was really, really impressive. He gets my vote for defensive MVP. It’s nothing against J.J. Watt or anybody else, but maybe they’ll have co-(winners) because he played really, really well yesterday, as did some of his teammates. Case (Keenum) played well enough for us to win. We protected up front on the offensive line. It’s hard to lose a game when you don’t give up a sack and you don’t turn the football over. We just didn’t make the plays at the end. I’m proud of the way they handled everything. Their professional approach in Napa was extraordinary, coming off the win and refocusing on this game. We just didn’t get it done. Needless to say, they’re excited to come back.

“Offensively, we missed Todd (Gurley). We got to see Malcolm (Brown) a little bit, which was good for him. We had some opportunities. We had some drops. We hadn’t had any drops the last couple of weeks, per se, and obviously those were contributing factors in a close game. Defensively, too many big plays. We’ve got some work to do this offseason in our defense against the run and just try to increase our opportunities to get more turnovers. Special teams, we battled. We battled all year. Disappointed obviously in the field goal block. You know, the one (K) Greg (Zuerlein) hit from 52, you can see (TE Cory Harkey) ‘Hark’ on the tape kind of throwing his hands up. It looked good and then it just kind of sailed right on him. We missed it. Greg has been asked to do a lot of things, kick a lot of long field goals. Obviously his numbers aren’t what we hoped they would be. We have confidence in him, but in all likelihood there will probably be some competition with him in camp next year, which will make him better.

“Looking back, two or three games, a couple of missed field goals, a couple of overtime games and things are different. I believe in this team. I believe in the direction that we’re going. I believe that we’re building it right. I have confidence in Case. Case is an incomplete pass and a field goal away from potentially being 5-0 as a starter. He’s managing things well. He worked really well with (Assistant Head Coach/Offense) Rob and (QB Coach Chris) Weinke over the last few weeks and I feel good about his development. I think he’s got a chance to be a really good quarterback.

“I spoke with Nick (Foles). We’re going to give Nick a chance to compete. There will be competition when we come back, and I think we have a promising young talent in Sean (Mannion) that will be in the mix as well.”

(On what happened on the blocked field goal in overtime of Sunday’s game)
“They did a tremendous job getting the edge and getting a hand on the ball. It was not (TE) Lance (Kendricks). Somehow there was a call apparently to (C) Demetrius (Rhaney) and he went down, which you don’t do on field goal block, and he stretched those two gaps and put Lance in a difficult position. Lance had to go inside first, inside out, and they got a hand on it. It was definitely a breakdown, and we’ve had some breakdowns there. It’s something that has already been discussed. We’ve got to get a group out there that’s long – long arms and big bodies – and keep the same group out there for 16 or however many games.”

(On if three blocks on the season are too many)
“One block is too many, yes. Two were scheme wise. One was a low kick. But still too many.”

(On the injury status of LB Daren Bates)
“He’ll be okay. He’s got a mild…we’ll refer to it as a mild MCL. It was on the penalty that was called on him. He tried to come back. We tried to tape it, but he couldn’t finish the game. He’ll be ok.”

(On how the team will attempt to improve on offense)
“We’ve got our work cut out for us this offseason. That’s where we’ve got to go. We’ve got to score points. You’re going to have games where you’re going to win 17-10. You’re going to play some really good defensive teams, but your defense has to step up as well. In all those games, our defense gave up way too many plays as well. Points and third down efficiency and red zone are very, very important to us. There are some highlights. There are some good things offensively. You talk about (18) sacks over the course of a season. It’s pretty impressive how we protected the quarterback, especially over the last few weeks once we settled down up front. We have a lot to look forward to as far as our offensive line and our run game and the talent we have outside, which we’ll add to. I thought Rob (Boras) did a good job getting the ball to (WR) Tavon (Austin) whenever possible. He’s a very explosive player.”

(On if his expectation is that QBs Case Keenum and Nick Foles will compete)
“Yes, there will be competition there. But, Case is going to come back as the starter.”

(On if quarterback is a position they will look at)
“Of course it is. Yes, it is. Yeah, we’ll look at all of the positions. But, we’ll look at that position as well.”

(On if there are any concerns with the passing defense)
“Yes. We’re primarily a man-to-man team. One of them, you saw yesterday, Blaine (Gabbert) was falling down on his back. (DE) Will (Hayes) almost had him and he just threw the ball up and (49ers WR) Anquan (Boldin) caught it for about 40 or 50 yards. But, we’re a man-to-man team and we have to learn to play better. So, we’ll make those offseason adjustments. Average per catch is going to be up when you commit to playing man-to-man. Completion percentage will be up against zone teams. Our completion percentage was high earlier and then it settled down a little bit. Our third down efficiency on defense was manageable. It’s good enough to get to the playoffs, but the run defense in my opinion was not. We struggled in key games at times during the year in our run defense and we have to work on that.”

(On why it’s been so hard to get the team over the hump)
“It’s taken time. It was not a good situation when we got here. We’ve had inconsistent quarterback play. We’ve started a number of quarterbacks. Our focus has been in the division and to compete with the division. We’ve shown that we can do that, we just have to be more consistent outside of the division. We have a lot of decisions to make. We’ve got some key free agents that we have to get back. That’s going to be our focus, especially in the secondary. We’ve drafted well there. They’ve produced. We’ve developed them and we don’t want to develop them for anyone else. So, we want to be sure that we’re able to get them back. We’re confident we can do that.”

(On if they have to prioritize free agents)
“There’s been discussions. There’s been negotiations and discussions. It’s been on-going. I’m confident that (Executive Vice President of Football Operations/Chief Operating Officer) Kevin (Demoff) and (Senior Assistant) Tony (Pastoors) will get those things done. We have good relationships with the agents. By all accounts, they all want to come back, which is good.”

(On how Assistant Head Coach/Offense Rob Boras fared over the final four games of the year)
“Again, a blocked field goal away from winning four straight. The operation was really good. He and (Quarterbacks Coach) Chris (Weinke) communicated really well. The plays were coming out. There were no issues. The only times we had issues was if we had it with the coach-to-quarterback device. I thought Rob jumped in and took advantage of a very, very difficult situation. And I thought he handled it really well. I’ve had a number of players come by my office today saying, ‘We like Coach Rob.’”

(On if he’s made a decision to stick with Boras as the offensive coordinator)
“I have not made a decision at this point. We landed late last night. We’re all tired, as you are. There’s a potential for staff changes as there always is every year. I’ll be addressing that over the next couple of days, but I have not made a decision with a respect to Rob. But, Rob certainly is deserving of an opportunity to take this over because I thought he did a really good job.”

(On if the game plan was more conservative yesterday than it has been previously)
“No, they are typically not going to give up big plays. We had to make the big plays. We faked the reverse and got the big play down the field to (WR) Kenny (Britt). But no, we were trying to be aggressive. It’s a good defense. We made our share of plays and we pushed the ball. If you make a couple of catches, it’s a different game. Those drops, they don’t correlate with a conservative game plan.”

(On if there is any frustration with not getting the team over the hump in four years)
“Yes, I’m certainly disappointed. We had high expectations this year coming into this thing. We felt like we were built and equipped to compete in the division and make a run. Again, as every coach will tell you, injuries are not excuses. But, we played most of the year without (DE) Rob Quinn and Alec Ogletree and (S) T.J. McDonald, and then lost corners and had some issues up front with the offensive line and then we had to make a change at the quarterback position. I think we’re in position to go now. I know no one looks forward to playing us. I know that.”

(On if there’s a way to get QB Nick Foles’ confidence back)
“Oh, yeah. Nick’s a pro. He understood everything and took responsibility for it and is looking forward to getting away and coming back and competing and getting a better feel for this offense.”

(On if he went too young on the offensive line)
“No. As I’ve said numerous times, since our arrival here we’ve been wanting to go ahead and build that offensive line through the draft. We haven’t had the opportunity because of the other needs. This year we had the opportunity. This is going to be a good group and it’s going to be a good group for a long time with depth.”

(On if he sees S Mark Barron’s future as a linebacker/safety)
“YeS. We desperately want him back and he wants to come back. He likes the role. He likes the position. He’s very instinctive around the line of scrimmage. We’ll go back and do our self-scout and those kinds of things here in a few weeks, but the number sub packages that we face defensively, from an offensive standpoint, is going to put him on the field. In addition to the nickel back, or Lamarcus (Joyner), you also have the need for that position. So, the game’s changing a little bit. That becomes kind of a starting position for us on defense.”

(On if Barron would still get plenty of playing time even with LB Alec Ogletree returning next season)
“Yes.”

(On LB James Laurinaitis’s status)
“He set the franchise record with 1,009 tackles and the second half of the year, it wasn’t easy for him. But, he showed up every single day. He got the defense in position. He made the calls and he’s one of those guys. He’s a throwback. He wasn’t 100 percent and you could tell it, but he gave it everything he had.”

(On if Laurinaitis will recover fine in the offseason)
“YeS, I have not gotten the final report, but it’s probably unlikely that he would need to have that corrected. He just needs to rest. He needs to go sit on a beach and do a Corona commercial.”

(On if he knows that Laurinaitis will not rest this offseason)
“No, he’s going to be in here every day.”

(On how much better RB Todd Gurley can be with a full offseason to prepare)
“We’ve said that all along. You come off this injury and that first year back, you can see the light and things. But, with an offseason program and strength and conditioning, he should be a different running back next year.”

(On if Gurley is going to be able to participate in the Pro Bowl)
“It’ll be close, but we’ll see. He’ll make the trip, I’m sure, and then we’ll make that decision. But, we’re not going to put him at risk there.”

(On if he’s going to tell Gurley not to play in the Pro Bowl if he has injury concerns)
“We’re going to circle the wagons tomorrow with the doctors and find out the specifics. But, if we’re going to subject him to stretching this thing out further in the offseason because he’s participating in the Pro Bowl, then we’re not going to go there. We would not do that.”

(On what he and his staff plan to do the next few days)
“We’ll start the evaluation process. Go back and we’ll discuss our restricted free agents, our unrestricted free agents and prioritize things from a coaching perspective. Then, we’ll get the ball rolling as far as the self-scouting and things like that. Separately from them, I’ll be dealing with when and if there’s going to be and potential staff changes.”

(On if he’d like to know where this franchise will be located next year)
“I shared with the team today, I’ve been through this experience before. We have to take the approach and with the assumption that everything’s taking place here in St. Louis until we’re told otherwise. I don’t have any more information than you guys do. I’ve chosen not to ask questions, so I can tell the truth when I’m asked questions. I don’t know, but we are moving through the normal offseason protocol right now with the wrap up, physicals and whatever surgeries that we have to have and moving through the staff issues, and we’ll go on.”

(On if he would prefer an earlier offseason report date)
“Yeah, I mean, I’ve been opposed to the change since the last laboring agreement with respect to the offseason program. I don’t think it permits you to develop players, especially when their first day back is April 18 and it’s voluntary. I think guys need to be here. I think they want to be here. They want to have interaction. They want to be coached, but that’s the system that we’re operating under right now, so we can’t do anything about it.”

(On if he thinks uncertainty about relocation will have an effect on the free agents decisions)
“I don’t think it’s going to be an issue with them, no. They want to be here. They’ve talked to enough players around the league and they know what it’s like elsewhere. They all want to be here, which is good.”

(On if the team voted on Rams’ team awards)
“They decided. Yeah, they voted. (DT) Aaron Donald is the MVP. Todd Gurley is the rookie of the year. (TE) Cory Harkey got the spirit award. (WR) Brian Quick is our nominee for the Ed Block award. Then, we had a community…(DE) Chris Long, Walter Payton award.”

(On how much WR Brian Quick’s season was the result of spending his entire offseason rehabbing)
“That’s a good question. He spent the whole offseason rehabbing, so he didn’t get to spend the whole offseason preparing from a football standpoint. So, I think he was set back. But, he’s healthy now. He’s lucky to be playing. The blow that he took there was potentially very dangerous to that shoulder in the game. He came away from it without an issue. He needs to have a really good offseason this year, and become much more consistent.”

(On the hit Quick took in the game)
“Yeah, I don’t know. What do you think would’ve happened had you been through that? It was a great throw. I wish he could’ve come down with the catch, but it was a great throw. Good defensive play.”