Fisher, Boras, Williams … 9/10 … transcripts

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – September 10, 2016

(Opening Remarks)

This closes out the week for us, so now it’s time to rest, recover and then we’ll have a brief walk-thru in the morning, and then head to San Francisco. We’re kind of looking forward to it. Everybody’s good. Our injury report is as follows: (WR) Nelson Spruce is designated as out, along with (WR) Pharoh Cooper and (CB) E.J. Gaines. Then we have (T) Rob Havenstein, who is designated as questionable, and (LB) Bryce Hager is designated as questionable.”

(How LB Bryce Hager has grown since primarily playing special teams last year)

“You know, he paid close attention to our defense last year, you know why he was on all four of them. He had a really good preseason, he’s had a good camp, so no concern whatsoever putting him back behind the ball, and letting him play.

(On the eight months leading up to the season opener and how he feels about in now “being about football”)

“Yeah, its football and we still have some fine tuning as everybody does two days away from kickoff and we have travel. But beyond that, its preparing for those unforeseen situations that come up. A couple more meetings regarding those things and they’re unpredictable things, and just go from there. Then teach them just to play, you know, they’re just going to play. Don’t watch the scoreboard, just go out there and play. We’ll see where we are. It’s a long season.”

(On if it seems as though the regular season came faster than he thought with respect to the teams relocation)

“It’s hard to imagine what we started doing back in March – the move to Oxnard, then the break, then everything in Irvine, and then we’re back here and moved in – now here it goes. Like we said, the rest of the league they don’t care what we’ve been through, so we’ll go show them it was all worth it.”

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Rams Offensive Coordinator Rob Boras – September 10, 2016

(On his thoughts regarding QB Case Keenum as the starter)

“Like him and everybody else, I feel like we’re all in a good spot. Case is prepared – that’s the one thing he’s been throughout this whole process. He’s handled everything really well. In the opportunities he’s had in the preseason, he played very efficiently and created some scoring drives for us. Real excited to see how it unfolds Monday night for him. I think he’s ready.”

(On if there’s anything different in Keenum’s demeanor this year as the starter, in comparison to taking the starting job through the middle of last season)

“No, I think it’s been very consistent for him. He really embraced it last year when it happened, and he’s had opportunities to start before in Houston, so it wasn’t new for him. He was prepared for it. I’ve seen that same sort of process. He’s probably growing into a leader even more, and I think that’s one of his strengths, and that’s one of the things I’m always telling him and challenging him with, that he can really drive these guys and lead them. And I think obviously just knowing that he’s going in as a starter, it’s allowing him to be an even better leader, because he’s confident with where he is.”

(On where he wants to see QB Case Keenum grow)

“I think obviously as an offense, we all need to continue to get better. I think we’re always talking about playing with tempo. I think as a leader, he’s going to continue to grow just naturally with who he is. But, I think just leading this offense and doing what we’re asking him to do, and never trying to do too much, just staying within himself. Like most of these guys at this level, they’re very hard on themselves, and we’ve all got to play one play at a time. And if something doesn’t go right, how quickly can you move to the next play? And that’s really across the board. But for the quarterback position, you have to have a real short memory.”

(On his expectations for WR Tavon Austin)

“We’ve said it since he’s been here, ‘Tay’ is a special player, and we see it in every avenue when he gets the ball; whether he’s a punt returner, whether he’s a receiver, whether we’ve lined him up in the backfield. He’s an explosive player. I think just with his development, maturing going into where he is in his career now as a receiver. Bringing (Passing game coordinator) Mike Groh in has really helped, not only him technically, but also schematically with us on all offense. It’s just, again, continue to grow on his ability, and really see where we can go with him.”

(On what he’s most excited about regarding the new era of the Rams in Los Angeles)

“It’s the most resilient group of guys I’ve ever been around. In an era where everyone is always complaining or always looking over, these guys have just handled it. Everything is not perfect, nothing in this world is. And they’ve just accepted everything and they’ve moved on. Whether it’s been from leaving St. Louis, to Oxnard, to Irvine, to here, and these guys just keep showing up every day. And if they show that type of resiliency for everything that we just went through, I can’t wait to see how it carries over to the field. Because you need to be resilient, just as I talked about. Everything is not going to go our way. And we need to have that mental toughness and those guys have displayed it, unbelievably, throughout this entire process. And that’s the thing that stands out to me the most with who these guys are. I think that speaks a lot about their character.”

(On where he feels he’s grown as the offensive coordinator since taking over full-time)

“Other than my waistline, since I don’t exercise anymore? I think it’s just a part of the entire staff. We’re all in this whole thing together. I understand that I’m the coordinator, but the entire staff, with (Offensive line) Coach (Paul) Boudreau having over 30 years, and adding (RB Coach) Skip (Peete), and having Mike Groh as I already mentioned. It’s just everybody understanding the collaborative effort that we’re in. Obviously, last year I didn’t have a whole lot of time to think about things when I took over, and I’m just hoping that I don’t overthink things now. The more time you have, the more time you have to overthink it. And I think we’ve just got to trust your instincts and trust the study and the film studies that we’re putting in, and let the plan take care of itself.”

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Rams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – September 10, 2016

(Opening Statement)

“Beautiful. You guys have been out here all week and this is a great facility, great fields, super offices, very good weight room, training room. I’m happy we’re not moving anymore. This three moves in five months – it is what it is – but this is a fantastic situation here. (Head Coach) Jeff (Fisher) and I went through that a long time ago – back in, what, 1997 – when we moved from Houston to Nashville and we had the real old-fashioned trailers where the doors into the trailers were so tight and small that the players had to duck and turn sideways and all the linemen couldn’t even get in the building. So this is a fantastic setup, we’ve had a good week. Now it’s time to get ready to play.”

(On how he felt the first-team defense defended against the run in the preseason)

“We’ve played pretty decent without having much scheme changes. As you know, hopefully you watch film before you ask a question – I’m not going to talk about scheme on the air.”

(On how difficult this week was, from a coaching standpoint, when the 49ers’ coaching staff and scheme has changed since last year)

“We’ve gone against them before. Every coach has a history, there’s nothing secret anymore. Every single game film in college, every single game film in the NFL, you guys get to watch and every fan gets to watch. There’s nothing secret anymore about the game. We understand (49ers Head) Coach (Chip) Kelly, I have a respect for him and his staff. Heck, I’ve got a former protégé that I coached many years and all of the sudden was on my staff and now (49ers inside linebackers coach) Joe Bowden is up there coaching. There’s really not anything that’s hidden anymore in our league. I think Jeff has said this, our head coach has said this earlier in the week – it’s going to be about execution. We have to go out there and do what we’re supposed to do right. It’s past the coaching now.”

(On how LB Alec Ogletree has developed into the middle linebacker spot)

“I’m very proud of him and I would love for you guys to do more stories about him and go talk to him and talk to his teammates. Anytime you ask a question of an athlete like Alec, he’s going to give you the right answer, the right response. He’s going to be very humble. One of the things, when I first got here a few years ago, everybody told me, ‘You can’t get him to talk, he’s not going to say much.’ And I said this back out there in Oxnard is I think I created a monster, I can’t get him to shut up anymore. He’s so quick-witted, he’s funny, he’s a good young man. But he’s a lot smarter, schematically, and a lot smarter (in) football intelligence than a lot of people gave him credit for. He’s come a long ways, but until you get into the games with the real bullets flying and the real snaps, those are the measures that you’ll always be evaluated by. He’s done very well and his teammates – you can’t fool your teammates – his teammates listen to him because they know he’s right and they know how much work he puts in. It’s been fun for me to watch and I’m serious when I say this – I’ll probably get in trouble – he’s been in here more than our quarterbacks. And he’s been in the film room longer than some of our coaching staff around here. So you have to respect the fact that he’s going to get an opinion because he works hard. And he’s worked so hard and how he’s led our team through training camp – spring practice is one thing – but really training camp and now here, I’ve been very impressed with him, I really have.”

(On some of the challenges that 49ers QB Blaine Gabbert presents with his arm and his legs)

“He does a very good job as far as his quick-rhythm throws, he’s a very accurate passer. I’ve known a lot about him since he was at the University of Missouri, a St. Louis kid, and I know the family pretty well and (former Missouri Head) Coach (Gary) Pinkel and I are good friends from when all those guys were together down on the Missouri staff. I think he’s grown, and he’s handled some adversity situations in the National Football League in a very positive way. It’s not as much, in my personal opinion, about how you handle all the good things, it’s how you handle the tough things. He’s had some injuries, he’s had some benchings, he’s had some things where he said, ‘Hey, I’m going to keep going, I’m going to keep improving,’ and he has. I was very impressed with how he played last year, when we had a chance to play against him last year. And he’s had a good preseason, so we’ll see how he is on Monday night. But he’s done well.”

(On the young linebackers that he’s excited about)

“We have young linebackers, but we have young DBs. And you know, one of the things that you guys have to take a look at from your inexperience part of it is that you’re going to have to decide – you take a look at how many teams we’re going to play this year that’s going to play two backs in the backfield against us. Not very many people like doing that against us. Take a look at how many times we’re going to play three linebackers this entire season. We’re going to play (DB) Lamarcus (Joyner), we’re going to play another safety, another corner, another player in those areas that a linebacker plays. One of the guys who played for me at Buffalo, Washington, Jacksonville and New Orleans and then he was an intern coach for us last year was Pierson Prioleau. So, I started doing this a long, long time ago and he played on four different teams as a DB that played linebacker. And again, I said this earlier, think about all the head shaking and all the head-scratching and the criticizing when I moved (LB/S) Mark Barron in there (to linebacker) last year – he’s pretty good isn’t he, is everybody going to claim that one now, that was a pretty good move? We’re going to play the best guys we have that they bring in the door. I don’t draft them, I don’t sign them, but when they get here, I’m going to coach them and if they don’t like how (I coach them), then that’s too bad.”

(On his philosophy to fit the scheme to the players he has)

“One of the things is that, in our playbook, no matter what it is in the league, how come everybody doesn’t have the same playbook? Why doesn’t everybody play the same scheme? Why doesn’t everybody play the same call? Does that mean that nobody has the answer? What it means is, if you’re any good at all, you will adapt, schematically to the skillset of the players. And here’s a real simple thought-process, why would I coach (DT) Michael Brockers and (DT) Aaron Donald the same way? They play the same position, why wouldn’t I coach them the same way? But people want to do that – no, no, no, no, no. we’ll do the same thing on how we adapt, this year’s scheme, as opposed to the last two years that I’ve been here or when I was at the Saints or the Redskins or the Bills or the Titans. We have to adjust what’s best for these young men right here and what’s best for Alec, (S) Maurice (Alexander) back there in the back-end, (S) T.J. (McDonald) in the back-end being the quarterback of our secondary – and we’ll do that, we’ll adapt that and I’m not afraid to do that, and I’m not afraid to give them say. And as you talk to them more, you’ll see how much say they have in what we do.”

(On if he considers LB Bryce Hager as Alec Ogletree’s backup)

“There are a lot of different people backing up everybody, a lot of people. And that’s another good question, so that I don’t get irritated again – we don’t have backups. If you dress, you start. If you make an NFL team, you start. How much you play is how good are you, but everybody plays in this league, there’s no backups.