Fisher, Schottenheimer, Fassel – 9/18… transcripts & vids

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher– Post Practice – September 18, 2014

(On what he could learn from last year’s game against the Cowboys in trying to defend their run game)
“Well, I think it will be more of a challenge this year. I think their offensive line is experienced. They’re playing really well together. We had some run fit issues that we have to take care of. We’ve had some matchup problems that we didn’t handle. So, we’ve had plenty of time. Obviously we’ve looked at some things through the offseason. Still as I mentioned yesterday, they rushed for 118 yards against the 49ers and that’s hard to do. So, we’re going to have be in the right place and guys are going to have to make plays.”

(On what makes Cowboys RB DeMarco Murray so successful)
“Well they’ll have an inside trap called in the a-gap and he’ll bounce it outside and just take it down the sideline. He’s going to pop it out any place. Those are the kind of things that are hard. So you read and react and everything and he’s not there, he’s someplace else.”

(On if he can rephrase his last answer in layman’s terms)
“Come on you know what I’m talking about (laughs). He can break the ball out any place. He’s a good cutback runner. He’s got great vision. He carries the ball in the both hands, I’m simplifying it for you now (jokes).”

(On Murray’s size and strength)
“He’s strong, he breaks tackles. One of the things that happens in every game is he’ll bounce outside and people underestimate his speed and he’ll get the corner. That becomes the problem. So we have to be edge proficient, if you will.”

(On if Cowboys QB Tony Romo’s back is still bothering him)
“He’s making throws. He’s making a lot of throws. I would not attribute the interceptions to his back against the 49ers, they just happened. He’s making good decisions. He’s still making all the throws. There’s been some criticism that he’s not taking the ball down the field. He can still do it. He had a big play last week against Tennessee.”

(On Cowboys WR Dez Bryant’s shoulder injury last week)
“He comes back in the game and plays well. It’s a tough matchup for us. He’s physical. He’s got the run after catch skills. He’s got a big catch radius. He’s their go to guy down there. Once you get inside the plus territory, he’s the guy that catches the ball. He’s their touchdown maker.”

(On if Cowboys TE Jason Witten has slowed down at all)
“Has not lost a step. So, it’s a good football team.”

(On if the starting quarterback decision is still a day-to-day game)
“Yes. Shaun (Hill) was limited today, he did more. But we’re still day-to-day. It will most likely be a pregame decision like it was last week.”

(On if QB Austin Davis will be challenged if he starts this Sunday because teams have a full game tape on him)
“No, I think we really didn’t change the offense. That’s the question that’s frequently asked. Were we going to change it when we went to Shaun? No. Were we going to change it when we to Austin? No. It’s our offense. That’d be unfair to the rest of the players. We’ve not changed the offense people prepared for us. On a weekly basis, you have different things that you put in or you got to based on the specific game plan. I don’t think just because they got a full regular season on tape that it’s going to make a difference.”

(On the Dallas defense)
“They’ve had some injuries up front. They’re starting to get some people healthy. We don’t know the status of the middle linebacker (Rolando McClain), but he’s played well the last two weeks. They’ll get (CB Orlando) Scandrick back, which is certainly going to help them. It’s a good defense. It’s a good scheme. It’s a sound scheme. You have to be patient. You have to mix your run and your play action to try and make plays on them.”

(On WR Stedman Bailey’s performance)
“’Sted’ was great. Just same as he was yesterday, he was good.”

(On if he was impressed with the poise of Davis’ appearance at a fan event went last Monday)
“I was there…It wasn’t the same place but we didn’t overlap.”

Rams Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer – September 18, 2014

(On QB Austin Davis and his performance against Tampa Bay)
“Really wasn’t surprised. He had a real good week of practice. I think obviously, you get thrown into a game the week before certainly you kind of go into a little bit of a panic mode. But having a week to prepare having been here for three years I thought he did a really good job. Love the way he made plays in the clutch, it wasn’t perfect but again he moved the team. Got us in and out of the right plays and made some big time throws down the clutch to help us win the game.”

(On if Davis still has room for improvement)
“Absolutely. There are things that we’d like to have back from the game, a few throws here and there , a few decisions. Played really, really well and like I said I’m not surprised. Very pleased with what he did, but not surprised.”

(On how Davis in terms of being in the pocket and having his eyes down the field to make plays in high pressure moments)
“He’s always been real athletic. That’s one of the first things we really liked about him. He was real athletic going back to his first year as a rookie coming out of Southern Miss. I think him working with (Quarterbacks Coach Frank) Coach Cignetti on some of the pocket movement stuff certainly helps. But really the only way to do it is to get out there and play. Certainly by going against our defense in practice when he was running the scout team stuff, you get a lot of work on that because obviously they are very good at rushing the passer. It’s something he’s worked on. The hardest part of doing that is not the movement part, he’s got those skills, it’s keeping your eyes up and kind of seeing where your receivers are going. ”

(On if Davis running out of the pocket too early was a point of emphasis to work on when he returned to the team)
“I think so. There were a lot of things for him to improve, still are. Again he’s got to put another good game together this week. He’s not going to be satisfied, we’re not going to be satisfied with just one goodgame. That was something again when he came back he had a plan. He came back in great shape. He really worked hard this offseason, spent some time doing some stuff on his own. He came back ready to play and ready to compete. ”

(On if Davis is the same guy this week now that he has fame and fortune)
“I don’t know how much fortune he has. He is, he’s just a great guy. I tell you what, his leadership ability that’s not easy. You come from being a third string quarterback, you step in the huddle with some strong personalities and he’s handled it terrific. The guys respect him and again I think that’s a big part of what we’re trying to build is a next man up type of deal. He certainly did that and hopefully he’ll do it again this week. ”

(On what his biggest concern was going into last week and if there were any unforeseen aspects that worried him)
“From him? No, I don’t think so. Again, he had a real good preseason. I was very comfortable calling plays for him in the preseason. Man, that’s a big thing for a play caller. When the quarterback’s in there, if you trust him and you know he’ll do right by you and make good decisions that certainly helps. He proved that to me in the preseason. I was very comfortable. Again, third-and-one call we make I trust him to make the play. He makes a big play to (TE) Lance (Kendricks) for a big gain. And if there’s a bigger throw last weekend than the one he made to ‘AP’ (WR Austin Pettis) standing in there under duress on kind of a game winner if you will, that was a big time throw. Again, you see it out here in practice that makes it easy for a play caller, staff, even the players in the huddle to believe in him. ”

(On if he is definitely expecting Davis to start Sunday)
“No, Shaun’s (Hill) doing a little bit more today. He’s getting better, again we’re going to look at it game time and see what happens, but I think Austin’s ready to go. We’ll see how Shaun does tomorrow, each day he’s getting better so we’ll see.”

(On if there need to be improvements in the run game specifically in yards per carry)
“Yeah, absolutely. Again, we know we’ll get heavy boxes and people trying to stop the run. We need to create some explosive runs. We get guys in the secondary creating seams, they got to be able to take advantage of that. But it’s a process, I hope we get better this week, need to be better this week. That certainly takes pressure off of us by getting in second-down and manageable, third-down and manageable. But we go well when we’re balanced and we run the football. When teams take that away from us we tend to struggle a little bit, so hopefully we’ll like always try to get the running game going and generate a few more explosive plays. ”

(On if his formula is 50 carries plus completions)
“Fifty completions and rushing attempts.”

(On how the pass block was against Tampa Bay)
“Very good. Yeah, that was a good group. They lost a few of their guys but again they did some good stuff. That front four obviously very talented. I thought we did a nice job all the way around. Again, Austin did a nice job of not holding on to the ball, that’s a big part of it. I think the week before when he got thrown in the mix he kind of held the ball a little bit long kind of looking for his receivers. Certainly the timing was better having a week of preparation but the pass-pro was solid.”

(On if the Cowboys have a cover 2 look)
“No, it’s really not. I mean they go by that name but we’re going to get post-safety. They’re going to get up in our face and press us play tight man-to-man. Their a post-safety defense. Two good safeties again getting (S Orlando) Scandrick back certainly helps, we’ll see what they do with him. Front four they play as hard as anybody. They do a good job of movement and stuff like that, so it’ll be a terrific challenge. They got after us pretty good last year down in Dallas. But the ‘Tampa Two’ nickname is just a nickname. They’re going to be post-safety, kind of down in our face challenging us, bringing a lot of pressure and stuff like that.”

(On how he handles public opinion and their need to suggest team decisions)
“Quite honestly I don’t listen too much on what the public has to say to be honest with you. Certainly Iunderstand they all have opinions, but we go by what we see. We go by what we believe. We have a philosophy. You win a game, you lose a game, you move on to the next game. You prepare the best you can. We try to put together good game plans and then go out and trust our players. Again, when I said the big thing for us is, I expect Austin to do this is I think he’ll go out and play well. But it’s certainly not just Austin that’s going to have to go and help us when this game it’s going to be the whole team. Offensively, again running the football, guys making plays and that’s what it’s going to come down to. ”

Rams Special Teams Coordinator John Fassel – September 18, 2014

(On his evaluation of the special teams unit through two games)
“Two games in, I’d probably reserve judgment on success or the lack off. We’re playing hard. We’ve rotated some new bodies in there, which is always good to get some new blood. Yeah, it’s still to be determined.”

(On if he was surprised with SS T.J. McDonald’s performance last week)
“No, I’m not surprised at all. I’m actually, I was surprised last year that he just missed on a couple of them, which are almost the same exact thing. He does it in practice and sure enough he did it in the game.”

(On the translation of McDonald’s skill set to his ability to block kicks)
“Really it’s an instinctive thing. He’s got great length. He’s got a great ability to bend and turn. And he’s got good timing like on the field goal block, a lot of that has to do with timing. It’s an instinctive thing that I can’t really coach him, he just kind of has that ability.”

(On the return game so far)
“Definitely room for improvement. On kickoff return, the first game we had one return and it was decent, it got to the 20 (-yard line) I think. Then the two, we had on kickoff return in Tampa the guy (Buccaneers K Patrick Murray) hit into the short left corner. We kind of got stuck, it’s a hard ball to dig out of the corner. It was a mishit kick. The return we had called was a tough one to dig out of the corner. There’s obviously room for improvement. But with three returns and two of them off of mishit kickoffs, we’ll judge it a little later when we get some true balls. Then on punt return, it’s unfortunate because I think we’ve got a really good punt return team. Two balls we muffed in the first game. In this past game it was a good hang time ball and there wasn’t a lot of space. We’ll continue to get better. It takes the right ball to get the right return. We’re being patient.”

(On the possibility of replacing WR Tavon Austin on punt return this week)
“It’s still, I guess, wait and see. We’ve got a couple options, which is good. We’re fortunate that we have a couple guys that can catch punts. They have a lefty this week, so that adds a little element to it. We’ll be alright. The guys we have back there, they’ll do a good job catching it. Hopefully the blockers can get us some more yards.”

(On if it was a confidence booster for K Greg Zuerlein going four-for-four in field goals)
“It was great. The preseason, we experiment with things in the preseason. Whether it’s people think he’s lost confidence, we were experimenting with different things. He missed the first kick against Minnesota. He hit a great ball he just hit it straight left. So, I wasn’t surprised. He’s got great confidence. He’s got great ball striking right now. I imagine he’ll continue with that.”

(On Dallas’ punt rushing ability)
“They rush a lot. They got a couple of really good players. (WR/KR/PR) Dwayne Harris not only returning punts and kickoffs but covering punts and kickoffs. He’s a high quality core teams guy. (S) C.J. Spillman, came from San Francisco, so we know him from the past couple of years. They got a second year DB (No.) 38 (S Jeff Heath) who’s a good ball player. They’re a fast team, probably faster than we’ve played so far and some veteran guys. It’ll be a good test.”

(On if he talks to Zuerlein before the timeouts are called)
“No, but we practice it all the time. I’ll let him kick and then we’ll be in a situation and sometimes I’ll call the timeout to ice him. Sometimes I’ll act like I’m going to call it and not call it. We practice situations in our field goal period. His assumption every time he lines up is that the ball is going to be snapped and I’m going to kick it. Even if they call a time out and we snap, but we’re still going to kick it.”

(On the field conditions in Tampa Bay after the lightning delay)
“They were tough. Especially you could see on Greg’s kickoffs and their kicker, he hit two bad balls into that left corner and Greg had those same issues, he just didn’t get the ball in the air. That’s why it was even more impressive with his field goals, because they were all in the high-30s to high-40 range. In those tough conditions we can’t back out. The field was in good shape it was just pretty slick.”

(On if it was the plan to kick the line drives)
“No, we never try and really kick a line drive. None of those were intentional. It just had a lot to with the field surface. Greg struggled with that and their kicker struggled with it on the kickoffs.”

(On if the strategy is to always kick a touchback)
“I’d say for the most part. There are some other strategies where we have different kicks. We would never hit a purposeful hot squib. That’s kind of what happened. We stay away from that one. For the most part, yeah, you’re trying to bang it.”