Fisher, Williams – 10/03 … transcripts

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – October 3, 2014

(On the status of WR Tavon Austin)
“He was limited in practice, questionable. We’ll do some stuff before the game to see how he is.”

(On if the team will dress six wide receivers)
“Oh yeah. It’s not a problem.”

(On if Austin will be a game time decision)
“That’s what I said. We’re going to have to see how he does prior to kickoff.”

(On if six receivers are active will there be enough balls to distribute to all six)
“We do.”

(On the defense’s success in stopping Eagles RB Darren Sproles and WR Jeremy Maclin in past match-ups)
“No, individual players will look at their individual match-ups, but this is a scheme. This is our defensive scheme against their offensive scheme.”

(On the defense not producing enough sacks)
“Well it has to do with the fact that the ball’s coming out. The ball’s coming out, one, they’re running the football, two. From a pass attempts standpoint, we’re either first or however you look at it, least in amount of pass attempts in the league. So, when people start throwing the ball, we’ll start hitting the quarterback.”
(On if his job in Philadelphia was his first professional coaching position)
“Yes.”

(On if he has any memories from his time in Philadelphia)
“Well it was a great football town. It’s a great fan base. I got my start there with (former Eagles Head Coach) Buddy (Ryan) in 1986. We had a good year the first year and then the players went on strike. They had a replacement team in ’87. I still have the picture as a secondary coach with the replacement defensive backs. It serves as motivation every day for me.”

(On if he the photo in his office at one point)
“Yes. Two of them didn’t even play college football.”

(On if he felt like he could still play when he was coaching in Philadelphia)
“No, I was done at that time.”

Rams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – October 3, 2014

(On how he approaches watching the Eagles tape and figuring out how to stop them)
“I have a lot of respect for (Eagles Head Coach) Chip (Kelly), I’ve known him for a long time. I met him when I was out at the Saints and everything and watched what they did in college ball and stuff. That game that’s come up into our game with the pace of the play and trying to space you out and stuff. We’ve got to do as much as we can to not corporate. We’ve got to play our way and got to do a good job tackling. Got to do a good job recognizing what they do, they’re very multiple with the people they play. Very multiple in the formations they use and the concepts they use. It’ll be a fun game in that respect. I think they’ve done some really good things with their personnel. I have tremendous respect for Darren Sproles. I’ve had a chance to be around him since he was in high school. He’s a phenomenal teammate. Then (S) Malcolm Jenkins, had a chance to draft him from down there. He’s one of my favorite guys I’ve ever coached and tremendous leadership. He’s made an impact up there also. We’ve got our hands full from a personnel standpoint and from a concept standpoint. But, it’s fun to get back playing after the bye week. You can only do so much during the bye week. I’m bored and it’s time to play.”

(On if there are things that can be taken out of the San Francisco vs. Philly game that can be used due to they’re strong defensive performance)
“They did a great job. Some of the things that (49ers defensive coordinator) Vic did in San Francisco, Vic Fangio and those guys did out there. You try to copy a little bit or try to take notice of every single film that’s played good and bad. They did some really, really good things. One of the things we did was try to highlight those things to our players too and can we mimic a few of those things, hopefully. We’ll see. ”

(On the difference between tackling speed RBs like Sproles verse tackling power backs like Cowboy’s RB DeMarco Murray)
“The difference is, is that it’s what you do in space. The biggest way that I can tell you is that don’t let them get in space. Because once they get there, now you’re going to have to bow to them. We’re going to have to swarm the ball and get as many people around them as possible because those kinds of players are special in one-on-one situations. They do a great job formationally of creating those one-on-one situations. We’ve got to try to minimize those times that are that way and then hold our breath when they are.”

(On the frustration level of not being able to get sacks in previous games)
“The big thing there is you’ve got to get people in passing situations. One of the things that we’re facing a lot of the new things there and we had some opportunities last week. We whiffed and just missed some free rushers and that kind of stuff. But we’ll continue to do a good job with that, our guys are doing fine. We’ve got to do a good job on not giving up some of the big plays. We’ve given up a few plays you can’t explain on why some smart guys like that would do that. But, been real pleased with how hard they’ve been playing and they’re getting better each and every week. We’ve just got to try to not have the unexpected one or two big plays a game that causes points on the board.”

(On if they’re picking up the defensive system well enough)
“Yeah, it’s the same thing. There’s really not very much of a change from what has been done here for the last couple of years. Jeff and I’s terminology are the same since we grew up under the same kind of guy with Buddy Ryan and stuff. He and I were together for many years. There’s been a few things that have evolved in to helping to be able to do it by personnel, by packages and all that kind of stuff and the health of the players and stuff. Everything’s pretty much the same. There’s not a language barrier at all with what we’re doing.”

(On if using a lot of three-man fronts on third-down were game plan specific to Dallas)
“It was game plan specific for Dallas. It was one of the things that we had picked up taking a look at some of the things that had been going on beforehand. But, it was game plan specific. Like I said, we’ve got 19 different packages of defense installed here so far. The 42 that we’ve done in other places we’ve been so, when I say that packages are what trots out there and plays at 11 positions. It’s who is healthy that week and also what packages’ of offensive personnel are you getting and what are they trying to do. We’re able to do a lot of different things. We’re able to effect a lot of processes, play callers and also thought processes of lineman. We’ve got to try to continue to do that.”

(On if because of Philadelphia’s up-tempo style of offense is it hard to create defensive packages to defend them)
“One of the things they do is somewhat limit substitutions that way, but that’s okay too and been through that a lot. Played in playoff games that way and played in home games that way, played in road games that way. When you have package limitations as far as subbing on and off the field, really what you end up doing is you simplify your game and we have. We’re prepared to do that. We’ll see how they go about substituting. We’ve had guys, we have coaches that talked to people that played them. We have scouts on hand and watched them play and everything so, we’re fine with the packages we have. We don’t have to necessarily sub unless they sub and that’s the way the league is now. They’ve got to shut things down. If they sub during a play then we have as much time as we want. We’re allowed to sub and do that and we can make that decision if we want to do that or not.”

(On how the team has adjusted to DE Chris Long’s absence due to injury)
“Chris is doing fine. Chris is fine, he’s coaching right now and those guys are playing in his place are doing a fine job, they’re doing fine.”