Fisher, Williams … 11/22 … transcripts

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher –11/20/15

(On if he’s going to wear shorts a few more weeks until Dec. 1)
“So far so good, yeah. Tomorrow’s going to be a little iffy, but we won’t be out long.”

(On if practice is open tomorrow or if he was kidding)
“That’s correct. I was just kidding.” (laughs)

(On DE Chris Long’s status)
“He was full practice today, so we just listed him as questionable. So, we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. But it’s good. Yeah, he’s had a good week.”

(On if he thinks QB Case Keenum playing against Baltimore before will help this weekend)
“Yeah, I mean, he’s gone back and looked at that game. The scheme is similar. But, he’s had a great week. He understands where to go with the football. He’s going to cut it loose and extend plays and do just what we hope for. But, this is a good team, especially at home. It’s loud. You’re dealing with all of those other factors, but there’s no doubt he’s ready to play.”

(On Ravens OLB Elvis Dumervil’s status and how well he gets off the edge)
“He’s great off the edge. We’re going to have to be aware of where he’s at and at times we’re probably going to have to get our tackles some help or get rid of the football quick because he’s an outstanding rusher.

(On if he has any strong memories from playing at M & T Bank Stadium)
“I think, yeah, probably my most fondest was the field goal kick at the end to win. So, it was Gary’s (Anderson) kick that just had enough to go over the uprights to win that game, that playoff game. So, that probably would’ve been 2003.”

(On the Ravens’ tight ends)
“Let me just say this…those guys, (Ravens General Manager) Ozzie (Newsome) and his personnel staff do a really, really good job evaluating players and developing players. They’ve developed three tight ends on that roster. (Dennis) Pitta’s out and obviously for obvious reasons, but they’ve got three tight ends on that roster and a fullback that can really play. Not only can they block…they’re pass catching receivers. I mean, they’ve done an outstanding job. You look at their offense and because they lost (WR) Steve (Smith, Sr.) and they’ve had some other injuries, that’s the mainstay of their offense right now. They just make big plays. It’s impressive to watch. They’ve done an outstanding job with all three of them.”

(On if he’s had to do anything to keep the confidence level up on the team with the two game losing streak)
“No, we look the game, put it in perspective and go on. They have a blast. They like preparing, like practicing and feel like we have a chance to win every game. We just have to get one in the win column here.”

(On the mentality of being 4-5 on the season and the talk of playoffs)
“We don’t talk…obviously, that’s the goal, but you’ve got to win games. You’ll look back when the playoff picture is cleared up, at the teams that made the runs because there’s going to be a couple teams that are going to make some runs. You’re starting to see that now. So, why not have it be us?”

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Rams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – 11/20/15

(On how it will be having DE Chris Long back)
“It’ll be good. All of those guys…and I haven’t heard exactly until coach tells us, but they practiced and each day have gotten better. All of those guys. I always smile – I’m a better coach when all of those good guys are there, which is good.”

(On the lessons from the Chicago game)
“One of the things was is that you see that every game takes on an identity of its own. We had two plays in that ball game that were very upsetting to all of us. Nobody makes a mistake on purpose, but we missed tackles on a 2-yard pass and we missed an assignment on a screen pass. Those two things kind of changed a little bit from a scoring standpoint. The one thing that this group of guys has done a really, really good job on since I’ve been here is that there’s going to be explosive plays in any game. That’s what this game is about. But, don’t let them score. Give us a chance to play red zone defense. Give us a chance to play goal line defense. And we didn’t get them down. There was a little bit of a discussion going on at halftime and there was a little bit of discussion going on the sideline. They played suffocating in the second half. They really did a great job. But, two plays skews things a little bit. I thought they did a really, really good job in the second half on short fields and (Head Coach) Jeff (Fisher) doing a good job of calling the game and happening to call the game. And we’re going to have to take over in short field situations, sudden change situations, when the score dictates that way. They did a great job on that. But, we let two plays, really just those two plays, get away from us. They had one or two more runs that really were insignificant, but plays that we wish we had back.”

(On only allowing one 50-plus play in this league)
“That’s pretty good. One of the things they do a great job with effort-wise, on those plays, there was really good effort on those plays, too. We had a couple of guys take poor angles of pursuit. A couple of things where we missed tackles and that’s just uncharacteristic. You guys have been out here all week long, you see how we go about doing things. Their internal pride means more than anything I could ever say lashing out. There wasn’t enough chapstick in the locker room though to cover the marks that went on at halftime.”

(On if they had quite a discussion)
“No. The great thing about teachers, coaches, salesmen, leaders, is getting people to listen to you. I don’t have too tough of a problem getting people to listen to me, especially in those kinds of situations. It’s not a situation to where you lash out because it makes me feel better. You have to reclaim focus. You have to reclaim identity. You have to accept no excuses. This is a really good group of guys and that’s where they were. They handle a lot of the things before I ever had to get involved with it. They really did.”

(On what he sees from the Baltimore offense)
“This quarterback and I’ve always like him from afar, I’ve gone against him before. (Ravens QB) Joe (Flacco) has done a really good job of kind of adapting to different coordinators. A lot of people have talked about coordinators going to other organizations and how many times this quarterback has to play for a different philosophy change. He’s been going through that and he still throws one of the prettiest deep balls in the league. Hopefully we don’t have to see that. He still commands a presence out there. He’s more mobile than people give him credit for. He’s done a very good job of adapting his skill set in a mixture of the last three coordinators that have been there now that (Offensive Coordinator) Marc (Trestman) is there, he’s the third one, on being able to do the things they need to do to play good games. They’ve taken some close losses and he has brought their team and kept their team in every game. We’ve got our work cut out for us. I have a lot of respect for what he sees in the game, how he’s able never to be flustered in the game. We’re going to have to do a good job against him.”

(On how Long was playing before he got hurt)
“He came through the training camp really good. He has a great presence. Guys love playing with him because they know how hard he plays all of the time. He was playing very physical until he got hurt.”

(On if he expects to see more two tight end sets with the success Chicago had)
“When you say that, how much success did they have minus those two plays? You take away those two plays and they’re under almost 200 yards total offense. One of the things that we did in those two tight end things is that we got into…we say it every week, it’s not something that they did anything different. There was no new plays. There was nothing new. Minus those two plays you’d like to have back, there was nothing revealing or a revelation on what they could do or why we did. The way we package people, the way we call the game dictates on score, dictates on situation. And again, every game takes on a life of its own. I think through experience I have kind of had an opportunity to feel a game. I am not a chart coach. I carry a chart out there every week to cover my mouth so that you don’t see me use bad language or don’t see me…the chart is a game plan chart that every player and every assistant refers back to. I’ve had this thing in my head for 30 years. The book doesn’t change. The plays don’t change. What you have to do is react to what’s going on to a game. I can tell you which offensive coordinators in the league are chart coaches. I can tell you which ones aren’t. I’m not a chart coach and you have to be able to react to the game, the flow of the game and change your call structure to give your guys a chance to play. It depends on what they put out there, but it also depends on the score of the game, too.”

(On the Ravens having a good offensive line even with G/C Jeremy Zuttah out)
“Very well-coached. Very tough. Great technique. They really do have great technique. It’ll be interesting to see the communication process that goes on. Any time you change a quarterback, you change a linebacker, you change a safety, there’s a new communication process that has to go on. There’s a different voice you listen to. People see things from a different perspective. From that process, we’ll see if we can’t affect a few things there. But, they’re very well-coached and they’re very physical and again, we have our work cut out for us.”