Fisher, Wms. … 10/31 … transcripts & vids

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – October 31, 2014

(On the wind being the cause of today’s indoor practice)
“Yes, it was windy. We needed to throw, we needed to kick, so we came in. Kind of flipped it. You usually have the walk-thru inside, go outside. Instead we had the walk-thru outside and came inside. We had a good day.”

(On S Cody Davis and if he passed the concussion protocol)
“Yes, he was cleared to practice today.”

(On OL Greg Robinson and how he’s adjusting to the OT position)
“He’s done fine. Done a lot of extra little things with him and he understands what we’re doing. Now he’s had a revolving door there next to him at guard, but we’ll settle down. (OL) Rodger (Saffold) practiced today, so that was encouraging. We’ve got all the confidence in the world with Greg. He’s going to continue to get better and better.”

(On the team looking healthier today)
“We are and that’s what we said. That was what we kind of anticipated earlier in the week, that we would just gradually get guys back on the field and we did. We still have some decisions to make.”

(On CB Trumaine Johnson)
“He practiced today, yes he did.”

(On if Johnson will be a game time decision)
“He practiced today. I think I have him listed as probable, so it’s probably…we’re encouraged by him.”

(On what Johnson can bring to the table)
“He’ll help in the match-ups against the bigger receivers. Now, granted he hasn’t played since the first quarter of the preseason game at Cleveland. It’s going to take some time. He’s progressively improved. He’s played a lot out there. It may take him a couple weeks to get back in the swing of things. We’ll be able to use him at some point in the game.”

(On how S Mark Barron has picked up things)
“He’s picked it up. Yesterday, he got a lot of reps yesterday because we made the decision to rest (S) Rodney (McLeod) and help him heal up. He’s got a chance to play, don’t know really depends on Rodney’s situation. He’s learning well.”

(On if he is expecting the 49ers to establish RB Frank Gore and the running game)
“You think that would be a priority of theirs, but we don’t know. They elected not to do that against Denver. They came out with no back and threw it. It’s hard to tell, but we’ll be prepared for Gore. We also have to play better against (49ers QB Colin) ‘Kaep’ (Kaepernick).”

Rams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – October 31, 2014

(On the addition of S Mark Barron)
“Good, young kid. Liked him coming out. I’ve been real blessed at a lot of the places I’ve been where I’ve had some pretty good safeties before. We’ve got some good, young safeties here. I think he’ll fit in. He’ll blend in. I lot of the places where I’ve been, I’ve had a lot of multiple safety packages before where we’ve played anywhere from three or four safeties at a time. He’ll fit in. We’re doing a lot of catch up with him right now. Has shown to be pretty bright. If (Head Coach) Jeff (Fisher) says he’s up, we’re ready to roll. We’ll see. Won’t know until the head coach makes decision on who’s up and who’s down.”

(On if Barron can play the free safety position)
“Yeah. I think he can play a lot of different things. I think he can play the safety position. I think he can play how we rotate those guys down like a ‘Will’ linebacker. I think he’s got some good potential to do that. The young kid that was here during training camp you guys met (Former NFL Pierson Prioleau. He played for me on four different teams, but how he played was like a nickel Will linebacker where he played in the box and played really with all the linebacker rules. This kid is a little bit bigger than Pierson, but he’s a good kid, well-coached. I know a lot about (Alabama Head Coach) Nick Saban. He and I were together or transitioned in and out at the Oilers many, many, many years ago. Nick visited and has visited several times on places where I was at. It’s funny that a couple of calls that we have here, they’ve transitioned themselves down to Alabama. It’s kind of neat that his familiar with a couple of call, which is good.”

(On if he’s ever opposed to adding another hard-hitting safety like Barron)
“No, never. You’re always looking for those kind of guys. I know that probably (Special Teams Coordinator) John Fassel feels the same things on the special teams. Those are good kids. People ask me all the time what kind of players I like. I like good players, smart and tough ones. The smarter and tougher they are, the better they fit in. He’s a good kid.”

(On what the team can do to improve in the second half)
“We’ve emphasized start fast. We’ve emphasized start fast in both halves. We’ve had some things where a penalty will keep a drive alive, we’re off the field. We’ve had a couple here recently, second halves where we did pretty good to start the third quarter but at the end of the third quarter we’ll have a couple penalties that extend dives, a couple of ticky-tack things. Those things develop into big things when you continue to allow more plays and put them down in scoring situations when we could’ve been off the field. We’ve got to do a good job of getting off the field on third down in a couple of those critical situations. When we have no penalties which, we did a pretty good job of that in the Seattle game and some of the other games, especially in the second half, whether that’s fatigue, whether that’s focus, whether that’s just the opponent. We’ve had some third down penalties that have extended drives. We’ve got to do a better job with that. That gets us off the field. Hopefully, shortens the field for our offense.”

(On playing the 49ers for the second time only three weeks apart)
“Some of that is the same thing but then there’s a little bit of a familiarity that you have with the players understanding the technique that they’re getting ready to use. Scheme is one thing but how does scheme change within the opponent? The same technique doesn’t work against a certain cat that you’re getting ready to play against. So, that familiarity helps a little bit. In fact, we had our own players this week a part of our meeting. It started the first week, we’ll have a scout or we’ll have coaches give a scouting report on the opponent. Had the players do that this week because they’re familiar. Especially when it’s that close. There’s a good remembering part of it. Now, you also have to stay ahead of the curve on what are they doing. What do they do the second time you see people? Does their game-ready sheet change a little bit? Will they show us some different packages? So, all that thought comes in to play. But the familiarity part of it I think helps the players a little bit understand the battle they’re getting ready to go against on their individual battles.”

(On how the player’s did in the scouting meeting)
“They did really well. Seriously, I’m not saying that tongue in cheek. The coaches picked the right ones that can get up and say more than one or two things without stuttering, which was good. They really did a great job. It was the assistant coaches’ ideas to do that. I usually have (Linebacker’s Coach) Frank Bush do that as a part of it and he shot that idea passed me, if that would be alright. I thought, ‘Pretty good deal.’ I’d had no idea who he was going to call on to stand up to do position by position by position. Those guys did a really good job. Started the week right, the way they did it.”

(On if DT Aaron Donald’s performance has surprised him)
“Really have not been surprised at all. One of the things that we’ve done with Aaron Donald and I don’t know if you were here back in training camp or back in the OTAs I said, ‘Coaches need to make sure they don’t screw up because he has a lot of talent, a lot of instincts that we can’t coach.’ We can’t coach the instincts that he has. He was born with those types of things. I’ve known an awful lot about him. My youngest son plays in the same conference with him. So, I’ve seen him play a lot at Pitt. My son’s at Virginia Tech. Going back and forth I got a chance to see him in person a couple of times. The fact that he fell to us…we got a chance to bring him in here. We really thought that he would fit in great. I think he’s just scratched the tip of the iceberg of how good he can be. He’s very disruptive. I wish I could tell you that I told him to be that way. That’s what he was born with on a few things. He’s got to do them within the scheme of the defense too. There’s certain times he can’t do a few of those things that he does, but he picks the right moments. I really like what I’m seeing so far out of him.”

(On if Donald reminds him of any other players)
“I’ve had some really good three techniques, but when you all of the sudden throw those names out, the veterans get upset with him. He’s still a young kid. He’s got a long ways to go, so we’re not going to throw any name that he may evolve to be later on. He’s got to be Aaron Donald right now.”

(On what CB Trumaine Johnson can bring to the defense)
“I need to see him. I haven’t had a chance to be in very many games with him yet, live games. He’s played well here for a couple of years. A healthy Trumaine will add to the mix and give us a chance to play a little more man-to-man in situations. He’s got a good awareness. He’s got good range. He’s one of those guys that can run as well as he runs but yet he’s a tall guy too. You don’t have many guys like that in the league. We would love to evolve as coaches in the league to have that type of a body type if they could still run and play the position. He’s done that. Hopefully he’ll bounce back from the strain and the injury he had during the preseason. He’s progressing well so we’ll see what Jeff decides to do on gameday. I don’t know yet for sure.”