Fisher, Wms – 9/19 … transcripts & vids

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – September 19, 2014

(On QB Austin Davis)
“Austin looked good. He got his reps and Shaun (Hill) was limited and we’re going to list him as questionable for the game. It’ll be a game time decision.”

(On DE Robert Quinn and how he’s played so far)
“Well we’re just two games into it. Obviously, the offenses are very much aware of his ability. Ball’s coming out quick. He’s played well against the run. He’s been putting good pressure on the passer just hasn’t got there yet with the ball in the hand. I expect him to have an outstanding year.”

Rams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – Post Practice – September 19, 2014

(On what makes Cowboys’ RB DeMarco Murray hard to defend)
“They’ve done a really good job at utilizing his skill set. I think (Offensive Line Coach Bill) Callahan, I’ve always had a lot of respect for him wherever he’s been. Whether he’s been in our league or back at Nebraska or whatever, he’s done a great job. He’s one of the better offensive line coaches in the league. How they go about situationally taking care of the strengths of their offensive line. How they go about doing things for their running back, doing the right things. It’ll be a good test for us and I think the skill set is good for them. They’ve upgraded at the offensive line position and DeMarco’s healthy, so that’ll be a good challenge for us.”

(On if they want to get more control of the run defense)
“There was a few gimmick runs last week again. We had a few gimmicks in the first week and if you negate those we’re doing a really solid job. But, you want to completely negate all those type of things to keep us in the right situations on third down. We had a couple of penalties on third down which gave those opportunities to come up that you’re talking about. We’re off the field, but now you got a new set of plays because we had a couple of penalties on third down, that’s uncharacteristic of us. We got to do a good job with the penalties also too. That’s where are guys are playing very, very hard and we have to play smarter in some situations.”

(On if penalties on the front seven are a symptom of players playing out of their scheme)
“Sometimes they’re trying to do too much. You’re exactly right. Sometimes you know what, I like having those kinds of guys though. As a coach you have to back them off instead of asking them to do more. This is a good group of guys, they’re young. We’ve made a couple of young mistakes, couple of guys were playing in different positions for the first time. But that’s a good thing to have, trying to back them off and asking them not to do too much because the ones that you don’t want around here are the ones who don’t want to do what you ask them to do anyway. But these guys are good guys.”

(On how he approaches aggressively coaching the players after a win)
“I will tell you this, when you win, I don’t know if you guys know this, it’s hard to win in this league (laughs). So when you win you enjoy the win. There were so many situational things that we did outstanding in the ball game. So what you do is you got to rise to those occasions too. You got to pat them on the back too and it’s easier to be harder after a win than it is harder after a loss. As you can imagine there’s been a little tense moments in the meeting rooms this week. There’s been a few tense moments in practice this week because now you get a chance to correct after a win so it’s always fun. I enjoy those Monday mornings when you’ve got to make some hard-nose, intense decisions and corrections because everybody’s feeling good about themselves on a win.”

(On what he’s thinking when he’s watching the Cowboys offense)
“Well, I’ve seen it for so many years. I’ve seen them when they first came into the league and I’ve been in the league longer than them. There’s a good bond, there’s a good energy there. There’s a trust there. As I’ve watched (Passing Game Coordinator) Scott Linehan come in down there and adapt to what the skill sets of those guys and he adapts his philosophy to what they’ve already been doing. There’s a trust factor. Any good quarterback that has receivers, as you’ll talk to the quarterback about it a lot is, a lot of time they’re doing the things in an improv way because of a trust of the leverage of the defense, the situation of the call. Those guys have been playing together for quite a while when you’re talking about Witten and Romo, they’re best friends anyway, so you can see that trust factor, which builds into a little bit of the structure of how we’ve got to go about defending them.”

(On if he’s worried about the receiving tandem)
“I’m never worried. I’m excited about coaching. Worrying is a bad thing. If you’re worried in this league it’s time to leave.”

(On if he’s seen other team’s pay more attention to DE Robert Quinn this year)
“There’s been a few things where teams are doing some chips and some extra protections. They’re always knowing where he’s at. We just need to get him into some situations where we can turn him loose a little bit more too, but there’s been a little bit of that. He’s had a lot of impact on plays on hurries. Take a look at how long the quarterback is holding on to the football, especially in situations where they aren’t doing something special towards him. So he’s sped their process up before the balls ever snapped because they do know where he’s at.”

(On if Quinn hurrying the quarterback is more of his game than his sack numbers)
“He’s done a great job against the run. As we want to dwell on some of the other guys who make mistakes, he’s done a really, really, really great job in the run game and that’s been kind of silent. He’s a really good football player. He affects the passing game even when he’s not sacking the quarterback, he affects it. He affects the pocket every single time he’s out there. He does things I can’t coach. I’m glad he’s on our side.”

(On if he sees them on more odd downs than usual)
“You always take a look at that. I’ve played the game for so long a time and it’s obviously been on the offensive side of the ball. The way I grew up on the offensive side of the ball, I grew up a quarterback. So you’re in those play calling situations and structures. Sure there’s been some of those. But we practice those settings too. We have a philosophy of down and distance. We have a philosophy of scoring the clock. We have a philosophy of ball on what hash and all that kind of stuff. So, we’ve been caught in a couple of tough situations but we still got to rise up and do right.”

(On what he’s seen from the Cowboys’ offensive line)
“They’re very, very well-coached. They understand the system very well. Last week they made a commitment to run the football, on the road. They’re going to come on the road here this week, we’ll see what happens. They’ve made a commitment to do that. They’ve put the game on their shoulders and they were able to exert their will on the other team. We’re going to have a do a good job and match that will, match that line of scrimmage intensity. They play very, very intense and they play together. Any good offensive line has to play together. I don’t care if one tremendous or two tremendous guys, if the other guys don’t step in unison, if the other guys don’t play in unison we can as a defense take one guy and destruct everything. We’re going to have to play in unison too because they’re playing very synchronized right now.”

(On Tampa Bay’s success running the ball when they brought a blitz)
“Even if we do, when we have a blitz or two on, those blitzes are geared to play run or a pass. You’ll see things that if we pressure on first and second down, those pressures are designed for both. When you see some of the pressures that we do on third down, some of the third down things we do, but there wasn’t any third down runs that we’re worried about in that situation.”