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August 27, 2016 at 5:37 am #51671
znModeratorQuinn to Make Preseason Debut at Denver
Myles Simmons
Defensive end Robert Quinn is not used accustomed to life on the bench.
Last year’s Week 9 contest at Minnesota was the first time he’d ever missed an NFL game due to injury. It was the first Rams’ game he didn’t start since 2012. And after he tried to be effective in a pass-rushing role against the Bears in Week 10, the Rams shut Quinn down as he underwent season-ending back surgery.
“It sucked,” Quinn said after Thursday’s practice. “But I mean, it’s just an unfortunate accident. It happened, you just have to overcome it. It’s in the past, leave it in the past and try to make something happen this year.”
That process has been well underway since the start of the offseason program, as the team has brought Quinn along slowly. The defensive end mostly worked off to the side with trainers for the first couple of weeks, before participating in individual drills and a few team sessions. He’s been going full tilt since the start of camp, although there are days where the Rams back him off just a bit as a precaution.
“One of the biggest things you have to do with a competitor like him is hold him back,” defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said. “If we didn’t have the problem of holding him back, we have the wrong guy.”
Now, Quinn is set to make his 2016 preseason debut against the defending Super Bowl champion Broncos on Saturday night. Head coach Jeff Fisher said the plan is to have the D-lineman play for a couple series, and then in a few pass-rushing situations.
“I think I’ll have a few snaps, hopefully break that ice because it’s been a while since I really got out there,” Quinn said.
Everyone remembers Quinn’s spectacular 2013, in which he had 19.0 sacks. He wasn’t a slouch in 2014 either, coming away with 10.5 and going to his second consecutive Pro Bowl. And after playing through much discomfort last year, Quinn says he’s feeling more and more like himself once again.
“I’ve got to do a little bit extra just to be on the safe side,” Quinn said, giving credit to the training staff. “But every day, I feel pretty much rejuvenated.”
He’s also clearing the inevitable mental hurdle that comes with sustaining a season-ending injury.
“If you think about the injury, usually that’s when you kind of re-injure yourself. So I’m trying to just not think about it as much as possible,” Quinn said. “Of course, it’s a back surgery. It’ll get tight from time to time. But that’s around the time when we should start relaxing, cooling down — body starts settling. So, no, I don’t think it’s going to be anything to worry about.”
Saturday will be an important checkpoint in terms of performance and recovery for Quinn. And heading in, he’s feeling as if he’s returned to form.
“I feel like I’ve got the power back. I feel like I’ve got some explosion back,” Quinn said. “But, again, I haven’t played a game. So who knows where it’s truly at? Like I said, I feel great, but I guess the game will tell.”
August 27, 2016 at 6:13 am #51676znModeratorRams DE Robert Quinn ready to return, help Aaron Donald
Alden Gonzalez
ESPN Staff WriterIRVINE, Calif. — Back surgery, the resolution to a litany of ailments that hindered the early part of his 2015 season, prompted Los Angeles Rams defensive end Robert Quinn to sit out his final seven games. And because he did, Quinn was forced to watch his teammate, star defensive tackle Aaron Donald, draw an inordinate number of double- and triple-teams from opposing offensive lines, unable to do much of anything about it.
“Shoot,” Quinn recalled thinking, “now he knows what I feel like.”
Quinn — the 2013 Pro Football Writers Association Defensive Player of the Year after recording an NFC-leading 19 sacks — used to be the man opposing offensive coordinators feared. But that was before Donald’s star ascended and before Quinn’s back gave out. On Saturday in Denver, Quinn will play his first game in more than nine months, suiting up for a drive or two against the reigning-champion Broncos in a 6 p.m. PT kickoff. And Donald might finally start feeling a little relief.
“That man’s fast,” Donald said of Quinn. “When you got a guy who’s that fast, who can come off the edge, who can bend like he can bend, you just have to show that guy respect.”
Quinn recovered from a benign brain tumor in high school and starred at the University of North Carolina as a freshman and sophomore. A suspension during his junior season, for accepting improper agent benefits, caused Quinn to slip to the Rams at No. 14 in the 2011 draft. He went on to record 40 sacks from 2012-14, third-most in the NFL in that three-season span, and quickly built a reputation as one of the game’s best at getting to the opposing quarterback.
Rams defensive end Robert Quinn is set for his first game action Saturday since December back surgery. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said NFL defensive ends must turn the corner for potential sacks within nine yards.The good ones do it at eight yards.
The Pro Bowl-caliber players do it at seven yards.
“You’ll see Robert turn it at four, five and six,” Williams said. “Not very many people can do that; only the elite of the elite. I can’t coach that.”
Quinn said he “knew something was off” early in the 2015 season, “but I could never put my finger on it.” He estimated he played hurt in at least half of his eight games, dealing first with pain in his knee and his hip before doctors realized he needed surgery on his back. The Rams worked him back slowly at the start of this summer’s camp, but Quinn has progressed rapidly.
“It’s been a long grind,” Quinn said. “I’m finally starting to feel more like my old self.”
Lately, Williams’ focus has steered toward “holding him back,” because Quinn “has pushed so hard.”
“I didn’t know he was hurt, to be honest,” Rams middle linebacker Alec Ogletree said. “The way he came back, you can definitely tell he still has the get-off of the ball and he’s definitely able to make plays.”
The Rams’ defensive line — anchored by Donald, the game’s best interior pass-rusher — has the potential to be one of the NFL’s best this season. But that will only be the case if Quinn can rekindle his prior dominance, which is no certainty given the type of surgery from which the 26-year-old is recovering.
Quinn himself is not sure.
“I feel like I have the power back, I feel like I have some explosion back,” Quinn said. “But I haven’t played a game, so who knows where it’s truly at. I feel great, but I guess the game will tell.”
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