William Hayes doesn't believe dinosaurs existed

Hayes jokes off field, wreaks havoc on it

Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/hayes-jokes-off-field-wreaks-havoc-on-it/article_bc9c64d5-2fe7-5d28-9e14-a20568479eba.html

NAPA, CALIF. • William Hayes is Mr. Personality at Rams Park. Whether it’s joking in the locker room, playfully interrupting a Gregg Williams news conference or even dressing up for Halloween.

During the practice week leading to the Rams’ first meeting with San Francisco, on Nov. 1, Williams walked into the defensive team meeting room only to see Hayes (and fellow defensive end Eugene Sims) dressed as Ninjas.

“I was like a Super Ninjja,” Hayes insisted. “It was a great outfit. I wish you could’ve seen.”

Alas, there was no photographic evidence. Just like in Hayes’ mind, there is no evidence that dinosaurs ever existed.

“I don’t believe in dinosaurs — not one little bit,” he said. “Man has never seen a dinosaur. We agree on that? But we know exactly how to put these things together?

“We know exactly where every single rib goes. That’s crazy to me. We know what a T-Rex eats?”

Hayes and teammate Chris Long have had ongoing debate and discussion on this, with Long taking the pro-dinosaur approach.

Yet, Hayes believes mermaids exist.

“I think there’s more of a potential to find a mermaid than a dinosaur, because we find different species in the water all the time,” he said.

That’s because, Hayes says, so much of the ocean depths remain unexplored. Hayes figures there’s bound to be a mermaid down there somewhere.

He is a character, all right. And as Williams puts together a defensive game plan every week, he must deal with some facet of it on a regular basis.

“People kind of think he’s dopey at times,” said Williams, the Rams’ defensive coordinator. “All the goofy things he does. He’s always got a smile on his face. He’s constantly keeping things stirred up. He’s told me that once he gets done playing, he wants me to hire him and put him in charge of morale.”

But on game day, Williams said something changes in Hayes’ demeanor. During pregame activities, Williams can sense the transformation.

“He’s getting ready to go to a dark place, when the game gets ready to start, because he’s a tough player when he plays,” Williams said.

That place must have been very dark Sunday in Seattle, because Hayes must have looked more like Darth Vader than a Super Ninja to Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. Hayes registered a career-high three sacks in the Rams’ 23-17 victory, and you might say it was three sacks the hard way.

That’s because two came on solo sacks of Wilson. But he also was credited with a half sack twice, sharing one with linebacker Akeem Ayers midway through the second quarter and sharing one with Sims in the third quarter.

“He had a good matchup (Sunday),” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. “He was outstanding in the run game. Obviously, the three sacks, he understands — as do our guys for the most part — how to get Russell on the ground, because it’s really hard to do.”

Hayes was matched up against right tackle Garry Gilliam for the most part. But one of his sacks came against tight end Cooper Helfet, on a play in which he basically just threw Helfet to the side en route to Wilson.

Hayes finished with seven tackles, one tackle for loss on a running play, three quarterback pressures and two QB hits — to go along with those three sacks. After the game, he shrugged off his big day.

“A.D.’s been carrying the team the whole year,” Hayes said, referring to defensive tackle Aaron Donald. “So I just wanted to put a little bit on my shoulders, just to take a little pressure off him.”

Because of injuries, Robert Quinn has been out for most of the year, and Long was sidelined for a stretch early in the season. As a result, the Rams’ pass rush from the defensive end position almost went the way of the dinosaur — extinct.

Hayes, for example, had two sacks against Cleveland, the first game he started in place of long after Long suffered a fractured bone in a knee-to-knee collision with Green Bay’s David Bakhtiari Oct. 11. But Hayes only had one-half sack over his next eight games until last Sunday’s contest.

Sims has started eight games this season in place of Quinn, now out for the year following back surgery. He had a sack in the season opener, then went without one until he shared that sack with Hayes against the Seahawks.

For Hayes, the breakout game against Seattle gave him 5 ½ sacks this season, second-best to Donald’s 11, and the second-highest sack total of Hayes’ career. He had seven for the Rams in 2012, and has 21 ½ in his four years with St. Louis.

That production underscores Hayes’ value to the Rams as a deluxe rotation player and fill-in starter when Long is injured.

“My goal is just not to be a drop-off while he’s gone,” Hayes said. “And try to kind of help out while he’s out. I don’t want to be the weak link.”

He’s far from that. He just might be the Rams’ best free-agent pickup since Fisher and general manager Les Snead arrived four years ago.

Fisher was coaching in Tennessee when the Titans drafted Hayes, then a raw prospect, in 2008 out of Winston-Salem State.

“It took him a while to learn but I felt like that with his skill set, with his strength — you have to look long and hard to find somebody that has that natural lower-body and upper-body strength tied together — that he would be an asset to us on the defensive line,” Fisher said.

“Since he’s been here, he’s done everything that we’ve asked of him,’’ Fisher added. “He’s looked up to by the younger players. He lines up and plays every week. … He knows he’s got three hours of work to do (on game day), and he puts it in.”

And then, and only then, is it time for fun and games