Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher
(Opening remarks)
“You all just left the locker room. It’s pretty quiet in there. I’ll get them back. Obviously, very disappointing. It’s kind of a broken record thing here with the offense. We have to get the offense fixed. Three first downs at halftime, I think we had six to start the fourth quarter; it doesn’t give yourself the chance to be productive or win games. Defensively, on the field way too much. Way too much. Against that kind of offense, they’re going to score points. We had some momentum. They had seven and then, if (WR) Brian (Quick) makes the catch right before half, then in all likelihood they don’t put out a two-minute drive. So it’s not 10, it’s seven. And then we got some momentum with (WR) Tavon’s (Austin) return and then we just couldn’t get anything going. So, we have some work to do. Injury wise, we have two players who will go into concussion protocol. That will be ‘Jenks’ (CB Janoris Jenkins) and (TE) Lance (Kendricks). They’re both OK, according to the doctors now, but we have to put them into protocol immediately. (DT Michael) Brockers came back on the field, he was fine. We’ll go ahead this coming week and (QB) Case (Keenum) will be our starter. Not blaming this on (QB) Nick (Foles), but I don’t have the philosophy where a player is going to lose their job just because of injury. As I mentioned to you, Case did not get reps on Wednesday and Thursday and that’s the reason why he did not start today. So he’ll be our starter next week.”
(On if QB Case Keenum told him he was OK to play today)
“Yes, he was good enough to be a two, he just didn’t have the reps. That’s all. I’d rather have Case at the two, because of the understanding and experience, than (QB) Sean (Mannion). That doesn’t mean to say that Sean’s not going get an opportunity to play down the stretch, but I’d rather have Case as a two. So we’ll go back and he’ll be our starter.”
(On if K Zach Hocker hurt his leg)
“We had an issue during pre-game warm-ups with him. He strained a quad, and I found out right before kickoff. So I went through the locker room and I was just asking guys if they had ever kicked before and I had two yes’s. One from (DE Matt) Longacre and one from (WR) Wes Welker. Fortunately, we didn’t have to get to that point. What we did do, however, is we kept him warm. We had a real good feel for his distance and such for field goals and extra points. It didn’t make enough sense for him to kickoff. So that’s why we had “Hekk” (P Johnny Hekker) do the kickoff.
(On how to increase offensive production)
“Coach is almost out of answers. My responsibility is to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to get this thing fixed.’ I mean we’re not efficient on offense. We have too many good players. We’ve got guys that can produce. We have an outstanding running back and we have a dynamic receiver. We’re starting to get a little bit better on the offensive line and so we’ll keep working. But it has to get better. It’s not good.”
(On if he will try something completely different with the offense late in the season)
“There’s change weekly. The coaches are game planning and there’s change weekly. Now granted, this was a good defensive team. But still, we have to get more production. We made some plays late, but not enough early. As you game plan on offense, you install things and you try to attack your opponent, and it’s just not working right now.”
WR Tavon Austin
(On if frustration is building)
“It’s always frustrating when you lose. Nobody likes to lose. You just have to keep on pushing and go from there.”
(On sensing frustration from the fans)
“It’s difficult but at the same time, you’ve just got to stay focused. That’s how this game goes. You’re winning, everybody loves you; when you lose, nobody’s out there with you. You’ve just got to become winners.”
(On how disappointing it is for the team to be held to three points)
“It’s real disappointing just because of the talent we have over here, the things we can do on offense. We’ve just got to keep on pushing and hopefully something will happen for us.”
RB Todd Gurley
(On if he feels frustrated)
“Everybody’s definitely frustrated, embarrassed – there’s no reason. We work hard every week and come to the game and it won’t show up.”
(On his role in the offense)
“I’m just doing my job running and trying to stay on track and be able to do what I’m supposed to do.”
(On his mindset)
“It’s disappointing, everyone’s disappointed, frustrated, embarrassed, like I said we go out there and we practice hard, but it just hasn’t been paying off.”
(On how he approaches things going forward)
“Just stay positive. At the end of the day things could be a lot worse. We have a job and this is the game we love, so at the end of the day, whether we make the playoffs or not, we do this for a living. It’s our job. We love this game we we’re going to keep going.”
(On what’s been different the last five weeks)
“It’s definitely different from five weeks ago. Just keep working hard and preparing hard and try to get something turned around.”
(On hearing frustration from the fans)
“It is what it is. We know we have to get our stuff together. We don’t need anyone to tell us that. We’re just as frustrated as the fans. We’re just as frustrated as them.”
Rams QB Nick Foles
(On the frustration of the game)
“Yeah, I mean, it’s there. You just have to keep working. We’ll be back in the office tomorrow. We’ll keep working and got to get a spark going.”
(On how embarrassing it is to not put points on the board)
“It’s not good. It’s not good.”
(On what he thinks the way out is at this point)
“To keep working. We have to stay positive because we also know that everybody else is going to have their own personal thoughts. At the end of the day, until you’ve been in our locker room and played the game with your brothers and gone through something like this, it’s hard to really know what goes on. I know that you all are going to look for answers, but this is where we’ll stick together and keep working. Can’t point fingers because it’s all of us. We’re all in this together. We’re a team. We wear St. Louis across our chests and it’s a team sport. I have to play better. We all have to play better. It’s the little details. We said it and it’s every week you have to look in the mirror and you just have to keep working. You have to look at yourself and say what can I do better? It’s not always fundamentals. It’s making sure you’re getting enough sleep, stuff like that. It’s the little things. We just have to stick together through this time.”
(On if he’s ever gone through a stretch like this)
“No, I haven’t.”
(On how he feels he performed today)
“Not good. I mean, have to complete the balls. I just have to keep working. Got to keep working. That’s all I can say. That’s my answer: keep working.”
(On if it’s hard for him to stay focused with the quarterback situation and switching between him and QB Case Keenum week to week)
“No. No, it doesn’t. We’ve played the game a long time. If you’re out there, you’re preparing during the week. You have to be able to play. That has nothing to do with this. We just have to make sure we stick together as a team throughout this. The great thing about it, tomorrow the sun will come up, hopefully. That’s the plan. That’s what I’m planning on. So, I’ll get up. I’ll be positive. I’ll leave here. I’ll spend time with my wife. My mom’s in town, so I’ll spend time with her. It goes back to this is difficult. I sat at my locker for probably 15 after and you just sit there. You just always wish you could’ve done more. But, at the end of the day through things like this, you’ll get through it. The blessings in your life…I’m very fortunate to have a wonderful wife, a family and that’s where you really look at that. What we do, we’re fortunate to do what we do. I get to go to work tomorrow, God-willing, get to go to work these guys. That’s what keeps me going. It’s easy to put your head down and just give up right now. That’s what most people would do, but I know that’s not what I’m going to do and that’s not what these guys in this locker room are going to do.”
(On if he’s okay with Head Coach Jeff Fisher’s decision to start Keenum next week)
“Hey, I respect Coach Fisher and I love Case Keenum. I want to be out there. But, at the same time, I respect Coach Fisher and I’m going to do everything I can to help Case along and help him succeed out there and help this team succeed. Because the most important thing is, like I said, that’s St. Louis across our chests and who we play for. Whatever I can do to help Case with, I’m going to do, just like he’s always done for me. I think he’s a heck of a player and I know he’s a heck of a person and a great leader. I’m going to do everything I can to help him.”
DE Chris Long
(On how he rallies the troops with four games to go)
“You go out there on Sunday and play your (butt) off. Anytime you’re out there in uniform, no matter what’s on the line, you should play your (butt) off. That’s what it is. We put in too much work to fold. But, we’ve got to be better. It’s just not good enough.”
(On the defense not being happy)
“No, you’ve got to worry about what you can control. We’ve got to improve. They ran the ball too much today. Completed too many deep shots. Twenty-seven points isn’t going to do it. We needed to be a lot better.”
(On if everything is weighing on him)
“It’s not important what’s going on in my head. It’s important what’s going on in everybody’s head. It doesn’t matter if I’ve been here eight years, it hurts the same for everybody. That’s losing in embarrassing fashion five games in a row. The guys in here are not happy, I can guarantee that. That doesn’t make it OK. That doesn’t make it OK at all.”
(On what happened after the midpoint of the season)
“I have no idea. We’re trying to figure that out.”
Rams P Johnny Hekker
(On what the emotion is like in the locker room)
“You never go into a game expecting to lose. You never prepare all throughout the week to lose. That’s why you see a lot of heads down. We’ve got guys that work hard and apparently we can work harder. We’re just going to get back on Monday and do everything we can as a team to stop this losing skid and really prove that we can be a winning football team. We’ve got a lot of guys in this locker room that aren’t losers. We’re kind of sick of it, but we’ve got to get that taste out of our mouth with hard work and a win come next Sunday.”
(On how they stop a skid like this)
“Just a little bit extra. Watching film, doing everything you can. I don’t know. We’ve got great coaches that we trust in. We’re just going to continue to work and something will change. I can’t really tell you what that is. I’m not a magician, but we’re going to get things right.”
(On what happened after being 4-3)
“Nothing changed. It’s just been tough breaks. We haven’t been playing to our full potential. We haven’t been producing as we need to, to win football games. We play in a quality conference and it’s only going to get tougher from here on out. We’ve just got to work hard. Come to work on Monday and do a little bit extra that we haven’t done. Maybe just challenge each other and don’t take anything for granted. In a blink of an eye, it can all be taken away. We have a teammate who’s a living example of that right now. So, we’ve just got to not hang our heads. We’re too blessed to be in the NFL where we are to pout. We’re hard-working guys. We’ve gut a team full of guys who are blue collar workers and we’re going to continue to grind and do what we can and put our best foot forward come next Sunday.”
(On when he realized he’d be doing kickoffs)
“Right before the game. We came in as a team and they told me that (K) Zach (Hocker) had a little tweak in his quad, so they came to me and (Head) Coach (Jeff) Fisher and (Special Teams Coordinator) Coach (John) Fassel grabbed me and (WR) Wes (Welker) and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to need you guys to kick some balls and see where we’re at.’ Haven’t kicked off since high school, so that was fun for me.”
