Head Coach Mike Martz
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
(Opening statements)
“There are some things that I would like to mention that are really outstanding from that game: Tyoka (Jackson) came in and had three hits on the quarterback, two pressures, two tackles, and two assists, really on third downs, which is terrific. Pisa (Tinoisamoa) had nine tackles and five assists, 14 tackles all totaled, and half a sack. Jerametrius (Butler) had the interception and he broke up two passes.
Leonard Little had four tackles and three assists, for a total of seven. He had three hits on the quarterback, he had a pressure, he had one sack, and, of course, he recovered a fumble, so he had a terrific game. Rich Coady is our defensive player of the week with four tackles and six assists, that’s 10 tackles, two passes broken up, a forced fumble, and a quarterback hit, just a terrific evening for Rich. On offense, Marshall (Faulk) and Isaac (Bruce) are our offensive players of the week. Marshall, obviously, with the big night: 23 carries, 121 yards, a total of 146 yards, and Isaac, for the fourth week in a row, starts the season with another 100-yard game. (Isaac) was not just catching the ball, but he was vital in the running game, in terms of blocking down the field, which he always is. He is a complete player, very unselfish player. I thought Marc (Bulger) played really well. The offensive line played very well. They came out fast and furious in all three phases, and that’s what we asked them to do, attack, be physical, not worry about mistakes, play fast. I thought we played disciplined football. We did not turn the ball over. We got two turnovers. We had a very limited amount of penalties, which is something that we have been trying to stress. We are getting better, we really are. That first half was played at a high level, and that’s what we are asking them to do. We’ve got a lot of room to go yet. We can get a lot better, and we need to go in that direction. We came out of that game, physically, in good shape. But I’m very pleased with the effort of this football team. I’m ready to put this one to bed, because we have a big one up in Seattle.”
(On the Rams’ defense)
“(The *****) really tried to get something going, and the same running schemes that have hurt us in the past, we shored that up a little, the stretch and cutback type of plays. Penetration by the defensive line, by and large, the entire defensive line was a exceptional. They played really well. And Ryan Pickett, who plays nose guard, just won’t get credit for anything. You’re not in the position to rush the passer, so you’re not going to get sacks. All you do is get beat on the whole time. You’re not going to make a lot of tackles, but what you do, it’s the most unselfish position in football. All you do is take the hits and try to throw them off, so the linebackers and everyone else make the play. But he was penetrating, getting back into the backfield, and being very disruptive. By and large I was very happy with the progress we made on defense. We just kept the ball in front of us, in the second half. We got out in front pretty good, and I just felt like we made some mistakes on offense that could’ve sustained a couple drives, but we’ll clean that up.
(On T Scott Tercero amd CB Kevin Garrett)
“I was real pleased with Scotty. He came in and, there were a couple things in there that you can’t teach a football player. I don’t know how he saw this linebacker coming on a pitch play that we had, where Steven (Jackson) took it down to about the 10-yard line. He saw (the linebacker) and turned back in and got him. He has an awareness that’s really unusual. And Kevin (Garrett) did a nice job. He had a nice break-up. He’s a young corner that still has a ways to go, but I’m very pleased with him.”
(On S Rich Coady starting for S Adam Archuleta)
“Adam didn’t practice all week. It would be unusual for us to play anyone, no matter who they are, if they hadn’t practiced all week. His back is still a concern, and it has limited him. I’m not sure what his status will be for next week. But the way Rich is playing right now, you have to feel like Rich is ready to go.”
(On the offensive line)
“I mentioned last week that (in our) nine-on-seven drills, the offensive line has practiced as well as I have ever seen a group here practice. It was exciting to watch. So when we got into the game, we have always been pragmatic about things, that our approach. You stand on the sidelines, you look and see that they are playing a soft cover-2, you start handing the ball off , and they start rolling pretty good. The offensive line took it upon themselves to make things happen, and they certainly did. It’s just like in the passing game, you hit guys and you keep going with it. You do whatever it takes to win. If you get rolling in one particular area, you’d like to mix the other in there. Our offensive line at this point allows us to do both, which is something we haven’t had in a while. At this point our offensive line is playing as well as any that we’ve had. I’m very pleased with them.”
(On keeping the teams’ emotions high in the second half)
“I think that there were a couple of miscues in that second half that we didn’t have in the first half. My approach was probably a little more conservative in the second half, offensively, by design. We wanted to use the clock. We had a 24-point lead going into the fourth quarter. “
(On WR Isaac Bruce)
“Nothing Isaac does surprises me. It really doesn’t. We have tried to put him in the position to make plays a little more. People understand and know
Torry Holt at this point, in the past they always worried about Isaac. And Torry’s quietly had such a great career here so far. Teams have made such a contentious effort to try to eliminate him over there, of course that means that Isaac is going to get the ball. I think the combination of that and having these young receivers coming on now, is going to help us down the road with (getting Isaac touches).”
(On LB Trev Faulk)
“He’s our special teams player or the week. He had three tackles, solos, on the kickoff team, and a solo on the punt team. And again, this goes back and reflects what I said earlier about special teams and its effectiveness, when you have those kind of players in your backup secondary and linebackers, who eventually can be starters, but when they are down or injured, it does effect your special teams. You can see the impact it has on any special teams to have those types of guys back and healthy. He certainly made his presence felt. And he is certainly capable of starting for us as a middle linebacker. He probably has had as good of camp this year as anyone we had on defense. He’s just been remarkable.”
(On RB
Steven Jackson)
“I’m very pleased (with his play). He had a real nice blitz pick-up in the second quarter, on the last drive that we had. It was a real key third down, and he picked up the blitz and rode (the defender) past the quarterback, and Marc (Bulger) was able to step up and make the throw. (Jackson) is getting better in all phases of the game. Marshall (Faulk) has helped him terrifically. Marshall is such a student of the game, and I think he holds Steven to that same standard. I think that he really understands what we are trying to do now. It’s as important to be physical, blocking, as it is to be a runner. He’s getting better, and we are going to use him. Marshall comes out, we put Steven in, and we don’t change anything we do.”
Head Coach Mike Martz
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