Rams move Williams back to safety

[Nick]

Rams move Williams back to safety
Compiled by Jeff Gordon
Post-Dispatch Online Sports Columnist
Wednesday, Sep. 29 2004


The Rams are bolstered by the return of cornerback DeJuan Groce, who has
recovered from his sprained knee.

That allows veteran defensive back Aeneas Williams to move back to safety for
Sunday night's game at San Francisco.

"Aeneas has spent so much time getting himself ready at safety, and he's
playing so well in terms of his duties and his break on the ball and getting
guys lined up and the calls he hs to make . . . and then to move out to corner
was very disruptive," coach Mike Martz said. "It's a totally different world
out there. That's a hard thing to ask somebody to do, but we were in a real
bind at that point.

"Going back into safety, I'm sure he's relieved and excited to be back inside.
I think it helps us a lot."

Here are some other highlights from Martz's Wednesday news conference:


On the health of his team:

"Chris Dishman is questionable. It was just a strained (ankle) capsule. We
should get him back in short order. How much he can do this week, he will
probably be limited. Arlen Harris, who did play the rest of the game on a
strained hamstring, is also listed as questionable. I would expect we would
have him in some capacity. Tony Newson with the ankle sprain, what they call a
grade 2, is also questionable. We probably will not have him.

"The rest of the guys, we do get Trev Faulk back. Trev is now rehabbed almost
100 percent with that hamstring, so we should have him. That helps us a great
deal on defense with a linebacker and another corner (Groce), of course."


On the rivalry with the *****:

"It's a divisional game. It's been a long-standing rivalry. We're all excited
about. It doesn't get any better than this, an old-time rival, early in the
season, out there in San Francisco, a Sunday night game."


On moving forward from a 1-2 start:

"We did get better (against New Orleans). We didn't win that game, but we knew
we would have our struggles early. We are trying to fight our way through this.
A lot of good things happened in that game. We can't lose sight of that. We
need to fix what's broken, certainly, and do whatever you can to correct the
miscues and then move on. That's done with, that's over with. We're working on
getting better this week."


On the challenge of facing the ***** defense:

"They have done a good job over the years of really improving their speed
defensively. Bryant Young is playing the best football I've ever seen him play.
He is absolutely outstanding. Julian Peterson and Derek Smith, the linebacker
crew is as good as you're going to find in football. They are very outstanding.
Real good speed on defense and really do a good of matching up. They are the
fastest team we've seen so far on defense.

"(Petersen) is very active. A guy that height and that size, to be as fast as
he is really unusual. He has to be one of the better defensive players in the
league.

"Their pressure package, in terms of what you do in your protections and your
tendencies . . . they are on top of things very well. They try to keep you on
your heels. They pressured the heck out of Atlanta and had them reeling there
for quite some time."


On the Niners offense:

"I would expect (Tim) Rattay to start at quarterback. Kevan Barlow, as we all
know, can be a very explosive and physical runner and is a threat to go the
distance at any time. We've seen him do it.

"Offensively, they are rebuilding to some extent. Obviously they lost (Terrell
Owens) and the quarterback injuries have been a little bit of a problem for
them. With Tim more than likely being back, they are certainly more than
capable of getting back in rhythm as they were earlier."