Tweet
Head Coach Mike Martz
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
(Opening comments)
“We’re making progress, we have a long way to go. Efforts terrific but as we all know efforts not enough. So we have to do things right, and that’s what we’re here for. We’re going in the right direction, I’m pleased with the effort, after the first day there’s not a whole lot to tell you.”
(On where to begin in training camp)
“We always repeat, when we were allowed to have two mini-camps, you just keep recycling things. We start off today just the same way we start off in mini-camp, same plays and same defense, all that stuff is the same. So they get reacquainted with the basics and the base of what we do, and then you begin to move on.”
(On the new practice schedule)
“To evaluate the effect of that will take some time. The way the practice is structured isn’t just for one day, it’s over a long haul. It allows these guys to recover in the afternoons. Because they’re not so tired in the afternoon they should be sharp. In the morning it’s a little bit cooler weather, and being in the morning they should be a little bit sharper. That’s kind of the logic behind it.”
(On the different options at defensive end)
“I know there’s a lot of concern, there’s a lot of emotional attachment to Grant (Wistrom) and he’s played so well for us for so many years we all thought that he was going to end his career here, as a Ram, he didn’t, it didn’t workout that way. On the other side of the coin, there’s six guys out there on the defensive end, on the left and right side, that you would be happy with lining up and playing with, I can safely say that. So whoever lines up at right defensive end, that’s who he is, and I’m sure whoever that is he will play very well.”
(On moving Nick Burley to tight end)
“One of the things, probably, he is a little slight in build, when you look at the numbers. He might make the roster, he might not. I think he has a terrific chance because just watching him catch the ball and run, his attitude is a little bit like we did with Robbie (Thomas). He (Robert Thomas) took to it. He learned it very well and it came easy to him. (Nick Burley) will have to adjust to some of the stuff in pads, being the hitter instead of the hitee, which always happens when you go from offense to defense and visa-versa. But for a guy who comes out with the right frame of mind and is an athlete like he is, he’s got a real chance to show himself. He’s a long ways away. It’s a bit of project here in the first few weeks until he gets things squared up, but he should be alright.”
(On if Nick Burley played tight end at the off-season workouts)
“He was there in OTA’s (organized team activities). We moved him early, when we thought he had a chance there. There are a lot of tight ends that you can go out and bring in the league, and we thought we might have a terrific athlete here that once he has a knowledge of the position, who knows what he can do. So he is a ways away from knowing the position well enough to evaluate. But he certainly has the tools physically.”
(On Arlen Harris practicing at halfback)
“We think that (a halfback) is what he is, really. I think what has happened in OTA’s, Dusty (McGroty) has come to the surface of potential fullback, which takes some of the pressure off of that backup role inside there. But we wanted him to learn fullback because ultimately during the season we would like to use him as such with he and Marshall (Faulk) in the back field just as another alternative in various personnel groupings. You teach him that in the event something happens to Joey (Goodspeed) that we know he (Harris) can go in there survive and do well. But first and foremost we look at him as a halfback.”
(On if Arlen Harris should lose weight)
“Here is a guy that for two years didn’t play football. So when you work out in the weight room and go around the track you think you’re in great shape, but your not in football shape. So when he came in here last year I think physically he realized he was behind the eight-ball. But he went to work in the offseason and with all that added girth and weight and all that good stuff, he also increased his speed. That being said, when that happened he really got our attention because he has some real live ability in terms of reading, cutting and breaking tackles. So he is way ahead of where he was a year ago physically, and I think that’s terrific.”
(On seeing all of the receivers healthy)
“The problem you have coming into camp is when you have young receivers come in and have not taken any turns. And they get in with the second group it is frustrating for all of us because there is a lot of blown assignments and dropped balls. We don’t have that and that’s a nice feeling. We have a great deal of depth there, guys know what’s going on, we know where to line up and they can make plays. So I think there is some excellent depth there that we can count on.”
(On the rookies routine)
“What we did last year, we did way more of this year. What I mean by that is we kept the veterans in mini-camp, let them out here a little bit. (We) kept the first year players, practiced them for eight or nine practices, exclusively. Reps they would not normally get. Then we brought them in about four weeks early, which we can do, for some seven-on-seven and some classroom work. So mentally they are way ahead. If these young kids have an idea of what to do, then you can evaluate them. A confused football player, no matter how many years he has in the league, if he’s confused it is hard to evaluate his ability and how much he can contribute. So we tried to remove that by spending more time coaching, more or less the entry level guys, I guess you would say.”
(On letting the veterans out of mini-camp early)
“(We) have not done that before. The veterans have practiced extremely well. There comes a point when you can only do so much with them in shorts and at that point, when we felt comfortable with where they were in there execution, then we turned our attention to the players that hadn’t had a whole lot of practice time.”
(On if more focus is on the rookies because they have to contribute right away)
“I think everyone talks about that and says that, but we learned that lesson last year. I use Arlen (Harris) over-and-over again, and (DeJuan) Groce and some of these guys and I think it’s true. If you can get them mentally up to speed with everyone else it just really puts them ahead of the game. So when they come out here they don’t become overwhelmed by this stuff. It’s overwhelming enough, just being here. I think it helped us a lot last year, so we spent even more time with the younger players this year in the off-season than we normally have done.”
(On Dave Wohlabaugh’s status)
“What we asked David to do is some agility drills and some moving around. And each day we will try to measure the soreness, what there is of it and where he is flexibility wise. It was a new procedure what they did on his hip, so we are going to move very slowly with it, but we are anticipating things will go well with it.”
(On if there were concerns about Andy King starting)
“If I felt (concerned) then he wouldn’t be there right now. I think we have seen enough of Andy of the past few years that I feel good about his ability to handle all of this. Obviously, he is going to have to adjust to some of these things. He has not gotten the calls and all that good stuff. He’s been around enough and experienced enough. He went into that Philadelphia game two years ago, we threw him in at tackle, and we all swallowed a little hard on that one, but he handled that really well. He really did. He’s what we are looking for. He’s a big, physical guy, smart and wants to be as good as he can be. What more could you want?”
(On Andy King’s mean streak)
“Yeah, he does (have a mean streak). That’s a quality we like to have in our offensive linemen. It’s what Adam (Timmerman) has, it’s what Andy has, it’s what he has to have.”
(On Andy King’s resilience after the Philadelphia game two years ago)
“That’s a pretty good measure of his personality and toughness. He got challenged by that and he got a little taste of playing. That’s what he wanted. He worked out much harder, fewer mistakes. When we threw him in there at guard, we just wanted to see what he would do this spring and he has really improved. He is going to make some mistakes during camp, but he is going to play a lot in the preseason, more than the rest of the guys on the offensive line first unit just to get him ready.”
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
(Opening comments)
“We’re making progress, we have a long way to go. Efforts terrific but as we all know efforts not enough. So we have to do things right, and that’s what we’re here for. We’re going in the right direction, I’m pleased with the effort, after the first day there’s not a whole lot to tell you.”
(On where to begin in training camp)
“We always repeat, when we were allowed to have two mini-camps, you just keep recycling things. We start off today just the same way we start off in mini-camp, same plays and same defense, all that stuff is the same. So they get reacquainted with the basics and the base of what we do, and then you begin to move on.”
(On the new practice schedule)
“To evaluate the effect of that will take some time. The way the practice is structured isn’t just for one day, it’s over a long haul. It allows these guys to recover in the afternoons. Because they’re not so tired in the afternoon they should be sharp. In the morning it’s a little bit cooler weather, and being in the morning they should be a little bit sharper. That’s kind of the logic behind it.”
(On the different options at defensive end)
“I know there’s a lot of concern, there’s a lot of emotional attachment to Grant (Wistrom) and he’s played so well for us for so many years we all thought that he was going to end his career here, as a Ram, he didn’t, it didn’t workout that way. On the other side of the coin, there’s six guys out there on the defensive end, on the left and right side, that you would be happy with lining up and playing with, I can safely say that. So whoever lines up at right defensive end, that’s who he is, and I’m sure whoever that is he will play very well.”
(On moving Nick Burley to tight end)
“One of the things, probably, he is a little slight in build, when you look at the numbers. He might make the roster, he might not. I think he has a terrific chance because just watching him catch the ball and run, his attitude is a little bit like we did with Robbie (Thomas). He (Robert Thomas) took to it. He learned it very well and it came easy to him. (Nick Burley) will have to adjust to some of the stuff in pads, being the hitter instead of the hitee, which always happens when you go from offense to defense and visa-versa. But for a guy who comes out with the right frame of mind and is an athlete like he is, he’s got a real chance to show himself. He’s a long ways away. It’s a bit of project here in the first few weeks until he gets things squared up, but he should be alright.”
(On if Nick Burley played tight end at the off-season workouts)
“He was there in OTA’s (organized team activities). We moved him early, when we thought he had a chance there. There are a lot of tight ends that you can go out and bring in the league, and we thought we might have a terrific athlete here that once he has a knowledge of the position, who knows what he can do. So he is a ways away from knowing the position well enough to evaluate. But he certainly has the tools physically.”
(On Arlen Harris practicing at halfback)
“We think that (a halfback) is what he is, really. I think what has happened in OTA’s, Dusty (McGroty) has come to the surface of potential fullback, which takes some of the pressure off of that backup role inside there. But we wanted him to learn fullback because ultimately during the season we would like to use him as such with he and Marshall (Faulk) in the back field just as another alternative in various personnel groupings. You teach him that in the event something happens to Joey (Goodspeed) that we know he (Harris) can go in there survive and do well. But first and foremost we look at him as a halfback.”
(On if Arlen Harris should lose weight)
“Here is a guy that for two years didn’t play football. So when you work out in the weight room and go around the track you think you’re in great shape, but your not in football shape. So when he came in here last year I think physically he realized he was behind the eight-ball. But he went to work in the offseason and with all that added girth and weight and all that good stuff, he also increased his speed. That being said, when that happened he really got our attention because he has some real live ability in terms of reading, cutting and breaking tackles. So he is way ahead of where he was a year ago physically, and I think that’s terrific.”
(On seeing all of the receivers healthy)
“The problem you have coming into camp is when you have young receivers come in and have not taken any turns. And they get in with the second group it is frustrating for all of us because there is a lot of blown assignments and dropped balls. We don’t have that and that’s a nice feeling. We have a great deal of depth there, guys know what’s going on, we know where to line up and they can make plays. So I think there is some excellent depth there that we can count on.”
(On the rookies routine)
“What we did last year, we did way more of this year. What I mean by that is we kept the veterans in mini-camp, let them out here a little bit. (We) kept the first year players, practiced them for eight or nine practices, exclusively. Reps they would not normally get. Then we brought them in about four weeks early, which we can do, for some seven-on-seven and some classroom work. So mentally they are way ahead. If these young kids have an idea of what to do, then you can evaluate them. A confused football player, no matter how many years he has in the league, if he’s confused it is hard to evaluate his ability and how much he can contribute. So we tried to remove that by spending more time coaching, more or less the entry level guys, I guess you would say.”
(On letting the veterans out of mini-camp early)
“(We) have not done that before. The veterans have practiced extremely well. There comes a point when you can only do so much with them in shorts and at that point, when we felt comfortable with where they were in there execution, then we turned our attention to the players that hadn’t had a whole lot of practice time.”
(On if more focus is on the rookies because they have to contribute right away)
“I think everyone talks about that and says that, but we learned that lesson last year. I use Arlen (Harris) over-and-over again, and (DeJuan) Groce and some of these guys and I think it’s true. If you can get them mentally up to speed with everyone else it just really puts them ahead of the game. So when they come out here they don’t become overwhelmed by this stuff. It’s overwhelming enough, just being here. I think it helped us a lot last year, so we spent even more time with the younger players this year in the off-season than we normally have done.”
(On Dave Wohlabaugh’s status)
“What we asked David to do is some agility drills and some moving around. And each day we will try to measure the soreness, what there is of it and where he is flexibility wise. It was a new procedure what they did on his hip, so we are going to move very slowly with it, but we are anticipating things will go well with it.”
(On if there were concerns about Andy King starting)
“If I felt (concerned) then he wouldn’t be there right now. I think we have seen enough of Andy of the past few years that I feel good about his ability to handle all of this. Obviously, he is going to have to adjust to some of these things. He has not gotten the calls and all that good stuff. He’s been around enough and experienced enough. He went into that Philadelphia game two years ago, we threw him in at tackle, and we all swallowed a little hard on that one, but he handled that really well. He really did. He’s what we are looking for. He’s a big, physical guy, smart and wants to be as good as he can be. What more could you want?”
(On Andy King’s mean streak)
“Yeah, he does (have a mean streak). That’s a quality we like to have in our offensive linemen. It’s what Adam (Timmerman) has, it’s what Andy has, it’s what he has to have.”
(On Andy King’s resilience after the Philadelphia game two years ago)
“That’s a pretty good measure of his personality and toughness. He got challenged by that and he got a little taste of playing. That’s what he wanted. He worked out much harder, fewer mistakes. When we threw him in there at guard, we just wanted to see what he would do this spring and he has really improved. He is going to make some mistakes during camp, but he is going to play a lot in the preseason, more than the rest of the guys on the offensive line first unit just to get him ready.”
