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Compiled by Jeff Gordon
STLtoday.com Sports
09/22/2004
At his Wednesday news conference, Rams coach Mike Martz discussed his team's injury situation and outlined the challenges of facing the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Here are some of the highlights:
On the health of his team:
"(Mark) Bulger had a bursa in his elbow during the game, which isn't an issue, just the swelling of his non-throwing arm. Chris Dishman with the ankle is still recovering. Trev Faulk is still probably doubtful with a hamstring (tear). Erik Flowers is just a little back (strain), shouldn't have any issues. Kevin Garrett is probable with a foot sprain. DeJuan Groce has that sprained knee and is doubtful, or questionable rather.
"Leonard (Little) sprained his knee, he will not practice today. Just to calm it down a little bit, nothing that would keep him from playing. We should have him. Tommy Polley is recovering from the rib fracture and Tom Nutten should get some reps today.
"Tommy (Polley) has gotten a lot better. Whatever he can do, he will certainly do. We will get him more and more involved as he gets healthy and feels better about that rib."
"In many instances we're on the mend. Obviously, losing DeJuan does affect us."
On the signing of veteran safety Kwamie Lassiter and the shift of Aeneas Williams back to cornerback:
"We need to do this. We have some good young corners that are going to be good players, to put them in the spotlight at this point and have them play an entire game out there, they may or may not be ready for it. Aeneas, we know what he can do out there right now. We know what Kwamie is. He's been a terrific player in this league for many years. It was good to be able to get him on the roster.
"We should get both corners, both (Travis) Fisher and Groce well within the next few weeks. But (Aeneas) has had some pretty good years out there. He should be fine out there."
"(Lassiter) understands the system. He played in it a number of years and is familiar with Larry (Marmie) and the system. He should be able to come in immediately and play in some packages. He should fit in easily, I think, in what we're trying to do."
On facing the Saints offense:
"This team has always been fun to watch offensively, just . . . being able to take the ball downfield like they do. Mix that in with a good, sound, hard running game and they are a good physical team up front on offense, whoever is carrying the ball, it doesn't matter. They do a good job with their schemes, keep you on your heels a little bit and isolate the corners one-on-one. It can make for a long day.
On the threat posed by Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks:
"I don't know if there is a better, more accurate quarterback down the field with the deep ball than he is.
"He's very underrated. I think in terms of guys coming out and making big plays down the field with the ball. I don't think there is anybody in the league, other than Brett Favre, that has that capability. He can move around, find anybody and get the ball off. He's like Brett with his accuracy and arm strength, he really is."
On facing the Saints defense:
"Both defensive ends are having a terrific year. They give you problems now on the edge with their pass rush. They do all the things, the match-ups, particularly when we get into four wide receivers, and the blitzes, the press coverages, all those good things. It challenges you. They really are a good football team."
On the need to create more takeaways:
"This is something we work at every day. When you get a quarterback like Michael Vick running around, it's hard to get that ball. Just getting ahold of him is hard, let alone getting the ball. Those will come. We're working hard at it. We preach it every day in practice. When you're tackling real well, you'll cause fumbles. We didn't tackle last week as well as we have been. If you tackle well, the first guy there holds him up and the next guy gets the ball out.
"Those are the things that you have to work on in practice. It hurt us that I kept us in shells last week. We were banged up a little bit. We had some linemen down with ankles. We had linebackers with shoulders hurt. We're down to three or four linebackers. We just couldn't afford to lose one. I thought we could get by with it.
"I think it showed. It was a coaching error on our part. I think when you do that in pads in practice you can slam each other and pull that ball out. That's where you get your work."
On the need to score more points:
"We've got some potential there. We've got to get more in sync. There have been some mistakes made that we will clean up. I'm still trying to figure out with some guys what we can do and can't do. We keep probing, challenging. That's the fun of coaching. That's what I thoroughly enjoy about coaching the offensive side of the ball. We've probably been more conservative than I like."
On the need to make more judicious use of his replay challenges:
"That's my fault. That's just dumb. I've always tried to avoid the emotional (input) on the sidelines. Early, my first year, I went with that. You have to wait for the upstairs guy that would say yeah or nay . . . That's me. I just have to wait and listen for upstairs. That is bad game management on my part."
STLtoday.com Sports
09/22/2004
At his Wednesday news conference, Rams coach Mike Martz discussed his team's injury situation and outlined the challenges of facing the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Here are some of the highlights:
On the health of his team:
"(Mark) Bulger had a bursa in his elbow during the game, which isn't an issue, just the swelling of his non-throwing arm. Chris Dishman with the ankle is still recovering. Trev Faulk is still probably doubtful with a hamstring (tear). Erik Flowers is just a little back (strain), shouldn't have any issues. Kevin Garrett is probable with a foot sprain. DeJuan Groce has that sprained knee and is doubtful, or questionable rather.
"Leonard (Little) sprained his knee, he will not practice today. Just to calm it down a little bit, nothing that would keep him from playing. We should have him. Tommy Polley is recovering from the rib fracture and Tom Nutten should get some reps today.
"Tommy (Polley) has gotten a lot better. Whatever he can do, he will certainly do. We will get him more and more involved as he gets healthy and feels better about that rib."
"In many instances we're on the mend. Obviously, losing DeJuan does affect us."
On the signing of veteran safety Kwamie Lassiter and the shift of Aeneas Williams back to cornerback:
"We need to do this. We have some good young corners that are going to be good players, to put them in the spotlight at this point and have them play an entire game out there, they may or may not be ready for it. Aeneas, we know what he can do out there right now. We know what Kwamie is. He's been a terrific player in this league for many years. It was good to be able to get him on the roster.
"We should get both corners, both (Travis) Fisher and Groce well within the next few weeks. But (Aeneas) has had some pretty good years out there. He should be fine out there."
"(Lassiter) understands the system. He played in it a number of years and is familiar with Larry (Marmie) and the system. He should be able to come in immediately and play in some packages. He should fit in easily, I think, in what we're trying to do."
On facing the Saints offense:
"This team has always been fun to watch offensively, just . . . being able to take the ball downfield like they do. Mix that in with a good, sound, hard running game and they are a good physical team up front on offense, whoever is carrying the ball, it doesn't matter. They do a good job with their schemes, keep you on your heels a little bit and isolate the corners one-on-one. It can make for a long day.
On the threat posed by Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks:
"I don't know if there is a better, more accurate quarterback down the field with the deep ball than he is.
"He's very underrated. I think in terms of guys coming out and making big plays down the field with the ball. I don't think there is anybody in the league, other than Brett Favre, that has that capability. He can move around, find anybody and get the ball off. He's like Brett with his accuracy and arm strength, he really is."
On facing the Saints defense:
"Both defensive ends are having a terrific year. They give you problems now on the edge with their pass rush. They do all the things, the match-ups, particularly when we get into four wide receivers, and the blitzes, the press coverages, all those good things. It challenges you. They really are a good football team."
On the need to create more takeaways:
"This is something we work at every day. When you get a quarterback like Michael Vick running around, it's hard to get that ball. Just getting ahold of him is hard, let alone getting the ball. Those will come. We're working hard at it. We preach it every day in practice. When you're tackling real well, you'll cause fumbles. We didn't tackle last week as well as we have been. If you tackle well, the first guy there holds him up and the next guy gets the ball out.
"Those are the things that you have to work on in practice. It hurt us that I kept us in shells last week. We were banged up a little bit. We had some linemen down with ankles. We had linebackers with shoulders hurt. We're down to three or four linebackers. We just couldn't afford to lose one. I thought we could get by with it.
"I think it showed. It was a coaching error on our part. I think when you do that in pads in practice you can slam each other and pull that ball out. That's where you get your work."
On the need to score more points:
"We've got some potential there. We've got to get more in sync. There have been some mistakes made that we will clean up. I'm still trying to figure out with some guys what we can do and can't do. We keep probing, challenging. That's the fun of coaching. That's what I thoroughly enjoy about coaching the offensive side of the ball. We've probably been more conservative than I like."
On the need to make more judicious use of his replay challenges:
"That's my fault. That's just dumb. I've always tried to avoid the emotional (input) on the sidelines. Early, my first year, I went with that. You have to wait for the upstairs guy that would say yeah or nay . . . That's me. I just have to wait and listen for upstairs. That is bad game management on my part."
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