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Tuesday, November 2, 2004
(On if he watched the New England game at Pittsburgh)
“Yes I did. In fact I just looked at the tape before we came out to practice. They lost that game the same way they’re winning games. They gave the ball up early and Pittsburgh was able to get some points on, and they held on. That has kind of been their formula. They are a good team.”
(On if there’s a chance DT Jimmy Kennedy will play this week)
“Yeah, absolutely there’s a chance. We’ll just see how he goes through practice. It looked like he did a nice job out there today.”
(On if he wishes the Rams could have had a chance to stop New England’s 21-game winning streak)
“For us right now, where we are, we are struggling to stay on top of the division any way we can. That’s the most important thing. Obviously the Patriots and the history we have with them is kind of special but we’re just so concerned right now with getting better. We’re just trying to get them going in the right direction and stay on top of it (the division) if we can.”
(On how practice went after the bye week)
“It was unusually good. Like you said, that Monday after the bye week we’ve never really had a really sharp practice. Today was very good, but we’ve always been in shells, and we came back in pads today and I thought practice was outstanding.”
(On why they practiced in pads and not shells)
“We were by and large healthy. We have so many young players that need to work that I thought it was beneficial.”
(On being so healthy this far into the season)
“We still have some guys that are dinged, but nothing serious. We’ll start getting guys back like Jimmy (Kennedy), and having (Travis) Fisher back full-speed, and Trev (Faulk) is back. These guys coming back is pretty big.”
(On why he doesn’t make the players practice during bye week)
“It’s hard to do initially. You don’t know how the players are going to take it. You trust these guys, and you tell them why you’re doing it. I think if we had a bye earlier in the year, we probably wouldn’t do this, but all of our byes have fallen around the seventh, eighth, and ninth week. When you look at camp, preseason, and the first half of the season, their bodies need a break. We’ve gone into the bye with some pretty good records, undefeated at times, but their bodies still need a chance to catch up. When they come out of a bye, they usually feel pretty good. It’s work, when we first did it I was a little nervous about it, but I just felt if was the right thing to do. It seems to work pretty good, we’ll see what happens.”
(On if he assesses the team at the midpoint)
“We reflect back on some of the things. Tendencies as a play caller, personnel groupings, what we have healthy now, and some of the guys who have started to come to the top, and how we want to better utilize them. We look at all aspects of it.”
(On LB Trev Faulk)
“For him to do what he did down in Miami is just incredible. He has seized the starting role, it’s his to lose. For him to do what he did mentally, to stay up on everything, without taking any reps, is pretty incredible. Everything is so fast, and he has to read and react, he’s physical, gets to the ball, and is an excellent tackler. Everything you want a ‘Mike’ linebacker to be, he is right now. He’s probably the best hitter we have on the team. He can get through traffic so easily, he’s just a natural inside.”
(On if he likes the bye week)
“I think it is very good. I think it’s healthy, it gives guys a chance to regroup physically. Particularly young players that are just out of college, by this time they are thinking about a Bowl game or something. They don’t really realize the drain physically. I think it’s beneficial. I’m very pleased that we have been able to have it towards the middle of the season, I think it has helped us.”
(On if it’s harder going into the bye coming off of a loss)
“I think that never helps you. You have to find a way to turn that around, and use it to benefit you somehow. I think that’s something we can always learn from.”
(On if he watched the New England game at Pittsburgh)
“Yes I did. In fact I just looked at the tape before we came out to practice. They lost that game the same way they’re winning games. They gave the ball up early and Pittsburgh was able to get some points on, and they held on. That has kind of been their formula. They are a good team.”
(On if there’s a chance DT Jimmy Kennedy will play this week)
“Yeah, absolutely there’s a chance. We’ll just see how he goes through practice. It looked like he did a nice job out there today.”
(On if he wishes the Rams could have had a chance to stop New England’s 21-game winning streak)
“For us right now, where we are, we are struggling to stay on top of the division any way we can. That’s the most important thing. Obviously the Patriots and the history we have with them is kind of special but we’re just so concerned right now with getting better. We’re just trying to get them going in the right direction and stay on top of it (the division) if we can.”
(On how practice went after the bye week)
“It was unusually good. Like you said, that Monday after the bye week we’ve never really had a really sharp practice. Today was very good, but we’ve always been in shells, and we came back in pads today and I thought practice was outstanding.”
(On why they practiced in pads and not shells)
“We were by and large healthy. We have so many young players that need to work that I thought it was beneficial.”
(On being so healthy this far into the season)
“We still have some guys that are dinged, but nothing serious. We’ll start getting guys back like Jimmy (Kennedy), and having (Travis) Fisher back full-speed, and Trev (Faulk) is back. These guys coming back is pretty big.”
(On why he doesn’t make the players practice during bye week)
“It’s hard to do initially. You don’t know how the players are going to take it. You trust these guys, and you tell them why you’re doing it. I think if we had a bye earlier in the year, we probably wouldn’t do this, but all of our byes have fallen around the seventh, eighth, and ninth week. When you look at camp, preseason, and the first half of the season, their bodies need a break. We’ve gone into the bye with some pretty good records, undefeated at times, but their bodies still need a chance to catch up. When they come out of a bye, they usually feel pretty good. It’s work, when we first did it I was a little nervous about it, but I just felt if was the right thing to do. It seems to work pretty good, we’ll see what happens.”
(On if he assesses the team at the midpoint)
“We reflect back on some of the things. Tendencies as a play caller, personnel groupings, what we have healthy now, and some of the guys who have started to come to the top, and how we want to better utilize them. We look at all aspects of it.”
(On LB Trev Faulk)
“For him to do what he did down in Miami is just incredible. He has seized the starting role, it’s his to lose. For him to do what he did mentally, to stay up on everything, without taking any reps, is pretty incredible. Everything is so fast, and he has to read and react, he’s physical, gets to the ball, and is an excellent tackler. Everything you want a ‘Mike’ linebacker to be, he is right now. He’s probably the best hitter we have on the team. He can get through traffic so easily, he’s just a natural inside.”
(On if he likes the bye week)
“I think it is very good. I think it’s healthy, it gives guys a chance to regroup physically. Particularly young players that are just out of college, by this time they are thinking about a Bowl game or something. They don’t really realize the drain physically. I think it’s beneficial. I’m very pleased that we have been able to have it towards the middle of the season, I think it has helped us.”
(On if it’s harder going into the bye coming off of a loss)
“I think that never helps you. You have to find a way to turn that around, and use it to benefit you somehow. I think that’s something we can always learn from.”
