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Head Coach Gary Kubiak**
Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips
G Brandon Brooks
CB Kareem Jackson
FS Ed Reed
DE Antonio Smith
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on if he's more confident about G Brandon Brooks starting today) "Yeah, let me go watch. We had a play count on him in practice. He took all his plays that we asked him to take. He and Duane (Brown) and Wade (Smith) are all kind of the same when we practice and we went back in our pads today. All indications are that he's working toward being ready to go on Sunday. The guys that didn't practice were Andre (Johnson), Keshawn (Martin), Darryl Sharpton and Tim Dobbins."
(on WR Andre Johnson's situation) "You know, it's kind of like it was last week. He's just very sore from coming off that Baltimore injury. He's pushing through it for us. It's just a tough thing to work through. We're basically giving him Wednesdays and Thursdays, getting him going again on Fridays and trying to get to game day/ But it's been very frustrating for him. We're doing everything we can to get him back to full strength, so it's been tough. He did move around a little bit today. He took a little bit of the jogthrough, a little bit of the walkthrough. But we will see more tomorrow."
(on if he considers WR Andre Johnson a game-time decision) "I would definitely think so, just with where we're at right now, just with him practicing on Fridays. I may feel different about that tomorrow after I watch him move around. The process we're going through, I think we have to assume that."
(on what he likes about G Brandon Brooks) "Well, he's very physical. He keeps our right side, to me, good and physical and stout. I think Ben (Jones) went in and played good. Even if Brandon plays, you'll probably see Ben play a little bit since Brandon's coming back from missing time. But he's a good young player. He's in his first time around as a starter and been pretty consistent for a young guy. He's got a bright, bright future. I just want him to stay healthy."
(on his returners and what the plan is) "Well, I've got to see where Keshawn (martin) is at, number one. I'm hoping Keshawn practices some tomorrow. If he doesn't, Shiloh (Keo) will return punts and Danieal Manning is ready to go back and return kicks. That's kind of where we're at right now. But we'll see where Keshawn's at tomorrow."
(on the offensive line as a whole, particularly the right side of the offensive line) "I'm going to mention, just like I mention everywhere, we can play better. I think we have been in some very difficult situations for our offensive line. At least three out of five, I want to say four out of the five, we've played catch-up football and had to throw the hell out of the ball way too much. Everybody in the stadium knows you're throwing it and that's hard in this league. It's hard to protect. If we can get ourselves playing the way we want to play and taking care of the ball and doing those things, I think you will see our offensive line play improve. A lot of things will improve if we take care of the ball better. But we missed Duane (Brown) for two weeks and we hung in there. Ryan (Harris) came in there. We played some really good people during that time. We missed Brandon (Brooks) last week. We played some really good people last week. The good news is we've got seven guys getting a lot of playing time. You'd love for it to settle down and get the same five guys and get some consistency."
(on the keys to getting off to faster starts to games) "Yeah, we started off real fast against Tennessee, Seattle. No, it's important. But I don't think that I can sit here and tell you that anything's more important than protecting the football. We can talk about fast starts and doing this better or running the ball better or doing that better, but we've got to just play consistent football and not help the other team beat us. It's hard enough to win in this league when you're not beating yourself and, when you are, it makes it even tougher."
(on the issues passing the ball down the field) "Well, when you get behind in this league, people start playing you (differently). There are some certain coverages that aren't very conducive to getting the ball way down the field and you don't have much play-action when you're 14-21 points behind in football games. So there are a lot of things going on within the course of the type of games we've been in that have kept us from being what we want to be. That's obvious. We've got to get back to being what we want to be and that starts with protecting the football."
(on how much he worries about the Rams pass rush) "A bunch. Yeah, they're really good. (Chris) Long on one side and 94 (Robert Quinn) on the other side is a great player. He makes some great plays on special teams, knocks balls out and, it seems like every game, he's knocked the ball out on the quarterback either strip-sack or something. He knocks balls down in the pass game. They're a very energetic young group, very fast, always a pressure football team. That's Jeff (Fisher's) deal, always has been. He's got a good group he's working with. They've got two good corners. Good football team he's built. They've had some high picks. They've got a good football team."
(on if WR DeVier Posey would play in the slot if WR Keshawn Martin is unable to play) "Well, yeah. Assuming if Andre (Johnson's) there and Keshawn wasn't, Posey would be there. Yeah, Posey's practiced well. He had good work today. He continues to come along I think and is actually doing some things on special teams for us, too."
(on Rams QB Sam Bradford) "I've always liked him. As a matter of fact, I've had a couple of conversations with Jeff (Fisher) in the offseason just sitting around talking football and I told him how impressed I was with him as a player. He's been through five or six coordinators or three or four, I don't know, I'm probably wrong. But he's a very talented young man, big arm, can stand in there, moves good enough to make plays with his feet, brilliant, smart. I know that. I interviewed him and watched him talk football. He's got a good guy to build his football team around."
Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips
(on having a statistically good defense despite the team's poor record) "The team record is the most important. That's the key. I feel good that we're playing hard and we're executing a lot of the things well. I think we'll get better."
(on the inability to force many turnovers early in the season) "I always say, if you're ahead, you're going to have a chance for more turnovers. They only threw it 15 times last game and only completed six, but you just don't have as many chances for interceptions when they don't throw it much. We've just got to knock the ball loose. We keep working on those things. They'll come through for us."
(on the red zone defense struggles) "That was early. We've done better since then, certainly. Like I said last week when we had the turnover on the 21-yard line and then we stopped them three downs and then they kicked a field goal. It's not a red zone stop stat-wise, but you know. We've stopped them a lot better in the red zone. We had a good goal line stand this last week."
(on if he offers up help as a defensive coach when he sees QB Matt Schaub struggle) "I don't really watch the offense that much. We're trying to prepare for what might happen the next series. I don't watch the offensive film."
(on if he watches QB Matt Schaub during the week at all) "No, that's what I said. I don't do that because that's not our job. Our job isn't to critique the offense. Two years ago, our quarterback went out who was playing great and a rookie came in and we won. We won in the playoffs. Its relevant to who you have on your team certainly and how they're playing, but it's not about us defensively. We have to play our best game. I've said it before, we've got to outplay the other team's defense. If they score nine, we have to hold them to six. That's the way you play defense. It's not necessarily offense against defense as far as that is concerns."
(on if he ever talks to Gary Kubiak about what he sees from QB Matt Schaub in practice) "No. I try to coach my own position. My dad always said, 'Don't coach out of turn.' Better to look at yourself first and that's what we try to do."
(on QB Sam Bradford) "He's a talent. Obviously, he's got a strong arm, good release, good presence in the pocket. He wasn't sacked any early in the season; he's had a few lately but he gets rid of the ball. He's a tough guy. He gets rid of the ball pretty quick. He's a good young quarterback."
(on if the Rams changed their offensive game plan with rookie RB Zac Stacy in the lineup) "Not much. They ran the ball well last week. That's certainly helped them to victory, so we have to be aware of that. Our running game stats aren't what we need to be and a part of those are the quarterbacks running but still, we have to stop the other team's running back."
(on WR Tavon Austin) "He was the talk of the draft going in, saying he was going to be the top receiver. He's a young player and it takes a little while, but you can see the talent he has."
G Brandon Brooks
(on how he feels about getting back out there now) "I feel good. It feels real good to get back out there. That's probably the toughest thing, missing last week. It wasn't necessarily missing yourself, but it hurt me a lot to see those guys go out there and battle. I battle with them every week. There's nothing I won't do for those guys. That's the thing that hurt me the most."
(on if he saw things from the sideline that defenses are picking up on the offense) "Just playing the game this long in my life, any time I watch any game, I'm always analyzing the o-line and seeing what's going on and stuff like that. As far as any tendencies or anything like that I might have seen, honestly, I just look at the o-line, get the call from the coach. I know what's expected and see how it works out."
(on if his teammates were doing their jobs out there) "Yeah. They're doing their jobs. They're doing them well."
(on the Rams pass rush) "Up front, they're really good, not just pass rush, but run game. To go on about the pass rush, I think they've got guys up there that do do it well. We've got to strap up and bring our A game every week."
(on the extent of his injury) "Just the same as Duane (Brown's), just a toe sprain. That's pretty much it. Just sat here and got treatment and stuff."
(on if he's 100 percent or at least better) "Yeah, night and day difference. The guys in the training room do a real good job. Under their tutelage, got me back out there this week."
(on priding themselves on the run and how frustrating it's been to not get that going yet) "Yeah, I hear what you're saying and everything. We've got to line up out there and go and do it. That's all I have to really say about it. We just have to go out there and do it."
(on wanting to just get back out on the field and play again) "Very excited. Like I said, it hurt the most seeing those guys go out and perform and me not being out there. I'm very excited this week. I can't wait to go."
(on if there is an optimistic attitude in the huddle) "Yeah, we're always optimistic and we stand behind anything that Coach (Gary Kubiak) says or our quarterback (Matt) Schaub. We definitely stand behind both of them."
CB Kareem Jackson
(on if turnovers are something that can just start happening in bunches) "Yeah, I think so. I think defensively, as a whole, we're playing pretty solid. That's probably the only thing that we're not doing a good job of right now, and that's getting turnovers. Hopefully, like I said, once they start, they'll come in bunches. We'll just continue to do what we do. There's definitely some plays we're still leaving out there, some plays that we can make. Once they start coming, I hope they come in bunches."
(on if the defense is pressing at all to make plays as a result of the offense's struggles) "That's just expectations we have for our self, regardless of what the offense is doing. We hold ourselves to a standard where we think we should go out and get two or three turnovers a game. That's a goal for us. That's something that we pride ourselves in and we talk about as a defense, even in camp. For us to either go out and cause two or three, it'll definitely help bring some momentum on and put it on our side. That's some of the goals that we have as a defense."
(on the Rams receivers) "They have some playmakers in their corps. Week-in and week-out, you're going to see playmakers. I don't think it's really about what the receivers do. I think it's about what we do as a defensive unit. I think, if we go out and play clean, good technique all around and do things right, we'll be pretty successful."
FS Ed Reed
(on experiencing a rough patch in Baltimore last year before they went on their postseason run) "Definitely. I had the conversation with Danieal Manning and really talked to Matt (Schaub) too. It came in my daily bread, that I can easily explain it to them because you have to go through suffering. You have to go through something to accomplish the goal that we set out to accomplish. It's not going to be an easy road. The truth of the matter is this is early in the season and we're learning from it. This is something you can learn from and grow from."
(on if he thought the Ravens would be able to rebound after their loss to the Texans last season) "We never wavered. Like I told D. Manning when I first got here. Like I told these guys after we played Baltimore this year, it felt like the same situation, I'm just on the other side. We knew that we were going to grow to that situation. We know now that we're going to grow through this situation."
(on if he sees parallels to Joe Flacco's struggles and Matt Schaub's struggles) "I told Matt it's exactly the same thing of what Joe went through. When we played Houston (in the 2011 playoffs) when I was with Baltimore, I made a comment that Joe was rattled. The fact of the matter was he was. We were as a defense as well. If you go back and watch that game, when I made that comment, I also said I was rattled because on that first play, if T.J. (Yates) doesn't throw that ball to Andre (Johnson) and sees Kevin Walter, if I'm not mistaken, in the end zone wide open, it would've been a touchdown and different ballgame. I see the same situation and I told Matt, me and Matt talked about it a good bit. Though his situation is a little different with fans and everything, that's a little overboard because at the end of the day, this is just a game. If someone is representing your home team, you've got to love them through thick and thin. I'm a fan of sports as well. When somebody is doing bad, I know fans hurt like we hurt when we lose games, but no one hurts like the person who is going through it. You can never compare it to the pain that they're going through when something happens, man, like losing someone. It's like how do you answer, how do you comment on that? It's always tough for all of us to comment on somebody when they've lost someone because you're just not feeling their pain though you have lost someone. But at that particular time, it's hard to relate."
(on what changes will allow them to grow and get back where they want to be) "It doesn't mean major change, but it does mean change. It's a time when me, myself, I looked at myself. How can Ed get better? How can Ed be better for the team's sake and as an individual? It's mirror-time for each individual. How can I be better for the team's sake? That's what it's about. Yes, that comes with change. As a season goes, for us, a football season is like life within that season. That's why they say football is the game of life, sports is a game of life. We experience that all in one year. It's so many emotions that we've been through in the last five games that it can only help you grow as a man and as a team, but it's if you take it that way and change with it. You can't stay the same going through what we've been going through saying this is going to work. Yeah, it's going to work, some things that you do, but you have to change some things."
(on how important was the increased physicality and pace of today's practice) "That goes back to the last question about change. Coach came and spoke to us. We, as individuals, talk amongst each other and took a different approach to how we practice and really it was just taking things to another level. We didn't have to change much, because we feel we were practicing good and doing things a certain way. At the same time, how can you get better? There is always room for improvement. When you go through ups and downs, good or bad, how do you learn from it? You have to learn from your situations that you go through in life. That's what it's about, it's about lessons. How do you take those lessons? Do you take those lessons and fall down? Do you take those lessons and grow from it? A good team is going to grow from their mistakes."
(on the importance of sticking together when going through tough times as a team) "We understand that this is a season. We understand that we're right where we need to be. We're right where we're supposed to be for a reason. We're still focused on a task at hand, and we know what that goal is. That goal is to win as many games as we can, get in the playoffs and be on the same track as every other team that wants to be come January. The playoffs, and playing for an invitation to the big dance, they only let 12 teams in. We're playing for that opportunity, but right now we focus on St. Louis. That's what we've been doing the whole time, one focus. One goal. One sound. One band. We need the city to be that way too, regardless of situations, mistakes. We need to that 12th man this week against St. Louis. If you want to come out and you want to come to Matt's house, make sure you scream when St. Louis is coming to the stadium or when anyone is coming to the stadium."
(on if the city of Baltimore ever started to turn on the team last year) "It's not nearly the whole city; it's always a couple of people. It's always a couple of people that feel like they're the coaches, that they're right here in the locker room, that they're the ones working. You're not in the gym with us. You're not in the gym. I don't really know how to take it because I've been on that side. I am a fan too and I know how much support (matters). Just like this is our livelihood, for some people, I hate to say it, it's their livelihood. They're putting the pennies on it, but we're not telling you to put the pennies on it. You're putting your pennies on something that's not guaranteed. It's a game. A game is not guaranteed to supply those pennies for you if you're sitting on your couch right now playing fantasy football. I hate to say it, it's the truth. It's the truth. But at the same time, we're here to win. You're not going to be that perfect team. This is the NFL. You're just not going to be that perfect team. Somebody undefeated right now will be beaten."
(on if he's where he wants to be physically right now) "No, I'm not, but I'm getting there. It's only getting better. I had a little setback with these quarterbacks trying to take me out. In the San Francisco game, I had my MCL, but it's getting better, better by the week."
(on what he did to the MCL) "Just nicked it up a little bit."
(on if he's ever had someone show up at his house) "Have I ever had someone show up at my house? I have in Baltimore. Someone has shown up to my house. They asked for autographs. They waved. They asked for donations. I had my house broken into in Baltimore. It was the Friday before the Super Bowl. You would think that nobody would do that, especially in Baltimore. But it happens. You have a lot going on in our world today. You already know that. There's a lot going on in society."
(on how satisfying it was to win the Super Bowl last year after the team's struggles in the middle of the season) "We wouldn't have changed anything about it. Like I'm telling guys right now, to get what we want, we've got to go through something. And right now, we're going through something. We're going through something that's going to help this team, regardless of the Super Bowl finish or not. What we're going through these last few weeks, these last few weeks have helped us get to where we're at right now, enjoying, having fun at practice, everybody, it's infectious. So it should be a special week."
DE Antonio Smith
(on today's practice) "You have a good practice; it gives you like a good vibe and feeling. Whenever you're physical and hitting and practice is lively, the coaches love that. It made it good on both on ends. It was probably the most physical practice we've had since training camp."
(on the defense) "Where we are as a group is a team trying to find a way to do what, as far as the defensive team, trying to find a way to do what we need to do to help our team win. That's all you can do as a defensive player. You can't let everything else get in your mind or worry about different other things. It's just what we can do to hold our own. What can we do to help our team win?"
(on if the team's attitude is a hacked off attitude right now) "I wouldn't say that. I think that, like I said, we came into this week, into the team meeting with Kub (Gary Kubiak), empty and waiting to be filled with what the plan is. And we heard the plan and everybody's buying in on the plan. Everybody had fun kind of getting back into the groove of having fun practicing and getting ready for a game. It was almost like a re-start or whatever."
(on what the defense needs to do different up front against the run) "Last game, the running game, those kinds of games can turn like that because it's a power running team. When you let a team get one sided and they can decide that we're just going to load up and run the ball, it's hard for anybody to stop the run then, especially with the type of big o-line (offensive line) that they have. The week before that, most of the running yards were coming from the quarterback. I think that we've got to stop the quarterbacks from breaking runs and then don't let teams get up on us where the want to pound the ball all day long and you can't do anything. Then, you're playing their game. We've got to keep teams playing our game."
(on if the team is doing pretty well against the run beyond these last two games) "Yeah, other than these last two games, we're doing good against the run. It's not something that alarms me. I think it's able to be fixed. It's not something that I don't think we can fix or we're not capable of fixing. I think that we're more than capable of stopping the run."
(on if the defense is more conscious of forcing turnovers right now) "I would think we'll be more conscious of it. We had three turnovers in the first three plays of practice of people making the effort to rip the balls out and punch the balls out, and go for fumbles and things like that, interceptions. They're going to come. Our DBs (defensive backs) intercept the ball all of the time in practice. We've just got to get those fumbles, those, what they call them, bang-bang plays, big plays to change the momentum."
