Head Coach Scott Linehan
August 17, 2008
(Opening Remarks)
“Just to update you on a couple of the injuries; You know obviously (G) Mark Setterstrom, the diagnosis was a fractured Patella, that is what we thought last night and that is what it is. He will have surgery sometime in this week and you know obviously that puts him out for the year. The other one that has come up within the last twenty-four hours was (T) Brandon Gorin’s shoulder injury is a little more severe than originally diagnosed. It was not misdiagnosis they were continuing to study the MRI and those things and he has a pretty significant shoulder injury. It is real similar to what (T) Orlando (Pace) had so it is an injury that will force him out for the year. Those will be our two guys at some point that will be put on injured reserve. A couple of the other injuries from yesterday, (RB) Brian Leonard, he did have a shoulder sprain, it is not serious but he will be pretty “Iffy” for this week’s game and (LB) David Vobora does have a pretty severely sprained ankle and that will certainly put him of for this next game and the one after that. But that is pretty much if. You know there were a couple others (QB) Marc (Bulger) had strained his shoulder but he is ok. (LB) Tim McGarigle had hurt his toe but his is alright. We had some other guy that had some things that forced him out for a couple plays but got back in there. So general middle of the preseason type things right now.”
(On if (FB) Russ Weil is ok)
“Yeah, I think it depends on how he comes out tomorrow at practice. He is more day-to-day with his ankle.”
(On the similarities between Brandon Gorin’s injury and Orlando Pace’s injury)
“I am not sure exactly, you know I don’t have that medical degree to totally tell you what it is but the best way to describe it is, it is pretty similar to what Orlando had last year so there is some pretty significant damage that did not show up on the first MRI. He is going to get some other people looking at it as he should and after that is done then his surgery will be scheduled.”
(On if Marc Bulger will be seen by doctors)
“No we are not going to. We are just going to see how he feels throwing tomorrow, if he can. It is really not serious but it hurt enough that he would not been able to play that next play so we just used that situation to put (QB) Trent (Green) in and leave him in there because it was a preseason game.
(On if the doctors are worried about the injury)
“The doctors were not concerned about it. Afterwards, (the doctors) tested his strength it was pretty good. We will see. You know sometimes guys wake up pretty sore so we will see if he has to be limited at all but from my standpoint I think he is going to be just fine.”
(On how Bulger is playing right now)
“Marc is making a lot of progress you know it is a new system, got some new players and all those things. As soon as we get our timing down, he is going to continue to play winning football for us. Right now we have been off on a couple plays; he has had two tipped interceptions, and that kind of thing. This is a precision game and offensive timing has to be right on. We have just been off a couple clicks so I have no concerns at all. It will start coming around. I think as you see the development of the attitude of our team and our ability to run and protect up front and do all those kinds of things there are a lot of positives that you can draw from what is going to be a really good offense at the end of the day. But right now we are not playing as well from a statistical stand point and an execution stand point as we plan on playing here hopefully this week and the week after leading up to our opener.”
(On if Setterstrom’s knee injury is related to injuries in the past)
“No it is different. It is the same knee; it is just a completely different injury. You break your Patella, however you plant or whatever it is you do. It really was not a blow or anything it was just a plant and kind of got kicked/pushed back and you saw his leg kind of give out. I don’t know that you can say it is or it isn’t. But certainly it is some tough luck to have two really tough injuries to the same leg within a year.”
(On the progress of T Orlando Pace)
“Well, he’s making progress. I think he played the whole first half and got in almost 40 plays yesterday. Going into training camp, I didn’t think we would be this far along as far as pushing him to play that many snaps so that is really a positive. This week was much better than last week and we expect next week to be that much more of an improvement so I’m really happy with his progress. He’s still getting himself into form. He has missed a significant amount of time and the more and more he plays, the better he is going to be. I’m really happy with where he’s at. He, like everybody on our team, is working to get better and better and I really think he has done a good job of doing that. He came into camp ready to go and we were able to have him up and ready from the very start.”
(On if G Mark Setterstrom’s injury is career-threatening)
“I believe Mark will work himself back into shape. Talking to (Rams Doctor) Matt Matava, Matt told me it’s a different injury than the one he had before and it’s basically the same kind of rehab time, but there is no reason if he’s able to work through it, that he should be able to be back out there.”
(On if the Rams plan to sign more offensive linemen due to the injuries)
“Well, I think we can manage it through with 13 available offensive linemen for the next two games. I think Tennessee had 12 available when we were in camp with them and when I was in Minnesota we would quite often go into training camp with 12 offensive linemen and carry some other (players) other places. I think we are going to be okay there as far as the depth and we have those two young kids we drafted along with the guys who are back in the lineup that are in there right now. Assuming we don’t have anymore injuries at this point, we should be okay there. Right now it’s just about this week. We’re getting ready for Baltimore and planning that way. With (RB) Brian (Leonard) being kind of questionable, we’re probably a little light at the running back spot. Losing a linebacker, we have to look at who we would add for right now that would enable us to get the most work done in the next couple of weeks with our two games still remaining.”
(On what type of player the Rams are considering adding to the roster)
“We haven’t decided. I would think we may add a running back or maybe a defensive player, a linebacker or a safety, depending of what happens. We had a couple of safeties who were not available with (Jerome) Carter and (Eric) Bassey. If those guys are able to go this week, that’ll enable us to maybe look at a linebacker or it could be an offensive lineman. We haven’t decided. With these two guys potentially going on I.R. here in the next day or two, we’ll at least have a couple spots on our roster.”
(On if CB Justin King had his surgery)
“He had his surgery. He’s supposed to back either today or tomorrow. And we’ll be doing all of his rehab stuff here. But he had his surgery; it went real well. Had the same doctor, Dr. (Robert) Anderson. He is one of the best in the business. And as you saw (DE) Leonard (Little) looked like old Leonard last night. If Justin could come back like that next year at this time, we’ll be in good shape.”
(On if CB Justin King’s surgery was last Friday)
“Yes.”
(On if he was as impressed with offensive line as he was last night after watching the tape)
“Well, good. I just like the way the unit has played. I thought there was great effort as a team. The score, it was kind of a funny score, but if you’re a defensive guy you’re feeling pretty good about it. If you’re a defensive guy and there’s six points on the board that’s what you’re looking at, I’m talking about as a player. Offensively you’ve got to score more points, generally, than seven to expect to win a game. But, we won the football game by one point and it was a team effort. And a lot of ways there’s hidden statistical information in there. I think we almost had 200 yards of offense in the first half; had almost 120 yards in rushing, which was a good indication of how the front offensive line played. But how the backs were running, how the receivers were blocking, which way the quarterback was directing the offense. There was a lot of improvement from a week ago. As far as being able to sustain drives. I think we had three double-figure drives. One resulted in our opening drive score of second half, but we had a two-minute drive that was 11 plays that put us in position to get points and then we had that 17-play drive that we started. We ended up going for it down the goal line and didn’t get it in, but there was a lot of those things that were very, very, very good. Obviously we’ve got to score points on offense that’s how we’re gauged and there’s a lot of improvement certainly to be made there, but there was a lot of things from the week before that we did not do well as far as playing as physical as we needed to play to this week that were big improvements. And I just really liked just the general approach of the entire offense improved even though the point production wasn’t there.”
(On if he was frustrated with how the first line played last night)
“We won. It was 7-6; it was a victory. Rams win. And I didn’t mean to be a smart ass. But I want to score a touchdown every series and we want to go three and out on defense and we want to make every kick. Seriously, that is truly what you want. But if you get focused on the result during this process. To me it’d be frustrating had we gone out like we were frustrated or we didn’t get better or improve and I really felt that that was a big improvement from maybe how we responded last week or maybe how we responded at the end of last season. So, to me, we just kept playing and got better. And even after that drive we sustained that drive and set ourselves up for a score in a two-minute situation. And came out in the second half and scored on the opening drive of the second half. We didn’t score a point in the second half last week. So all the things we were focused on improving take any frustration that may have been there if we hadn’t done that. To me our approach and how we kept playing as a group was more important than the stat of not scoring. We scored on the opening drive of the opening game last season after not scoring in the preseason. So you know that you’re working towards that and we put ourselves in a lot better position this week to do it. We had some turnovers early that prevented us, but to me if you get in that frustration mode then you’re not going to keep playing and keep your head about you so I was really happy with just how the team approached it.”
(On if Linehan factors in the absence of RB Steven Jackson when analyzing the offense)
“No because that’s the situation we’re in. I factor in that fact that (RB) (Antonio) Pittman ran so much better this week than he did a week ago. I thought (RB) Brian Leonard saw things better and I thought the offensive line blocked more physical. And that’s what going to happen in games. There’s going to be times when (RB) Steven Jackson misses a series or two or a half. That’s the way it works, so we’ve got to focus on the next group that’s in there. It was much better, it really was. I know it probably seems hard to believe to stand up here after a game like that. But if you really watch the tape and you look at it. There’s so many that came out of that game that did not show up as a result of the score or the production of the scoreboard that we can build on and will continue to build on the things we’re promoting. I was really happy with just the progress we’ve made from the first preseason game.”
(On how quickly RB Steven Jackson will be incorporated into practice when he returns)
“Right away. You’ve got to have a plan for how to get him ready for the opening game at this point, but there’s still a lot of time and he got a lot of good work in the offseason and has a good grasp of what we’re doing offensively. It’s just a matter of getting him in that football shape. It is getting critical to where time now becomes more of an issue for just the physical part of getting ready for the opener. Every day we miss now, I know he’s working hard and I know he’s training and he’ll be in very good shape when he does get in, but it does start to factor in as to what the work load will be from the start.”
(On if he is still texting RB Steven Jackson)
“Oh Yeah. We’re staying in touch.”
(On if C Nick Leckey is making a run at C Brett Romberg’s starting job)
“That is a fair assessment at this point. He has played very well. Sometimes there’s an opportunity that arises because of an injury, but at this point, Nick Leckey has really made a statement for the center position. There’s nothing that Brett did do or didn’t do, he just hasn’t been able to be as effective because of his hand. Nick has gone in there and played really well.”
(On what happened on the play where the Chargers cornerback intercepted the ball intended for WR Drew Bennett)
“Always tip your hat to your opponent. The guy really played the route very, very well. It’s a timing play. The play we ran is a timed play we have run a lot of over the years here. What happened was basically the guy just sat on (the route) and I give the kid credit for kind of reading the play and playing the play. There is a risk and a reward and he got the reward for doing that. If for some reason you are running a double move off of the same thing, you might score a touchdown on offense, but he played the percentages, maybe, I don’t know what it was but I tip my hat to the guy. It was a great play by the corner.”
(On CB Ron Bartell and S Corey Chavous playing late into the game)
“We were safety short there going into the game. We knew going into it that we were going to have a rotation with those three guys and as we got into the fourth quarter we were going finish the fourth quarter the way we did. That was really the only way we could get lined up. We kept them off of special teams, for the most part, so they weren’t taking any snaps in that area, which safeties usually have a lot so we could get through that game. We had some depth issues at safety going into this game, but they handled it great. They did a great job.”
(On the S Sebastien Sejean)
“He did well. He is getting through that language barrier but he’s enjoying himself and he is working very hard. He’s been getting a lot of plays. I bet he’s playing a lot more than he expected when he got here.”
(On the improvement in tackling)
“Obviously, we worked on it and always do work on it, but it was a big emphasis that we wanted to stop the run this week and to do that we needed to tackle better. We came back from Tennessee and we were in pads the first day doing tackling drills and team run was our first team period. I just think our guys’ whole approach was better and we did do a better job of tackling so I think sometimes it’s amazing that what you work on and emphasize and what you push is going to be what you are the best at. I think we did a much better job of doing that in the game. I thought we did a good job of it during the week and it failed in the game the week before. This week it carried over from our week’s work to the game.”