S Steven Parker
(On his interception yesterday.) – “I’m not going to lie, I’ve watched it 1,000 times. A lot of people sent me the video. I’ve gotten a lot of good reviews on it.”
(Did anyone from any other teams in the league who you knew either from the Rams last year or college teammates who texted you about play? Is there anyone in particular?) – “Ex-Rams players and ex-OU (University of Oklahoma) players, ex-alumni.”
(What was going through your mind after you came down with the ball and the refs are talking and I guess they’re debating?) – “I already knew I had that ball. In my mind, it was already a pick. They had already ruled it a touchdown, but in my mind it was already an interception.”
(You went from not being used on defense against the Jets to actually starting and then making that big play. What was that swing like for you?) – “It was opportunity. When that opportunity presented itself, you’ve got to go out there and just have fun (and) play amongst yourselves but be a part of the scheme, make sure that you’re doing your job – that’s the most important thing. I felt like as a defense, that’s what we did. We flew around. We did our job.”
(I know a lot of decisions defensively week-to-week are made on matchups for that particular week; but was there anything that either Safeties Coach Tony Oden or Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham said to you they wanted you to work on between the time you were playing a lot to not playing very much to yesterday?) – “Really they wanted me to lock up 84 or 85. That was just the game plan just moving forward. We knew that they would love to be in 12 personnel, which gave us the opportunity to match up good, especially with me and ‘E. Rowe’ (Eric Rowe) being big safety-like bodies.”
(Did you wind up keeping the ball? First NFL interception?) – “Yes, sir. I did. Actually hopefully I should be getting it here pretty soon. I don’t (have) it right now; but yeah, it’s good. I’ve got to put that up in my trophy case.”
(How’d you get the ball back? What steps do you take to be able to get it?) – “To get it? Somebody actually ended up picking it up. I flicked it and just kind of ran off. Somebody ended up getting it for me. Thank God because I needed that one.”
LB Jerome Baker
(On not recovering the loose ball on his strip-sack.) – “I think we should start this out by, welcome to Victory Monday. (laughter) But no, the sack, I honestly thought he got it off. That’s why I didn’t lower my shoulder or anything. It’s a play I missed. It’s all good.”
(DT Christian Wilkins gave you a little shot. Was that for the sack or was that because, “damn, pick up the ball?”) – “I don’t know. We’ve still got to talk about that. That was a hard shove. (laughter) But it’s all good. He’s always animated so it was all good.”
(How is Victory Monday after two in a row?) – “It feels amazing. I could definitely get used to it. It’s fun, but we’ll enjoy this one today and tomorrow get on to Buffalo.”
(The way you guys are playing defense – is this what you envisioned the process to be like? Everybody keeps talking about the process.) – “Yeah, if you just look at it, I just believe in ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) and ‘P.G.’ (Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham); these past few games have just been what they’ve been coaching us up to do and we’ve definitely been having fun playing this defense. (We’ve) just got to continue.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores was asked about this. Everybody knows the narrative around this, what people are saying and the whole thing is everybody wants – see if we can get a franchise quarterback in here. How satisfying is it to kind of put that aside and maybe ruin those plans for the people who wanted to see zero wins?) – “I love it. I love winning. I love winning now. I don’t worry about the future. I worry about winning now and it just feels good to win. The future is going to be the future. I’ll worry about that when it comes; but for now, like I said earlier in the year, it’s all about winning right now. I’m not really focused on next year or the year after that.”
(You have several young defensive players on this team getting better as the year goes on with CB Nik Needham and CB Jomal Wiltz and S Steven Parker and DT Christian Wilkins – you would attribute that to what? What’s happening that a number of these guys are improving as the year goes on?) – “They’re just believing in the process. They trust (Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach) Josh (Boyer) and ‘T.O.’ (Safeties Coach Tony Oden) and ‘P.G.’ (Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham) – all those guys. They trust them and they believe they’re getting taught. Sundays, we go out there and just do what you have been taught to do. They’re making plays and it’s definitely exciting just to see them make plays – the excitement they have after the play, during the play, talking it out. I’m definitely proud just watching them grow as players and we’re all growing as a defense, so it’s definitely good.”
(And to hold up at corner the way you have with CB Xavien Howard obviously injured and guys coming in off the street and off practice squads – is it pleasantly surprising to you? What’s your reaction just to watching how well you’ve held up on the back end despite all the turnover there?) – “It’s a combination of everything – the players believing what the coaches are telling us (and) the coaches just teaching us exactly what we have to do in situations, just knowing the little things that you don’t really know watching the outside-in. Just knowing your leverage, communication. All those guys, they came in, that’s the first thing they did is communicate, know their leverage. You can eliminate a lot of plays like that and I’m definitely proud of them, the way they’re playing, and we’ve just got to continue.”
(Do you take it upon yourself to make Head Coach Brian Flores laugh and stay loose?) – “Yes. Yes.”
(Why do you take that upon you? It’s such a big role.) – “I’m all about having fun and laughing and joking. I pretty much do that with anybody. Raekwon (McMillan) – he’s been getting it for years. ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) is that way. Sometimes ‘P.G.’ (Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham) – he’ll be in a meeting or something like that, be so serious and I crack a joke. It’s just to lighten up the mood. It’s still football at the end of the day. We’ve been playing it since we’ve been 6 (years old) or however long you’ve been playing it. It’s still football. Just have fun with it.”
(Some guys would be afraid to do that to the head coach, especially a first-year head coach.) – “It is what it is. You go out there, you have fun, whatever it is. He’s all serious about business. You’ve just got to know when to do it and the only time I really do it is when I know I can and he’s not – it’s not too serious (of a) moment.”
(What does it say about the type of guy that Head Coach Brian Flores is that he has that with you guys?) – “Oh, yeah. He’s all about business. He’s all serious. He’s a little uptight in some instances; but at the end of the day, he’s a great man, he’s a great coach, he’s a great person. So he still likes to have fun and laugh. I know that. I don’t have to look at that hard shell of ‘he’s the head coach’ thing. I can still see he jokes, he laughs and we’re just having fun with him.”
(What was going through your mind when you were coming down the blitz and you see that big hole in the middle?) – “$21,000 fine. (laughter) That’s all I was thinking about. I got fined $21,000. I really didn’t see the ball. I saw his arm go like this. I didn’t see the ball so I just ran through him and tried not to lower my shoulder. Turns out he still had the ball. (It was) just a play I made and just attributed to our defense, so it’s all good.”
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I want to phrase this very carefully so it’s not misunderstood. Obviously you and the staff are doing a great job extracting everything you can from these players. Your goal is to win. No one questions if that has to be the goal. That said, do you ever think about – not that it should affect what you do – do you ever think about the fact that these wins are hurting the franchise’s chance to get a franchise quarterback in the draft? Do you ever speak lightheartedly with General Manager Chris Grier about it or do you ever think about it in a quiet moment?) – “Again, that’s like seven questions in a row. (laughter) No, it’s not something I really think about. I think about this team, how I’m going to – my message to the team this morning, what my message to the team is going to be at 4 p.m. when we intro Buffalo, and then I’m going to get started on Buffalo. Maybe there’s not enough time to get into all of that. My job is to put this team in the best position to try to go out there and be productive and try to win football games. I think every head coach, every general manager, every organization is thinking about things long-term, as well as short-term. We’re no different, but right now my goal is to get each one of those guys in that locker better (and) as good as they can be. That’s the goal for me and our coaching staff.”
(Nine games into the season – does this franchise now have a winning culture?) – “I think these guys are really working hard. I think they’re preparing the right way. The process is something we talk about on a weekly basis and I think they’re trying to stick to that process and I think they’re seeing the fruits of that labor, but culture isn’t – it’s something you build over time. It’s early. We need to continue to be consistent in the things we’ve been doing, but I do think we’re moving in the right direction. I think there’s a trust and a belief in the process. I think they believe that this coaching staff is going to do everything possible to put these guys in positions to be successful and if we do that, then hopefully we give ourselves an opportunity to win games. The culture piece is about the relationships that are built in that locker room and on the practice field. I think we’re building towards that.”
(Can you talk a little bit about CB Nik Needham and the game he had and the progress that you’ve observed through the year in his play?) – “Nik played well yesterday. He’s a young guy who, we saw some – we talked about this – (Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach) Josh Boyer, it’s March and he goes, ‘I think I’ve got a kid from UTEP who’s pretty decent.’ When he says ‘pretty decent’ that means he’s probably pretty good. We brought him in as a free agent and he did some good things in OTAs and had some struggles like most rookies do in the preseason and wasn’t quite ready, so we put him on the practice squad. This is the National Football League – that’s the journey of a lot of guys in the National Football League. It’s part of their journey, I should say. He spent a few weeks on the practice squad. I think getting released and going through that process took him through a little bit of the reality of what the National Football League could be. It could be over in a heartbeat. He embraced that challenge and turned things around quickly and I would say took everything a little bit more seriously – meetings, practice, walkthrough, weightlifting, nutrition. He’s turned some things around and he’s still got a long way to go, but all of those things play a role in kind of how we performed yesterday and hopefully he continues to do that.”
(You’re 2-0 now in November. You have seven games left here. Do you think you guys can get on a roll here towards the end of the season?) – “I hope so. That’s going to take a lot of work. Things don’t just happen in this league. You’ve got to make them happy, quite honestly. That’s meetings. That’s walkthroughs. That’s practice. Hopefully – Tuesday’s the day for ‘the day off,’ but the good players, the good teams I’ve been around, that’s an active day where they’re getting to know their opponent. Even though we’ve played Buffalo and it’s easy to sit there and say, ‘oh, I know this guy and that guy and this guy,’ but things change very quickly in this league. We’re different than we were when we played Buffalo last time and so are they. I expect our guys to go about this preparation as if we haven’t seen these guys. That’s what I’m going to do. It’s not going to just happen. Anyone who thinks that is out of their mind, quite honestly. (laughter)”
(The point of where QB Ryan Fitzpatrick came out and QB Josh Rosen was in – was there ever any point in the game where you maybe thought in the fourth quarter, field goals might not be enough to pull this thing out?) – “I think at the end of a game, you get a feel for how the game is going. They’ve got a good offense and they could’ve gotten it going at any point. We were playing pretty well defensively. (I’ve) got a lot of confidence in Jason (Sanders). If we could put it in the end zone, we want to. It’s a good defense. We got stopped on a fourth down down there one time. Is there ever a thought that field goals may not be enough? I think that’s always a thought that goes through your mind. You always want to score seven, not three. But we’ve got a lot of confidence in Jason. Being up four is better than being up one. We’ve just got to take all that into consideration.”
(With LB Jerome Baker, is he going to get the knee kind of evaluated or looked at a little bit?) – “We’re evaluating a lot of guys that got dinged in the game. He’s one of them along with a few other guys. I think he’ll be out there Wednesday.”
(At this point, would you say QB Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the quarterback for the rest of the season or do you want to leave yourself to go week-to-week on that?) – “Yeah, I’d say he’s going to be the quarterback moving forward. I’ve said that before and things change. Things change in this league. I see him as the quarterback for the foreseeable future. He’s done a really good job. The guys, they feed off his energy. He’s been able to move the football. He’s made me really tough plays for us – scrambling, getting out of the pocket, making throws, tucking it and taking it to the end zone. He’s been productive. He’ll be in there.”
(With the turnover battle, there’s the practical impact of winning that and then also the psychological impact. How would you describe the emotional effect of winning that battle has had the last two week?) – “Anytime you – we stress it a lot. The players know when basically you – basically if you get a turnover, you’re closer to winning the game and if you turn the ball over you’re closer to losing the game. That’s just basically, at the end of the day, that’s what it is; so yeah, psychologically, emotionally, it does something to you. You’ve got to be able to overcome that when you turn it over or I should say you’ve got to be able to deal with failure, overcome the failure and deal with the success of turning the ball over. There’s a lot that goes into it. Turning it over defensively or in the kicking game, offensively you’ve got to go out there and try to put points on the board and try to capitalize on those turnovers. Conversely, when you turn the ball over you want to try to limit those. That’s the game. It’s an emotional game and that plays into the ebbs and flows of the game – turnovers, specifically is what I’m talking about. Hopefully we get more of them.”
(You’re winning some games with your quarterback, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is 36 years old. You’ve got a second-year QB who’s developing but he may not give you the best chance to win. General Manager Chris Grier has talked about the importance of drafting a quarterback and the future and what are some things that you maybe envision for that QB position to make the most out of your time?) – “Um. I’m…”
(What’s your vision for the QB position in the future to make the most out of your…?) – “Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to start. Josh Rosen is our backup. Jake Rudock, he’s a guy we like to work with. He’s on the practice squad.”
(So nothing after that?) – “There’s nobody else on the roster.”
(And what are your thoughts on the position after that?) – “What’s that?”
(And your vision for the position in the future is what I was asking.) – “Like who’s going to be the quarterback in the future?”
(What do you hope to accomplish in trying – the quarterback in the future?) – “You mean for Sunday? It’s (Ryan) Fitzpatrick.”
(You had obviously flash plays from S Steven Parker, S Bobby McCain, we saw CB Nik Needham’s interception. Who went under the radar and sort of had a sneaky good game from watching tape? What names come to mind on either side of the ball?) – “Vince Biegel. He’s a guy who played tough in the run game. (Vince Biegel) had some good rushes, had some hits on the quarterback. (Steven) Parker is a guy who showed up in critical situations for sure. Offensively. Jomal Wiltz showed up in the kicking game and defensively. We’ve got a lot of guys who make plays without – we call it ‘making a play without making the play.’ Setting the edge defensively or making a big block in kickoff return or punt return or – we had a few guys from that standpoint. I thought Chandler Cox went in there and made a few good blocks, too.”
(What did you see from C Daniel Kilgore in his first game back?) – “I thought he played well. I thought he had really good communication. He had a lot of juice, played fast, tried to play physical. He was a good presence inside.”
