Jeff Fisher has Rams riding high after victory over Cardinals/Silver

Jeff Fisher has Rams riding high after victory over Cardinals


By Michael Silver
NFL Media columnist

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- He sat in a folding chair a few feet from the showering area of the visitors' locker room at University of Phoenix Stadium, flashing the tiniest hint of a self-satisfied smile under his ubiquitous Highway Patrolman's mustache.

Jeff Fisher, perhaps the NFL's most maligned coach heading into the 2016 season, was doing his best to low-key the Los Angeles Rams' 17-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon, calling his team's third consecutive triumph after a putrid season opener "an under-the-radar win by a quiet team just going about its business."


It was a valiant effort -- until I asked Fisher what he'd told his pumped-up players before reporters had entered the locker room, and a man who has spent 22 years of his adult life as an NFL head coach finally stopped concealing the edge that has helped him connect with several generations worth of gridiron warriors and fessed up: "I told them, 'This was [the Cardinals'] Christmas present. We see them after Christmas [a Jan. 1 rematch at the L.A. Coliseum]. This was their Christmas present. We just gave it to them early, OK?' "

More specifically, Fisher's trash talk was a parting gift for a certain white-haired gentleman who, at the moment, was feeling pretty far from jolly. Certainly, after watching his highly regarded team fall to 1-3 and seeing his franchise quarterback suffer a concussion on a jarring fourth-quarter takedown, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians did not need to have insult added to injury. Yet Fisher did it anyway, because frankly, at that particular moment -- and I paraphrase -- he did not give a damn.

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