Rams Interim Head Coach John Fassel – Press Conference – January 2, 2017

Rams Interim Head Coach John Fassel – Press Conference – January 2, 2017

(Opening remarks)
“Happy day after New Year, everybody. That’s a wrap. Just had the guys in for a real quick team meeting and told them real quickly how much, of course, we appreciate everybody’s work all season and, in particular, hanging in these past three weeks that have been certainly a challenge that we were, of course, up for.

“The first thing I said in the team meeting was there’s a speed trap right here on the exit, so make sure before you hit the light when you pass through the old folks’ home and the kindergarten school to slow down, we don’t want any tickets that are unpaid in the offseason. And then I also just reminded them that whoever the new head coach is, that April 3 will be the date that they’re allowed to report, because I believe that’s two weeks before the normal reporting date, so I gave them just that heads up.

“We handed out some team awards, so that was kind of fun. (DT) Aaron Donald, voted on by his peers, was voted MVP (Daniel F. Reeves Memorial Award). Voted by his peers, Rookie of the Year (Carroll Rosenbloom Memorial Award) was (L Cory Littleton. And I just made a note for the team that Cory Littleton was undrafted, not only undrafted, he was not at any of our OTAs, because University of Washington is a quarter school and he’s not allowed to report to OTAs until their quarter system and school year is over. So, not only was he undrafted, he missed the whole Spring, so we didn’t see him until the first day of training camp. He played in every game, took every snap on special teams the entire season, did not miss a snap in practice at any point in time the whole season. Those are the type of guys, as a coach, that you look for. A guy that really didn’t have a chance, maybe, and he stepped up right away, and to not miss a practice snap the whole season and to not miss a game snap the whole season. Of course I’m biased because he’s a special teamer, but a true tribute to that kid. Inspirational – whatever it was called – the inspirational winner (Carl Ekern Spirit of the Game Award), as voted on by his teammates, I didn’t even have to announce it, it was (TE) Cory Harkey, so that was pretty much a gimmie. The same thing, Cory Harkey is an undrafted free agent five years ago, to what he’s become, not only as a player, but as a team leader. I love Cory Harkey, I love that guy. (LB Alec) Ogletree won the Ed Block Courage Award, which is a really prestigious honor for one player per team. They’ll have a banquet in Maryland, I think in a couple months, to recognize one guy for each team that has come off an injury that rebounded and performed the next year, and that was Alec. The Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner – I think you guys have this information – was (P) Johnny Hekker, so he’s the Rams’ representative for that award. And that pretty much wrapped up the meeting, so I probably answered all your questions, but if there’s anything else, shoot away.”

(On if he is still feeling the same way as when he was named interim head coach, when he said he did not think he had a shot at the full-time head coaching job)
“That’s a good question. I don’t really know where it’s at today. I hope to get a chance to talk to (Executive Vice President of Football Operations/ Chief Operating Officer) Kevin (Demoff) and (General Manager) Les (Snead) tonight about whatever they want to talk about – whether it’s a head coaching interview or whether it’s an information gather on where I see the team headed and where it needs to head to become what we want it to become. So, whatever you want to call it, I would very much welcome the opportunity to sit down and just have a good football conversation about, from my perspective, what I think it’s going to take for the Rams be an NFC West division champ.”

(On reports that he will be interviewed for the head coach position today)
“I talked to Kevin a few days ago, a few days before the game, and he said to keep Monday evening, Monday night available to talk about the job and the future of the Rams. It was a little bit open-ended, but I looked at it as just an opportunity to talk football, especially since it’s fresh in our mind, as far as what went right and what went wrong and how we fix what went wrong. I hope tonight we get to talk a little ball.”

(On if the last three games have changed his perspective on becoming a head coach)
“Yeah, yeah it has. Of course, the situation that I was thrust in to and how it happened, was unfortunate for Coach (Jeff) Fisher. But like I said before, these three week have been probably the greatest, most educational coaching experience in my life. I would love someday to get the opportunity to be a head coach in the National Football League. So yes, it changed my perspective in a matter of about three weeks. Seeing it from just a coordinator role, not really considering it, to having the opportunity to be in front of the team, and to have the great opportunity to be the leader that has to kind of pull it all together when it certainly was fraying. That was something that I think every coach wants the opportunity to have, is, ‘How can I pull it together?’ Unfortunately, we didn’t win. So a long answer, yes, I would very much someday like to do that.”

(On what he would do to fix the Rams)
“As I made some notes with the potential opportunity to talk to them, I think that something that’s underrated and is an intangible that I think would be big for the Rams would be chemistry.”

(On if that means chemistry in terms of the locker room and the personalities on the team)
“Yes. I could elaborate on this. You said if I have enough time to talk about it, this would be an hours long discussion. Coaches chemistry, coaches and players chemistry, coaches and management chemistry, players and management chemistry – and I wrote down some of the better teams in the league that seem like they have it, and it seems like they’re pretty consistent winners. I think the goal is – that’s a really good word to use, chemistry. But, then it takes somebody to have their fingers on the pulse and know how to build it. That would be something that I would really look forward to. I think that’s something that as a special teams coach, I think – speaking on the other 31 special teams coaches in the league, that’s kind of our job as special teams coaches – is to pull running backs and linebackers and DBs and tight ends and receivers and get them to do one thing that maybe they weren’t expected to do when they came into the league, and that they’re not going to get a lot of adulation for, and make it important and do it together. I think that’s, from my perspective as a special teams coach, that’s usually my number one goal going into a season, is how do I take a whole bunch of wild dudes that are different positions and different expectations, and being a star in college and all of a sudden you’re a special teamer in the NFL. ‘That’s not what I was brought here to do,’ and make it important to them. And teach them on a daily basis and develop players and make them a cohesive unit. So, that would be, I think, goal number one.”

(On whether there was a point in his five years with the Rams where he saw that chemistry suffer or whether the team had ever had that type of chemistry)
“I think there’s great opportunities for chemistry to be built. We spent three months in Oxnard, six weeks in Irvine and I can’t look back and say, did we have it or did we not. But as the season progressed, I think everybody would probably agree that the offense, defense and special teams – as coaches and players and really everybody, the whole organization – couldn’t seem to just put it together. There wasn’t any insubordination or fighting between ‘O’ and ‘D’ or coaches. Maybe because of the losing, it just seemed like there’s more to be had with that intangible word, that really is critical and it takes work to build. It’s deep, you know, it’s deep. But the best teams seem like they have it and we play against quite a few of them every year. If you want me to name them, I got, of course New England, Seattle, I think Pittsburgh’s consistent, Green Bay’s pretty darn consistent, and Baltimore usually has really pretty good consistency. Also, those teams have an identity and I think we need to build an identity. So, there’s a lot of stuff you can get into.”

(On whether there are any players due for surgery)
“Right now, not that I’m aware of. Yesterday, (R Chase Reynolds had just a little bit of a collarbone issue. He’s supposedly 4-6 weeks and it’ll just heal up. (T) Rob Havenstein and (D Lamarcus Joyner – who we’ve had as scratches the last couple weeks due to ankles – they should be fine. (D Marqui Christian had an ankle fracture, I think about three weeks ago and he got taken care of – he should be back. I don’t think – talking with (Head Trainer) Reggie (Scott) – that we have anybody that’s going in for a four, six, nine month operation.

“When we came out of the game yesterday, (OL Rodger) Saffold came out clean after he went through a little concussion test at halftime. Chase (Reynolds) got banged up a little bit – he’ll be fine. I don’t recall anybody else. I think we were pretty clean, which was really good because for the sake of football players, want to make sure they get out of the last game healthy to have a productive offseason, not a rehabilitative offseason.”