(Is the fourth quarter what you want to see from your team?)
Oh, definitely. It starts with the turnover on defense and the ability to get the two first downs in the four-minute offense. I'd just like to say it's difficult to win on the road, come down here to St. Louis. I was very impressed with our fan support here today. We got off to a great start defensively with the turnovers, but didn't get the point production you'd probably like. There were some up and down parts of the game and I really like the way the team responded, kept fighting. I thought it was a good victory for us to complete a good week of work.
(on the big plays)
Big plays equal points in this league. You see it every week and it was very evident today. I would say most of our scoring drives definitely benefited from the big play. We feel we have the ability to play that way, but more importantly this is the first time all year that we were able to stay balanced offensively, both running and throwing the ball on first and second down, and that's when we play our best football.
(on the ground game)
We talk about this all the time. The most important statistic in my view around football is to be able to run it for four quarters. The yards came there at the end, and that's when you really needed them. You don't usually come out and start running for six, seven, eight yards right away or you should be having a big day, or the defense needs to make corrections. Just the fact that we were able to sustain a four quarter run-pass mix up is playing to our strength.
(on the deep balls?)
When teams are going to play you one way whether it's the run or the pass, it definitely plays to your advantage. We were able to get some one-on-ones with Greg and Donald on the back end and were able to benefit from it. That's the way you'd like to play week in and week out.
(What was the thought process having Chillar almost in a position like a safety?)
Once again just trying to utilize our players. It was something that came up earlier in the week. We had Brandon Chillar and Desmond Bishop on the sidelines and the ability to probably play some better run defense. It was great to get a lot of work at it today against a big-time back. We have a lot of respect for Jackson, just the way he's able to start inside and bounce it to the outside. He did a good job even today at finding the open gap, but it's just another way of playing run defense.
(On Bishop replacing Barnett)
We're just being smart with Nick Barnett's reps. Nick has been right about 40 plays in all three games.
(On the missed extra point)
I couldn't quite answer that. He needs to make extra points, so I'm not sure what happened there.
(on if the offensive line took a step forward today)
Clearly we played better in the protection part of it, and frankly it starts on first and second down. When you got your linemen playing on their heels in long down and distances, it definitely plays to the advantage of the pass rush of the defense. Once again, just to be able to be balanced today will help all parts of our offense, running the ball, pass protection, everything.
(on the fans)
There was a lot of enthusiasm here today, there's no doubt about it. Playing on the road is tough, their home opener. We expected to come down here to a charged up football team. They had a big shot in the arm when Kyle (Boller) came in the game with his scrambling ability and he was able to go down and put the two drives together. We fully anticipated an emotional and tough football game today.
{sportsad300}(on Steven Jackson)
Well, I think just the way we played Steven Jackson shows you the kind of respect we had for him. He's a big-time player, and I think he has all the ability as far as running inside, outside, excellent vision. Also they line him up in the No. 1 and No. 2 receiver slots, throwing him the football. He's a big part of their offense, and we knew he was going to be a challenge for our run defense.
(on the Rams' final drive of the first half)
Hey, it's a two-minute drill, and the goal is to keep them out of the end zone and we did not get that done. Like I said I thought Kyle did a good job coming in there with his scrambling ability and really it started on the drive when we had the third-and-10 and didn't get off the field. But it was a four vertical, and that's definitely something we can learn from.
(on what this does for the team)
I leave this game saying we're 2-1, and we'll feel good about a lot of things tomorrow when we watch the tape, and there are some things we're going to correct. It's a long year. There are a lot of moving parts to a season. Looks like we're relatively healthy coming out of the game. Greg Jennings and James Jones both returned from their injuries, so we've just got to get healthy and put together a good plan and stay after the fundamentals.
(On injuries)
James was a hand, Greg was a wrist. That's all I have to report.
(On not turning the ball over)
I just think it's the fact that we work it every single day and it's part of the blueprint of our success. The ability to play with more vision on defense is definitely helping us take the football away, and that's probably the number one statistic we look at week in and week out.
