Transcript provided by the St. Louis Rams
Post Practice 1 - Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo - July 29, 2010
(Opening Remarks)
“Real quick, all of the guys that I talked about the other day that went out here and pushed through I think pushed through pretty good. Some of the guys, we went into the practice saying that they were only going to do individual and some of the jog-throughs. You could see some guys didn’t go in team. That was planned. For the most part, I thought they fought through pretty good. (Head Athletic Trainer) Reggie (Scott) just gave me a quick update, and we’ll have some guys that we’ll see, maybe we’ll shut some guys down this afternoon just to tread lightly. We’ll just do it by player-by-player. I thought, you know, it’s pretty warm out here, which is a good thing. We’re going to try to make sure we don’t wear these guys out and then get to the first practice on Saturday and have a third of the team is not feeling good. I think we’re getting some work done, and that’s a good thing. With that, I’ll open it up.”
(On CB Bradley Fletcher)
“We’re going to keep him out of one-on-ones, but that will come up this afternoon.”
(On if Fletcher is ahead of schedule)
“Where’s the wood? (laughs) If you could talk with Reggie and all the other trainers, there isn’t a guy that worked any harder than Bradley. This whole situation where he had to be out for rehab and to be ready for the beginning, he’s been here the whole time in St. Louis. That’s hard too, you know, any young guy they like to get home a little bit. He’s deserved of getting out there.”
(On OT Jason Smith sitting out team drills)
“That was planned. He’s kind of listed as an individual (practice) player only right now. He had some walk-through group installs where the offense walked up against the defense, so we’ll do those kind of things. Reggie is going to look at him right now and we’ll take it day-by-day.”
(On if he has decided where OT Rodger Saffold will play)
“We don’t have enough bodies in the O-line right now. Jason played, obviously, a lot of right tackle last year. Both those guys in my mind right now are interchangeable, but what we’re going to have to figure out is the best five and where the best five fit best for the individual. Right now they’re all tackles.”
(On if Saffold could end up on the left and Smith on the right)
“I don’t see why not. You know, Jason started off that way (at RT) last year.”
(On if Saffold at LT and Smith at RT was the best fit, would they be played that way)
“That’s what we would do. When you really look at it, Jason has been here a year, but I only got a half year out of him. So they’re really almost at the same stage. Certainly Rodger has got a little ways to go because he’s a rookie. That will be one of those…at some point, you’ve got to settle in on your offensive line so we’ll certainly do that. At this point right now we’re just looking for the rest of those guys. I mean, (G) John Greco is getting all center work right now because that’s going to help him lay a foundation for being able to go in there and play center. We know he’ll play some guard, though.”
(On if there is an update on Sam Bradford’s contract)
“Not really. I talked with (Executive Vice President of Football Operations/ Chief Operating Officer) Kevin (Demoff) real quick and no real change. You know, we’re optimistic but you’ve just got to let it play out.”
(On whether he has made a decision about G Mark Setterstrom’s injury)
“Mark is going to probably be on IR. That was the decision we ended up making. I don’t know when that will happen. If I was going to venture a guess, eventually he’ll be going that way.”
(On if he has spoken with rookie DB Jerome Murphy)
“I did, but I didn’t get in depth of what happened. I just told him I was glad he was here. I’ll tell you what I did tell him. I didn’t get any feedback so I don’t know exactly what happened, but I did tell him I was proud of the way he handled it. As soon as whatever happened happened, he got right in touch with (Director of Security) Steve Miller. He called his coach. He did all the right things we talked about before. When I talk with him again I’ll verify this, but I think it’s smoothed out and taken care of.”
(On whether Bradford missed anything today or is every day important)
“You just answered it for me (laughs). I don’t even have to say it. Yeah, like every other head coach, you want your players around as soon as possible.”
(On at what point he starts getting upset with Bradford)
“I’m not going there (laughs).”
(On the purpose of these practices leading up to the first full team practice)
“I’ll tell you what I told them last night. It’s really to knock the rust off and for the young guys to get a little more in scheme, and then to evaluate some injuries. We have a bunch of guys that are coming off an injury that didn’t get a lot of OTA work and whatnot. Now even though it’s only three practices, I think it makes a big difference. It’s a bunch of meetings. Then when these guys that are here go to meetings on days like Friday night and Saturday afternoon before the practice, they’re going to get all this stuff set in their mind.”
(On how Saffold said it was like a rookie warm-up before the varsity shows up)
“That’s not a bad way to put it. I’ll go with that. There is something to be said, you all know that. You hear things for a second and third time as a young guy, it’s got to stick. I mean, they got it back in OTAs, they go six weeks or whatever of not hearing anything, they get it again in three days, and then they’re going to get it again Friday and Saturday. It’s good learning.”
(On what determines which veterans return early)
“The rule says that anybody that was injured in the season last year or in the offseason can come. Now we just tread…certain guys we didn’t have do that, but some guys we needed to have this practice. Some guys we needed for a little bit of leadership. Some guys just wanted to do it. We dealt with that back in June when they put the roster together for this practice.”
(On whether LB Larry Grant had an injury)
“No, no. Oh wait yes he did. He had off-season surgery. All these guys…I think it was his wrist. Don’t quote me on this. He had off-season surgery, a minor scope. I’d have to check with Reggie to see exactly what it was, so he was eligible for being here.”
(On having two days of rookie camp instead of one)
“I can’t remember why I decided to do that to be perfectly honest with you. I think it’s good. It gives us three days, then they…this might have been the reason for that…they went from an afternoon practice to really doing the conditioning test the next morning. This right now will allow them to practice in the morning, then pretty much have the whole day off.”
(On whether they are closer to a Bradford deal today than they were yesterday)
“I’ll be honest with you, I really can’t say that. I’m going to just say it’s the same. I didn’t get that in depth with Kevin. All I ask Kevin is, ‘Is it done?’ and then I go from there.”
(On the amount of running backs on the roster)
“Four and we’re going to swing…Jamie McCoy is going to get some running back work, so we’re actually counting that as a fifth so that’ll help with (RB) Steven (Jackson) sitting.”
