Rams Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo

Conference call - Arizona at St. Louis - 9/8/10

On where he thinks the Rams are in the building process since they have so many rookies on the roster:
“The first statement you made is an accurate one, obviously. We have a lot of rookies, which is a newness to the team. There are a lot of things that come with that, some energy, which is a positive, youthfulness, which can be a good thing in this game. But also there are some things we have to overcome too, experience, that same youth, guys being in their first game this coming Sunday. I think we have a good mixture of vets in there that I’m very hopeful will help these young guys through this process.”

On if they are forced to be conservative offensively having a rookie starting at quarterback:
“No, I wouldn’t tag it that way. Our philosophy here in the first game, I think in all three phases, is let’s not confuse ourselves. Let’s do what we’ve been doing so we can play fast. If that limits things, it’s not necessarily a rookie quarterback, it’s just kind of the way in my opinion you handle the first game. You don’t get too tricky. Sometimes you can out-trick yourself. Now, will there be some new wrinkles in there? Sure. I’m sure Ken (Whisenhunt) will do the same with his squad, but I think that’s probably typical around the league.”

On the challenges rookie QB Sam Bradford faces in his first game, at home, with pressure and expectations:
“I think all of those that you just mentioned are going to be things that he’s going to have to deal with. Along with that—and I’ve spoken with him, I was with him last night, sat in here and watched a little bit of tape—what he saw and the speed of the game in four preseason games is not what he’s going to see on Sunday. Everything goes up a bunch of notches. Defensive coordinators get a little bit more creative. Certainly anytime there’s a rookie quarterback we can certainly expect pressure, which is what we do expect. There are going to be some things there that he’s going to have to deal with that he did not have to deal with in his first four outings in preseason games.”

On how difficult having an unsettled ownership situation was last year:
“The difficulty was the 15 losses. The ownership part of it, we never let that affect us here inside the building when we were doing ‘football’ work. Everything we do on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the course of a season really didn’t change that way. We felt completely supported when Chip (Rosenbloom) and Lucia (Rodriguez) owned the football team. We knew at some point that there might be a change. Now, we’re ecstatic to have the owner we have in Stan Kroenke.”

On how he sees his wide receivers and how they might be able to help QB Sam Bradford:
“Certainly it hurts to lose Donnie (Avery). Then, you have a lot of youth there. Now, we did just made an acquisition with Mark Clayton, so I think that will help us with a little veteran presence. But, now you’re talking about a rookie quarterback with a wide receiver on certain downs that haven’t even thrown the ball to each other yet in a game, so that will be a challenge. I do think as a group they’ve molded together pretty well. Nolan Cromwell coaches our wide receivers. I think he’s done an excellent job. They’ve put a ton of work in, I’m talking about the quarterback and the wide receivers together. Now, you don’t really get a sense of it until you get in a football game, so this will be a learning process, a growth process. We’re just hoping we can have a little bit of good fortune and win some games as we’re going through it.”

On how comfortable he is with the offensive line:
“It’s helpful that we had the five guys, hopefully knock on wood nothing happens between now and Sunday, that we’ll have in Sunday’s game against Arizona. To have them together for a period of time, it is quite evident that those guys need work together to become a cohesive unit. Coaches talk about it all the time, but it was really clear to us that when you had guys banged up and injured and this guy out and that guy out, even when you’re missing one piece of those five, it makes it a little bit of a challenge. Finally, we got them all back and it came together pretty well. We’re hopeful it will be the same way Sunday.”

On if he’s expecting anything different from the Cardinals with Kurt Warner gone:
“I tell you what, this is the NFC West Division Champs we’re playing. The best point you made there is it’s still the same coaching staff. I think Ken (Whisenhunt) and his guys do a terrific job. There is still a lot of talent on that roster. I’m sure like us, there are certain guys that they will miss initially that they had last year, but I have too much respect for the staff and their players. There is still plenty of talent. We expect them to be a good football team.”

On what he wanted to find out most about Sam Bradford to give him confidence that he could be his QB:
“A lot of it was, you try to watch him at OTA’s, training camp, how he handled himself in the huddle. Then you had to get to the games. Even the 40-second clock is not new to a young guy, but it’s different in the NFL, so we worked hard on that. It’s clock awareness. It’s will the other 10 guys around him respond to him. When we get to third-and-one will he step in the huddle and challenge the offensive line to get the first down? He’s done a lot of those things. Those were the things I was looking for as a head coach. Somebody said earlier in this interview here that it was obvious he had the talent, and he does. He’s a very accurate passer. Now we have to surround him with some good players, a good offensive line, and hope it all gels together and becomes a good offensive unit.”

On if it’s a big deal being able to start the season at home with a roster full of rookies:
“I think that’s a good point. To be honest with you, I never thought of it that way, but we’ll take it. I do think that does make a difference. I think it will be nice to be at home in the dome here with a very competitive, quality opponent and hope that the guys can do some good things and something positive.”

On if he senses excitement and curiosity from the local community about the team:
“I’ve been told that. It’s hard as coaches. You hunker down in here and you don’t know what goes on outside the walls. We lose touch of the whole world. I’m not saying that’s a good thing. People have said that. I have not seen it. I’m not privy to it. I don’t get into the shopping markets or read the newspaper or watch TV, but I think there is a little bit of a buzz. Our challenge here as a team is to keep that buzz the same. That’s what we need to do.”

On how much more comfortable he is as a coach in his second season:
“(I am) way more comfortable. I think we all, in any business, I’m sure it’s the same with yours, when you make these steps up the ladder, etc, etc, everybody thinks they’re ready and they’re going to run with the show and make all the right moves and no mistakes. You learn along the way. I’ve certainly made my mistakes, when up and down I hope I’m a better football coach this year for that.”