The players for the Rams were probably not shocked when the firing of their HC was announced today. Most probably expected it, but that doesn't mean some still aren't upset about it. The players truly enjoyed playing for Spags and many of the guys on the team are in St. Louis because of Spags. Some reactions from players.
Ron Bartell said he stayed in STL because of Spags on the Zach and the Coach show on 101 ESPN. Also he thinks the new coach needs to be experienced. Tevin added that he said Ron sounds pretty upset about the Spags firing.
Steven Jackson promises to keep doing his thing.
Howard Balzer said he was told by Sam that he hopes McDaniels stays. Also, here's a video from 101 ESPN with Bradford giving his reaction to the canning of the HC.
Sam Bradford on Spagnuolo Firing "Spags Believed in Me." from 101ESPN on Vimeo.
Moving on, Kathleen Nelson had a post in which many players praised Spags' leadership for the team. Keep in mind this post was up before the announcement of the firings, so these comments seem to be last ditch efforts to save Spags.
"You're not going to find a lot of 2-13 at the time teams that are going to play as hard as we did that late in the game against a team like that, and I think that's really just a credit to the leadership, starting with Coach Spags and working all the way down," quarterback Kellen Clemens said.
"I thought Coach Spagnuolo was very inspiring," (Brandon) Lloyd said. "I didn't have the pleasure of being coached by him, but the words he said to me, our private conversations, the support I had from him on the football field was all positive. "
Other in the article including S Quintin Mikell and MLB James Laurinaitis said they both would like to see him stay but know they have no control over the situation and will continue to play football with the Rams just like before.
Right now there isn't much news with player reactions out there and that makes sense. The team probably asked players not to comment until after the team has a press conference at 3:30 PM today.
Overall with the comments out there now, it seems many of the players are truly sad to see Spags go and they enjoyed their time playing for him, but they know they have no control over what happens.
Players know that the NFL is a business that requires success and coaches can be fired at any time. It's part of the business. They are professionals and they will move on. Firing of coaches is a sad but necessary part of life for players in the NFL.
Stay tuned to TST for reactions from the Rams press conference at 3:30 PM central time today.