St. Louis Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher Gets Cranky

For a man who doesn't talk too much, St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher had plenty to say following practice on Tuesday. Fisher covered everything from the status of his offensive line to a little casual ribbing about favored treatment for Steve Smith, a fellow USC alum.

Perhaps most interesting among Fisher's comments came when he revealed his curmudgeonly side, giving the press a healthy does of 'back in my day' isms when discussing the heat.

"We're an air-conditioned society now," Fisher said. "In the old days we weren't. We spent summertime outside. Remember when you got in trouble, some of the older ones, when we got in trouble mom said, ‘Go to your room,' you know? They say that now, you go to your room and you go ‘Yeah cool, we got all kinds of stuff to do in the room,' you know? So, moms need to say go outside, I guess."

Damn kids.

The full transcript from Fisher's QnA session is available after the jump.

(On calling the team together during the latter end of practice)
"Typically, over time we've come to realize that the third day there's an increased pull history so we intended on just kind of taking a moment and getting stretched out so we didn't have any fatigue issues and fatigue pulls in the weather."

(On how practices have changed over the years working in the heat)
"Yeah, we're much more aware. We're an air-conditioned society now. In the old days we weren't. We spent summertime outside. Remember when you got in trouble, some of the older ones, when we got in trouble mom said, ‘Go to your room,' you know? They say that now, you go to your room and you go ‘Yeah cool, we got all kinds of stuff to do in the room,' you know? So, moms need to say go outside, I guess. But we're very much aware of it. We're weighing players in before and after each practice to make sure that they're replacing the fluids in their weight, and so that was an outstanding effort today. That was not easy. We had one neutral zone violation on defense in this heat, which is pretty impressive."

(On what CB Cortland Finnegan brings on the field and developing the young defensive backs)
"You see him compete all day, all day long, and he's been great in the meetings. He's been a great influence on the younger guys. He's got the personality where he knows his place. He knows when it's time to maybe take a guy aside, talk about footwork or hand placement and encourage them. He's been nothing but a real professional for us."

(On how WR Danny Amendola looks)
"He's really got no issues. He was doing well prior to this break in the summer. He's running good. He's catching good and right now he's clearly on the same page with Sam (Bradford)."

(On things that encourage him with the offensive line)
"They're working hard. The one thing that's encouraging me is I know they can't wait to put the shoulder pads on because they've been the recipients of everything this offseason. That's the nature of the game when you practice without pads. So, a couple more days and it'll be payback time."

(On how OL Quinn Ojinnaka looks)
"Doing good. He's working guard. He potentially could do the tackle and he's smart. They're communicating well up front."

(On WR Steve Smith's progress)
"Well, there's no indication that he's any place other than where he was before the injury. He had a great offseason. He's running well. His time in his condition test was excellent. He has no setbacks. He's not in the training room. He's in good shape."

(On if Smith has an advantage because he went to Fisher's alma mater, University of Southern California)
"That has nothing to do with it, no. (P) Tommy Malone also is a Trojan, too."

(On if Smith also went to Fisher's high school alma mater, Taft High School)
"Yes. Never broke my record though."

(On what his high school record was)
"I didn't have any. Actually do the research (laughs)."

(On if it is his design or offensive line coach Paul T. Boudreau's that pulls players out for false starts in practice)
"Yeah, that's ‘Boo's'. I mean it's just, ‘C'mon now'. If it becomes an epidemic, instead of coming out then they'll take a trip around the field. That was kind of our philosophy, so Boo's got that pretty much under control."

(On how the players are handling the heat)
"They're doing a great job. We had just one instance and we may have some over the next hour or so, but we're prepared inside."

(On the tight end competition)
"We have obviously quite a group there and it's very competitive. (Tight ends) Coach Rob (Boras) is doing a great job with them. They are required to both block and protect and run precise routes. It's going to be competitive. There are going to be some tough decisions there."

(On the team's injuries)
"(RB) Daryl (Richardson) was running today, (WR) Danario (Alexander) was running today, so they're working their way back. (C Tim) Barnes had a little set back on the calf, so we're looking at him. We had a couple of the corners, (Kendric) Burney and Josh (Gordy), just tight. They had hamstring issues during the spring, so we just backed them down for precautionary reasons."

(On the kicks from midfield)
"I was tempted to go back further, but I thought those were two great kicks."