VERMEIL INTERVIEW, BY MJR (Aug 19)Add yourself to The HERD's Official Roster (guestbook), if you think you are man enough!
The HERD's ULTIMATE link page-add your favorite here!
Being in St. Louis instead of Macomb. DV likes it. Only thing is during the day when the players have some dead time they don't have a room to go to. It's good that the St. Louis fans can now watch.
On the upcoming season. All the offseason acquisitions have been positives for this ball team. He's seen it transpire on the field in minicamps and in training camp. Much more enthusiasm. But, hey, we're only 1 of 31 teams and there's not a lot of reasons to come to St. Louis (MJR: thanks a lot Dick). Last year picked up Ray Agnew. We lost some people we'd like to have here. DV is enthusiastic but he's not blinded by it. He remains realistic.
Newcomers. Adam Timmermann, Trent Green, Devon Bush, Mike Collins, Marshall Faulk: they all work very hard but they are expected to set the tempo. The veterans of the team are expected to do that and they have.
He noticed in Macomb there was much more enthusiasm. This year's coaching staff seems to be more pleased. Much more positive on the field. Last year the coaches were more barking in your face where this year they are reinforcing positive results. More player-friendly.
Hard work is its own reward. That's why we pulled back some. Shorter practices and shells on hot days, etc.
Coaching staff. Players spent more time in the offseason on the X's and O's, not just putting in time in the weightroom, etc. For the guys that want to work hard, things go well for them. Only ten guys remaining from the squad that was here when DV got here.
Coaching today vs. back in Philly. The salary cap. It did take longer to get up to speed with today's game. It takes a lawyer to manage the cap and structure the salaries where it didn't before in Philly. He's recognizing that a difference in today's game is that an athlete that's not quite good enough to make it might have ended up being a very good player before.
When he got here, he was told that he had a ton of great players. They're gone. He attributes upgrade of talent to successful quality drafts. Trying to make young athletes better.
Mike Martz and Al Saunders. They've had a tremendous impact. DV realizes that since he's been away for 14 yrs. he can't do everything including the X''s and O's. Overall player evaluation is a group process.
Feels they should have won 7 games two yrs. ago. 8 games last year.
It's harder to jump in over the assistant coaches and give a player constructive criticism/advice when you don't know what the asst. coach has been telling the kid.
Will this team beat the division's elite, i.e. San Francisco and Atlanta. DV: I think we can. That'll be determined on game day.
Saturday vs. the Bears. Will we see Trent Green hand off to Marshall Faulk? Yes, some. He's not in football shape yet. He's getting closer. His speed is coming around.
Jeff Robinson. Is he a DV type player? Yes, he's fun to be around. He's a hard worker willing to do whatever it takes. He's got a lot of unused talent. He's probably the number one longsnapper in the league. Might see him some at defensive end on Saturday and he'll no less than the number two tight end. He looks comfortable at the tight end position. He has surprising speed for his size. He realizes he needs to do what it takes to stay in the NFL. He'll do what's asked of him.
Player's today come onto the field with the attitude that they can't trust the coaches or the front office. That's instilled in them by their agents. That the coaches don't care about them so don't trust them. DV says that if they can't trust the Ram's coaches they can't trust anybody. The coaches are very upfront with the players but expect a lot in return.
Leaders. Leadership is the coaches' job. They do, however, like to share that responsibility with the players. On the defensive side the recognized player/leader is undoubtedly Mike Jones. On the offensive side it is evolving into Orlando Pace. He's more of a quiet guy and didn't seek it but the others have come to him and it's a sign of his maturation as both a player and leader.
All players at the NFL level have been a leader at one time or another in their careers. They've all been MVPs before. They're all leaders. DV has talked to the ten players remaining from his original team about ownership of and responsibility for this football team. It's hard as a coach to know what's going on with all the players when you've got 80 of them or 52 of them in camp. Lots of times the player/leader will come to DV with a particular player's issue/problem and DV will ask the guy how he wants to handle it--either by himself or does he want DV or other coach to step in. Nine out of ten times the players handle it themselves.
Quick Hits:
Ernie Conwell. About 60-70 percent. Probably back by mid-season.
MLB. All three are equal right now. Lorenzo Styles is a more fluid guy back there. Charlie Clemons and London Fletcher are definitely more physical. We'll know more after Saturday night and we'll start to move a couple of them around.
Robert Holcombe. If he's healthy, he's our starter. Great pass catcher out of the backfield. Great for Mike Martz's offense.
Ryan Tucker. Randolph noticed at practice that he's getting some reps at right tackle. What is his role?
Gruttadauria is the starter at center. Tucker is more valuable as a backup and is to his advantage for him to be able to play two positions on the offensive line. He can actually play center, guard or tackle. His problem is that his development has been tremendously hampered in previous years due to injuries. This year he's healthy and has come a long way. He's benefitted tremendously from the offseason workouts.
DV: The coaches job is to take the optimism that's been generated thus far this season and turn it into victories.