Steve Spags Talks Bulger, Jason Smith and Crystal Balls
May 19, 2009 – 7:15 am by Will Brinson
Steve Spagnuolo has remained relatively under the radar (one of the bonuses of working in St. Louis, I suppose) in terms of having expectations heaped upon his first year as an NFL head coach. He takes over a Rams team that has always seemed to possess tons of talent but hasn’t been relative for some years.
Now, he begins the rebuilding process without Torry Holt and Orlando Pace, but with new first round draft pick Jason Smith. Additionally, there has to be some question of whether or not Spags is comfortable with Marc Bulger at QB. Spags discusses both those issues as well as his expectations for 2009, his team’s attitude and issues with the defense in the following interview.
On the idea that they need to get bigger on defense:
“We want to have good football players and I think we have them right now. You need to be big in the league, but when I walk in the weight room, they all look pretty big to me…We just want good football players, guys that will play within the system, that will give a great effort. I think if you do that, you have a chance to play good defense.”
His impression of 1st round pick, Jason Smith:
“Nothing but good. When you come in as a rookie, it doesn’t matter if you’re picked first or you’re picked last, there’s still a growth process and he’ll go through and there’ll be a growing curve. All the things that we thought we were getting, we did get. I’m talking about the off the field stuff, the character, the type of person and what he’ll bring. It will take him a while, but I think he’ll fit right in with that group of offensive linemen and make that whole group better.”
On Marc Bulger:
“Every time we played St. Louis and Marc was behind the center, we felt it was a challenge…We always thought he was a quality quarterback every time we faced him and I still think he is. If what he’s been doing in the weight room, what he’s been doing with the wide receivers and the tight ends, if that has any carryover, he’s going to have a good season. He’s been terrific and I appreciate who he is and what he’s all about, the guy he is and the character he is. Let’s face it, that position in this league is not easy to play on or off the field, but I think he’s handling it real well.”
On changing the team’s attitude:
“There’s a group in that locker room that was already like this before I got here. I think there’s some energy, there’s some intent in these guys. They want to win, they want to do it the right way. I think they believe in themselves. There’s a fine line in the NFL; the ball bounces the wrong way a couple of games and all of a sudden the team goes from and you’re 5-11 instead of 11-5…I do think there’s a lot of character, there’s a lot of energy, there’s guys that want to win in that locker room.”
His expectations for this season:
“I won’t do the crystal ball thing…We’ll take one game at a time and at the end of it, we’ll try to count up the wins and hope it’s enough to get into the playoffs and we’ll go from there.”
Listen to Steve Spagnulo on ESPN Radio St. Louis with Bernie Miklasz
Tags: Football, Jason Smith, Marc Bulger, NFL, sports radio interviews, St. Louis Rams, Steve Spagnuolo
