The Broncos had arguably their worst outing of the season thus far in , losing the game as well as a few of Peyton Manning’s offensive weapons in (ankle), (concussion) and Montee Ball (groin). Here’s what the players and coaches had to say afterward:
JOHN FOX, BRONCOS COACH
On the difference in Sunday’s game:
“They practice to get paid too and that is a good football team. The last time they were here they beat the defending world champions, Seattle. They also went out to San Francisco and beat them. This is the NFL and they played better than we did. Minus two as I mentioned before is a reason you can write. Our effectiveness on third down is a reason that you can write. I thought those were more factors than where we kicked or didn’t kick.”
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PEYTON MANNING, BRONCOS QB
On if he felt shorthanded with injuries to Thomas and Sanders:
“Certainly, you hate to see Julius and Emmanuel injured, but I still don’t think that’s an excuse. I still think that Bubba (Andre Caldwell) and Jacob (Tamme) are capable of making plenty of plays, and I’ve got to do a better job of giving them the chance to make some plays.”
On his level of concern after this road trip:
“Certainly, any time you score seven points as an offense, you feel that you’ve let your team down. The defense, like I said, held them to some field goals. We had some fourth downs where we got stopped, I threw two interceptions and I gave them some field position. I didn’t feel like I carried my weight today.”
On if he feels responsible for his receivers’ safety:
“Absolutely. I don’t know how many career passes I’ve thrown. Whatever 500 times 16 is, I can’t figure that math out, but yeah, any time a player gets injured on the end of one of your passes, my heart drops. You hope he’s OK. He said he was OK and I take that very seriously, I always have.”
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CHRIS HARRIS, BRONCOS CB
On the Broncos’ struggles on the road:
“We’re losing the turnover battle every time and that’s something we have to fix. We have to get more turnovers and get Peyton (Manning) the ball a little more.”
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JEFF FISHER, RAMS COACH
On how they were able to hold on for the win:
“Well we were able to make plays on defense. They got behind, pretty much had to go one-dimensional on offense. Even when (Manning’s) one-dimensional he’s excellent, and we made the plays. We had the three fourth-down stops and then the two interceptions and the two sacks. The sacks were huge for us.”
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JAMES LAURINAITIS, RAMS LB
On if his sack was more meaningful because it was of Manning:
“Heck yeah. He’s hard to get to and he’s arguably the greatest of all time to do it. He gets rid of the ball so fast because he diagnoses defenses so fast. Quite frankly, I’m upset. I think I should have two. I missed one earlier in the game. I’m still kind of ticked about it but I’ll cherish that one. I promise I’ll show my daughter that clip some day.”
