The biggest key to the game was that everyone contributed in one way or another. Everyone came out to play and we played hard. The thing of it is, we won the game and played great but we could have been so much better after watching the film. The Rams are such a tough team and they don't let up. It was a big time win and to have the other teams in our division lose helps us out even so much more.
We did a good job on film study and we were well coached all week. Every group prepared and studied what the Rams did. It definitely carried over and we saw some of the same concepts turn up on Sunday.
Stephen Jackson is a big, powerful back that's shifty and poses a lot of threats, but we were able to shift the line of scrimmage to shut down the run game. I know he had to be frustrated because we were coming after him before he was able to get anything started. It was nice.
The seven sacks showed the whole picture. The defensive backs played great coverage and that allowed the defensive line to get in Marc Bulger's face. It kind of all went together. Like I said, we could get so much better. As a defense, we wanted to shut them down on each play.
On the play where I almost caught the interception, I was staying long with my knees bent so I can make a transition on the break. So I was getting in my area and I felt where Bulger was looking and I felt the receiver behind me. I thought Bulger was going to throw it harder than he really did. He just kind of tried to drop it in, so I kind of jumped up. I would have liked to say I jumped too high!
But having the whole defense play well in the 3-4 was big for us. Bryant Young was a true leader out there for us and his three sacks were amazing.
We can enjoy St. Louis but the focus will soon switch to Philly.
