Three downs with Ravens linebacker Bart Scott
1. On whether he feels the Rams have the ability to beat the Ravens: "Whenever you’ve got Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt over there, you always have a chance because they’re definitely a vertical threat. Drew Bennett put up some good numbers against us last year.
"So, they’ve got a great one-two, maybe three-receiver threat out there. But the good thing is no Orlando Pace helps you out a little bit because he’s one of the best to ever play that position.â€
2. On the impact of not having defensive end Trevor Pryce: "Trevor Pryce is the pressure. He is able to demand a double-team. He’s going to get upfield pressure inside the pocket to force the quarterback to not be able to step up in the pocket, and that allows us some time, the outside blitzers and the outside rush guys, to keep that quarterback at five steps or seven steps to be able to have a chance to strip the ball out or get a sack.â€
3. On whether the defense has been hesitating: “No, not at all. We’re still just trying to get our feet underneath us. That last game was a building block for us, and, hopefully, we can take another step this week. Like I said, we’ll poke our head up at the end of the season and see where we’re ranked.
"We want to come up there and we always want to finish No. 1 in the NFL. But the most important thing is winning. Hopefully we can get some turnovers and start putting the ball in the end zone.â€
Three downs with Rams quarterback Gus Frerotte
1. On this matchup: "It’s going to be a physical game. We just have to come out and battle. You have to give it your all. You have to dig down deep.
"These are the kind of things you always dream of. You’re in the NFL and you have to go play hard and it’s going to be a physical game and all 11 of us and whoever else plays have to step up to the challenge."
2. On running the no-huddle offense. "No-huddle is good. It’s fast-paced. It’s uptempo. It’s a lot of poise by the offense, it’s putting a lot of pressure on the defense. Sometimes, it quiets a defense down that likes to do a lot of blitzing, a lot of moving around.
"Sometimes, it doesn’t if they’re a good, solid defense and they have veteran players who know what they’re doing. It doesn’t always work, but it worked real well last week and it gave us an improvement on offense. We were able to keep the ball uptempo and keep moving down the field. It gave us a lot of opportunities to make big plays."
3. On the mentality of being 0-5: "When you get behind and you’re 0-5 and haven’t won a game and you’ve been close but you haven’t been able to make that step, it has been difficult. We just have to have that energy. Energy has to come whether you’re winning or losing.
"You have to have those guys that are positive all the time. We’re going to need those leaders. Even though it’s tough to come to work because things are going poorly and guys are saying, ‘Oh, this is going to be another hard day,’ it doesn’t matter. You’re still in the NFL and you have to do your job."
