Fisher names Davis starting QB
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_0c35c5a5-4096-53dc-9fe1-54789f6c7618.html
With the bye week come and gone, and 13 weeks of uninterrupted football ahead for the Rams, coach Jeff Fisher felt it was time to make things official.
He called quarterbacks Austin Davis and Shaun Hill separately into his office Wednesday morning, telling Davis he was starting and Hill he was not.
It was absolutely no surprise to Rams Park regulars. Not only has Davis played well — surprisingly well — in his starts against Tampa Bay and Dallas, but he has been getting basically all the reps with the starters all along.
Those two facts spoke volumes, and meant more than anything Fisher put out for public consumption. Fisher didn’t have a change of heart, or realize the error of his ways. There was no error in his ways; Davis simply played too well to go back to the bench once Hill was healthy.
Fisher tries to be very loyal to his players; the last thing he wants to do is react in knee-jerk fashion to everything that happens on the football field, good or bad. He pretty much had his mind made up on Davis after the Tampa Bay game, but wanted to see a little more.
He saw much more than a “little more” against Dallas. So after getting Davis a couple more practices with the starting offense during the bye week, and with Hill healthy from the quad strain he suffered in the opener against Minnesota, Fisher went public with his decision: In Austin We Trust.
“We’re going to go ahead and start Austin for the remainder of the season,” Fisher said after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s not that Shaun lost the job, it’s that Austin earned an opportunity to keep it.
“Shaun understands, he’s a team player, he’s ready to come in at a moment’s notice. He is healthy enough to play this week.”
As might be expected, Hill wasn’t doing cartwheels over Wednesday’s developments. But true to form, he uttered no complaints.
“Obviously, it’s frustrating,” Hill said. “But I understand it. (Fisher)’s got a decision to make, and made a decision based on what he felt was best for the team. The team comes first. I’m a professional, I’ll come to work every day, and continue to try to help this team any way I can.”
At age 34, Hill had a rare chance to start all 16 games for the Rams following Sam Bradford’s season-ending knee injury against Cleveland in the third preseason game. But then came the quad injury against the Vikings.
“It’s a tough league, for tough-minded people,” Hill said. “And I put myself in that category.”
Hill said he could sense this was coming during the bye-week practices. Probably because Davis continued to get all the reps.
As for Davis, his increasingly incredible journey continues. Twelve months ago, he was a voluntary high school football coach at Westminster Christian Academy in suburban St. Louis. Six weeks ago, he was the Rams’ fourth-string quarterback, uncertain if he would make it to September.
Now, he’s the starter. And not just a week-to-week starter.
“My parting comments with Austin was I told him not to look over his shoulders,” Fisher said. “So he’s gonna take this team and run with it.”
And that meant a lot to Davis, 25.
“Obviously, I’m excited for the opportunity,” Davis said. “Coach Fish was very adamant not to look over my shoulder. We all kind of know his philosophy. He picks the guy and he sticks with him.”
Fisher tried to stick with Hill, but saw too much from Davis.
“I have to do what’s best for the football team, and in my opinion (Davis starting) is what’s best for the football team,” Fisher said. “We brought Shaun in here to back up, and I had all the confidence in the world in him.
“Who knows what would’ve happened had he not pulled his quad in Week 1? But you can’t go there right now. You have to base these decisions on what’s in front of us and what’s happened just recently.”
What’s happened recently is Davis guided the Rams to a 19-17 comeback victory at Tampa in Game 2, making several clutch throws in the fourth quarter of a see-saw contest. Against Dallas, Davis tossed three touchdown passes, threw for 327 yards, and helped the Rams pile up 448 yards — their highest total in a regulation contest in 30 games.
Davis leads the NFL in completion percentage (72.3) and ranks sixth in yards per attempt (8.02). How do you turn your back on that? The answer is: You don’t.
“Really nothing changes for me,” Davis said. “I don’t want to get to the mindset of looking ahead. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing, take one game at a time, and I think it’ll be much more manageable that way.”
Davis was barely out of his meeting with Fisher when he told his wife. “She likes to hear the news first,” Davis said, smiling. “She’s excited, but she knows it brings on a little more responsibility.”
Davis’ teammates were anything but surprised, and totally supportive, when quizzed about the QB news.
“I think he’s earned the opportunity,” wide receiver Austin Pettis said. “I think Coach is right to continue with him. He’s got the hot hand right now. So we just ride him out, and see how well he can keep on doing.”
And from Kenny Britt: “As a receiver group, we’re definitely comfortable with him back there, and him in the huddle. From the first and second (starts) you could tell that his confidence level was out of the roof. He’s taken control in the huddle. So we’re behind him 100 percent.”