Each week during the season, we interview a different Rams player to find out about their lives on the field as well as off of it. Team Reporter, Sarina Morales, asks the questions fans want to know, in a fun and conversational interview. This week, defensive back, Darious Williams spoke to Sarina about scoring his first NFL touchdown, what it felt like covering Julio Jones, and being the backup, backup, backup, backup, backup quarterback.
Sarina: You're in London. Is this your first time? Is this your first time out of the country?
Darious: No, not out of the country. Just in London.
Sarina: What do you think so far since you've been here for less than 24 hours?
Darious: Can you show everybody the weather? It's not the prettiest first impression.
Sarina: It's a little cold compared to Los Angeles.
Darious: It's cold. It's mucky. It's a little rough.
Sarina: What are you excited about here?
Darious: Just something new. It's a whole new, I mean, country. So new food, new people, new ideas. Obviously football. It's obviously going to be fun to play in London.
Sarina: You're happy… and a little jet lagged.
Darious: Not a little jet lagged. A lot of jet lag. I'm pretty sure I slept two hours last night.
Sarina: On the plane?
Darious: Yeah. That was the rest of the time.
Sarina: Because you went from the plane straight to ...
Darious: Straight here. Straight to practice.
Sarina: Not the easiest… But then you have a bye week. What are you going to do during the bye week?
Darious: I don't know yet. Probably go out of the country again. I don't know.
Sarina: Sunday, last Sunday (against the Falcons), you scored a touchdown. Your first NFL touchdown.
Darious: Yes. I did.
Sarina: How many times have you thought about that moment since Sunday?
Darious: I didn't really think about scoring until Sarina said that I was going to score. (Laughs) And then I scored. So I got to give some credit to you. But it was awesome. I mean, hopefully there's plenty more to come. But it's pretty fun. I guess when I scored I didn't know what to do. But that's what happens, it's the first one...
Sarina: Troy Reeder pops the ball out and you're just like, "Oh my gosh. Get that thing."
Darious: Yeah, I had to beat Travin [Howard] and Obo [Okoronkwo]. Thanks to Obo. You he can't hold the ball, so thanks Obo. (laughs)
Sarina: You ran track and you played basketball in high school. Why didn't you stick to those sports? Why'd you go football?
Darious: I was really a baseball player until I moved out to Florida. And then that stopped. So track and basketball. I really just ran track just for football. Basketball, I'm 6'1", 6'2", so that didn't work out.
Sarina: Baseball… What position?
Darious: Shortstop.. one of my homeboys, his dad coaches at Edward Waters, a little college in Jacksonville. And he wanted me to come out there and play with them, just like picked me up off the streets just because I was hitting with them in the batting cage one time.
Sarina: [Do you think] you [are] better at baseball?
Darious: Yeah.
Sarina: At what point were you were like, "I guess I should do this football thing?"
Darious: Not until high school. So I didn't really start until 11th grade. I played football all the way up.
Sarina: Sucks to be such a good athlete. Huh?
Darious: Yeah. And then I didn't really start and I was still in love with basketball. And then my high school coach called told my dad that I was going to be probably be a [Division 1] player. So then my dad just started pushing me to play football, pressing me to play football.
Sarina: If you could play any other position, what would you play in football?
Darious: Quarterback. I'm a quarterback.
Sarina: Really? Why?
Darious: I'm Goff's backup, I'm Blake, nope, not Blake Bortles. I'm John Wolford's backup.
Sarina: [Don't forget] Johnny Hekker.
Darious: Johnny Hekker, I'm fifth string. So they need me. I'm good. (laughs)
Sarina: A little Drew Brees action.
Darious: A little [Michael] Vick, a little right-handed and Vick. So I'm like a little Lamar [Jackson] basically… Just put me in.
Sarina: How would you describe your football career so far?
Darious: It's interesting. It's long and... I'm thinking of the whole entire NFL. It's fun. It's exciting. It's not what most would expect. It's actually real cool, coming to work every day is real fun. And then obviously competing against the best talent in football is what I live for. That's why I was so shook to play Julio [Jones], just because that's the best receiver in the game.
Sarina: Is there a moment where you say l, "Oh crap. I'm about to go against Julio Jones. I watched this dude, I started him in Madden. Here I am in a real Madden field."
Darious: That was basically all I could think about for the first 50 plays with Julio. And then I had to calm my little self down. But, literally, the first play, all I can think about was covering Julio. And then the second play was like, "Damn I'm still covering Julio." And then third play was like, "All right, try to learn the play. Try to think about your play and not Julio." Yeah. So that's how that went.
Sarina: Is that the guy that you've admired the most in football?
Darious: Respect him. He's been dominating since the day he got in the league.
Sarina: What makes him so hard to cover? Is it his speed?
Darious: I mean, he's like 6'3", he's strong, he's fast, he's aggressive. He's got every single tool to be a monster. So basically, he's a monster.
Sarina: So it was a fun challenge for you on Sunday?
Darious: Yeah. It was fun, it was real fun. Fun challenge.
Sarina: Challenge. And then you still got the points at the end of the game.
Darious: Yeah. I think I scored more than him. (Laughs)
Sarina: How is it that you are a defensive back and you are so quiet in a room of loud voices?
Darious: I think that's just me. I think I'm always observing.
Sarina: Maybe that's why you think you're a quarterback.
Darious: I'm always just observing everything. Never really just out there yapping my mouth. But it's just, I don't know, that's just how I am. And then when I get comfortable, I start to wake up a little bit more and start to talk and chirp and do all that stuff.
Sarina: Why are [defensive backs] so loud then?
Darious: Because we're cocky. We've got a confidence and cockiness about us.
Sarina: Chainsaw for legs or sharks for arms?
Darious: I got to go sharks for arms.
Sarina: Because?
Darious: If I got a shark on my arm? Nobody's going to mess with me, that's for sure.
Sarina: Chain saw for legs would make it quite difficult [to run].
Darious: I can drive with sharks. I could just make them bite the steering wheel.
Sarina: That's true.
Darious: But I can't drive with chainsaws. I'm going to cut through my gas pedal.
