Jim Caldwell’s Comments From Monday’s Media Session
By Zac Snyder
Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell met with the media today; here is what he had to say, as provided by the Detroit Lions.
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With the First Pick
Opening Statement: “Having an opportunity to look at the film it obviously looked about the same as it did from the sideline yesterday. Often a game like this where it’s close, tight, and you don’t play as well as you’re capable and you certainly have to give credit to the opponent as well, did a nice job. Also it kind of hides in obscurity somewhat some of the things that you did do well. I think our defensive front is still playing extremely well in terms of stopping the run. That’s a team that had been running the ball pretty well and to hold to I believe 49 yards rushing is a pretty good day’s work. When you look at overall just in terms of our kicking game, there were a lot of phases of our kicking game that have gone unnoticed a bit. Against a team that can do a pretty good job in terms of returning the ball, I think our coverage teams were really good. There was a lot of fine play that went on, I think we held them to under seven yards a return, so that is not only our coverage units but also Sam (Martin) punted the ball extremely well in terms of his average, etc. In terms of our punt return game as well is probably as good of a day as we’ve had in terms of returns. I think we averaged 24 yards per return and the blocking was good in those areas. I think Jeremy (Ross) did a nice job in terms of finding the little crease he needed to get into, so there were a lot of good things done in that area. Sam kicking the ball off, not allowing a return gave us good field position from a defensive standpoint. I think all those things get a bit marred because there were a couple phases that weren’t quite where we wanted. We didn’t run the ball as well as we like, although George (Winn) did come in and did a decent job. I think he averaged somewhere around 4.4 but overall we were 3.5 I think, not quite where we like to be. Certainly our completion percentage was not where we want it either in that area and a lot goes into that. We were sacked in the record books, if you look at it I think it’s six times that it has recorded. Two of those he ran out of bounds, but if he gets hit once it’s one too many. I think he got hit four times and obviously that’s an area where we need to make certain that we continue to work on and improve. Overall that’s one game, we stand at 3-2 and what we have to do is go back to work and get better. I think we have to get better in terms of our fundamentals and techniques all the way across the board. I think our guys are certainly capable of doing that and I think you’ll see some improvement without question this week. I’ll open up for any questions.”
On if K Alex Henery is still on the team: “He is not, we’ve released him and are in the process of getting someone in to take over that spot.”
On what he is looking for from the next kicker: “It’s one of those things we’ll look at closely and we’ve got to find a performer. That’s basically what we have to get done in that area, we got to get a guy who’s consistent under pressure and be able to put us points on the board. In this league there are going to be close games, guys in that position are going to decide a number of games and we’ve got to make certain we get the right guy for us.”
On if experience is a factor when looking for a kicker: “I think that’s one of the factors that you have to look at because they’ve done it, they’ve been there before and you would suspect that they are accustomed to it. We got to look at all phases.”
On if the season would look different if the kicking problems didn’t exist: “You know what? I’m not a real big guy when it comes to what ifs and theoretical sort of thought process. I’m not one that delves in a lot of philosophical platitudes, I deal with the facts. We are where we are and often times we could have made even the games that we lost a little bit different games if we executed in other areas better. The fact of the matter is we’re not going to make any excuses for where we are, we just got to get better. We just got to win, that’s the key and we haven’t done that.”
On why the team has struggled identifying a kicker who could be successful: “Sometimes it happens that way, just in terms that you can’t put them in a game situation and find out everything you need to know about them that’s an unknown and uncertainty. You have to certainly make your best guess and go with it and if it’s not you get it corrected and don’t be ashamed to get it corrected. Regardless of what happens, that’s the thing that I think in any business you find out why a certain thing even happened and you take steps to correct it. You don’t try to cover it up and act as if it didn’t and don’t hide your head in the sand. That’s thing I think you’ll find that’s refreshing about our organization is that we’re not afraid to get this thing straightened out and I think we owe it to our team and we owe it to our fans. We got to do the best we possibly can in terms of correcting the problem.”
On how field goals early in games impact the overall flow of the game: “It makes a difference, it really does. It makes a difference just in terms of, 17-3 is a little bit different than 14-3. I don’t want to make anybody feel that I’m trying to infer, that if that area was straightened out we’d be in a little bit of a different place. I’m trying to infer this, if we play better, even if it didn’t come down to a single kick, but often times it does in our game because it’s so tight. The parity is ramped in our league, but if we convert a few more third downs, we run the ball a little bit better, we do some things a little better, often times it won’t come down to that. I’m not trying to point at that one thing. We’ve got a lot of work to do in a lot of areas and we’ve got to find a way to improve. I think our guys will. Obviously, it’s not the end of the world. We’re never too high, never too low and we’ve just got to go back to work and do what we do and get back on the winning trail. We won two in a row, had a little setback, we’ve got to pick up the pace and go back at it again.”
On if the team is bringing in any kickers in for tryouts: “We never talk about who we bring in, what, where, when, why, so I’ll leave it at that.”
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On WR Calvin Johnson and RB Reggie Bush’s health status: “The injury report will be out on Wednesday, I think is when we’re obligated to do so.”
On Peter King’s report that Johnson could miss two weeks and Bush could miss next week: “I’m not going to address something that someone is speculating or has stated. We’ll see.”
On pinpointing the protection issues: “It’s not just one, that I can tell you. And that’s the thing about sacks and I think I may have talked about this before, but there are a lot of things that go into that. You’re talking about the protection standpoint, which is not only offensive linemen, but it’s also backs and tight ends. They’re all involved in it as well, so some of those things haven’t been on par to where we’d like them. It’s not only those two positions, but it’s also the receiving position. Guys getting open, running the right routes and running the right depths so that the quarterback can get the ball out on time. And then also obviously, it lands on the quarterback position as well, just in terms of making certain that it gets out on time, in rhythm, etc. And then it falls back ultimately on me as a coach and making certain that I can get our guys in position to do what they need to do efficiently without necessarily having to deal with some issues that we know we can offset. Whether it’s chipping a guy, whether it’s making certain that they’re a little bit more quarterback friendly routes, whatever it might be. There are a lot of different things that go into it.”
On if the team is closer to holding Johnson out for a week after he reinjured himself on Sunday: “I thought about it last week, just looking at him. Certainly without being straightforward, I’m going to think about it again this week, strongly. So, we’ll see.”
On if Johnson’s previous injury contributed to his current one: “I’m not going to go into that whole scenario about what it was and why and how or where.”
On if he expects RB Joique Bell to be available this week: “Certainly we’re hoping, but obviously he has to be evaluated. There’s league protocol that has to be followed and we’ll see where that goes.”
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On what he believes should be the average time that QB Matthew Stafford holds onto the ball in the pocket: “It changes. It depends on the number of steps it takes, it depends on the action in which we use. There’s a lot of different variables within that.”
On why Stafford hasn’t been able to stretch the field effectively in the team’s two losses: “You can focus in on those two losses. I would like to focus in on this last game. Those two are two that we can’t do anything about. We can’t do anything about it. I think he’s been pretty good in those three wins and I think there’s more wins to come. I think he’ll do what he has to do, but like I said, that’s the thing about the quarterback position, they get too much credit when we win, they get too much blame when we lose. It’s not all his fault and it’s a team game and I expect some of the other guys to pick up the pace as well.”
On Bills Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz being carried off the field: “If we win the game, I don’t think any of that exists if we’d played better. It’s up to us.”
On P Sam Martin as a holder: “I think Sam works at it, Sam’s got good hands and that’s something that every single week is evaluated. It’s looked at closely in terms of the battery between the snapper, the holder and the kicker, so all of that is looked at closely. We try to evaluate it, we don’t pull any punches if we see an issue that may be a problem, we certainly identify it and address it. I think he does a good job.”
On if the holder hasn’t been an issue thus far: “I wouldn’t say that. There may have been a glitch here or there.”
On if he would consider making a change at holder: “It hasn’t gotten to the point where that’s necessary. But, it all depends on who you’re dealing with as your kicker as well. It could be a holding style, it could be whatever. They could prefer someone else, it just kind of depends on the situation. If it does happen, it has nothing to do with his performance. It has more to do with the comfort of whomever is going to take over that spot.”
On the reports of a laser pointer being used during the game: “I know that we were alerted to it and I know our organization put out a statement about it. We stand behind that statement. Obviously, it’s illegal and it’s something that we don’t condone.”
On Bills CB Stephon Gilmore’s comments regarding the Lions offense: “I tend not to want to comment on some comment that someone makes in that regard. All you have to do is kind of look at the Jets game and I think you could probably figure out fairly well the response for yourself.”
On how much blame Stafford deserves for the sacks: “You know, it’s a team and it’s an offensive unit concept that we’re dealing with there. It’s an offensive unit and everybody involved with it, not just one person. We all have to do our part.”
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On if he has seen improvement in protection: “Well, I do. There’s no question about that but the thing is, when you look at the numbers, the number don’t always indicate that. The data’s a little bit different. That’s why I made note of the fact that two of them that he was accredited for was from scrambling out of bounds. But, hey, the thing is it’s an issue and it’s got to get better, plain and simple. Let’s not dance around the issue. I mean, it’s something that has to be better, but there are a lot of people involved in that process.”
On Stafford and Bush not being on the same page: “I think there was probably a number of different things that probably weren’t just right in tuned the way we’d like them. That’s what I think you saw, just in terms of our inefficiency in those areas in terms of putting points on the board. We’ve been in situations where we have functioned extremely well all across the board in terms of timing and things of that nature and we just have to get back to it and do it a little bit more consistently.”
On the tempo of the Bills defensive line: “You’re talking about twists and things of that nature. That’s how defenses devise them. They’re devised not to come at the same time so that they force you to try and get you on different levels. That’s what it’s about. It’s not anything new and different in that respect. I think, number one, you’re talking about two very talented defensive fronts and Green Bay as well, but that’s going to be every week. This week it will be another challenge and what we have to do is focus in on doing our job and doing it correctly.”
On the trust level with TE Eric Ebron: “We feel good about Eric. We think he’s making good progress. It may not show up in the numbers, targets and things of that nature that one would like to see but, nevertheless, I think you’re going to see him continue to get better.”
On having good kickers on each team that he has been a part of: “I’ve had good ones all the way across the board. I had the first one down in Tampa, he (Martin Gramatica) was a pretty good guy that played pretty well. When I went to Indy we had a couple, (Mike) Vanderjagt first and then the crem de la crem (Adam Vinatieri), and then obviously we’ve had a good young kicker that came along (Justin Tucker). So, the thing is there’s somebody out there for us that will do the job for us. We just have to see if we can track him down quickly.”
On how a kicker affects the play calling: “Well you know, there are never any guarantees, but consistency makes a difference in terms of how you look at things, how you call plays, what determinations you make and what you’re going to do in certain situations in areas of the field. All of those things you have to look at. We do them, and it’s also in conjunction with, obviously time on the clock is in conjunction with it, up conditions is in conjunction with it. Often times, when the guys go out and warm weather it’s kind of like, Arnold Palmer said that when he goes to the driving range he goes to find out what swing he brought that day, not necessarily to get loose but sometimes the ball is going one way or the other. You have to look at all of those things. They come to you and tell you this is what we’re doing and where we think we’re solid. So, from that we’re able to kind of adjust and make our decisions accordingly. So, they all affect us.”
On if there would be hesitancy to bring in K Matt Prater after his legal issue: “We’ll look at each and every guy and make a determination based on what we sense and feel about him on and off the field. That’s how we do every guy. That’s suitable to the comfort level of all of us that are involved.”