Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell met with the media today after tonight’s practice at Ford Field; here is a look at what he had to say, as provided by the Detroit Lions.
Opening statement on tonight’s practice at Ford Field: “It’s going to be a lot of fun, great time to get the guys in the stadium. We’re not going to do a regular pre-game routine, it’s just going to be like a regular practice. We’ll come out, get loose, get stretched, and get rolling. Much like what you’ve seen in terms of our padded practice, it’s going to be pretty much the same. It’s a great time for us to certainly get a feel for the turf. Some of the guys have a good feel for it, some of the younger guys don’t. It’s also great to be coming out of the home locker room instead of the visitors.”
On what his main focus is for practicing at Ford Field: “Couple things. One of the reasons why we try to move a little bit just in terms of camp is up at Allen Park, obviously we’ve had the opportunity to practice there a number of days, but it gives us an opportunity to practice at night. We don’t have any lights over there, so this gives us a chance to practice at night since we play games at night. It also gives them the chance to have to move and go somewhere else, kind of get some stirring just a little bit, change our practice times up some. The next night practice we have will be at 8:30 as opposed to 7:30. We like to adjust those times a little bit and give them a different environment. Also, it’s very important for us to get a chance to go out and meet the community, see as many folks as we possibly can that may not have the chance to get in to Allen Park.”
On if he has a plan to sit veteran players against Cleveland: “We talk about that in detail all the time. We wait until we get closer to a ball game because some of these things can change, change in an instant. We do look at those things and evaluate them, and we make a determination on how we play them closer to the ball game.”
On what he is looking for from the quarterbacks in the preseason: “I would probably answer that this way because I think it would certainly go for the entire team, not just the quarterbacks. What we’re looking for is alignment, assignment, communication, technique. Make sure our fundamentals are solid. That’s what we’ve really been working on the last few weeks, and it’s really important to us in terms of a base and foundation. So we hope to see some guys execute those extremely well. Those are the areas we are focusing on. We are improving every day.”
On the competition between QB Kellen Moore and QB James Franklin: “Both guys are young and eager. Both guys have had really outstanding college careers, both played well. Kellen has a little more experience in this league at this point. But both guys are competing hard, smart, and eager, and like I said, they are improving as well.”
On how many QBs he is going to keep: “Not yet. At this point we’re a long way away from really getting to that point. It’s always something that we’re looking at constantly, just in terms of what we’re going to do with our personnel. In advance, if you start making plans this far away, often times you find that you have to recalculate it anyways. They are working hard, the best they can.”
On if there is a specific position battle he is paying more attention to: “That’s every position. We certainly are at a stage where our entire team is learning a new system. So every position needs to be evaluated and looked at closely. We’re hoping to see improvement in all of the positions.”
On the improvement he has seen from TE Joseph Fauria: “We’ve seen, certainly, improvement in terms of his ability to block in-line. He’s always been able to block just in terms of back-side. It’s something that he really concentrated on this offseason and you can see it has paid off for him. It will be great to have an opportunity to see those guys in action on Saturday. We’re all looking forward to that, that’s when you really get an opportunity. We don’t do a whole lot of live blocking, but we’ve done enough to notice that he’s gotten better.”
On if he will be ramping up the activity for tonight’s full padded practice: “We have it measured in terms of how much we want to do. Some may get after it maybe just a little bit more, but for the most part like I mentioned earlier, it’s like most teams. You will get the majority of your live tackling and hard hitting, flying to the ball with multiple guys, game tackling, things of that nature in preseason games as opposed to practice.”
On if he believes he needs more depth in the WR position: “We have a good group of guys. What we will do with that squad will just depend on our needs. We just have to make certain that we stay vigilant. Like I said, this game is a contact sport and in contact sports, often times, you’re going to have a setback here or there. You have to be able to adapt.”
On if there are any positions he believes the team needs to upgrade: “There’s a couple, not upgrade necessarily, just in terms of depth. That’s always a big thing, how much wear and tear maybe a position is taking on. You have to consider those things. If it gets thin, we certainly have to bolster it, just to make certain that we have enough guys to go in to keep us from having to maybe put too much heavy lifting on one of the guys that we certainly know are going to play for us.”
On how the environment at Ford Field will intensify the team: “Contrary to popular belief, these guys like the stage and in particularly you hear a number of folks that are here, eager to see their electricity. So we will get some pretty good performances out of guys. That’s the fun part of it. They like this atmosphere, they enjoy it. We have a great group of fans, absolutely outstanding. Anytime we have the opportunity to be in their presence is good for us.”