Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell had to say on Wednesday. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
On how he plans to break C Travis Swanson into the starting center position: "It really isn't the first practice with him to be honest with you. Obviously he's been in and out of there quite a bit, starting role it's different in that regard, but in terms of reps and opportunities we've been trying to certainly work him in that role for quite some time."
On how much work does Swanson get during the week: "I couldn't tell you the exact number of reps but, I mean, it's a pretty significant amount."
On his reaction when the final decision came out to suspend C Dominic Raiola: "Wasn't a surprise Obviously, I think I mentioned that to you when what we said early on. When you look at the film, the film supports exactly what they said. It's tough to tell what's in a man's heart but I believe him. They ruled it the way they saw it and we have to deal with it plain and simple."
On how much of a sense there is that Raiola let the team down: "We don't lament and talk about all those kinds of things because all that does is create issues, which is obviously something that we try to stay away from. We want to focus on obviously the next task at hand and talking about it, giving it energy, do us no good. I'm not going to talk about it much longer."
On if there is a level of disappointment with Raiola: "I'm not going to talk about it any longer. I think I answered it yesterday and I talked about it a little bit here today. I'm not giving it any more energy or any more life, ok? I'm focusing in on what we have to get done this weekend, that's the most important thing for us."
On if the message this week the same as it has been all season: Yeah, obviously it's a big game for us, but we've had a lot of big games throughout the year, and they get bigger and bigger as time goes on. The more you win the better position you put yourself in. It's a big game and it's an opportunity to do something that's rare. In terms of how we go about it and preparation, those kinds of things will be the same as we've always done."
On if he's disappointed that LB DeAndre Levy and WR Golden Tate didn't make the Pro Bowl: "I'm disappointed for them because of the fact that they had great years and performed extremely well. It's voting and that's what steers it but we can't complain about that."
On S Glover Quin saying they were successful in the first matchup against the Packers because of the way they were taught: "I just think that football itself is a fundamental technique game and that's probably what he was referring to. Just play the way we're taught, within the design of the defense, within the structure of the defense, line up where you're supposed to, get the call, recognize the formation, read your pass-run key, execute. I think that's kind of what it boils down to."
On why the Packers are so effective at home: "They're a good football team wherever they play. They've been good at home, they've been good away. I think it's a well-oiled machine."
On why Lacy is a key to stopping the Packers offense: "I think for the most part, in this league in particular, running the ball is very important. Otherwise, you're going to unleash some pass rushers up on you consistently. You don't want to be one-dimensional and he's a big, powerful guy that can certainly turn the fortunes of the game around in a hurry because he can control it. And when you control the line of scrimmage, you typically control the game, and I think that's what he's capable of doing."
On if Lacy is a different rusher than he was in Week 3: "Yeah, I just think that what you find in the National Football League is, teams get better as the year goes on. He is at his best right now, I think. He's operating extremely well. Their whole unit, offensively, defensively, their kicking game, they're really playing well."
On if he's treating Sunday's game like it's just another game: "We approach it just like we do any other game, to be honest with you. I think that's all you can do. It's not the Super Bowl, so you have to look at it for what it is and you have to go out and be ready to play well regardless."
On what the Packers have been doing recently defensively that has made them better: "Often times, it's kind of tough to see exactly what the difference was now and when we played them early on. They played well early on. To me, they've been good all along, when you look at them. There are only slight differences in terms of what's happening in games. Scoring, things of that nature that kind of gets added into the mix. I thought they were good when we played them the first time around. They're excellent now as well."
On why he feels sharing inspirational quotes is an important part of rallying the team: "I don't anticipate that it rallies them. What we use it for is for information. We have the same things that we say over and over again, that they've heard 1,000 times. It's just done a little differently, so boredom doesn't set in. I get bored."
On how much enjoyment he gets from researching and finding quotes: "It's a lot of fun for me because it's probably a little bit of my family history. I enjoy that aspect of it, but I enjoy winning more than that."
On how he finds the quotes: "I read, I scour, I look, I listen. People send me things, some of the players have even given me things from time to time. ‘Hey coach, I read this,' there's a lot of different things like that."
On if he senses an even-keeled attitude from his team: "I hope. I think they've been around us enough and I think they see how we approach this thing. We like them loose and aggressive. I've never seen an uptight team play well in all of my years of coaching. But, do they understand the gravity of each matter? Yeah, they also understand how they have to go about it in order to get themselves in position to play a game as well."
On if using the quotes is an attempt to break up the rhythm of the same vocabulary week after week: "You probably didn't hear me because my head was turned the other way, but I said it's to certainly minimize the boredom, and I said I get bored. I get bored with the same stuff over and over again. So, I try to find creative ways to express it. I think that's human nature for the most part, even though, some of the things are exactly what we've said over and over again. It's just done in a little bit different way. We usually come back to that same fundamental or technique that we're referring to or what to do in a game, what not to do. Speaking of turnovers and things of that nature, which are the basics to winning. We try to spice it up a little bit."
On if he has a favorite quote: "No, I have many and biblically I have a bunch. Probably my favorite one, I always think of just before I walk up here is that, ‘When words are many, sin is not absent. He who holds his tongue is wise.' That's one of my favorite ones."
On what he was doing in 1991: "I wasn't thinking about this game, that's for sure. I think often times you'll find that people like to go back in history, but I was coaching somewhere. I think I was at Penn State at the time."
On what it means going to Lambeau after being a Bears fan growing up: "I think just going back to your home state is pretty special, particularly, my Mother and Father, my Mother-in-law and Father-in law still live there. I have a host of relatives still in that area. As a matter of fact, there's been quite of few of them asking for tickets but just like when they came here for the game, I have to sometimes make sure they lift up their shirt to make sure there's not a Packers shirt underneath there. I do have some die-hard Packers fans in the family. I think it's an opportunity to go back and play against a great team that has great tradition, that's playing extremely well. That's always fun, it's a great challenge and welcome that. I know that the great majority of people that I actually went to high school with are still there in my hometown or somewhere in that area. I'm one of the few out of fairly decent large class that's probably out of the state or out of that region. It's always great to be able to go back home."
On if the relatives who are Packers fans are rooting for him this week: "Sometimes I have to check, I'm not certain, there's some die-hards. My high school coach told me, and this is a guy who I love, who played at the University of Wisconsin, he told me when I got the job here he says, ‘Hey, I'll be able to root for you for 14 games but there's two I'm not going to be rooting for you.' So, it can give you any indication of some pretty die-hard fans."
On if there's time to educate the history of Lambeau: "It's so long ago for them. As a matter of fact, I was talking to Eric Ebron. We were discussing something that happened in 1993. He had on a pair of white shoes and I called him Billy White Shoes Johnson. He looks at me with a puzzled look on his face and I said, ‘Don't you know who that is?' He says, ‘No.' I said, ‘What year were you born?' He said, ‘1993.' That puts it all in perspective. You're talking about things that happened so long ago. I remember it, a particular story, my wife, her cousin is Frank Clark. Frank Clark, whose name means nothing to you but he was a tight end for the Dallas Cowboys. They played Green Bay in one of the coldest games ever in that a particular stadium. The funny story is that my Father-in-law and a couple of relatives went to see him, because Frank is obviously related to him, and they said it was so cold in the stadium that it froze their liquor."
On any previous games he has coached in that had historical significance: "Too many to name. Every place I've been, maybe except Penn State because we had such a storied history there, but other than that, every single place. Every single stop and then not only that, all throughout my life. You could imagine when I first started coaching, how many thresholds and things that had never been accomplished. There was not an African American football coach in division one when I first started coaching. I was the first one in the ACC. None of you guys probably remember because you were fairly young. There's been a lot of things like that in my life, too many to recount along with obviously, teams that have not historically played well versus certain teams and certain spots or temperatures. They said when we were at Indy we couldn't play and win a game below 40 degrees and all kinds of stuff, couldn't win a game in the state of Florida. Every place has those kinds of things but they're a great narrative for you guys, but they don't mean a whole lot to us. What matters is, getting ready for this game, focusing in on this game and going in and doing your job."