Quotes
Transcript of Jim Schwartz's Press Conference
Below is the transcript of Jim Schwartz's press conference via the Lions.
Head Coach Jim Schwartz opening statement: "I recognize some faces from the airport last night and some from Monday. You've seen both of my suites (laughing) so if we have another one of these, bear with me a little bit. I apologize for being late today, I wanted to wait until my wife and kids were able to make it here to see this. "To start out with some thank yous - it feels a little bit like the Oscar's up here. I want to extend a thanks for the confidence in me from the Ford family, from Mr. Ford all the way down. This is a tremendous responsibility and I won't let him down. I also want to thank my wife and my kids for allowing me to chase this coaching dream and the changes that (will) occur for them. I would like to thank Tom (Lewand) and Martin (Mayhew). I interviewed for five head coaching jobs and it's interesting to see the different procedures that GM's and personnel directors and team presidents take and the thing that struck immediately is that I said to myself, 'You know, if I was a General Manger, if I was a team president or an owner, I would try to run the search the same way.' I know it frustrated some of you (the media), not being able to get information, but believe me it was the right way and I have a tremendous amount of respect for the way they ran that operation. "I don't want to get too far into thank yous, (but) I think there are two people who have mentored me in the past that I need to recognize and that's Bill Belichick, who gave me my start in the NFL in 1993 and allowed me the ability to grow in this business; and then Jeff Fisher in Tennessee who I had the distinct pleasure to spend the last 10 years with, including Super Bowls and the best record in the NFL a couple of times and including some bad times and some salary cap purges. (With Jeff) I went from being a quality control coach, to being a position coach, to being a coordinator and the confidence that he had in me is special and I wanted to acknowledge that. "The last couple of days when things started rolling a little bit I started getting some emails and some voice messages from a lot of college friends, some guys I haven't talked to in 20 years, and I wanted to share one with you. One of my college teammates at Georgetown lives in the Metropolitan Detroit area and he sent me a message that said, 'Hey, I'm hearing your name a bunch, I'm not sure if it's true, but I wanted you to know that you'll love living here. It's a great place to raise your family.' That meant a lot to me. He also sent a little attachment and he said, 'If you want to find out about Detroit, read this article.' "He attached Mitch Album's article from (Sports Illustrated) from a week or so ago. As I read it, he left a little note and he said, 'There's nobody from Detroit that reads that article that doesn't get a tear in their eye.' I've had some tears in my eyes, but growing up in Baltimore one of nine kids and my dad was a policeman and most of my friends dads were union workers, steel workers, blue collar guys and I couldn't help but identify with that. Like I said, this is my second suite, this is all I have. I'm a football coach. I'm a blue collar kid and I'm glad to be here in Detroit and hopefully we'll put a team on the field that Detroit will be proud of. You'll be proud of the way we play." On facing the adversity of taking over the Lions: "You know I interviewed for the San Francisco job in 2004 and from 1999 until 2003 we had the best record in the National Football League in Tennessee. We had won a lot of games, we had been to the playoffs four or five years, but we really hadn't gone through bad times. There's an old adage that you find out a lot about people in the bad times. We went through a salary cap purge, we knew we were going to go through it. We had 30-some million dollars in dead money and we knew what the results were going to be, but we stuck with it. Watching the team sort of - you know, we lost the Steve McNair's and the Eddie George's and the Jevon Kearse's and the Kevin Carter's and Samari Rolle's - we saw the nucleus of our team disappear and we were left with a lot of rookies, a lot of low price players, but it didn't last very long. We were able to get out of that and I think that perspective has helped me in huger challenges, having lived through that, having been able to survive through that and just learn through bad times rather than experiencing success every year." On what he liked about Mr. Ford during the interview process: "By the way, Nick (Cotsonika) scooped everybody last night and bought a ticket so he could get into the gate to be able to scoop everybody. Part of the interview process was them asking questions of me and trying to get a feel for me and then also me trying to get a feel (for them). If you're going to make a decision of some place where hopefully you'll spend the rest of your life, you need to respect the guys that you're going to be working with. I've been very fortunate in 16 years in the NFL to make a lot of contacts and to have worked for great people. I've exhausted all of them trying to ask more questions. The things I came back (with) made me very comfortable - not just meeting with those guys, but just the thoughts from other people, whether it's been former players that have played with Martin, people on the business end that have worked with Tom, they let me know what kind of men they are, what kind of football guys they are and it made me at ease with this decision." On why he would want to come to an organization that has defied logic over the past years: "I can't speak of the past. I'm here right now; I'm not here to exercise any ghosts and those kinds of things. I said on Monday that my dad would be very disappointed if I backed away from a challenge - that's in our blood. There's no better feeling - we talked a little before about our salary cap year - there's no better feeling in football than turning a situation around. That's what drives me here. When we left Nashville on Monday I left the players a note, we had a very disappointing playoff loss, we had the best record in the National Football League this year and we had high hopes and we lost a close playoff game. The note I left the players was, 'One day we're going to hold the Lombardi trophy and it will be that much sweeter because of this loss and the perspective that this loss gives us.' I think it's the same thing that applies here. Our success will be so much sweeter here because of 0-16 and because of the past."
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Rod Marinelli's Postgame Quotes
(I'm too busy to write a recap of the game right now, but I'll have it up by Tuesday evening at the latest.)
Via the Lions, below is what Rod Marinelli had to say after Sunday's game.
Opening statement: "Just a couple injuries to note: Paris Lenon, chest, I don't know where that's at and Culpepper, shoulder, on that last throw - I don't know where he's at yet. They're checking him. Just overall, real quick, actually we had our chances and we didn't execute well enough. The two fourth downs, I wanted to go for those during the week, just like I did at Carolina and I thought we needed touchdowns just with the way we've been playing on defense lately. I thought we had to get that and I think the biggest disappointment (was) at the end of the game. We've got to stop them. We played well for most of the game and when we had a chance and needed to stop them, we didn't get that done. So that kind of sums it up."
On since he's been here, how many times he's relied on his defense to stop someone in that situation and they've actually did it: "Well, I thought as I looked at the game today, we were playing well and you kind of get a feel as you go through a game and you feel the game itself. Going into the game I thought we needed touchdowns, no question. And as the game went on I thought we had a better opportunity to lineup and play defense at the end and (the) same plays we were stopping earlier in the game, we didn't at the end."
On how he saw the overturned ruling on WR Calvin Johnson's reception: "It looked close to me. They had went up and looked at it and they felt-he told me he felt it hit the ground."
On who told him they felt it hit the ground: "The official."
On how WR Calvin Johnson felt about the ruling: "You always feel you got the play, but they make their calls."
On if Johnson said anything on the sideline: "No he didn't. Once it's challenged, there's no-they challenged it and looked at it."
On the offense getting within six yards of a touchdown three times: "Right, that's what I was saying. We had to get touchdowns I felt. In this league, when you've got a chance to get touchdowns, you have to get them and we were unable to do that."
On him bypassing a fourth-and-four attempt even though he said he wanted to go for fourth downs: "I kind of went into the game, fourth and three - just like at Carolina. When we went into Carolina, fourth and three to fourth and four, I felt it was going to be very important to control. I wanted to try to limit carries for No. 28 (Adrian Peterson). That was as much as anything for me - eat the clock as much as we could and keep him out of the game that way, and convert and we weren't successful."
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Rod Marinelli's Postgame Quotes
Via the Lions, below is what Rod Marinelli had to say after today's game.
Opening statement: "Just some of the injuries, in game: Kevin Smith, shoulder and I don't know how bad that is; (Jared) DeVries, re-broke his hand; Drew (Stanton), concussion, I don't know what level it is; Ernie Sims kind of banged his need (ed. note: this is a mistake in the transcript, but I have no clue what the correct word is supposed to be) and he couldn't get it re-warmed so we kept him down and Alex Lewis, maybe with a (pectoral) and we'll have to see that tomorrow a little bit more. As you look at it, 10 penalties were brutal and 299 yards of return yardage and it's tought to win a game like that."
On if QB Drew Stanton will be able to play on Thursday: "I don't know that."
On his gut decision regarding Stanton's concussion: "I'll tell you tomorrow. I don't know."
On if he'll have to bring QB Drew Henson up if both QB Dan Orlovsky and QB Drew Stanton can't play Thursday: "If Dan (Orlovsky) can't go? If Drew (Stanton) can't then, yeah, that's the only other option."
On if QB Dan Orlovsky is close to getting better: "No."
On why he made the decision to bring Stanton in the game: "I thought it would give us a spark at that point and then bring him in (and give him) a great chance to get him some work too."
On if that was just a game-day decision or is Stanton going to potentially be the starter: "No, Daunte's (Culpepper) our guy."
On how frustrating it is to be up 17-0 and lose like that: "It's just details. We gave up a couple big plays. We came out of coverage one time, and I give great respect for (Jeff) Garcia. He's really one of the best quarterbacks in this league. He really is. A competitor, mobile, understands the system and we knew. We just couldn't come out of coverage. One time we came out of coverage and you can't do that, especially if you've got a lead and then we kind of blew a coverage on the other one in 4-under, 3-deep."
On who made the mistakes in coverage: "I'm not going to name names. We just blew coverage."
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Rod Marinelli's Postgame Quotes
Via the Lions, below is what Rod Marinelli had to say after today's game.
Opening Statement: "Just a couple injury updates: Dewayne White had a calf early in the game and pulled it, so obviously he didn't play the rest of the game. Jared DeVries: hand; as of right now, it may require surgery. I'm not quite sure yet. Keith Smith: groin, and Mike Furrey had a mild concussion early in the game.
"Just a quick overview of the game as I see it and I'll open it up: I take my hat off to Jacksonville. They're a very, very physical team and they ran the ball very well on us with about three or four runs and did a nice job with their play action and we couldn't get enough snaps for our offense and that's where we're at."
On whether DE Jared DeVries hand might be fractured: "That's what they kind of said to me. Right now they've got to go get it x-rayed. They feel it was."
On why the defense didn't stop the Jaguars: "They ran three or four plays; power with a ream inside against under and then we kicked our end from a six to a five and they pushed it and were able to get the backside guard up and through. They did a good job standing on our feet and pushing and then they run what we call a smart-belly, where it starts to the weak side and they bring the fullback on the way back and try to force on the backside end. And we got a forced; we've got to make sure our fallback players are falling back inside and we struggled doing that and their backs ran extremely hard and we had some chances to man-up on them and hit them and we fell off some tackles."
On if he was surprised by the Jaguars' offense: "No, this was-they run four plays. They run the power-ream; they run the belly-weak, split-belly and smart-belly.
"It's just we've got to get our pads down a little bit better. As coaches and players, they physically beat us. That's all I'll say. As coaches, we weren't able to coach them good enough to play this style of offense."
On the Jaguar offense's ability to break tackles by the defense: "They broke tackles and sometimes we got in there and fitted correctly, and that's a good strong backend we face every week, and we weren't able to get them down as coaches and players together. We didn't do it."
On why he isn't embarrassed after the teams' 0-9 record: "I've just taken a whooping and I accept that. I stand up here and accept it. I just go back and work. If I were embarrassed-if I use that word, (it would be because) I wasn't trying as hard as I could try. If I wasn't fighting every single day, I'd be embarrassed. I line up everyday and go right back to this team. I stand up, give you no excuses - ever, and I line up and do it. Now if I didn't try hard, if I put my head in the sand, if I made excuses, I'd embarrass myself. I would be embarrassed, but I won't do that."
On if he'll make a change in defensive coordinators: "Oh no. I know everything that's going on. We just have to play better."
On why he doesn't' feel he has to make a change: "Because I'm in charge of it, and it's on me. I know everything that's going on. I sit down - just like offense, just like kicking. I'm all on it and it reflects back to me - nobody else. I don't put it on nobody else - it's me."
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Rod Marinelli's Postgame Quotes
Via the Lions, below is what Rod Marinelli had to say after today's game.
Opening Statement: "Just an update on the injuries. (Jerome) Felton had an ankle; (I) don't know how bad that is. (Damion) Cook, knee; Casey (FitzSimmons) had a shoulder and then we made a move yesterday with Gilbert Gardner. (He) got hurt in practice and we brought up Anthony Cannon.
On what went wrong during the game against Washington: "Well, we had a couple false starts, you know. And you can't do that and we had two holds and you can't do that. (You) can't hold; it's simple football. When you do that it-we're not good enough right now-1st-and-15, those things hurt us. We had some plays that we got; they got brought back so, that hurt us."
On how to change the mental mistakes of the players: "I just keep doing what I do. I mean, you just go-we've cut back some things. You just keep going over it and that's what you have to do there. They're playing hard. (I'm) coaching the dog out of them, each and every day we're out there and they respond all week; great attitudes. We're just not getting it done on Sunday."
On how to turn it around: "We made some progress in some areas this week. You know, we went in (and) slammed the run early. We had a good pass-rush, you know. We left some stuff out there. Our blitzes were-we had some nice blitzes, they were open. Now, we've just got to execute, (and) get the guy on the ground. We had two of them, we had two guys free. So some of those things were there, then you've got to cut the penalties back. The time of possession's still hurting us. Defense is on the field too long. Offense has got to get more. So you just-there's some things that you see that we're improving at but not good enough, and it's not good enough yet to get a win."
On if it's now time to win and not talk about progress: "You know, I see on the field certain things we've done in terms of our run-defense have been good. So we've been playing that a little bit better, and the pass-rush is getting better. I think our blitzes are coming; we've just got to execute the blitz at the end. But those are the things I can see, and they're working, but the wins aren't there and I understand that."
On why Marinelli still believes wins are coming: "Because that's who I am. You are you. You're negative.
"Ok, so I'm going to answer you: because I believe in what we're doing and I'm just going to keep doing it."
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Rod Marinelli's Postgame Quotes
Via the Lions, below is what Rod Marinelli had to say after today's game. Try not to pound your head into a wall while reading the quotes.
Opening Statement: Just two injuries so far: we've got (Jon) Kitna, had back spasms and that's why we didn't bring him out in the second half, and (Dan) Orlovsky has got a high ankle sprain. Again, we don't know how bad that is, so that's where we're at right now."
On what happens now after he has spent two weeks evaluating and making changes: "We just go back to work. We tried to get some no-huddle in; that's what we worked on quite a bit these last couple weeks, and it's no magic to it. It's not like you run it and all of a sudden everything opens up. You still have to communicate and execute, and we didn't do that. So we'll continue to work with it and try to improve it and go from there."
On if he will work on what they did today or two weeks ago: "We'll still keep working on our no-huddle. It's a part of what we try to and (part of) our base offense."
On if he expects to be fired today or tomorrow: "I think I've repeated this a lot to you, that I don't look in the future, right? I think I've said that to you, right? Would you agree? Your silence is agreement. If you're silent then you agree with me. Good; so I've already said it."
On why he expects to keep his job when he hasn't been able to win in a year and a half: "I'm going to again tell you exactly what I've said in the past: I'm going to get up in the morning and go to work."
On why he thinks he can turn this season and this team around: "Well, I think we have to go back and just keep evaluating talent, get the right people in here and keep working on what we do in terms of our system and improve it."
On if coaches are concerned after today's performance that the players have quit on them: "I don't believe they have."
On why he thinks that, considering the team was supposed to fix its struggles after a bye week: "I would agree with that, but the type of people we have, I wouldn't sense that they're going to quit. I sense they'll keep fighting."
On how he would evaluate QB Jon Kitna's performance in the first half: "I'd like to see the tape. Nothing's good. Anybody - the protection wasn't good enough, ball security wasn't good enough, getting takeaways wasn't good enough, some explosion plays. None of it was good enough."
On when he will come clean and tell them what the real problem is: "I'm coming clean. We have to coach football better. We have to get these guys ready to play, we have to find a way to get them to execute, and that's our job."
On if QB Jon Kitna would still be the starter if everyone is healthy next week: "We'll go back next week and look at - Yes, yes, as I'm sitting here right now. Yes."
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Rod Marinelli Postgame Quotes
Take a look below for what Rod Marinelli had to say following the Lions' 13-10 victory on Thursday night. (Quotes via the Detroit Lions)
Opening statement: "Just to update you, we had three injuries: Stanley Wilson with an Achilles, we'll wait until tomorrow to see how bad it is; Jason Hanson, strain on his left thigh and Gilbert Gardner had a concussion."
On the extent of Hanson's injury: "Just a strain; wait to see until tomorrow."
On the running game: "Not good enough. We're just going to keep working at it. The one thing when you try to run the ball, you don't wave a magical wand over it and all of a sudden you're running the ball. You have to work at it, and call it, and punish it and work at it, and that's what we're going to do."
On what exactly did not work: "I can't tell you. I have to watch the film. (We) didn't get enough yards."
On his receivers being a bright spot in tonight's game: "If we can just - no way we're backing off of it; we're going to run it, and we're going to keep doing it because as you can see it opens up. It opens up. You get some single coverage on those big guys, they're tough to cover now. Two positive things that I really like - there's going to be a lot of positive after I watch the tape - but what I did like: no turnovers. We went plus-one. That's winning football. And when you do that, I think you're in really good shape. So if we can keep that part of it going then we'll be in good shape."
On the young quarterbacks not giving the ball up: "Very good. And the other thing with that, we gave up no sacks, and we did a nice job moving the pocket, the launch point, which constantly changed during the game. So it's tough if you're on defense to get a beat on where he's at. But now the key to everything we're still doing is running the ball. And digging it in there and fighting our way through that."
On rookies T Gosder Cherilus' penalties and LB Jordon Dizon's appearing to be all over the field: "Without seeing the tape, the penalties, that jumps out at you, which we can't have. We're not going to do it. We had six penalties today and it's not winning football. We just have to eliminate that. I think he (Cherilus) did some good things on his blocking; I felt it a couple times. I think Kevin (Smith) really showed some stuff, boy, I mean, he's - boom - you get that thing up and think quick, so we'll see off the film a little bit more. And Jordon, as we said from day one, he's a great instinct guy. We just have to make sure he's going the right way all the time."
On why three starters were back in the game late in the second half: "Like I was saying the other day, on some of that, that's all we got. There's not many ....our depth is...some guys we didn't anticipate playing late in the game."
On QB Drew Stanton: "He showed some of the stuff, and he's got awareness, and running the ball and boots and running around. (He) threw some nice passes in there today, so I'll be able to do a better job after I watch the tape and see. But off the top of my head, I liked him moving the ball down the field and getting in position to win a game for us."
On the hardest thing about the running game: "It's like pounding the rock. You keep swinging if it's not breaking. And some guys cry about it, 'Oh, it's not going to break, it's not going to break.' Well, we're going to break it, and you just keep working at it. It's hard; it's hard work, and we have to stay with it. You don't just say, 'Hey, we're going to run the ball here.' No, that's lip service. We're going to put pad service in."
On if the offense is progressing the way he had hoped since the beginning of camp: "Yeah, I feel you can see it with the big receivers in there. That's the thing. And, boy, to be able to move the pocket and run the ball and get some play action and predict the coverages for those big guys; people are going to have problems covering them."
On if the defense is progressing the way he hoped: "Yeah, I really liked our tempo. We're running; we're fast; we're fast on defense. (We) just have to make sure we're on the details. We tackled fairly well. We had a couple missed tackles early, but we're tackling for the first game not bad. But the run was OK; we had one run-pop. Other than that we're pursuing well, and that's it. We just have to line up and go play again next week."
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