Lions quotes: Jim Schwartz's comments from Tuesday's press conference

Below is a look at Jim Schwartz's comments from Tuesday's press conference. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)

On the offensive struggles: "I think the No. 1 thing that we failed to do on offense was fail to score and that was directly related to turnovers, particularly turnovers in the red zone. We had three non-scores in the red zone. If you face a tough opponent on the road, that's not a very good recipe to score. That game could look a lot different if we capitalize on those plays. I mean, the interception late, that's a fourth down play where it's not a bad decision as much as it is almost to have to try to make a play there. You can't throw an incompletion there, you've got to try to at least do something. But the two fumbles were critical breakdowns and you can't afford to do that."

On the change at receiver without WR Nate Burleson: "Well, Broyles plays in the slot, Tony Scheffler plays in the slot. Titus Young moves up and all those guys get more opportunities. I think one of the encouraging thing about our loss last night was to see guys like Titus Young and Ryan Broyles step up and make plays. Titus has been working hard to get there this year and I think that was a big step for him and Broyles has been doing the same. I think both of those guys stepped up and made some plays and I think those guys can help fill in the loss of Nate Burleson. We'll be able to replace Nate as a player, but Nate brings more than just his physical abilities to the field. Nate's a very good leader, a very good guy in the locker room. He'll still be around but we need also to pick that up on the practice field and in the locker room."

On where WR Ryan Broyles is physically: "I think after the bye week we never really even consider him an injured guy anymore. We haven't limited his practice time. He very rarely even wears a sleeve out on his knee at practice. We just view him as one of the other guys. He had to work through training camp, just like all our ACL guys, when Pettigrew had his and the other guys have had there's, we've had to sort of get them through training camp. But after we got to the season, particularly when we got that four, five days rest during the bye week, I think that was very beneficial for him."

On the fumbles by RB Joique Bell and RB Mikel Leshoure: "You never want to tell a guy don't fight for yardage, but yeah you have to be ball secure. Same thing with Joique. Joique was second and goal I think it was. It was second and goal from the 1 after the incompletion. That's not fourth and goal. You know, I think that there is a fine line there and you certainly don't want to slow guys down from being aggressive in a play, particularly in the red zone, ball security ball security is more important than that extra half-yard."

On having success in an up-tempo offense and implementing that earlier in games going forward: "Well we went to no-huddle a lot earlier in the game. Again, failed to capitalize on the opportunities we had to move the ball. I certainly don't want to make it seem like we were playing on air. Chicago Bears had a very good defense, played very well last night, so they made it very difficult on us. We could still move the ball. It's a little bit harder to, but once we do we have to capitalize on the scoring opportunities. Up-tempo, huddle, whatever it was, those didn't have a lot...we had more physical errors than we had tempo problems."

On keeping faith in the system and how to avoid letting thoughts of doubt the system from getting into the locker room: "I mean, the way you keep it from affecting you is you don't pay attention to it. The thing that matters most is how we deal about where we are and the analysis of what we need to do to get out and our ability to work through that. What we need is we need a win. But it's the NFL. We're judged on 16 games and we haven't had the start that we wanted. We're 2-4. But we certainly can't overreact to certain things. What do you do? Do you scrap a system because you fumbled it three times, you fumbled it twice, fumbled a punt. No. You keep on working. You emphasize ball security. You find a way to come out with a win and when you do then you start building on that. It's a disappointing loss, it's a road loss in the NFC North. Those are two big things for us. But the missed opportunities that we had, our defense kept us in the game a few times that they bent but didn't break. There's a few times that they came out with bad field position and held them out of field goal range. We blocked a field goal. Again, you can bounce it a million different ways and if that ball bounces a little different, you pick it up and score, you know, all of a sudden you feel a lot different about some of those things. But, we didn't. We have to deal with it. We can't overreact to it as well as underreact to it."

On how QB Matthew Stafford is a better quarterback this season than last season: "More experienced. Has been through more things. Every bit of experience helps you in this League."

On Stafford looking like he has regressed: "I wouldn't say he's regressed. I think as an offense we're working through some things right now. We're not clicking on all cylinders but we can. We have the firepower to do it and Matt's certainly capable."

On the biggest challenge going forward after being 2-4: "Our margin for error is a lot less. We have a lesser margin of error than we did a day ago. We need to put that one in its place; we need to move on to the next one. We can't dwell too long on this one. We have to put it in a spot and move on to Seattle. We have a home game coming up and we're a team that needs a win."

On RB Stefan Logan bobbling two balls yesterday and whether or not some things need to be changed: "Well I think the thing we need to try is be more ball secure. We talked about Leshoure. We talked about Joique, Logan. (TE Brandon) Pettigrew put in on the ground a couple of times. It was on the sideline but he put it on the ground a couple times. Chicago is a team that does a very good job of attacking the football. I think they led the NFL in forced fumbles. Even guys like Charles Tillman, who had a very good game, is very good at causing fumbles but we have to be more ball secure. We have to make better decisions as returners too. I think that's a big thing with Stefan. Little bit like we talked about with Joique on 2^nd and goal from the 1 or Leshoure fighting for an extra half yard. Logan can make plays for us. He's a very good returner. But there is also a fine line there between being over-aggressive and trying to make something out of a situation that might be better off with a fair catch. Or better off with a touchback. I think that is just as important as ball security with him."

On why he hasn't looked to WRs Titus Young or Ryan Broyles for returns: "We're still confident in Stefan. He's also made a lot of plays for us. Just last week he sparked us with a 48 yarder, a big return. He's made big plays for us. Those guys are certainly capable but we haven't lost any faith in Stefan Logan."

On S Amari Spievey's status: "He's out right now. The one thing I've learned with concussions is to have no expectations. If we get him back quickly, we get him back quickly. If we don't we're prepared to play without him. It used to be that the trainers for the doctors would tell you during the game, ‘hey so-and-so's being looked at with concussion or head injury,' and you'd ask a lot of questions like, ‘do you think they're going to be back?' I just learned to just say okay and just keep on playing the game. Time will tell."

On adding another safety: "Well we were with five safeties in the game anyways. I think we'll be okay there."

On if RB Jahvid Best concussion protocol will be same for Spievey: "I think he'll be watched very closely because of the way he finished last year, finishing with a concussion. But his protocol for return will be the same. He'll be evaluated the exact same way at least as far as I'm aware. I'm a little bit out of my lane just like when we talk about Jahvid."

On if DE Ronnell Lewis was a healthy scratch and if CB Bill Bentley is long term: "We tried to go as long in the week as we could with Bentley. But by the time we got to Sunday, it was obvious that he wasn't going to be able to go. We signed CB Justin Miller to have his depth there. We needed more speed to cover kicks. Not so much big guys, power guys. Ronnell fits that mode. We kept up S Ricardo Silva to play some of those. We also only kept up two running backs. Because of one of those spots being a cover guy, RB Joique Bell has been a cover guy. Because we only had two plus RB Stefan Logan, we tried to minimize their special teams role. So we needed more speed guys. It was that decision."

On whether or not offseason indiscretions have had an impact on the first seven weeks of the season: "I don't see that coming up. We talk about fumbles. I don't see how that carries over. We certainly want to avoid things like that. There are things that are distractions. We want to minimize distractions as much as we can. I think the team did a good job of moving on from those kind of things once we got to training camp. I think that our play on the field is what matters. And I think those things are in our past."

On the progression of DT Nick Fairley: "Well, he's got more reps and he's taken advantage of them. He's made more plays in the things we saw from him as a college player, tackles for losses and affecting the quarterback and things like that. I think he's shown a lot more of those things. He's had a streak where he's been healthy being able to practice and also play and, you know, we missed Corey (Williams) for a little while. Corey's back on the field and looks like he's back in his progression or back in a progression. But, you know, Nick certainly took advantage of that time and made some plays for us."

On the play of CB Alphonso Smith in his return to the team: "Yeah, Alphonso stepped in and did a nice job in there. You know, he's always been a very productive guy around the football. Had a couple big pass breakups. You know, some things he can do better but I thought, you know, based on where he was coming back I thought he really helped us out and made plays. A lot of times in that game we were playing to try and prevent Brandon Marshall from getting the ball and when we were doing that we put the pressure on Jonte Green, put the pressure on Alphonso Smith, put the pressure on our safeties, put the pressure on our linebackers. I thought that for the most part those guys did a pretty good job. There were a couple plays we could do better. Jonte missed a tackle on one where they finally went to Devin Hester on that, but we bent a little bit on defense but we gave up 13 points. Kept ourselves in the game until the last seconds."

On if P Nick Harris suffered an injury during the game: "Yeah, he just tweaked his knee a little bit but he was fine to go back in."

On addressing different reasons for why the game was lost: "You know, I think you look at things and you say, "Ok, what are the reasons we didn't come up with a victory and I think that the times we haven't won this year you can point to very specific reasons. I think if you're at a loss, if you can't understand or can't explain what's happened and if you don't have confidence in the guys' abilities to be able to put stuff like that behind them, then maybe you feel a different way. But we have confidence in our players. We have confidence that, you know, over the course of 16 games that they'll make those plays. Biggest thing is we have a home game this week against Seattle and we need to get that win. You know, I think we certainly have the capability of doing it as long as we learn from mistakes that we've made and we can put them behind us. You know, how many times you see Calvin Johnson drop a pass on the first series of the game? You know, I mean, that was a big one too. You know, he's got a great chance there to make a play and get free. We've all seen him break a tackle and run past the safety. You know, it's not just the other guys. I mean, there's a lot of other places. We missed a couple sacks. We had a chance to get Cutler down and Cutler's a very mobile quarterback. But all of us can play a little better and we can coach better and we can get out of it."

On if the slow starts to games are of concern: "Well, it's always a concern. You want to start fast. We certainly don't plan on going three and out on the opening drive or giving up a touchdown on the opening drive. But we've also made some adjustments in the game, you know, put ourselves in scoring position. Also found a way to get some stops. I mean, we came out in the second half, had a real good three and out, forced them to punt. Big momentum change with the fumbled fair catch and they were able to get a field goal off of that. We were able to hold on defense, but they still got a field goal out of it."

On what it means to "coach better": "Put the players in good position. I think everybody recognizes their role in things. I've said for a long time, coaches coach and players play. A coach's role is put guys in good position, you know, emphasize guys' roles and accentuate their positives. Try to minimize negatives. You know, that's our job on a weekly basis. We do that and we're doing that today. You know, we did it last week and we'll have to continue to do it, but we can do a better job of that just as the players can do a better job of executing physically."

On if he has spoken to Bill Ford Jr. at all about the team's start: "You know, I saw him on the sideline at the game last night. Have not seen him today. It's been obviously a short week and I think it's been difficult for all Lions fans and all, you know, anybody in the organization. But we all recognize what this League is. It's competitive every week and, you know, we haven't played our best. We play our best, we'll win and we certainly have time to be able to get out of it. Like I said, our margins are less now, but that doesn't change the task we have this week."

On a sense of urgency being a problem for the offense: "I don't think that's a problem at all. I mean, you know, I think that we certainly want to score and I think you could even flip it over the other way. Sort of like Tim (Twentyman) and Mike (O'Hara) were talking about, you know, maybe being a little over, pressing isn't the right word, but being over whatever. You know, I mean, you got the ball first down and you're fighting for an extra half yard, second and goal on the one and you're reaching the ball across. You know, things like that you can press a little too much to make plays and end up putting yourself in bad positions. So, you know, we certainly want to be aggressive, but we also don't want to turn the ball over early and you don't want to make mistakes early. I thought we've done a good job of weathering storms early. We've made some pretty good adjustments, but it just hasn't been enough right now."

On whether he feels Ndamukong Suh is being unfairly criticized for his sack on Bears QB Jay Cutler: "I mean, just seeing it from the field I would say that. I've seen it on film. I mean, you know, Cutler was hard to handle. He was doing a great job. He's a tough guy and he was scrambling around. Made a lot of plays with his feet. Ndamukong was able to get a hold of his shirt sleeve and had to get him down on the ground. I think that, you know, we've seen him be in the grass and being able to throw. We're going to try to get him on the ground the best we can and Ndamukong's a big, physical player. It's just part of the game. It was certainly, I mean, he wasn't in the pocket, we didn't hit him high, didn't hit him low. Just tackled him very hard."

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