Lions quotes: Thursday's comments from Jim Schwartz, Scott Linehan

Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan had to say after Thursday's practice. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)

LIONS HEAD COACH JIM SCHWARTZ QUOTE SHEET

On the process of finding TE Joseph Fauria: "It starts with our college scouts on the road and everybody gets involved at the end. He was a guy that we targeted. We liked what he did in the passing game. We made a strong effort to get him right after the draft. It was a good combination of our college scouts and coaches all working together. We recruited him hard. He's made a lot of plays since he's been here. He's got a long way to go. I don't want to put him in the Hall of Fame yet."

On if TE Dorin Dickerson is ready to play: "He got up to speed pretty quickly. He's another guy that's a veteran, but he's a young veteran. We'll just see how it goes when we get to Sunday and who the best combination of 46 works out to be. He's in that mix."

On if the team practiced inside or outside: "We were outside the whole time. It barely even rained. I would have lost my coaching card if we came in today. There would have been a lot of people rolling over if a couple of rain drops forced us inside. Obviously we aren't going to get any rain on Sunday. I think it benefits everybody to be outside. It helps us concentrate. You have to focus a little bit more and make sure you're under control. There are reasons to do it."

On DE Willie Young: "He's been focused. I think he's had more consistency than he's had in the past. I think that's a direct result of the focus that he has put in. He's always had talent, but it's been consistency that has been what he was working on. I think he's on the right track. We have a long way to go, but he's on the right track."

On balancing the practice squad with developmental players and a need for guys to practice: "There is a balance there, I don't know what the percentage is. You do have to be able to get through practice. Sometimes you have issues when you have certain positions that are down. We have a lot of guys that pull double duty. We have had defensive backs playing wide receiver. We had wide receivers playing defensive back. We have had offensive linemen playing defensive linemen and vice versa. When you get injuries over the course of the season, you just have to do things like that. It's not always ideal, but you do have to balance the positions of need with the talent and the guys that are in your plans to develop. We don't generally keep very many guys. We don't keep them for very long term if we don't feel like we could bring them up to the 53 at some point. Sometimes numbers force you to. The guys that are here long-term on our practice squad are guys that we could potentially call up on a Saturday if something happens where someone gets an injury or sick and you have to go to that practice squad."

LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR SCOTT LINEHAN QUOTE SHEET

On what he got out of WR Calvin Johnson in the last game was the expected result: "I think so. We knew going into the game that if he played, he wasn't going to play the whole game. We had some situations that we were factoring as to when he would be in and when he wouldn't. Some of it had to do with how he felt about certain routes. We moved him around, there were plays where we literally said, ‘Well, on this, we don't want him running certain types of routes.' We moved him, we switched him, put him at the ‘X' position or something like that. So we've done that before, it seemed to work out well. He didn't have as many plays by halftime as we thought he might, so he was able to play a little bit more in the second half. I think that was the right amount of plays that we expected to get out of him."

On why WR Ryan Broyles had a lot of snaps but not a lot of targets at Cleveland: "The ball's going to go where the coverage dictates. It has nothing to do with not targeting a player. A lot of times, you get certain looks and the ball's going to go somewhere else or a couple plays where I thought we ran a really good route and Calvin (Johnson) ended up being the first read on that play. That's going to come and I'm really happy with the progress that he's making as far as getting himself closer to where he was before he went out last year."

On if he ever envisioned TE Joseph Fauria having this kind of production as an undrafted rookie: "I've said it before, I sound like a broken record. He was very productive in college in a role because of his ability. He fits a lot of what we do too, offensively. He really has a really good all-around game. He's not just a Red Zone guy that catches fades and things like that. He can run the whole route tree. We're just real excited that we got him, regardless of whether he was an undrafted rookie or a first-rounder. He's embraced his opportunity here and his role and certainly been very productive for us."

On if Fauria is still learning to play with his hand down: "Maybe a little, because all the college tight ends are playing a little more spread-type offense where they're really in receiver alignments. I don't think it's unusual for him, he's played in different kinds of offenses. His hands are on the ground some, he's in receiver positions. I think his deal is the versatility he's shown being able to play inline tight end or play flexed out as a receiver. That gives him a little more flexibility for us in our offense."

On if TE Dorin Dickerson is up to speed enough to help the team and if he is a receiver and a tight end or just strictly a tight end: "He's a little bit of both. We had him in the Senior Bowl. He came in there as a wide receiver/tight end - move tight end, whatever you want to call it, H-back a lot of people use that term. We felt like he had that versatility then and our background with him there, and he played for Curtis Modkins in Buffalo and Curtis had that background as well. It's a little early to say what his availability is going to be. We don't make that decision until Saturday night anyways, but he's picking up things quickly and he has a nice skill set as well. He can really run and he's big enough to handle the blocking that you ask of a tight end in that role, so we'll see."

On what he saw out of WR Kris Durham in training camp and preseason to lead him to believe he would make an impact on the team: "I think Kris took advantage of every opportunity. He had some, not as many as others, in the preseason and I think you all were out here seeing him compete during training camp. He was fighting to make this football team. He knew there was a lot of competition at the receiver spot. We were real unsubtle as to who we were going to play and he just said, ‘If the Lions cut me, I'm going to make it really hard on them.' I remember him making that comment and he earned his spot on the team. His role never really changed. I just think we were working so many different combinations that when it was all said and done, he was playing as consistent a football as anybody for us through the camp and obviously it's paid off for him now and how he's playing for us here in the regular season."

On if Durham's one-handed catches in training camp led him to making the roster: "Making plays is what it's all about and receivers have to be able to do that to get on the field. That had probably everything to do with him being on the team to be honest with you."

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