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Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz had to say after Friday's win over the New York Jets. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
On the turnover ratio: "Well, it's something that we've talked about since the beginning of the offseason and just evaluating last year and some of the other things. We knew that we needed to protect the ball a little bit better but, more than anything, we need to be able to create some turnovers and saw it on the very first series. Then later, Devin (Taylor) did a good job of getting the ball and had a couple other opportunities. (Glover) Quin had a ball in his hands and he ended up getting hit pretty hard and the ball came out. But we had some other tipped-ball opportunities where we were close on some other plays."
On the impact of RB Reggie Bush on WR Calvin Johnson: "Yeah, I mean, you know, there weren't very many light run boxes like we'd normally see. So we were going to have to take the ball outside and we were going to have to throw it. The Jets are always a tough run defense. I don't think this year's going to be any exception. They're a physical team. They made it very, very difficult to run the ball; made it very difficult on third down. We had a hard time on third down, too. They're going to be an outstanding defensive football team."
On DE Ezekiel Ansah's play and if he saw signs of that in practice: "We saw signs of it in college. I know a lot of people were looking at us sideways when we drafted a guy that didn't have a whole lot of experience and that was sort of the buzz around him. But you need to watch the tape. He made plays like that in college. He's very good on draws and screens, reverses. Things that inexperienced players would generally struggle with. But he's a good, natural athlete and he just has a background. He's played a lot of sports, played basketball, he's run track. We certainly weren't surprised by it."
On if he got what he wanted out of the first-team offense: "We got a good drive and scored on the one. We want to score and protect the football - I think that was important. We're not going to score a touchdown on every single drive. It's hard to be satisfied unless you do, but it's just the NFL. I thought they did a good job moving the ball around and protecting the football and getting us in field goal range and our field goal kickers converted. That was the difference in the game, particularly when it got late and it went from a one-score game to a six-point game to a nine-point game."
On the overall performance of the special teams units: "Yeah, much improved punt game. Very good hang time by both Blake (Clingan) and Sam (Martin). Coverage sort of went hand-in-hand with that. It's a lot easier to cover when they're hitting the roof with those punts and then kickoffs, they weren't going to bring them out. Even when they brought them out, some of them on Håvard in the second half, his hang time was good enough. It gave guys time to get down there and cover. We were at the bottom in just about every kickoff category last year from kicking, touchbacks and depth and things like that. Same thing with the punter. It looks like we'll be much improved in both of those positions."
On how important it is to get them nine-yards deep: "Well, I think you still have to be ready for guys bringing them out. I think last year there were a bunch of people that brought them out nine-yards, I think in the Super Bowl somebody brought one out nine yards and scored. It's no guarantee that it's going to get downed. But it makes it very difficult for them. It wasn't just the depth, it was the hang time and the combination of both of those was very important. But, again, like talking about Ziggy and we weren't surprised by him, that's why we drafted him. We weren't surprised by that, that's why we drafted Sam (Martin). So affirmation of what we saw, not being surprised."
On coming out healthy: "Yeah, I mean, it didn't look like it was anything serious. We're going to have a few guys that are going to be limited, things like that. But we've been fortunate to be able to get through without some major stuff."
On DE Willie Young's performance today and if he's taking a mental step: "We'll see when the season happens. Willie's done some good things. He played the run very well and I thought that was something that he's definitely improved on."
On if there is a competition between placekickers and how impressed he was with Rugland: "Everybody on our team is competing for a spot. We don't have anybody that's out here just buying time. He's working hard to improve, he is an improving player. I thought his kickoffs were good. Like I said, I thought his hang time was good. He had two field goals. His first one didn't look real pretty, but he hit the second one. The second one he had a good hit. Hit the thing good and it was 50 yards and you need to be prepared. We talk all the time about having depth at different positions and things like that. It's not often that you have to talk about having depth at place kicker or punter, but I think both Håvard and Blake (Clingan) - both of those guys are potential, quality NFL players and I think both of them have had good camps and they're both in the mix for us."
On the secondary: "That was our second and third group that went out. It was, I think, that third series after the other guys had gone out. We have a couple guys like (Ron) Bartell that we held out of this game; and then Jonte Green and (Chris) Greenwood we held out of this game. We went from our, I guess you'd say, our first group, sort of bypassed our second group in a lot of those ways. That's one thing we probably need to improve. We had some holes back there and there was some plays that they threw in where we should have been strong and they made some plays. We got tempoed with that group. That was their first series. A lot of guys, they were fairly inexperienced and things like that. They went fast-tempo and I think that unsettled those guys a little bit. That's stuff that they have to learn from and they will with experience."
On the offensive line: "You never get a free pass when you play Rex Ryan and the Jets. I mean their 46 defense and four weak and all kinds of blitzes and stuff like that. Quarterbacks had to hang in there, offensive line had to do a good job. We took a couple sacks, quarterbacks had to move around a little bit, but I think we held our own on the offensive line."