Jim Caldwell's quotes from Wednesday

Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell had to say on Wednesday. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)

Opening Statement: "Short turnaround for us this week and I'm not certain that we're going to be able to go outside. It looks like it's coming down pretty good, but hopefully we'll get a window in there maybe. If not, we'll work inside. It's a big day for us. We're getting ready to play a talented team. Carolina does an extremely good job in all phases on both sides of the ball. They're very strong and tough and they have a hard-nosed defense, with a fine middle linebacker (Luke Kuechly). Their perimeter guys can run and hit. They certainly have a great pass rusher in (Greg) Hardy. Then, from an offensive standpoint, they can certainly control the line of scrimmage. They can eat that clock up and they can put points on the board. They have a quarterback (Cam Newton) that can hurt you in a number of different ways, by throwing it, but also running it. I think he's ran for over 2,000 yards since he's been in the league, which is more than any other quarterback since that time, and has scored 28 touchdowns. He's a factor and a big one at that. He's a guy with great leadership qualities that we'll have to contend with. (Greg) Olsen is a very fine tight end that they have and (Kelvin) Benjamin is a big guy on the outside that can certainly give you some problems. Their kicking game is good and solid and they're well coached."

On T Corey Hilliard and his toughness: "Corey's an unusual guy. He's really tough-minded, mentally. He hung in there and despite a very difficult situation, he just kept going and did a nice job. He not only kept going and survived, but he thrived, he excelled during that time period. We certainly were appreciative of him and he did a nice job for us."

On how it fuels the team when they see a teammate play injured: "I think it sets a great precedent. I don't think there's any question about that. I think all of those guys have that kind of mentality. As you guys know, if you spend any time around them, they're a different breed. They have a great leader at the apex of it right in the middle. Dom (Dominic Raiola) has been around the League a long time. He does a great job in terms of indoctrinating all of our young guys and even our older guys that have come into the program. He's just tremendous. Jeremiah Washburn and Bobby (Johnson) and Hef (Terry Heffernan) and those guys do a great job getting those guys prepared. They know how to hang in there. They know how to battle, they're tough. We were at one point in the game where (Brandon) Pettigrew was ready to go in there and play some tackle if need be because we had gotten to that point. Corey was a quality guy for us in every way."

On if he expects T LaAdrian Waddle to be available on Sunday: "Check the injury report and we'll see how that goes during the course of the week."

On why the team brought back T Garrett Reynolds: "Obviously, it was very close in terms of when we were making up the final numbers and whether he'd be with us or not. The great thing is was that he was still available, which we feel fortunate about in that regard. He knows our system. He has a good feel for what we do and how we do it. He has the ability to play both inside and out. That makes him extremely valuable."

On solidifying the secondary: "We have a number of alternatives. At this point, we are where we are. (Nevin) Lawson is still going to slide in and bump up and we're in good shape. We'll hand out a depth chart a little bit later in the week after we filter things out a little bit."

On who worked workout today: "You know I'm not going to divulge any names or anything but that's something that's not unusual if you look at us I think every week you're going to walk by you're going to see someone in there working out because just like situations that we're in right now. We're trying to stay ahead of the game a little bit. So we work guys to get a feel for them and see where they fit in and if they fit in and if not we'll put them on a list and sort of categorize them and see if we have a need later on they may be able to fill."

On signing a corner or safety: "It's a possibility."

On signing CB Champ Bailey: "We haven't ruled out anything or made any promises to anybody and obviously we're constantly looking to try to obviously try to improve our situation."

On T Cornelius Lucas possibly playing right tackle: "Well, you know, obviously I think he's a guy that's certainly learning and we feel good about him, there's no question about that and I think if called upon he can get in there and he'll play and he'll play well. He's been working at it, he has talent and ability, he's long, he's got toughness. So, I've been in a situation where we've played with a number of young lineman from time to time sometimes even in the first ball game and they're insulated I think in terms of guys around them that knows exactly what they're doing, but he's a smart guy, so if he had to play for us we'd feel good about it."

On zero dropped passes against the Giants: "Well, you know, we've always believed that if one catches about 100 balls a day that you are going to improve. Now the good Lord has blessed us with hand-eye, I mean, there are some portions of it there's only so far you can go, but I've learned over the years and through working with receivers in the passing game that if one really sticks to that you'll find that they'll improve in that regard, which I think is extremely important. The other reason is because of the fact that this is a league where you're going to have to be able to throw the ball in order to move and be effective in terms of an offensive a unit, and if we have a basis for that in terms of trying to make certain that it doesn't happen. We have a quarterback, we have guys that can run, we got to make certain all those guys that can run can catch and you know we really tried to stress that part of it. One drop is too many."

On getting players to catch 100 balls a day: "Yes, and often times you'll see maybe that's before practice you'll see some guys working after AACT, you'll see some guys working anytime there's a break when they're not in trying to get their 100 a day. You'll also probably notice that every time we run a passing drill, someone asked me the question a few weeks ago, every time we run a passing drill, typically you run a 7-on-7 drill whatever it might be, and there's one ball throw. So, there's one guy that catches the ball. So, every single time you'd do that there's a lot of wasted opportunity, so what we do is we try to put a ball in a number of guys hands so you see a lot of balls flying toward the end of our 7-on -7 because we want to make certain that every guy that releases for a pass has an opportunity to get that ball in his hands. So, rather than 20 plays and you may have a guy that gets five and somebody else gets seven and so forth, every single guy gets a ball in his hands. I think that's a point of emphasis for us and I think obviously we're heading in the right direction." 

On if the eight-man fronts were the reason his team struggled running the ball or rather a lack of execution on his team's part: "It's probably a little bit of both. To be honest with you, I'd certainly be a bit on edge if we played a perfect game, it doesn't happen. If we blocked everybody that we're supposed to block and blocked them well, running up and down the field, doing everything right on both sides of the ball, so there are always going to be things that you have to work on. There are also going to be things when you are dealing with a team that has strengths, which sometimes their strengths are going to force you to do something a little differently. We threw the ball pretty well and I think Matthew (Stafford) did a nice job spreading the ball around bit but they made it difficult for us. They have some pretty good guys up front. The thing that we didn't do that I think Joe (Lombardi) did a great job of is that we were patient with it. I think we may have tried to run the ball thirty times. Typically in a ball game like that, where it's a little bit sticky early on, a lot of people get away from it and you end up running the ball 14 and 12 times, where that's not enough. Sometimes it happens to you because the score forces you to do something more out of necessity and not by design. But in this particular case he was nice and patient and it paid off for us at the end of the game, particularly that last drive. That 12-play drive was a thing of beauty."

On his thoughts about Carolina's running game: "They can run the ball. They are physical up front and they can run it at you a variety of different ways. Whether Cam is in there or not, they can do a great job of running downhill. They have enough different scheme variety to attack any defensive look that you give them. They know exactly what they're doing. Then, you add Cam (Newton) to the mix, where he is also a threat anytime he fakes a handoff or gives it and starts to stretch on the perimeter, you have to pay attention to him. He can certainly do some damage as well, so yes, they're running game is tough and hard-nosed.  I also think that the run sets up the pass for them and they can hurt you with play-action as well."

On if he is preparing for both quarterbacks to play: "Well, I fully anticipate that Cam will be in the game for them and if not, we will be ready and we'll prepare. They're going to run basically the same scheme, they haven't changed their scheme. Whatever work that we're doing is going to be able to translate to both."

On his thought about DT Nick Fairley's play against the New York Giants: "He made some plays for us, did a nice job on the interior and made it tough for them to run. I think when you start to see that a team has to throw a little bit more than they like that he did a nice job in there. He put some pressure on the quarterback when he was blocked one-on-one. I think he's certainly playing better."

On how much it pleases him seeing Fairley and DT Ndamukong Suh playing well together: "They can be a really dominant rotation. You add CJ (Mosley) in the mix, it's a pretty formidable group. They have energy, which is good, it's been positive energy. We just need to be able to keep that going."