Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell had to say on Monday. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
Opening Statement: "We had a chance to look at the film and evaluate it. There's that old saying, you're never as bad as you think you are when you lose, you're never as good as you think you are when you win. So, we had a good chance to look at a number of different things. There were a lot of things we did well, but in every category, I think we certainly can improve. That's the great thing about starting on the positive side of the ledger. We can get some good, solid teaching done. And because we have a host of things that we have to make certain that we get corrected, but overall I thought our effort was good. I think the guys did a good job for a first game."
On what stood out in terms of needing correction: "Everything. There's nothing that we were satisfied with. We should be able to play better and do better in every single area and category. That's the thing that we were really trying to stress. It happens early on in the season. You should make your greatest amount of improvement between your first and second game. We intend to see that through."
On if there is any update on CB Bill Bentley and T LaAdrian Waddle's health status: "Not at this time. We'll have something before the day is out. Guys are still be evaluated and treated and things of that nature. ‘Update for us meaning me and our staff and our organization. That doesn't necessarily mean you, but whenever it does happen where something significant happens, we'll let you know as well.'
On how concerned he is about the depth at tackle: "It remains to be seen yet. Obviously, any time that you have one person that may be questionable, you have to look at it and be ready to make some adjustments."
On facing tough injuries: "I do think the honest side of it is the fact that with each and every game in this league, there's always going to be instances when you have injuries. There's a 100-percent injury rate, so it shouldn't be uncommon for anybody, for me, or anyone else in this room. When things do happen like that, there's going to be things that we have to make adjustments in order to fill out the depth that we have and the people that we work with. So, that's why we're evaluating right now to see what we have to do in that regard."
On S Jerome Couplin and CB Nevin Lawson's performances last night: "I thought they got some very needed experience and I thought they hung in there pretty well. Lawson, obviously, had an opportunity to play one of the better receivers in this league (WR Victor Cruz) in the slot. I think he faired decently. It's a very challenging situation for him, but I think he learned a lot and we hope he continues to grow."
On the potential of Lawson having a day-to-day position: "There's a lot of different hypothetical situations that we could probably come up with. Until it's absolute reality, we'll have a plan. The young guys that we have in position that are backing up those spots are very capable. At least in my 14 years in this league, typically, in this case now 63 guys, that you have on your active roster and then in your practice squad. At some point in time they help you. Guys are brought up, guys are back down, things of that nature. Every single one of them plays a pretty valuable role sometime in the course of the season. Sometimes it happens early, sometimes it happens late. That's why you have that particular group of guys that you're always working with. You keep trying to get them better, just in case something does indeed happen, so that you can make an adjustment. Then also some are in position that we do anticipate that they're going to accelerate and be a part of our plans as well. Certainly, it's a possibility."
On CB Mohammed Seisay and why he wanted to keep him on the Practice Squad: "Length, speed, toughness and potential. He's got a big upside."
On S Isa Abdul-Quddus' performance last night: "I thought he did a nice job. One of the things about him is the fact that he's been around a little bit. He's a guy that, without question, went into that ballgame with a sense of having been there before. He played steady and played well. He played with confidence. It's not like he went in and set the world on fire and obviously everybody's got to improve, but I do think he functioned as if he was a guy that knew what he was doing and knew how to get it done. It doesn't mean he did things exactly right every single time, but it was great to see him do well."
On the Carolina Panthers' defense and what challenges they present: "A host of them. Obviously, with (Greg) Hardy on one side, he's guy that can get up the field. Their front four is a talented group and then they have possibly one of the best middle linebackers in all of football (Luke Kuechly). I had an opportunity to play against him last year in Baltimore and the guy is active. He's a great quarterback for them, he gets everything set, he's very crafty, he'll hit you and he's got ball skills. Overall, it's a really good defense and we're certainly going to have to get ourselves ready to go to handle that crew."
On QB Matthew Stafford's decision making during last night's game: "I do think that Matthew did a tremendous job in terms of making good decisions. I think you saw him spread the ball around quite a bit. I thought he did a nice job of not forcing the ball. He did take some check-downs that ended up being pretty sizable plays for us. One in particular to Reggie (Bush), he dumped it down to Reggie after kind of stepping up in the pocket and Reggie made a significant gain out of it. I think he did a lot of those things really well. I think he got us into the right plays in terms of the running game. I think he managed the game well when we had to eat up the clock. We ate the clock up. When we had to get the ball out quickly and step our tempo up a little bit, he did that as well. And, he threw the ball accurately, which is certainly important. Anytime you get over 60-percent in terms of your third down conversion, that's pretty good in this league. Overall, I thought he played well and I think the numbers indicated such."
On the team's Domestic Violence Policy: "Yeah, our policy has always been the same and always will be the same in that regard. We do have a zero tolerance policy and one of the things we want to make certain of is that we do things the right way and that's key to us. How we act on and off the field, how we represent this organization, how we represent the Ford family, how we represent the National Football League and we don't believe there's any place for domestic violence."
On WR Golden Tate's Impact: "He does provide I think some great leadership, I think from a standpoint that he certainly understands winning and knows how to win, but he's a guy that has talent, a unique catching radius, but he also brings a lot of enthusiasm and competitiveness. He's a highly-competitive guy and I think all of those things really help us set a great standard I think in the room. I think Calvin (Johnson) does a tremendous job of that and Golden's right there as well. I think they form a pretty unique combination because of the fact that as time goes on you're probably not going to see either one of them singled up a whole lot in the ball game and I think when that does indeed happen it's going to open up phases of our game at that point, but Golden has done a very nice job and you can see he's pretty versatile. Ran him on a reverse, quick screen down the field. He caught several different passes targeted six times, caught all six, pretty valuable guy."
On his first game with WR Calvin Johnson: "It was a lot of fun, I tell you that. It was a lot more fun than being on the other side trying to figure out how you're going to defend him that's for certain. I've been on that side all too often. You know one of the great things about him is the fact that he'll rise to the occasion, he's going to make plays for you and he's hardly going to say a word. Maybe the humblest superstar that I've ever been around in my life and quite a man. I really admire him."
On DE George Johnson's play: "Well often times during the preseason sometimes it's rather difficult to determine how a guy is going to function once they start the games that count. He was one of those guys. He showed glimpses of it in the spring, he's certainly established himself in the fall during preseason and thus he's also carried over into the regular season. He's active, he poses a threat in terms of pass rush and he hustles in plays all out on every snap, so we've been pleased with him up until this point and I know he'll continue to improve because he's hungry."
On T Corey Hilliard responding well: "One of the things I think you'll recall early on when everybody was debating about who you're going to start this week at tackle or what about this week during the preseason, we were going back and forth and everybody was concerned about whether or not we had any depth at that spot. What we said to you was the fact that really it's a very, very close race and those guys are very talented guys as a matter of fact I was chided on the fact that I've said Corey was fast but never the less these guys have ability and I do think that he stepped in and did what we thought he could do. He can play, he's active, he's agile, he's smart and I think you'll see him continue to improve.
On the team's penalty-free second half: "It's pretty obvious after you talk about an issue and it's pretty plain. We just simply pointed out the fact we gave them four first downs and the points that they were able to get in the first half were due to extended drives due to penalties. It's not very complicated and I think the guys did a nice job of going from eight to zero, which is unusual. Now, don't think that's something that happens often because it doesn't typically you're going to see one of two in a half even in the best of situations, but they were able to do a nice job. I was proud of that and once they did it, obviously we stopped giving up yards and made it a bit more difficult for our opponent."
On DE George Johnson dropping back in coverage: "You're correct, but it's part of the scheme. You don't run the scheme unless you have guys that can execute it that created the pause. If he was a guy that wasn't athletic enough to drop in space and be able to cover a particular area of the field, couldn't move his feet, didn't have athleticism and balance in those situations to be able to function in space, we wouldn't drop him. He's a factor in both areas. He is that kind of guy that can certainly handle those responsibilities."
On his decision to deactivate both WR Kevin Ogletree and WR Ryan Broyles: "It's not really complicated. Each and every week, what we do, we take a look from an offensive standpoint at what best suits us for this particular game with the personnel we are dealing with. There are some times where the personnel group that we plan to spend the most time in will determine who is up or down in our situation. That was the situation this week. We still believe both guys are talented, both guys can be very effective for us and I would not doubt that at some point in time you're going to see them contribute. But, that's basically what it boils down to."
On what he liked about WR Corey Fuller that made him keep him on the active roster for the game: "He gave us a number of routes and things that we had kind of planned in the way in which we did them that requires someone to take the top off the defense and those kinds of things. He's not a one-dimensional guy, he's a multi-talented guy and we like the way that he has grown and developed. He gives us some balance within our unit as well, so that we've always got a speed guy in there that can get up the field and threaten you every snap."
On how he will prepare with a short week: "The difficulties are that it's a short week but it's a different type of short week because you just played, literally last night and then sometimes depending on how long the game goes it's this morning. What you have to do is look at your squad, make some assessments in terms of how you work, and that requires a little work. That have maybe a day ahead start on you, but you know, we started working on them a little bit early like we always do. Every team we try to bump ahead just a little bit just to give us a chance to be ready for this week. But, it poses challenges for you in terms of practice time. It's not your regular flow because you don't have your Monday that you typically have as well as posing an issue from a health standpoint as well. One extra day to get a guy who is a little banged up, healthy, we don't have that luxury. So, it does affect you in all of those areas."
On how to avoid a letdown after a strong victory: "I think teams that, when you talk about letdowns, are teams that have been on an eight or nine-game winning streak. We've only won one game. It's the first game of the season. I'm not certain that there is such thing as a letdown for us. We have to keep improving and I think that you'll see that our guys will go out and try to do that."
On what S James Ihedigbo will add if he is able to play this week: "Same thing we talked about early on with him; leadership, he does a great job of spreading the knowledge that he has. There's not much that he hasn't seen. He's tough, he covers ground and he's a factor in in both the run and the pass."
On why there was no music in the locker room following a victory: "I'm not sure why. It's not anything that I've discouraged or anything of that nature. You've noticed that we play music at practice, albeit, some that they may not want to listen to, but we play it."
On what he thought about being able to have WR Calvin Johnson on his team rather than playing against him: "Well, I've seen him quite a few times be extremely dominant. I do recall once, I believe Alan Williams could probably tell you because he was coaching the secondary: We had about three guys around him on one play and he goes up between all three of our guys and comes down with it while everybody was jumping for it. So, I've seen him in some dominant situations and believe it or not, coaches do watch ESPN highlights every once in a while and he's been on them for quite some time for a number of years. It's great to have him don't get me wrong, but don't think that when he's catching those balls and making a difference for your team it doesn't have a little bit different feel to it. I think all of us felt that way. As a matter of fact, I do recall that someone stepped over to me and said, "Boy, I'm glad he's on our side," after the catch he made in the end zone where he laid out and pulled it in. He gives you some advantages."
On what he thought about QB Matthew Stafford's decision to throw the ball across the field to Calvin and his decision making in general: "As you well know, you all have covered football for a long time, typically a throw like that could end up in the hands of the opponent. But, he had a clear vision of the field, knew exactly what he was doing and he put it in a place where it was out of harm's way. There was nobody on the backside that he was concerned about, so he threw the ball where it was our ball or nobody's ball. I think it was a heck of a throw and when he's playing well he's tough to handle. He's multi-talented. I also think that he did a good job in terms of making proper throws and not creating situations where they could have been picked off and otherwise. He did a nice job, we'll see if we can keep that going."