Lions training camp: Jim Caldwell's quotes from Tuesday

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

Opening Statement: "We had a couple, I think, good, solid practices in a row. Today was another good, solid practice where we got a lot of work done, a lot of different situations covered, a lot of things to learn from. We got a lot of good film that we'll be able to go back and correct some of the mistakes and see if we can get the guys where they're crystallized a little bit more come Thursday night, but you know, thus far, it's been a good week of practice."

On how long the starters will play on Thursday: "It depends. Everybody is a little bit different. You know, some guys will go a little bit longer than others, so we will make that final determination after tomorrow's practice."

On WR Ryan Broyles' injury and if he has been ruled out for Thursday: "He has not been."

On if he expects Broyles to play: "He's not been ruled out. Let's put it that way."

On what kind of setback this is for Broyles: "Well, you know, it depends on how long it lasts. It's been a couple days, so we will see."

On what he would like to see from the starters on Thursday: "You know, to be honest with you, it sounds like it's kind of being evasive, but the fact of the matter is, they're all different. They're all at different levels. You know what I mean? Some guys, we want to see a little bit more, some guys we want to see a little bit less and we try to tailor it according to what we need to get done. We have to see a lot of the young guys obviously. I mean, that's what the preseason is for, you develop your own guys to get them a little bit better and certainly be able to function a little better, but then also to get an opportunity to look at some of the younger guys who we really don't know in game competition, so this is our opportunity to get an opportunity to see what they can do."

On how much he can learn from players in a game rather than in a practice: "Well, quite a bit because of the fact that now, they're working against people that they have not seen up to this point. Typically, they know what to expect out here after a while. They know what the scheme looks like, they have an idea of what stunts they may get, they have an idea for obviously working through the entire spring against a guy that's lined up across from them. They have a pretty good idea what his moves are, what his strengths are. This game is going to give us an opportunity to work against guys that we don't know that well, that we haven't taken an ordinate amount of time getting prepared for, so you'll see them adjust and adapt and that's important in this game, so that's the great part about it."

On Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi and the strides that he has made in his second year: "Well, you know, Joe (Lombardi) has always had a great grasp of the system. There's been no question about that. He knows and understands it extremely well and I think he's doing a great job. I thought he did a great job last year. You know, I'm not certain when there will ever be a time when I'll be apologetic about 11 wins. You know, we would like to have more and that's the key for us. We want to win, we want to win it all, but it's not like either he or Teryl (Austin) or Joe Marciano have to re-invent the wheel this year. They just have to do their job and it's all good."

On RB Ameer Abdullah's style of play: "You know, the style that we are looking for is one that can gain yards on the ground and one that can catch the ball when we throw it to them and run with it. He can do both. He also is a guy that will stick his nose in there in terms of pass protection, but he has a lot of ability, which you can see. Quick guy, but we're excited to get an opportunity to kind of see him against guys in this league other than the guys we practice against, so this should be fun coming up Thursday."

On the progress of the kick returning position: "It's a bit difficult to determine out here because of the fact that we just don't do a whole lot of live stuff in terms of the return game. We do the covering and that kind of stuff, guys catching the ball, we see how well they field it. We haven't had anyone that's had a problem fielding the ball, so we'll get a chance to see how quickly they hit the hole, what their vision is like in the open field, those kinds of things throughout the preseason. "

On the benefit of having former NFL C LeCharles Bentley speak to the team: "Obviously, you well know what he does. He has his own camp and those kinds of things, but I think most certainly, because some of our guys go to his camp, that he was really trying to take a look and see what we do, how we teach, how he can incorporate that with them. His teaching structure when he has those guys in the offseason probably more than anything else."

On G/C Taylor Boggs: "You can see that's he's a guy that plays with a lot of control in the middle. He's versatile, can play both center and guard. You can literally probably put him anywhere. He has a real good sense and understanding of our system and he functions well. He caught on quickly, which we find a lot of those offensive linemen are very smart guys, very cerebral and he's one of those, but he's also got that grittiness to get in there and perform well for us. We're excited about getting an opportunity to see him down in the trenches as well. He's done a nice job so far."

On the story about WR Ryan Broyles' decision to live on $60,000 a year: "You just made me aware of it, I have no idea. I'm not certain. I can't comment on it because I don't know the context of it or anything of that nature. I have to brush up on it maybe a little bit later."

On preparations for Thursday's game: "Meetings, walk-through kind of things, trying to get the guys ready. Checking in obviously to the hotel is kind of like an opportunity for us to walk through exactly what it would be in terms of our homes games. We do the great majority of it exactly like we do it, but the third game is where we match everything."

On if there's a particular unit that he's more excited to see in a game atmosphere: "No, they're all across the board. I think there's going to be a lot of really good opportunities to watch some of the young guys develop and play and play well hopefully. But, it'll be a real challenge for them too because the speed will be a little bit different than what they've been accustomed to, so it's always great to see the guys that can adjust and adjust quickly. That goes for every single unit that we have going out there, kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return, the whole gambit."

On his relationship with the offensive and defensive coordinators: "Both guys are smart guys. Both guys have - Teryl's (Austin) been a coordinator before, Joe's (Lombardi) certainly been involved in it enough to know the ends and outs of it and we just try to talk about the things in order of how we do things. That's difficult for all of them because of the fact that we don't necessarily practice exactly how they practice at either organization (Baltimore or New Orleans). It was more from an organizational standpoint than anything else. Everybody had to get accustomed to it except the guys that were with us through the years in Indy. Even they had to change a little bit because it was a big adjustment as well."

On if Lombardi is still calling the plays this season: "Yeah. I'm not certain why it would be even a question. Nothing changes."