 |
COLTS HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL
(on Chris Johnson's struggles)
You look at him and you can see that he is just as explosive as he has always been. He is one of those guys that certainly if he just gets a crack he can take it to the house. He has that speed and he certainly has deceptive power and obviously he can certainly catch it out of the backfield as well, I think he is their second leading receiver at this point. I see a dangerous, dangerous guy that still looks as fast and fresh as he always has.
(on what this season has been like after having so much success in the past)
There are no guarantees in this league, you know that. I have been around long enough to understand that every year is different, every year takes a lot of work and it's highly difficult. In terms of me personally, I don't get into all of that stuff. My personal feelings and all of those things don't matter. I'm more concerned about the guys that I coach, getting them to head in the right direction and trying to get this thing turned around, that's my impetus right now, that's my focus.
(on his relationship with Bill Polian and Chris Polian and how it has changed)
It's the same as it's been. Chris (Polian) is obviously more of the day-to-day things, he has taken over a few more of those controls in that regard. Bill (Polian), he is still around and helps out and gives us a little direction here and there and he is doing a few other things as well. Really nothing has changed that much except Chris has certainly taken over a bit more of the day-to-day activities.
(on if it's harder to put a blowout loss behind you than a close loss)
Well to me a loss is a loss and it doesn't matter…Sometimes the real tight games can be heart-wrenching and gut-wrenching and the whole bit and very difficult, and certainly the blowout losses can obviously, be tough to deal with and embarrassing and etc. They both are difficult to swallow. I think losses are always tough to get over but you have to put them behind you and move ahead.
(on Curtis Painter's improvement)
I think he has been showing some steady improvement, I really do think that. He is coming along, making progress, and when you think about it it's really the first time he has been able to get a great majority of the reps in a practice setting and preparation for games. You can see that from that he is growing, there is certainly a maturation process that settles in and a lot of that has to do with experience. Not only practice experiences, but also during the course of the game. I think he is gaining that rapidly and we are certainly seeing improvement every single day with him.
(on why Kerry Collins was placed on IR and how he took the news)
We had consultation with doctors and all of the necessary parties to make the decision and that was the best decision at this particular point in time. He is a competitor, you know that. He is one of those guys that is a die-hard, he is a throw-back, and he plays that game for all of the right reasons. Anytime it comes to an end, a season comes to an end like that, it's tough.
(on if teams have been better at neutralizing Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis since early games in the season)
Every game is different, obviously people go into the ball games and they look at those two guys and make some determinations on how they want to deal with them, and everyone has done it differently. Tampa certainly didn't do anything out of the ordinary and played their game and ran the ball and that was kind of their way of neutralizing things and there are other teams that go about it different ways. Those two guys are just two of another nine guys who are out there on the field who also have a job to do. What we have to be able to do is play good defense without necessarily depending on them to do everything for us. Those two guys are still a factor whether or not teams run the ball or throw it. Even though it may not show up that they got a sack here or got a sack there, they're still factors to deal with. These guys make plays for us all over the field and they continue to give us all they have.
(on the Colts run defense)
Well I think anytime you have some of those issues it's not just one problem. We have had some gap control issues and we certainly haven't tackled as well as we would like to. So those things kind of pop up on you from time to time. Overall, I think it's just an execution factor that if we do those little things right, the fundamentals and techniques, then we will be OK and we have let a few of those slip for time to time.
(on the Titans pass rush and their front four)
I do see a very active front four. They moved (Jason) Jones to the outside and he is long and he is active and he has a great motor. I also see (Jurrell) Casey inside who is quick and has very good movement, (Karl) Klug is obviously doing well, (Derrick) Morgan is doing well and all of those guys have two sacks a piece. They spread it out quite a bit, they just don't have one guy who at this point has nine sacks or something, which gets most folks attention. But they have it spread out across the board. I think they do a good job of rushing the passer and putting pressure on him so they still have to be blocked and you have to contend with them because otherwise they can certainly pressure you and overwhelm you.
(on if he thinks Peyton Manning will play again this season)
Well I think that's for prognosticators and you guys can do that kind of thing. You guys in your line of vision are looking way down the road and I'm looking right straight ahead with the team that we are facing right now. There has been no timetable set on Peyton's (Manning) return. It depends on what the doctors say and we will deal with that whenever it comes up. He is progressing, he is making progress, and obviously we are still focused in on trying to do what's important for us right now and that is to try to get a win and we play a very, very tough team on the road.
(on if he came into this season thinking that Jacob Lacey, Terrance Johnson, Kevin Thomas and Chris Rucker could be the second, third, and fourth corners on a championship caliber defense)
Well obviously going into the season you didn't benefit from any extra work that you get during the spring and things of that nature, but the guys all have ability and they just need experience and you learn things as time goes on and often times you learn through experiences out there on the field. I think all of those guys have some ability, we just have to get them to the point where they are playing well consistently. I don't think there is a question about it, it's a group of young guys with talent.
(on if Justin Tryon has better ability than some of the Colts' defensive backs)
Well one of the things we do from week to week is we take a look and we see who best fits for us at this particular time and make that assessment at that point it time and that's the same thing we did at this particular case, not to talk about him particularly, but we do that with all. There are a lot of guys you can say, 'doesn't this guy fit better or that guy better,' whatever it might be, but we have to make the decisions that are best for our football team and that's what we did in that particular case.
(on what he has seen from Matt Hasselbeck so far)
He is a guy that is certainly extremely experienced and a talented guy as well. He throws the ball accurately and I think he has thrown for somewhere around 62 percent. He can make big plays for them, you can tell he has a real good sense of their packages and how to get the ball into positions were their guys can catch it and run with it. He lights up when he gets the match-ups that he likes and he does a great job. I think overall he is one of those guys who has played enough that he doesn't have to think about reacting to certain defenses and looks and concepts, he knows how to attack them and that's really a sign of a true veteran, which he is.
(on how some of the veteran Colts players are handling the struggles this year)
Obviously, it's not easy there is no question about that. It's very difficult and guys get frustrated but the big thing about these guys is that even when we were winning often times it was tough and it was a struggle and so they are accustomed to struggles. This one is a little bit different because the outcomes certainly haven't been what we are accustomed to but all and all they are men of character and they hang in there and they do a great job of leading and veteran leadership. I think it is important not only when you are winning to sustain your winning ways, but also when things aren't going well, to get the ship righted. These guys are doing a great job and doing all they can to get that done.
(on how much of his job is now to "hold things together")
I think it's very easy when things are going well, I think that this is what coaching is all about here when things aren't going very well. Can you get them to hang in there, can you get them to fight through some adversity and overcome some things. It's part of it when you are winning. Charles Hash I think made the great statement, he was a great theologian and he was using this in reference to something else in the scripture in particular, but he said "you have to be able to exalt men without inflating them and humble men without debasing them." When times are going good and things are going well, you certainly tell them about the good things that they are doing, but not to the point where they get to be overconfident and egotistical because that can be damaging, but when things are not going well and you are not playing well, you have to tell them the absolute facts without necessarily tearing them completely down as well. It's that delicate balancing act I think in coaching that you have to be able to do in order to get things headed in the right direction.
(on getting the team to not listen about the future and having a high draft pick)
I think that it's something that with our guys they listen and they focus and they are not easily distracted. You certainly can tell that by a number of our older guys who have been around here for a long time because otherwise you couldn't put as many back-to-back streaks that we have been able to do over the years and the same thing holds true during this time when things are not going well. They don't get focused on anything other than the immediate future, the here and now. They don't get into the what-ifs and all the rumors and scenarios and things of that nature. They do you little good so what we try to do is keep them focused and I think we do a good job of that. It's always a battle, it's a never-ending fight.
(on what he knows about Mike Munchak and any characteristics he sees through six games)
I certainly knew quite a bit about him as a player, I came into Penn State after he had left but I was there for a number of years certainly Joe (Paterno) talked about him often and Fran Ganter and all the guys that were there, Dick Anderson. All of those guys who had coached him and worked with him over the years and obviously I had an opportunity to see him play professionally for a long time and see his toughness and he is smart and a great leader as well. I don't know him that well personally, I had a chance to spend a little time with him at the league meetings, he and his wife and my wife, we sat down and had dinner at the league meetings but other than that I haven't gotten to know him that well. I know he is a good football coach and over the years we have battles against his group and they have played very well. They are a tough, nasty bunch and I think that certainly reflects the kind of player that he was too. He was a very hard-nosed, tough individual that performed extremely well.
(on what they talked about at dinner)
For the most part, he was new on the job and at that point in time we don't talk about football, we are just kind of socializing more than anything else.
