Injury Report:"(DE) Brandon Graham has a shoulder strain and he had an MRI on it, so that's what came out of that. It was really more of a spasm strain in that area, so he should be okay. And then, (T) Austin Howard has a low back strain. Everybody else is ready to go. Both of the guys with concussions, (LB Stewart) Bradley and (QB Kevin) Kolb will be ready to roll."
Opening Remarks: "There were some good things and some bad things from this game. I think it was a mixture, I mentioned last week, a game of two halves. This was very similar in the fact that we were down 17-7 at one point, we came back, and then they came back and we had to hang on to it right at the end. There are some good things for young players to take out of that and learn, as far as you must play in the National Football League, four quarters of intense, aggressive, knockout, knockdown-drag out football. And if you didn't know it before you came into the game, you knew it coming out of that game. Offensively, we did some good things offensively, and there are plenty of things that we need to work on. Again, that was a bit of an up and down game for us. We definitely need to handle the blitz better. I didn't think we did a good job of it. They were giving us overload blitzes. We have to recognize the overload blitzes. We have to make plays. We have to redirect the line. I have to make sure I give the players an opportunity with the play calls where the quarterback can get the ball out of his hand quick in order to hit the receiver. We have explosive receivers, but they were coming up and going to play a physical game with us on the outside. And it's important that we win on the outside, but that I also at the same time give them an opportunity to win. I didn't think I did a very good job at that part of it. I thought (QB) Michael (Vick) did some good things. Like I said yesterday, I'm very proud of him. It's a true testament if you work hard, you keep your nose clean, good things can happen, and he's worked very hard at doing both those things. I'm just proud of the way he led the football team yesterday. He made some plays that I thought were unique and things that he can do in his game. (RB) LeSean McCoy, again, there's a kid that came in as a rookie, needed to add more strength, he added more strength in the offseason, really bought into the offseason program, worked his tail off, and it's showing up now. He's going out and he's running more physical. He's more deliberate and accurate with his cuts, seeing the daylight and getting North and South, which you have to do in this league. Going sideways in this league, like he did a little bit last year, doesn't work. So, he learned, he got stronger, and it paid off for him. And then, (WR) DeSean (Jackson) added a few big plays on the end route at the beginning there, was able to take it the distance. The thing that probably gets (overlooked) there, is (WR) Jeremy Maclin had a phenomenal block. There's nothing harder in the National Football League than blocking in space when you're out in the open and that defender has three directions he can go. And Jeremy locked on him, had his hands tight, his feet moving, his head up, and ended up giving DeSean an opportunity to score a touchdown there. Defensively, the positives obviously were the interceptions. (S) Nate (Allen) had another nice interception. It just so happened on that first drive. And then, (CB) Ellis Hobbs who I think they went in, and were going to try to key on with number 81 (WR Calvin Johnson) and Ellis did a good job of playing good, tight coverage on a very big, physical receiver. He's a tremendous player, Calvin, and I thought Ellis did a fine job on him, and then ended up getting the interception; for the labors of his hard work he was able to get that. And then, Brandon Graham got his first sack which is a good thing. I thought (DT) Trevor (Laws) and (DE Juqua Parker) did a nice job of putting pressure on the quarterback several times and (Juqua Parker) was awarded a sack, which he's done a good job with, again it went just like our score went. So, we didn't start off doing very well defensively, then we picked it up and the offense picked it up, and then we had a little bit of a letdown in the fourth quarter, there. We have to do a better job, and (defensive coordinator) Sean (McDermott) will tell you this, of putting guys in the right position, and then executing when you're in that position. Tackling and blocking are still two of the most important things in this league and we can do a better job tackling, getting off blocks, getting to the ball-carrier, staying square when you need to stay square, fundamental football. Special teams, it was good to see our kickoff coverage improve. I thought the guys flew around, played very physical, which was one of the challenges given to them. I think you can draw everything up the way you want to draw it up, but the bottom line is you have to play physical football on your coverage teams. And you have to get down there, and you have to be relentless to the ball and to the tackle, and I thought our guys did that. I thought (P) Sav (Rocca) punted strong. He's doing a heck of a job there. He kind of tweaked his hamstring a little bit in practice. He got that worked out and went out and did a nice job, didn't let that bother him. And then, (K) David (Akers) on his kickoffs, he's driving that football. It was neat to see him finish stronger than he started. So, here he had a few opportunities to kickoff, that last one, he put that thing deep in the end zone. I thought he did a nice job. So, all in all, there are plenty of things that we can work on. I understand that wins are very hard to get in the National Football League, so we'll take the win; it's a lot better than the other part. But, there are a lot of things we need to get better at, and that's what we're going to do this week. We're going to jump right on them. We don't hide a thing from the players. Players have been trickling in today and looking at the tape. And so, we're here to teach and that's what we're going to do with them. And these guys, one thing they have is a tremendous amount of energy and they want to be better and learn. So, I think that's a good combination."
On the inability of the defense to stop Detroit RB Jahvid Best up the middle: "I think you can probably, those three things or the three things that I mentioned, here, I think all three of them go together; working downhill from the linebacker position, staying square upfront, fighting the pressure off of the tight ends block with the defensive end rallying to the football. When we're out at practice, the defense is in white shirts, and we always talk about white shirts around the football, which is important, especially when you're dealing with an explosive guy, not a huge size, strength guy, but an explosive, elusive player. You have to get yourself around the ball, and that takes everybody. So that takes a scheme. It takes a defensive line, linebackers, and secondary to make sure that they squeeze that thing and make the field smaller for him, and we need to do a better job there on all of those."
On whether the young players need to learn to play four quarters:"I keep my ears open down there, and I heard the veteran players saying it, but it's everybody bringing it together. Offensively, you can't stall. Okay, if you have 28 points on the board, then you need to get more and more, you get 35, you have to get more, and you have to have just an absolute greedy, greedy attitude. And so, when the offense stalls and the defense allows things to happen, that's a bad combination; you're setting yourself up for trouble. And when you look at it offensively, the best way to establish it is you stay on the field, maintain, keep the football and score. You have penalties lined up in there where you're backing yourself up in those kinds of situations, you have problems, big time problems. And that's something we can learn from. What it does, it starts taking that energy that you had and ripping it apart. You should never let that happen as a football team."
On whether handling the blitz is more of a physical problem or a mental problem:"Well, this is what I'll tell you is, they were bringing more than you can block several times. Now, we normally don't see that quite as much as what they were doing. They felt they had to do that. And so, with that I have to make sure that I give the quarterback an opportunity to get the football out of his hands, and I can help him with play calls in that type of a situation. And then, there were times where we didn't handle the blitz the right way. Maybe we weren't pushing the line the right way and communicating that thing all the way across, and so that can be a problem. So, it's not one person, it's not one position, it's all of us on that thing doing a little bit better. I have to give them credit. They were willing to get up there and do that, but that should never be able to happen to us."
On whether having C Jamaal Jackson's experience calling protections is missed: "Listen, I will go back and say this, it's not one person. It wasn't always the center's problem, there. There were times when the right calls were made and we just didn't execute in different areas. And like I said, I can do a better job of helping the guys out with that and you can do some of that by getting the ball out a little quicker."
On how C Mike McGlynn played against Detroit: "I thought he did some real good things. He's strong in there. I thought he was, for the most part, accurate in his calls. (There are) a couple he would like to have back, but I thought he was accurate with his calls, especially with all that garbage that they showed in there. That's a tough first venue to jump into. But I thought he did a pretty good job."
On whether he is planning to keep McGlynn at C and C/G Nick Cole at RG:"Yes. I'm not sure what you're saying."
On whether there is a chance Cole could move back to center: "No. We're going to use McGlynn there."
On his plans with Kolb and Bradley this week and whether he will be cautious with them:"Well, listen, you have to keep an eye on them. But, they go to practice, that's what they do. They're cleared in every way we can clear them, here, other than going and doing it. So, you put them out there and then you see if there are any signs of anything, which (head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) will do and they go play."
On whether it will be a normal practice week for Kolb and Bradley:"I mean, they're good to go unless something crazy comes up. But, they're good to go."
On how Kolb has responded from a tough start against Green Bay on opening day:"I think Kevin has a lot of confidence in himself. I think the players have a lot of confidence in him and he knows that. At that position, sometimes things aren't going to go the way you want them all the time. Kevin's a tough kid and that's what you have to bank on, and what he does bank on. He'll be fine. He's an upbeat guy that knows he can play the game."
On how he balances the short-term success versus the long-term goals for his football team:"I'm not sure what you mean by that, but we're always trying to win the game."
On giving the young players significant playing time to give them experience for the future: "You're going to try to get your players out there and let them play and there are going to be a few young players that jump in there. If they make a mistake, they make a mistake, they learn from it and you move on."
On whether something changed later in the game that allowed Detroit TE Brandon Pettigrew and Calvin Johnson to make plays:"Well, Johnson made some plays. He's a heck of a player, so I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job against him when they put the ball up to him, that's a tough deal now. I can't get the secondary to grow and they put it up there where only he can get it. I mean, he can leap and he's tall to start with, so you do the best you can there. But, there aren't a whole lot of people in the secondary in this league that can stop that right there, if it's thrown properly. A couple times (LB) Omar (Gaither) kind of got bumped off by Pettigrew. It's not the term 'pick', but really he was just getting chipped, just a little bit. The quarterback did a nice job with the timing of it and it ends up that Omar looks like the bad guy on it in the chase, there, but, he got bumped off a couple of those looks in the tight quarters there. And there were a couple that he could have made, probably could have stayed a little bit closer on, but listen, he's a pretty good player, too."
On whether the defense changes when Bradley comes back: "Well, listen, sometimes your going to have games like we had yesterday, where everything doesn't quite go right, whether Stewart's in, or Stewart's not in. I mean, that's just how it works and the important thing is that you battle through, you regain the energy, and you win the game. So, you can't say Stewart's the savior and this whole deal. There are going to be games where Stewart's in there and the defense is going to have to battle. And so, that's one of the good things I think that we can take out of this game here, is that you keep fighting and good things will happen. We kind of regained our juice, there, right at the end. That last drive I thought was a beautiful thing, or the last stop we had. Guys got in there and they battled and they made some plays; two secondary plays where we got our hands on the ball. That was good stuff."
On what he says to people who say the team's best chance to win is with Vick: "Listen, I know I'm in the business where I can't please everybody. I know that, that's not what I'm here to do. I'm here to make a decision that I think is right for the team. I will tell you that I think it's a beautiful situation. I look at it a lot different than other people look at it. I've got two quarterbacks that can play, and a third young one that I think down the road here is going to be a good player at a very important position. So, I'm a happy guy about it. There are a lot of teams that don't have good quarterbacks, ones that they feel like they can win with, and I feel like we can with both those guys."
On why he believes Kolb gives his team the best chance to win: "We'll just see how it all works out. I'm not here to justify one over the other, I'm not doing that. I told you before, I'm very proud of Michael. Michael's a great player. Michael was one of the all-time great ones in this league at one time and he's on his way back. I think we were able to see that and I think that's a great, great thing. Kevin's future is, he hasn't had the same experience here as Michael has, but his future is a bright one."
On whether Vick will still be a part of the offense when Kolb returns from injury based on how he's played in the first two games: "Yeah, Michael will be out there. We'll see how it goes."
On whether it is a challenge to get Vick playing time, while maintaining Kolb's rhythm: "We'll be okay there."
On whether there is extra pressure on Kolb because of Vick's success in the first two games: "Listen, if you play quarterback in the National Football League, there's pressure on you. So, you just control what you can control and you go play. And so, that's how this thing works and I'm not big on all that other stuff. Go play the game."
On whether having Bradley back will help contain tight ends in the passing game: "I think you have to mix it up. I'm getting to your point. I thought we did that as we went on in the season last year. I thought we mixed it up. I don't think you give those inside guys the exact same look all the time, and so that will be our challenge."
