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Head Coach Jim Schwartz Post Practice Quote Sheet

Posted Nov 4, 2009

On WR Calvin Johnson and RB Kevin Smith’s injury status
“Both guys are making progress. We’ll report them on the injury report today.”
On whether Johnson seemed to be moving well
“He’s made progress from the bye week and then getting ready last week. He wasn’t ready last week. Everyday he’s done a little bit more. We’ll probably give him a little bit more tomorrow than we gave him today and maybe a little bit more Friday, but it’s probably still going to be a game time decision.”
On how the secondary is shaping up
“I think we’re seeing improvement in the secondary. I think guys are learning the defense better. We’ve tackled better in the secondary. We had a couple incidents against the Rams where we didn’t tackle well but then it took away from some really good efforts out there. (It’s) starting to settle in; guys are starting to settle in. We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries. We have a lot of IR (reserve/injured) guys from the secondary, but we need to stay on that track and settle it down and move forward for the second half of the season.”
On how fast DB Jason David will be able to play
“He’s a veteran player. Usually the thing is with veteran players it’s just getting terminology down, because they’ve played every technique. He’s played in different systems. He’s not coming from just one system. He played in different systems for different coordinators and it’s just for the first couple of weeks—we’ve said this before about players—he’s just going to have to translate in his mind, ‘Ok they say this, I remember that as this,’ and then after about maybe two weeks he’ll be fluent in everything.”
On his evaluation of TE Brandon Pettigrew after this week
“(He) blocked very well (and) didn’t get a lot of opportunities in the pass game. We tried to get the ball down the field to him a couple of times – they had good coverage. He made a nice run after the catch on one and his blocking improved significantly over the last couple of weeks. I thought he had a really good bye week and I thought he got back on the right track last week.”
On attacking west coast offenses normally having high completion percentages
“Well you’re right, west coast teams traditionally do have 65-percent, sometimes even 70-percent completion (percentages) because it’s a lot more short passes and timing routes and things like that and they rely on run after the catch. They’re not necessarily deeper routes down the field, but Seattle has worked some deeper routes into their concept and they’re taking more shots down the field. I think that’s where you’re seeing the reflection of the lower completion percentage. So, they still have west coast principles but they also have some play-action deep balls that go in which traditionally you’re not going to complete as many.

“I think we’re on the right track secondary-wise. We gave up a lot of completions early; we played some really good offenses. But I think we’re settling down and I think that we need to get their completion percentages down. We don’t necessarily mind a high completion percentage if you’re not giving up big plays. Our problem was, we were giving up a high completion (percentage) but then every once in a while it was a big play. Tackling and a couple busted coverage’s, both of those, and like I said, if you try to take everything away you’re going to be susceptible to big plays. If you try to keep things in front you can give up a high percentage but generally they don’t move the ball very well. We’re doing a little bit better, but again, we just need to stay on track and keep those (to a minimum). Big plays are a big part of this game.”

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