The Lions won’t officially be preparing for the Thanksgiving Day game until next week, but Head Coach Jim Schwartz is already taking next week's short schedule into account.
Because the team has two games over five days – this Sunday against Cleveland and the following Thursday against Green Bay – he has decided to switch up the schedule for multiple reasons.
“Our first meeting today was 12:30 for the players, so everything was moved back five hours,” said Schwartz. “It’s something that Jeff Fisher did in Tennessee and we seemed to have a lot of success with it.”
Not only did the players get extra time to rest Thursday morning, it was a change – something Schwartz was adamant about when he first came to Detroit.
Because the team had struggled prior to his arrival, Schwartz wanted the players to see everything he did as something new and different. Now, with the team in the midst of looking for its first win since September 27, Schwartz hopes a change could have the same impact.
“A change of the schedule can sometimes freshen guys up a little bit,” he said.
Tomorrow’s practice will be in the morning – the same as the schedule has been – and the team will have a walkthrough Saturday before Sunday’s game.
Once this week’s game is in the books, preparation for Green Bay will begin immediately.
“Coaches will come in on Sunday after the game,” said Schwartz. “We’ll have a lot of that work done with quality control guys before we even get there, but coaches will come back on Sunday and get started.
“Players will come in for a walk-through on Monday and we’ll practice on Tuesday, have a walkthrough on Wednesday and then we’ll play with a short week (on Thursday).”
Even though Schwartz has planned ahead for the short week, he is still focused on this week’s match-up with Cleveland. The Browns, also a 1-8 team, will head to Detroit after falling 16-0 to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football.
Many have attempted to find parallels between the two teams this week, but Schwartz is focused solely on his team and lining up against the current opponent – the same way he approaches every week.
“It doesn’t matter who we play, it doesn’t change our job,” said Schwartz. “I think that you can read too much into (an opponent’s record) with confidence and because a team is (1-8), does that mean because a team is 8-1 that you don’t have confidence?
“Every opponent is different; it’s more about us than it is the opponent.”
Looking at his own team, Schwartz continues to focus on winning each week instead of allowing pressure to build regarding the Lions’ record.
“You’ve got to be resilient in this league,” he said. “Having responsibility and positions before – as a defensive or offensive coordinator – you’re going to feel the same type of pressure when a team isn’t doing well.
“I’ve been on teams that have started 0-5, teams that have started 4-0, and teams that have started 11-0. There’s pressure associated with this job. This is a high profile job but it shouldn’t affect the way that you work. If you let it affect the way that you do your job, if you let it affect your philosophy – that’s where you end up in trouble.”
One philosophy Schwartz has that has affected the team in a positive way is not mixing business with relationships.
Any roster move, depth chart move or gameday move he has made has been based on performance and nothing else.
“It hasn’t been because we’ve drafted a guy high, because we’re paying one guy a lot of money,” he said. “We’re not making decisions based on salary or based on draft status. We’re not making decisions based on who was here before, loyalty or things like that.
“We have a good, strong group here – guys that have been around the NFL. We have a lot of rookies but we have a lot of good, strong leadership here. I think that’s the important part when it comes to that.”
