LIONS HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL ON THE BYE WEEK
On how his Bye Week was and if he festered on how the team has been playing: “It was good. A little bit of both, which was nice. Some nice festering and got a little break.”
On how the Bye Week is an advantage for coaches with the extra time off: “Just kind of gives you an opportunity to kind of look at yourself a little bit. You got a couple of extra days. You do a little bit more self-scout, those kinds of things. But then also you get a chance to get a little ahead on the next opponent as well. So, you get a little extra viewing time in terms of preparation. So, those things all bode well.”
On how the Bye Week comes into play when trying to forget a loss or remember a loss: “I mentioned last week a little bit that sometimes it’s not a bad thing to feel a bit of a pressure from a loss and things of that nature and stew on it a while. But then you get to a point too that you got to be able to put it behind you. I think the Bye Week gives you a chance. You can fester through your Bye Week and time to get back to work now. You got to put it behind you. There’s an old story about this group of traveling religious men that were over in a different country, and they had taken a vow of celibacy, and actually a vow where they should not touch a woman of any sort and any point in time. And they came to this river that was moving fairly fast, they were tall enough to walk through. And there was a young lady there that was distressed, she has to get to the other side and couldn’t get there because she couldn’t swim and it was over her head. So, after much consternation, one of the religious men picked her up, and carried her across the water and set her down. And they’re walking, they’re about two or three miles out, and the guys that were with him were upset with him, and they finally stopped and said, ‘Hey, you know what you did was absolutely wrong. You touched a woman which you weren’t supposed to.’ And what he said is this, he says, ‘Hey, you know what?’ He said, ‘I put her down about three miles ago.’ He says, ‘You guys are still carrying her.’ So, sometimes that’s what losses can be like as well. You can carry them a little bit too long into the Bye Week where we are right now. It’s got to be back behind us and looking forward to obviously playing a tough, tough football team that’s playing really well.”
Detroit (3-3) returns to Ford Field for a Week 8 matchup against the Steelers (5-2) on Sunday Night Football following a Bye in Week 7. The Steelers come to Detroit after a 29-14 victory at home against the Bengals in Week 7. The clubs will meet for the 35th time between the two franchises, with Pittsburgh winning the last four matchups dating back to 2001. The Steelers currently lead the all-time series with a 17-16-1 record.
Detroit Lions schedule