LIONS INJURY REPORT NOV 4
The following players have been listed on the Detroit Lions Injury Report Nov 4 – LB DeAndre Levy (knee/quad) and T Riley Reiff (illness) did not practice. DE Ezekiel Ansah (ankle), CB Adairius Barnes (hamstring), T Taylor Decker (ribs), DT Haloti Ngata (shoulder), RB Theo Riddick (ankle) and CB Darius Slay (hamstring) were limited in practice. WR Marvin Jones Jr. (foot) and T Corey Robinson (ankle) participated in full practice. GAME STATUS: Levy is out. Ansah, Barnes, Decker, Ngata, Reiff, Riddick and Slay are questionable.
The following players have been listed on the Minnesota Vikings’ Injury Report today: G Alex Boone (concussion/shoulder/knee), DT Sharrif Floyd (knee), LB Eric Kendricks (concussion) and G Zac Kerin (hand) did not practice. DT Tom Johnson (concussion), RB Jerick McKinnon (ankle) and S Andrew Sendejo (ankle) were limited in practice. LB Anthony Barr (groin), LB Audie Cole (finger), CB Captain Munnerlyn (foot), TE MyCole Pruitt (knee), CB Xavier Rhodes (calf), CB Marcus Sherels (wrist) and WR Jarius Wright (ankle) participated in full practice. GAME STATUS: Boone, Kendricks, Kerin and Floyd are out. Johnson, McKinnon and Sendejo are questionable.
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL ON…
On if RB Theo Riddick’s cutting ability is natural talent or if it can be taught: “Nature versus nurture? It’s always an argument, there’s certain things that I think you can improve upon and there’s certain things I think that are innate. I think he’s got a lot of innate, natural ability that he’s probably had since he was very small. I’ve always contended that guys that can run could run when they were really young. Guys that can catch could catch when they were really young. You don’t see a whole lot of deviation from it. You can work to improve upon it, but I think there’s a lot of natural instincts involved in that. I think he’s got some really uncanny instincts and ability to be able to cut the way he does. That can’t quite be taught.”
On what has impressed him the most about rookie T Taylor Decker’s performance through Week 8: “Yeah, he’s done well. Obviously, just like you said, we’re halfway through, but up to this point he’s made strides every single week. He’s gotten better, he’s dealt with a number of different styles of rushers. He’ll see another style this week, just a little different guy. Probably got more power than he’s seen in a little while, who has, conceptually understands the defense in which they’re playing in to an unbelievable, refined degree. So, he’ll get another test, but I think he’s been measuring up. He’s been working at it, he’s getting better. He’s not perfect, but he’s getting better all the time.”
On coaching players out of tendencies that opposing defenses may pick up on: “You know, it gets pretty refined in our business now. It’s not something that’s new, since I’ve been playing football. I remember my days when I was a guy that used to try to block kicks off the edge on the field goal I would go out and watch a guy during pregame and oftentimes you could tell he had a little tick or something that would give you an indication just before the ball was being snapped, so that’s not new in this game, it’s been going on. Just like Solomon said in the Bible, he said, there’s nothing new under the sun. There really isn’t. Nevertheless, yes we do coach it, yes we do teach it and it’s always, since I’ve been involved in football, there’s always kind of a way of looking at tendencies. How a guy leans, is he giving you a tip? Is it run? Is it pass? What kind of pressure does he have on his hands? I mean, all of those things. You know, I can tell you legendary stories about some guys that had tips that they wouldn’t give away. They wouldn’t tell why they were so successful about certain guys from a defensive standpoint, looking at an offensive guy, until they were finished playing and they still were reluctant to give it up. Warren Sapp has something on, when he was playing against the Green Bay Packers and (Brett) Favre was there that I’m not certain he’d tell you today if you asked him, but it certainly helped him get off the ball.”
On if learning opposing players’ tendencies is something young players pick up on overtime: “Absolutely, because it’s part of your teaching, but just in terms of the grasp of the information that you receive, some of them get information overload. You really don’t get to the point where you can I think benefit from some of that information until you’re a veteran player who doesn’t have to worry about, you understand the calls, you know what’s going to happen with the checks, so on and so forth. You know, all of those things are second-nature to you. Then you can really start to get a little bit more refined in some of those areas.”
On if he talks to his players about voting in elections: “Yeah, I think every election is important and we try to make provisions because a lot of them have to do absentee balloting, so we’ve created a way in which they can go through it and make certain that they’re able to do their absentee balloting, etc. So yeah, every election is extremely important. The right to vote is nothing to take for granted. I was nine years old when the Voting Rights Act was put into place, somewhere around there 1964, ’65, so I was nine, 10 years old. I certainly take it seriously.”
On the job Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer has done: “He’s been excellent, obviously he’s won a lot of games. Put together a real, fine team. He’s done an excellent job.”
On the process of setting up absentee ballots for players: “There are certain things. I don’t go through all the details. We have folks that are in administrative positions that handle those things for the guys and get it in place and make certain they can access. I can’t tell you all those details. I can tell you I’ve done it myself from time to time and I think it’s the exact same way you would do it, so it’s nothing revolutionary.”
On if he has spoken to his teams in the past about casting absentee ballots: “It’s something I’ve talked about since the first year I’ve coached in college where guys at 18 were eligible to vote.”
On emphasizing the convenience of absentee ballots with the team this year: “It was brought up and actually that was just something that we kind of did this year to be honest with you, in terms of the absentee ballot and making certain that guys could get to it and knew how to go through it and all that kind of stuff. That was just this year.”
On the game captains at Minnesota this week: “Marvin Jones, Haloti Ngata and Johnson Bademosi.”