(opening statement) * *
"We've had a good week of practice, and today is the last one besides the walk-through tomorrow. It is an important one for us. It's kind of the one where we try to iron out all the kinks and correct any mistakes that we've had during the course of the week and just fine tune some things."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on injuries)
"Sometimes, I think I probably may give a little bit to much information from time-to-time in terms of injuries. I'd probably like to stick right with the party line in terms of what the league requires. I know today after practice is over with, we give sort of an update on what we anticipate is their level of participation or possible participation. So, I'm going to probably stay with that party line, if I can. Most of the guys we have, that have been listed as injured, are making good progress."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on theDT rotation of Antonio Johnson, DT-Dan Muir and DT-Eric Foster on Sunday)
"That's kind of what it looks like. We're going to have a rotation in there that will move some guys around a little bit. That will kind of will be our plan of attack."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if DE-Raheem Brock will slide over and play defensive tackle at all)
"We have a couple little things that we do from time-to-time. Obviously, he has played in there in the past. It just depends on game situations, on what it requires and what kind of schemes we go into it with."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on some coaches preferring to coach from upstairs in the box and other coaches rather being on the sidelines)
"I think it just depends. Besides my time on the sideline as a head coach, I've never been on the sideline throughout my entire career. I've always been in the box. If you ask me just in terms of what I thought about being up there? I thought I had a great view of the game, you can see it all, both sides of the field. Someone who has always been on the sideline probably will have a different take of it. It just depends. We will adjust accordingly. What best suits our team? What best suits our offense and defense in terms of communication and effectiveness?"
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on seeing more of the game when you're upstairs in the coaching box)
"It depends. I think guys get accustomed to whatever they are required to do. I do recall some years back, it might have been back in the late 70s or early 80s, Darrell Mudra, who was the head coach at Eastern Illinois at the time, and as a head coach he was in the press box. It just kind of depends. (Penn State Head Coach Joe) Paterno was in the box a great majority of last year. Now that was out of necessity more so than design, but obviously, they still had a pretty good record wherever he was located. I think it just depends on what best suits your team."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if Mudra and Paterno having success from the coaching box factor into his decision to have his coordinators coach from up there)
"Since we're talking about it, and my goal is to try and be as up-front and straight-forward as I can about things, (Defensive Coordinator) Larry (Coyer) is up there in the box, and Larry functions well from up there. He likes being up there in the box. He's been there over the years. I know he's been on the sidelines some, but I'm not certain as a coordinator or not. I know as a coordinator he prefers to be in the box. So, during the preseason we wanted to look at different options, so I had (Senior Offensive Coordinator) Tom ( Moore) in the box, as well, but first game of the regular season, Tom is going to be on the sideline, just so it doesn't come as a shock and a surprise to you. He's back where he normally is, and that's how we think we can best function. We wanted to look at a few things, and that's what the preseason is for. He'll be back doing his old thing, like he's normally done over the years."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on what caused Tom Moore to decide to return to the sidelines)
"I don't care what it is, from anything administratively that we do in relationship to our team, calls that go in and out of games, because of the fact that I hear everything that is going on, weigh in on a number of different things, all those things are my decision. I'm brand new at my position. I don't want to take anything for granted. I'm going to try some things a little differently during the preseason. I'm going to scratch and dig and search. That's really my nature. It was my decision."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if Jacksonville lines up in a Wildcat formation)
"That's kind of what we do during the preseason, we talk about literally every combination and aspect we possibly can. You don't go in and prepare for things that you dream up. All of a sudden, we'd start preparing for the option, because of the fact that it is an available offensive scheme. We just don't do those kind of things, but we do entertain where they've presented a problem. We'll address that issue, other things we may talk about. We may not practice against them, but there is always a plan in place. We make adjustments as we go. We have a lot of experienced coaches that have been around. That's the great thing about it. There's not to many things they haven't seen, and not too many things we can't adjust to. We don't chase ghosts. That's just simply how we do it. There's a lot of things we can say, 'What if?' What we do is, we'd have to adjust on the run. If they've shown it or have a tendency to do so, it's been covered, and it's been covered thoroughly, but if it's something completely foreign to what they've done before, we'll have to adjust. That's the name of it, that's the name of the game. "
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if Miami lines up in the Wildcat next week)
"That's a different story. I'm focusing in on one team, one time, one place. That's the thing about this game, there are so many variables in it. You can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and never cover all the possible on what can and may not happen. It can drive some coaches crazy because of that aspect. We try not to let that happen."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he can see why it shocked New England last year when Miami started running the Wildcat)
"That's kind of the way things work. For one week it might be a great surprise and that's the end of it. From that point forward, you're going to get some guys that have studied it and are prepared for what you guys do and address it accordingly. The other thing to is, there have been a lot of schemes that have given you that kind of look. Vince Young with the Titans, you had that kind of feel, that spread offense type, a guy who was just as deadly running it as he was throwing it. Some of those things you have to consider. So, we had to go through that exercise and understand that exercise. A lot of those things you can fall back on and relate to, just if something did happen during the course of the ballgame."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he watched the Tennessee/Pittsburgh game last night)
"I saw, probably when the scoring began about the middle of the second quarter, I did get home about that time. What I relayed to my team is you can tell it's a grind. That was a tough, hard-nosed game. You certainly had a sense of a heavyweight fight. It was a very, very physical contest. It's just so close, in terms of the level of competition that everything counts. You think the kicking game isn't important? Making all of our kicks is one of our goals, and that's something that I know is extremely important. Special Teams, that game and also the college game that was on last night were decided by a field goal. We did watch it, and it was a great contest. It was a great ballgame to watch."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on getting a leg-up on the division by winning Sunday)
"For us, we focus on our task. If we can eliminate all the excess elevator music and just focus in on what we have to get done, we'll be better off. We do understand where we are, but after that ballgame is over with on Sunday afternoon and how we play on Sunday afternoon, will really determine where we are, in terms of standings."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on what the schedule will be like next week with the second game not being until Monday night)
"What we typically do is just back everything up and treat that Monday like it's a Sunday. We usually take a little break in-between, sometimes we'll do a little bit on one of those two days. Typically, it depends on what happens in the ballgame. We'll see where we are and make an assessment from there, but that's typically what we do. We take a couple of days and then start on Thursday as if it's a Wednesday."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if there is a contingent from his hometown of Beloit, WI, coming down to the game)
"There is a fairly decent amount of folks that will be here. Their backgrounds are from Beloit, but they're not all coming from Beloit. It's a pretty good sized group."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on a group from his high school coming down for the game)
"I know a little bit later on in the season there is a big group coming, but this game is a fairly decent amount. The amazing thing is there are some people right around my hometown that have had season tickets since the team arrived here. There are probably 10-15 people right there in a little cluster that have always had tickets. There's always been a pretty large contingent that have come to games anyway."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he ever realized that former head coach Tony Dungy's first game as a Colts head coach was against Jacksonville also)
"Not until you guys bring it up."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the NFL overtime system)
"I like it the way it is, end of story."
