HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on how he approaches the New England game) * *
"We're not going to prepare any differently. We're not going to do anything any differently than we do any other week. Obviously, it's a big game (against) a very, very talented opponent. That's how we're going to address it."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if it is just another game)
"It's the next one. The next one for us is a big one. The next one for us is the most important one."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on WR-Austin Collie's health)
"He appears to be doing fine. I know he's been in this morning, and he looks like he's going to be okay. I'm not certain exactly (about) practice status and all those things as of yet."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the Colts at the midway point of the season)
"We try to divide it up into four quarters. We were 4-0 in the first quarter, 4-0 in the second quarter. We can't do any better than that, in terms of our record. We certainly think we can play a lot better. At this point in time, we're just kind of sputtering a little bit. We probably aren't finishing drives like we'd like to on offense. From a defensive standpoint, we're having some really great stretches along the way, and I think playing pretty well defensively. But, we'd still like to be a little bit better. That's the good thing about this team, we have room to improve. Our kicking game, our coverage units have been very good. They continue to improve every week, but we'd like to ramp it up a little bit, in terms of our return team. Overall, I think it's a team that has a lot of room for improvement, that can get better, and I think that is a great thing. We haven't plateaued, we just have to keep finding ways to get better week-to-week."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the series against New England)
"Probably every one of them has been a real battle…A bunch of them have gone right down to the wire. They've been really tough contests. Two very capable teams, and obviously outstanding coaching staffs that are working together trying to find a way to defeat the other. I think they've all been quite memorable."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the Colts fumble recovery at the Houston goal line)
"The real key is the ball crossing the goal line, had it been in the field of play, it still would have been their ball in that situation. That's what I understand. He (DB-Jerraud Powers) hadn't reestablished himself (with both feet in bounds before touching the ball). It appears that way. That's the way it looked. Maybe they saw something from a different angle that we didn't see or have benefit of. I looked at it about 10 times and it looks like he did."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on DB-Jerraud Powers' maturity in knowing that he had to reestablish himself in-bounds)
"I'll tell you something, that is kind of a bit unusual. (Special Teams Coordinator) Ray Rychleski goes through the entire league's special teams plays every week. He looks at every single game. He tries to find very, very unusual things that may occur, things that guys might not know and might not quite understand. Actually, that was a play that popped up, might have been early in preseason or something like that, that Ray had shown those guys in a special teams meeting, and that was what Jerraud was referring to. I think the particular play he was talking about the guy had one foot out of bounds and touched the ball, so it was ruled out. So, that's why he made such a point. You could see him hopping in-bounds trying to get his feet down before he made contact with the ball. I think those things that just try to enlighten them on different rules is helpful."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if it's unusual to find a coach that will watch film of every team in the NFL like Special Teams Coordinator Ray Rychleski does)
"There are a lot of hard workers in this league. I know Jon Gruden looked at every play of every game all the way through the year, every week. There may be several others, or there is somebody within the organization doing that for them to save a little time. I think you find that this is a league that is full of Type A personalities that are trying to find an edge."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the young defensive backs)
"One of the things I think that you have to take into consideration is that they have been playing for awhile now. It started way back in preseason where we may have had some guys that weren't playing during the course of the week. So, they had to get in and get some playing time and get a little bit under their belt. They've probably played maybe 10 games, Jerraud (Powers) has for certain and Jacob (Lacey) has played quite a bit, as well. They're not quite seasoned, but I wouldn't consider them rookies either. We also don't look at them that way, just in terms of how we expect them to play and perform. We don't allow them to make any excuses because of inexperience. They study, they prepare like everyone else. We hold them to a standard, in terms of what we expect from them, and they measure up to it. They have been improving week by week. They have the kind of attitude that I think is important. They study hard. They work extremely hard, and they're mature as well. I think those things do indeed help. But, let me say this, every week is a brand new challenge. This week there is a huge challenge, in terms of covering maybe one of the best wide receivers in all of football in Randy Moss and (WR-Wes) Welker on the inside. Every week they have to prove themselves over again. Regardless of what they've done previously, this week is a brand new week. We have to get ready for maybe one of the best corps of wide receivers that we'll see, and couple that with an outstanding quarterback who is a cut above. They have their work cut out for them. It'll be a challenge."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if facing WR-Andre Johnson this past game was a good setup for the New England game)
"They all are different. I just think every week you'll find guys that have different sets of abilities, their skill set is a little different, how they utilize it within their offensive structure is different. So, I'm not certain that will prepare them for it, but they certainly are going to see the same kind of speed they saw from (Houston) WR-Jacoby Jones, who can get down the field. You're going to see the same kind of size, obviously, from WR-Randy Moss, but he's a different type of body type than Johnson. Obviously, (Houston QB-Matt) Schaub did a nice job throwing the ball, and they're going to see one of the best this coming week."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on his approach to practice with rookies probably already playing more games this season than they did in a college season)
"It's tough to do. We kind of analyze those situations and take a look at them, but you just don't have the same kind of flexibility you may have in college where you could say, 'Hey, listen, we're going to back off you a little bit.' You just don't have the numbers. Everybody has got to work basically the same kind of work load for the most part. What we try and do, and I've been making a point of and particularly talking about that aspect, 'Hey, right now you would have played one college season.' And that was a few weeks ago. Four preseason games and when we had played seven regular season games, I started talking to them about it, 'What you have to do is make certain you get your rest, make certain your mind is clear, make certain your taking care of your body and eating properly, all those kinds of things, because you're going a bit beyond what you've ever done before. We can't have you hitting the walls.' We talk to them about those things, and I think the rest part of it is probably as important as anything, because after awhile they kind of get comfortable, get in a routine and then they end up staying up a little bit longer and a little bit longer, and they're young guys, too. So, we try to guard against that. But, in terms of their workload, we practice the same every week."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if there have been times where a rookie has hit the wall)
"I've seen rookies and coaches, as well. Coaches coming from college, it's quite an adjustment. It does indeed happen."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he'll emphasize this week the playoff implications tied to this game)
"Not really. We're going to talk about our task at hand. We'll get ready for this team and play, and we'll add it up at the end. We'll talk about where it puts us after we finish the ballgame, but not before."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on RB-Donald Brown's status)
"Not real certain. We know he feels better. I was talking to (Colts' Head Athletic Trainer) Dave Hammer this morning. He feels a lot better. Hopefully, we'll see come Wednesday. This is victory Monday, so guys get a little break in the action, but we'll see come Wednesday exactly what happens with him."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on being 8-0 despite some key injuries)
"Probably because we don't harp on it nearly as much as I think most people do. When they look at the situation they think that we're in dire straits. We look at it totally different. There is an interesting thing. I think this is true. I read it somewhere. I understand the word crisis, and we're not in a crisis, but the word crisis in Chinese, they have two distinct characters. One of those characters is the sign for danger, and the other is for opportunity. We look at it as an opportunity for someone to step up, take someone's place, to get a little bit more playing time than they ordinarily would have. Oftentimes, guys don't see that crack that they have, that opportunity, but I sort of make certain that they do. I walk up to a guy every once in awhile and tell him, 'Hey, listen, this is a great opportunity for you, something you've always wanted to do,' and most of the time they respond. I don't believe they need me to tell them that either. They can see. They understand, and I think do indeed take advantage of the opportunities."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on what Defensive Coordinator Larry Coyer has brought to the Colts' defense)
"He's a very, very smart guy, first of all. He has an unusual knack to really analyze teams and to find out what their tendencies are and then put our guys in the best possible position to execute. He's a stickler for details. He does not let a mistake go without notice, and he tries to drive it home. He's a guy that has a great amount of enthusiasm for this game. He has a great passion for it, and it's demonstrated every single day in the meeting rooms and also on the practice field. He's very, very effective at what he does, also. I've known him for a long time, so it's not anything new to me, but he's always been very, very good at what he does."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on DE-Josh Thomas signing with the team on Friday and playing in the game on Sunday)
"He is a guy that knows our system, understands it, and we're happy that he was able to come in and certainly give us some assistance. I think that's great value in a guy that's been brought up in the system. We can kind of plug him in, and he can give us some help on short notice."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the 1975 Baltimore Colts team spending the previous weekend in Indianapolis)
"A few of them came to practice on Saturday morning. I had a chance to talk with QB-Bert Jones. I had a conversation with him, primarily because of the fact that we were over in Tokyo a few years back and Ted Marchibroda was over with us doing the radio. I sat down with him and he and I were just talking and I said to him, 'Just tell me about some of the great quarterbacks you coached and guys that you had a lot of respect for, in terms of work habits and ability, etc.' He spoke often about Bert Jones and about how much he loved the way he worked and how talented he was and what a great leader he was, as well. Then, there was a gentleman by the name of Dan Dickel, who played outside linebacker for them on the '75 team. He and I were teammates in college. He was a senior and co-captain when I was a freshman. He and I go way back. So, I had a chance to see him, and I haven't seen him since 1973. That's been a long time. We've both changed since that time. He's in coaching, as well. He's coaching a high school team back in Iowa, but a good man. It was nice. I saw another gentleman, Freddie Scott Sr., came to the event. He as a wide receiver on the '75 team. The interesting thing was that his son played for us at Penn State, and I recruited his son (Freddie Scott Jr., who played for the Colts in 1998) out of Detroit. I understand that (Senior Offensive Line Coach) Howard Mudd played with a couple of guys. (Offensive Quality Control/Assistant Offensive Line Coach) Pete (Metzelaars) played with two or three. (Senior Offensive Coordinator) Tom (Moore) had some associations there. You know how this game is. There are a lot of them across the board. It was a great weekend. DE-Joe Ehrmann comes quite often, so we've all known him for quite awhile. (It was) a great team. An interesting team. A 1-4 start in 1975 and won nine straight, battled through it and did a great job and ended up winning the AFC East. A very good team."
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"There's a quote in the bible and I think it's (Luke 14:11) and it says, 'Exalt thyself and be humbled, or humble thyself and be exalted.' I like to take the latter part of that, okay. Really, I think it's more of an indication that our team is playing well, every player, every coach, everybody in this organization certainly has a part in it. Anytime anyone starts to think they are the reason why, or all of a sudden there is a pedestal set that you've accomplished something, it's a team-oriented game. This doesn't have a whole lot to do with my efforts and my work and those kinds of things. It's a part of it, but it's not exclusive. So, therefore I refrain from talking about it a whole lot, but I do recognize that it is something of note because it is hard to win one game in this league, let alone what our team has done, putting together back-to-back games for eight in a row. That's something and that is very, very difficult to do, and I don't want to discount that."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the Colts' finding ways to win)
"That's a great thing about them, they're resourceful. Sometimes, things might not be going very well in one area and they find a way to strengthen us in another. Maybe it's our kicking game that holds up and really comes on and keeps a team at bay, or maybe it's our defense that slows a team down enough for our offense (to get) on track, or maybe it's the offense getting out in front early so that we can turn our pass rushers loose. I think the ability to win a number of different ways is good, because this league will force you to do so. Oftentimes, you will find what you may consider to be a strength one week, well, the opposition is going to look at that and say, 'Okay, well how can we take this particular phase away from them?' (They) try to make you play left-handed. Therefore, you have to find other ways to win, and I think our team has been good at that, so far."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if the team is planning to add any depth at defensive back)
"There's a possibility. That's something we're going to look at hard in the next couple of days and see what adjustments we need to make."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on second-guessing his decision to call a timeout at the end of the first half)
"Not really. It's just the way it goes. Sometimes, it may go the other way around. You don't do it, they make it. You do it, they don't make it. At the end of the game, we didn't, and he didn't make it. It just depends. You can't sweat it a whole lot. You decide to do what you think is best at that particular time, you do it, and you don't look back."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if it is a good rule that allows teams to call timeouts to freeze a kicker)
"If it works. I think it's a good rule. It may not be one of those situations where (you're trying to freeze the kicker), it might be a substitution reason that you want a timeout in that situation. There could be a number of different factors. One of the things we were debating is if we were going to put a guy deep. That was one of the things we were talking about. There are a lot of different things that occur."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on why the offense isn't finishing drives)
"I don't think it's ever play selection. I think if you execute, that solves all your problems, regardless of what it is. Every play that you draw up, if everybody blocks who they're supposed to block, run the route they're supposed to run, there is going to be someone in position to make a play. I think it boils down to execution, for the most part. That said, we don't make any excuses about that. We just need to finish and finish better. We've been able to do so, week-in and week-out. We're sputtering a bit right now, but we believe in how we practice, we believe in the guys playing for us, and we'll find a way to get it done."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on RB-Joseph Addai and his role)
"I think Joseph, when you look at it from just a sheer numbers standpoint, I think he was 4.5 yards per carry yesterday, which is pretty good. You'd like that. It's just a matter that we didn't get him the ball a whole lot because our game plan was a little bit different. We decided to come out and run a more of a two-minute operation at the beginning of the game that required a lot of passing involved in it, up-tempo, which worked well for us. We moved the ball up the field, we just didn't get the thing in the end zone as much as we'd like. I think Joseph has been efficient, and had we'd given him the ball a little bit more, maybe he would have gotten a little bit more yardage. I thought he did a nice job for us. He's had some big days against Houston over the years."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on OG-Kyle DeVan's first start)
"He played steady. He played hard. Just like anyone of our guys, he's got room to improve."
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