HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the team fighting through adversity to make the playoffs) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Probably unlike any other group that I've ever seen, obviously had probably more adversity to deal with through the course of the season than most teams. They did it, I think, in grand fashion. They were able to stare it right in the eye. They didn't weep and complain. They didn't implode. They didn't point fingers. What they did is went to work and certainly did everything they possibly could to put us in position to win. Obviously the coaches did a tremendous job of getting young guys ready and things of that nature. That took some team work, took some cooperation between everybody involved. We're not satisfied with where we ended up, but I think the guys did a heck of a job."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he watched tape of the game yet and what did he see in watching the tape that he didn't see last night) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Certainly have. Just like most things, it's that same old adage, just the little things, the details. I think it's quite obvious we didn't stop the run as well as we'd like. That's one of the things you have to do against a team like that. You have to stop them from running and make them a little more one-dimensional. We were just off a couple of times just in a few places here and there. That's all good players, good backs need. We didn't run the ball as well as we'd like. Just being able to function all together in unison didn't happen as often as we'd like in that situation. Those are the two things that we focused in on that we thought would make a difference in the game. The third was just covering kicks, making certain that none of them got out on us, and we let one out at the wrong time and gave them good field position. I think the film did indeed bare that out. We just made a few too many mistakes, and at this stage in the game, you don't get repeats, you don't get do-overs."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on deciding to kickoff when leading 16-14 with under one minute remaining in the game) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Part of it is, is that it's a field position issue because they are only a field goal behind. That being the case, with a mortar kick, you're going to give them pretty good field position just by of the nature of the kick itself. You try and not give them the ball out that far around the 40-yard line, and a mortar kick can certainly happen that way. We decided we needed to kick it deep and cover. That's the key. I think there are times that our team has been able to measure up in those situations before, but we didn't (last night) and got out a little too deep for us."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if the fact that it was DB-Antonio Cromartie and not WR-Brad Smith returning the kickoff late in the game entered into the thinking to kickoff) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Not really because both of them are good return men. Anybody they put back there are guys that can run and go. He had obviously returned one earlier, as well. Both guys are dangerous."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on what a mortar kick is) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"It's usually designated to go a little further than your pop up that is just beyond the 10-yard mark. You're trying to get it back to the 25(-yard line), around that area. But oftentimes if you don't get it high enough, you're going to have an opportunity to return it. You generally have to think that it could be around the 40-yard line."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on what he saw happen on the late kickoff return by the Jets) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Just a couple of guys (got out of their lanes), and that's all it takes. He got a seam and hit it just right. Good runners with good vision, that is going to happen."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the kickoff team not looking like it did when the season began due to injuries) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"It really doesn't (matter). It certainly (was) a little bit of a change, in terms of the individuals that are there, but for the most part, we still have to do our job. Our guys have been able to measure up and do it before. This game should not have been any different. We didn't expect it to be any different."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he was shocked the Colts could not stop the Jets run game last night) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"I'm not shocked. In this league, you do your job or obviously someone may be able to do it a little bit better in some situations. They were able to perform a little bit better than we did. We knew they were certainly capable, very good backs and a good offensive line. We had been stopping it pretty well, but particularly in that third quarter, they controlled that clock on us and controlled the ball."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if DB-Darrelle Revis took WR-Reggie Wayne out of the game last night) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Reggie was expressing some disappointment obviously in not getting it more, but just in terms of how we do what normally do, week-in and week-out, plays are called that we think are going to give us an opportunity to convert and gain yardage, and all our quarterback does is read through his progressions and does his normal thing. It's just one of those games."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he regrets calling the timeout on the Jets' last drive) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"No. You can look at it a number of different ways. One of the things, I guess it was when (WR-Santonio) Holmes caught that pass, they were in field goal range at that point in time. You make a determination on what you want to do. We try to do a decent job at taking a look at the field goal kicker and see how they are doing in warm-ups, what is their range, all those types of things. We don't only do our own, but we do the opposition as well. We take a good look at that. It's probably not much different than the week before. They were in field goal range, use your timeouts, make them take another snap. In some cases, they will run it. If they do, then obviously they'll run the clock down and they'll take a stab at it from there. In other cases, they'll throw it and that gives us some other opportunities, a sack, tackling them out of field goal range, sack-fumble, interception, tipped ball, a lot of things can happen in that situation. That is what our thinking was in that situation. They were able to make a play and it gave them a little bit shorter field goal."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he thought the Jets would run the ball again following the time out) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"That's typically what you see, but there are no guarantees. You have to live with either result. You have to make a play or they will make a play in that situation."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he thought the Jets were prepared to settle for a 50-yard field goal on their last possession) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"You don't know what they are thinking. That would be very, very easy if you knew exactly what they are thinking. You've got to weigh both options, 'Okay, maybe they are just trying to set it up. The next one is going to be a run into the middle of the field.' But you don't know. You also know that a team can pass. That's why the defense we called, we were anticipating that it would be a pass, get up and press, don't let them throw a little hitch on the outside, that kind of thing. They made a play and so be it."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he anticipates any staff changes) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Don't anticipate it, but certainly you know how things happen in this league and it is certainly a possibility."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on with regards to the CBA, how he will approach the offseason) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Some of it is obviously up in the air for us, so what we do is plan for what we know. That is basically with our staff. They will take a little time off, try to get away from it a little bit and come back and get back to work. We won't know anything about work stoppage and things of that nature until a little bit later on. So we will have to adjust when we get the final decree."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if coaches will take some time off before evaluating players) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"I'll do something different than my staff, but we will give our staff a couple of weeks off and then we will come back and take a look at it and start going over evaluations and things of that nature."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the sudden transition after grinding all year) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Today is always a tough day because everything comes to a grinding halt. You have been making preparations for the next week, your schedule is ready, all of those things and then all of a sudden all of the things you had planned in terms of going forward no longer exist. That is the tough, tough part of it. It is a difficult part and something you never get used to, but there is only one happy team at the end of the year in this league. That's it. It is a competitive atmosphere and whomever wins the Super Bowl is the only team that feels good about what they got accomplished that year. Everybody else feels, 'Hey we have got to get better, we have got to do more, etcetera, etcetera. Let's get ourselves in position to be a more functional team next year.' That's where everybody ends up at some point in time except for one team. There is no bowl game, feel good in this league."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on what he thinks the team's' needs are) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"I'm going to take a little break from the action, get back away from it a little bit. I am going to sit and assess it and go through and do a thorough assessment and obviously we will do that along with Bill (Polian) and Chris (Polian) and Tom (Telesco) and our personnel office. We will take a good look at that and move on from there."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if it is important to let everything settle down so there are no knee-jerk reactions) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"No question about it. That is why I didn't answer Bob (Kravitz's question) in that sense because of the fact that is exactly what you don't want to do. You come in and take a look at the film, make some assessments and things have you feeling certain ways, it can be a bit emotional and not nearly as objective as it should be. So that is really the point. You have to make certain that you have a sober mind and that you can focus and make good solid decisions."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if after a loss he stays up all night or gets some sleep) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"In this particular case, sometimes I do stay up all night, and this was one of them. I was up a while. Not to make this whole story about me because that is not the important part of it. Let's just say I did not get a whole lot of sleep."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he watches ESPN and the highlights) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"I typically don't and I never do. That's not what keeps me up. I have an opportunity to think and re-think some things. Sometimes, every once in a while, I'll watch the game late at night. I usually tape them and it gives me a chance to look at them as well from a different vantage point."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he watched last night) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"I did not. Early this morning."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if there is a final team meeting today) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"We do. We have an opportunity to get them all together at three o'clock this afternoon."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on what he will say in that meeting) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Much of the same thing that I am talking to you a little bit about. We will take a quick glance back and see what we did get accomplished and then talk about obviously what our shortcomings were and spur them on to looking ahead. That's kind of what we will do in a nutshell."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on how it is going with all of the guys rehabbing) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"I sense it is going well from the guys that I had an opportunity to see, that I do not get a chance to see much. On the sidelines I saw DB-Bob (Sanders) and TE-Dallas (Clark) a little bit just prior to the game and they all seem to be doing very, very well. The rest of the guys that are here, I know they are progressing well for sure. We anticipate the healing process will continue and they will be ready to go soon."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on how WR-Austin Collie is progressing) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"He is part of that whole mix as well. The great thing about those young guys is those young guys usually heal pretty quickly. They do not have that stagnant blood flow like I do."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on WR-Reggie Wayne and if CB-Darrelle Revis did shut him down or if there were opportunities available for him) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"I think I answered that question about as well as I could answer it. We did what we normally do. QB-Peyton (Manning) followed his progression and I think you are always going to look at certain things much like we do with every game. You look at it and say, 'What if this happened? What if that happened? What if we were looking here? What if we were looking there?,' but the fact of the matter is, I think we did what we normally do just in terms of the normal flow of the game."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on how OL-Jeff Linkenbach held up at tackle) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"He hung in there and I think he did a nice job of pass protecting. One of the things and I think you guys can tell is you didn't notice him. That will tell you something. He did a pretty good job. Tackle was a good natural position for him. He can play guard as well, but I think he (handled) himself very well, hung in there nicely in some tough situations."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on when he goes full swing at the draft) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Our personnel department has been going at it for a long time, tying some things down, narrowing it down, working on the board and all of those kinds of things. I'll start to catch up sometime here in the next few weeks or so. We will start looking at by position and start to do some evaluating, and that starts soon. They are certainly way ahead. That's what they do all year long. They cut those numbers down. I get a chance to look at it when they get it paired down pretty good and I think they are close to that."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if the labor dispute will alter the offseason schedule) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"Yes sir. We literally almost have to make two schedules. We have to make one if there is a stoppage and one if there is not, so that adds its own complexities in it."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the Colts settling on a two-back system last night) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"I wouldn't say that it is fair to assess that. It was just how that particular game flowed. It doesn't necessarily mean that is how we are going to go forward. I still think RB-Donald (Brown) is obviously a fine back, but I think we have a pretty good nucleus of guys to work with."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (Caldwell's final comments to the media) Sunday, January 9, 2011
"The last thing, is I appreciate you all and your coverage all year long. I do not get a chance to see you all much in the offseason, but I certainly appreciate everything you guys do. I don't anticipate and don't expect and don't believe—I understand how your business works—that everything you guys write about me, us or the team is going to be positive. Some of it is negative and that's your job. I do appreciate that you guys are fair, straightforward and honest and certainly appreciate everything you guys do in that regard. I think it's good for our fans to hear your perspective on things. I know it's great for our players to get their names out and get their stories told. We'll look forward to doing it again."
