HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (General Comments) Monday* *
"After looking at the film, we didn't see a whole lot different than what we saw out on the field yesterday. Oftentimes, you see some contrast. There's an old adage Coach (Joe) Paterno would use in saying, 'You're never as good as you are when you win, and you're never as bad as you are when you lose.' In this particular case, we thought we performed pretty well. There were some errors and some problems we had in certain areas, but they weren't things we couldn't get corrected. We'll work on that this week. Overall, we played a pretty good ballgame in all phases."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On any injury updates on WR-Reggie Wayne (groin) and RB-Donald Brown (shoulder)) Monday
"We'll have a better feel for them as the week goes on. Not quite certain what MRI's look like or things of that nature. We'll get that done today. We may be able to make a determination a little bit later on. He (Reggie Wayne) did feel a bit of a strain early (in the game). He felt he could come back and go. He came back and after the game was no longer (hanging) in the balance, he didn't play any longer. He's getting it treated. He felt pretty good about it. We'll see how it goes."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On what impressed him about the defense at this point) Monday
"You look at the last eight quarters that they have not allowed a touchdown, and I think that is something that is important. (The) bottom line is, can you keep them out of the end zone? That's what they've been able to do more consistently. The energy level is there. The concepts we are using were a little foreign to them at the beginning of the season, and they are getting a bit more familiar with (them). It's still early yet. They still have a lot of room to improve upon. We are going to get better as time goes on. The effort and execution is improving every single week. The thing I'm really pleased about, overall, is we just keep getting better every week. We keep improving just little by little. That's encouraging."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On if WR-Anthony Gonzalez will practice this week) Monday
"Possibly. I just had the chance to visit with him a minute ago, and he feels really good about where he is. He ran some routes on Saturday. He thought he felt really good. He feels like he's close to going. Whether that's this week or next week remains to be seen. I think we may see a little something out of him this week."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On WR-Hank Baskett's progress) Monday
"We had an opportunity to see him in the game a little bit. I think he has gotten a good grasp of the system. He can get in and function without any extra attention. He'll continue to get better. He's coming along."
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HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On the play of defensive tackles Antonio Johnson, Dan Muir and Eric Foster) Monday
"We have a large number of guys on our squad that have been able to beat the odds because we'll give them the opportunity. Oftentimes in some situations, you'll find players who are drafted or not drafted get preferential treatment. Things of that nature will come into play. We are more interested in production than anything else. Guys like that. It's a little bit more of a fair shake here. Experience is invaluable. Last year they were a bit uncomfortable with their setting. They hadn't gotten a real good grasp of what we expected. John (Teerlinck) does a great job of getting the interior guys ready. He has a lot of little nuances they have to learn, so it takes a little while to get a good grasp of things. After a year's time, you really start to see some improvement."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On if he's surprised with DT-Dan Muir's play) Monday
"We get the chance to see him everyday. It wasn't like it was a gap in time from when we saw him last year and taking the field yesterday. We see some things in terms of his progress. We could see it even during the spring. He changed his body. He was a guy who was a bit overweight. He really went to work and got himself in great condition. It doesn't just happen overnight."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On how DB-Bob Sanders played) Monday
"He did a nice job. You could see he's getting his feet underneath him. He came up and made some nice plays. He's around the football like you always anticipate he will be. Instinctively, he does things nicely out there. He got himself in the right position and hustled. We anticipate he'll get a little bit more action as the weeks go on. We'll see how he feels in practice during the course of the week and what the doctors say. We'll move forward from there."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On why DB-Jacob Lacey was penalized) Monday
"That's kind of interesting because I asked the same question. The rule is once you are in the end zone, if you leave your feet and go to your knees, the only thing you can do is pray. That's the only thing that is acceptable. Anything other than that you will get penalized. He slid and popped to his feet so there is a penalty. You can dive in from the one-yard line. You can turn a somersault from the one-yard line as long as you land on your feet. That's the rule. That's the way it is. They were right to make the call. I had to find out exactly what he had done wrong. We did talk about it, and we'll stress that as well. That could be costly in a tight game."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On DE-Dwight Freeney having a sack in every game this season) Monday
"He is doing a tremendous job. He is really becoming a dominant force. You know when he's on the field and if the quarterback has to hold the ball anytime at all, he is going to be somewhere close. He's playing at a very high level. He brings such a great combination of speed power and strength. He is very tough to handle."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On having three straight home games) Monday
"It balances itself out. We had four of six on the road, which is quite unusual. It won't change our workload at all. We will function the same way, whether we're home or away. We don't change our practice schedule. We don't change from week to week in terms of our protocol."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (On if he was concerned before the season about the first six games) Monday
"I knew it was going to be very tough. It was very unusual. We had to deal with different time zones. We had to deal with extensive travel. We had to deal with a number of different weather conditions. The guys did a nice job. We were well-prepared. They guy adapted well. They adjust to situations extremely well. We are going to have to do the same thing here down the stretch. Being home is not anything we can count on as being a huge plus for us. We won games away in adverse conditions, so teams could come here as well and have good fortunes. Our job is to make certain that doesn't happen."
