HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on how he views the close games the Colts have had in their last four games) * *
"Obviously, anytime your team is finding ways to win, particularly when things haven't gone perfectly, you find some satisfaction there, and certainly you can attribute that to good team morale and strong character and a great spirit to win, as well. You can also look at it is maybe there are some situations that occurred earlier in the game that could have put you in a little bit better position, but the reality and the fact of the matter is that typically in this league that's what the games boil down to. The ones that we've been going through are probably more typical of what we see from week-to-week, as opposed to an anomaly that we might see with a two-touchdown lead going in toward the end of the game and things of that nature. I think that, obviously, there are a number of areas we need to improve upon, but at least we're getting the bottom line done."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on special teams play the last few games)
"I think that there are some times that we've played very well, and there are other times when we've probably allowed a few more yards than we usually have, in terms of return. Certainly, haven't gotten a return similar to the one we let against New England. They have a lot of good return men in this league. We have to get better every week. It's an area that we are always concerned about. I just think the last couple of weeks, maybe we haven't done everything as well as we're capable."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he sees any improvement in the return game)
"Yes, I think you can see RB-Chad (Simpson) had a pretty decent return coming up the middle and was close to getting loose on it. DB-T.J. (Rushing) had another pretty good return. We ended up getting a penalty that took us back. He found a little seam in there. We haven't gotten the big gains that take us across midfield or anything of that nature yet, but I do think incrementally we are improving."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if injuries have been a problem on special teams)
"I don't make any excuses about anything. There is that old saying, 'Excuses are tools of incompetence. They are used by monuments of nothingness and those who specialize in them are seldom good at anything else.' We don't deal with those issues at all. Our job is to get it done and be effective, regardless of the circumstances."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if close games make you mentally tougher)
"We hope so. We certainly feel that we've developed a pretty solid mental toughness. The unique thing is, we get challenged every week in that area. Hopefully, it's going to serve us down the road, and we just continue to get better. That's a part of our game. We've had some significant work the last four weeks, and hopefully we can benefit from it."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the offense seeing different looks from the defense)
"I think teams are looking at WR-Reggie (Wayne) and TE-Dallas (Clark), and trying to find creative ways to handle those guys. We've seen both of those guys being doubled and single coverage on WR-Pierre (Garcon) and WR-Austin (Collie). The doubles come from different directions sometimes, inside-out, outside-in. So, they're trying to get a bit more help on them to try and keep them under control. I don't think we'll ever stop seeing those for quite some time because those two guys have been highly productive for us. That's why big catches like Pierre had are so important for us. When they do get single coverage they have to take advantage of it."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if seeing all these different looks from defenses will help in preparing for the postseason)
"Anytime that you have variations that you have to prepare for that are out of the ordinary-and in some cases are things that we did not prepare for, they were little wrinkles that they added for our game-our guys' ability to adjust during the course of the game and find a way to become effective, particularly in some key situations, I think is important. It shows us a lot about our team, that we can adjust on the run and get ourselves in position to win. It should help us down the road."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on QB-Peyton Manning getting a chance to see different defenses)
"Typically what happens with him that once he has an opportunity to see it, you may affect him once, but the next time around he's going to have a pretty good idea on how to best attack that situation, as well. So, what you see a number of teams now are trying to give you a multiple of looks, but he's been able to adjust, too."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he got an explanation on why Baltimore was able to pick up their challenge flag and not get charged a timeout)
"From what I understand, they said it should not have happened. They said that you should not be able to throw your flag down and then retrieve it and say, 'Well, I didn't really mean to do it.' That's the word I got."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on playing Houston a second time this season)
"Number one, they've had a good look at us. They had an opportunity to play us once. You can kind of formulate a pretty good plan of what you're going to do the next time around. Teams within our division gain a familiarity with us that most teams don't have an opportunity to do within the same year. Year-to-year, yes, but oftentimes you change enough during the course of the year where everything might be somewhat new. When they're only weeks apart, in terms of your preparation and play, that's good and bad. You're very, very familiar with the opposition, in terms of their personnel, and I think schematically, you can come up with a fairly decent package to handle them. We both have to look at what we do and adjust and see if we can come up with a better plan than we have before."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he'll mention to the team that a win over Houston almost guarantees them at least a share of the Division Championship)
"We won't approach this game any differently than we do each and every game we've had. We'll look at it and measure it for what's it worth. It's important for us to get a victory. We'll add them up at the end. We kind of look at all those scenarios once we finish, to see where we are and what the circumstances have dictated and go from there."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on not saying anything about the 10-0 record to the team)
"It's kind of amazing when you think about it, 10-0, but then you say, 'Okay, what have we accomplished?' Obviously, it's a great record, but when you really look at it, you don't have your division locked up, you're not in the playoffs. None of those things have been decided. Here's the other thing, I think most coaches in this league look at Thanksgiving as kind of a line of demarcation. They feel that if you're .500 at Thanksgiving, you have a shot to be a real factor in the playoffs and beyond. There are a number of teams that are .500 or above, and we just happen to be one of those. We still have our work cut out for us, because I think everybody is looking at it as if they still have a chance, which is indeed true."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on RB-Joseph Addai)
"I think Joe, number one, feels good. I think physically he feels good. He just appears to get stronger as the game goes on. He's been able to give us some significant contribution in the run and pass game, particularly when he gets down in the red zone. He's been a real, real force in that area. I think he's feeling a lot better than he did a year ago at this time, obviously. But also, he's got some young guys that are able to help him and take a little bit of the load off of him and give him a breather. We certainly have noticed that he's been pretty consistent, week-in and week-out."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if the team came out of the Baltimore game healthy)
"(We had) the normal bumps and bruises. I haven't gotten word of anything significant, as of yet. Last week, as you saw, our list of guys that didn't practice the first couple of days was fairly long. I would anticipate that it will probably be similar, but I think that's probably not unusual for this time of year. A lot of guys are banged up."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the injury status of WR-Anthony Gonzalez and DB-Kelvin Hayden)
"Gonzo, I can only tell you that he is feeling good about where he is. Hayden, possibly, underscore that, he will do a little bit of activity this week. We will see what happens after that. How much activity, the doctors will have to let us know."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if it's getting lonely on Mondays)
"No, not yet. Victory Mondays are supposed to give players time off, etc. What's been commonplace throughout the league when that happens is guys usually leave town because they have two days to get away, which is good from a mental standpoint. What you'll find (with) our guys, you walk back there in the back, and I saw a great majority of the rookies just a minute ago that are here in the building. Most of the guys come in and get their lifting done. I haven't walked in the training room yet, but there's a significant number around here. They're still here taking care of business, making certain they get their bodies healed and also, trying to do their maintenance lifting, as well. We have a pretty large group of guys that are still here in the building."
