Caldwell Says Offense Fixable, Explains Why Stafford Only Threw To Tate Twice
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - The Detroit Lions offense struggled again Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, failing to score even a single touchdown. The Lions (7-3) now rank 21st in the NFL in yards per game and 26th in points per game. The team's excellent defense gave it a chance this weekend, but after fourth-quarter comebacks in each of the last three weeks, the Lions offense could not produce a late-game miracle against the Cardinals (9-1).
Head coach Jim Caldwell said the offense's issues cannot be pinned on one facet of the game or on one group of players.
"Sometimes it may be a route that's not run exactly like you'd like it," Caldwell said. "Maybe it's a ball placement that's not thrown exactly where you'd like it with the kind of timing you're looking for. It could be pressure that's on Matthew [Stafford] that could have given him some problems, and it could have come from offensive line, tight ends or backs. There's all kinds of different things that happen. There's never been any one thing, and that's the thing with consistency. We haven't been able to be really consistent across the board, consistent enough to play as well as we're capable ... All the things we've got problems with, they're correctable.
"We know what the problems are," Caldwell added. "We see them. They happen. We try to get those corrected. Sometimes it just takes time."
Penalties have been an obvious issue for Detroit. The Lions committed nine infractions for 80 yards against Arizona. The team has had a reputation over the years as an undisciplined squad, and the group has looked like one recently. The last few weeks Detroit's late-game heroics saved the team from facing the consequences for too many penalties, but Caldwell acknowledged Monday the Lions have to be better in that regard.
"Those are a concern," Caldwell said. "We have far too many penalties. That's just the honest fact, and we've got to get it straightened out. How do you do it? You just continue to talk about it, you show examples, you make certain that you have officiating at practice, which we do, you talk about those things in detail, and guys that are consistent infractors, you'd better get somebody else in there to play. Those are the things that make a huge difference."
Another strike against the Detroit offense was its inability to get the ball to wide receiver Golden Tate. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford only threw to Tate just two times Sunday. Stafford had thrown to Tate 13, 14, 13 and 12 times in each of Detroit's last four games. Caldwell explained Monday that the Lions tried to get Tate involved, but it just did not happen.
"The plays that we called, a lot of the plays were the same plays where he may have gotten the ball previously," Caldwell said. "You look at progressions, progressions there may be a guy in front of [Tate], [Stafford] has to go somewhere else. Those are the things that happen more so than saying, 'Hey, you know what, we're not designing any plays to go to Golden.' That wasn't the case. It's just kind of the way things turn out sometimes. It's tough to explain; otherwise I'd be sitting down with you and showing you every play that we called, what the progressions are on those plays, where he was in relationship to that progression and how it worked out. Some games it just turns out that way.
"There's ebbs and flows," Caldwell continued. "I remember Marvin Harrison went into a couple ball games where he only got one or two passes, and Reggie Wayne might have been the same thing. A number of guys across the board it happens, week in and week out. You all think it's targeting, but it's not targeting necessarily. It's progressions, and a lot of factors get into that – pressure, all those kinds of things could have happened on those particular plays, so it's just kind of sometimes how it falls in place."
Caldwell said he is satisfied with the play calling of offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, and Caldwell also noted that the responsibility for whether or not the team performs well ultimately falls on him as the head coach.
"Here's the bottom line: every defensive call, every call in special teams, every call on offense goes through me," Caldwell said. "If I don't like it, I'll change it, but I'm responsible for every call that goes into the ball game, plain and simple. It's my prerogative, and thus I'm responsible for everything that goes on whether we're effective or ineffective."
