Caldwell Credits D-Line For Making Life Easier For Injury-Wracked Secondary
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - In the first three weeks of the season, the Detroit Lions have relied heavily on players farther down their depth chart, particularly in the secondary. Despite injury issues, the Lions stifled the Aaron Rodgers-led Green Bay Packers, 19-7, in week three.
Cornerbacks playing a role included cornerback Mohammed Seisay, whom the Lions promoted from the practice squad, and cornerback Danny Gorrer, whom the Lions picked up as a free agent, and safety Isa Abdul-Quddus, who has held his own while starting in place of the injured James Ihedigbo.
Even with that group, a much different one than was projected before the season, the Lions held the Packers to a single touchdown. Lions head coach Jim Caldwell indicated that some of the success the secondary has enjoyed can be attributed to the defensive line.
"It's not a one-man game," Caldwell told Karsch and Anderson of 97.1 The Ticket. "It's a team game. Our front four did a tremendous job in terms of stopping the run - our front seven, I should say - along with putting pressure on the quarterback. That aids the guys that are in the perimeter. So it wasn't just one guy being plugged in, whether it was Gorrer or whether it was Seisay. It's a team effort. A collective group got it done.
"[Ndamukong] Suh is one of those guys that, although he may not show up as much in the stat sheet, but it's like a wise gentleman once said to me, if it was hockey, he'd be leading the league in assists, because he gets double-teamed almost every single play," Caldwell continued. "They have to pay attention to him, they slide the line to sort of compensate or assist in terms of taking care of him, and when that happens, you have a number of guys that are by themselves, that are being blocked in a one-on-one situation, and Jason Jones and Nick Fairley and Ziggy Ansah as well as a number of other guys ... are able to take advantage of that."
One of the highest-profile injuries to date for the Lions happened to linebacker Stephen Tulloch, who tore his ACL celebrating a sack of Rodgers. Tulloch will be replaced in the middle by Tahir Whitehead, who has taken advantage of the opportunity he has gotten with rookie Kyle Van Noy on short-term injured reserve. There was talk of DeAndre Levy moving to the middle linebacker spot, but the Lions announced Wednesday it would be Whitehead taking over for Tulloch.
"[There]s always discussion, particularly when you have guys that are extremely flexible in terms of what they can do," Caldwell said, "but there are certain principles we try to adhere to as well, so we felt this was the best for us right now just in terms of moving forward."
As significant an asset as the defensive line play has been, the Lions have gotten remarkably solid play from their secondary backups, particularly Abdul-Quddus, Seisay and Gorrer. Seisay and Gorrer have both gotten chances to play because of injuries to others, and both have fared well so far.
"Seisay, we've had an opportunity to work with him all during the spring, and you can see that he's, number one, eager to play," Caldwell said. "He's got the right temperament for the position, he's played in big-time football in college, and the stage is not too big for him. He's a willing tackler, he's effective in terms of understanding his concepts - he's young and still has got a lot to learn, but he's making progress.
"Gorrer, we've had experience with before, he was with us at Indianapolis, he was also with us at Baltimore, so we know what he can do," Caldwell added. "He had some system familiarity, which certainly cut down on a bit of the learning curve, so we knew he could step in and do a job as well."
The coach, in his first season in Detroit, said earlier in the year that the players and coaches would not know each other fully until they weathered some adversity together. In his opinion, the Lions have not hit such a point yet, but Caldwell likes what he has seen so far.
"I know we've got a gritty bunch," Caldwell said. "They're tough, they're competitive, they do what you ask them to do. They're not perfect. No one who's in this game is, no one who's walked this earth is - except for one person is, or has been, I should say - but I like their spirit, I like their drive, I like their enthusiasm, I like the way they take care of business and come to work every day trying to find a way to get better, and I think you're going to see them grow and develop. Until we've gone through some real difficult times, you don't get a real good sense of who you're working with, and that's on both sides of the ledger, coaches and players. I'm optimistic, though, about where we are and what it looks like for us here going forward."
