Caldwell Fires Back At NFL.Com Story About Megatron: 'We've Never, Ever Considered Him ... A Decoy'
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - An ankle injury has limited Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson in the past two games and may sideline him completely against the Minnesota Vikings. While fans may be concerned about the 29-year-old superstar's long-term health, Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said the team is not concerned.
"The doctors have not given us any indication that there's any real threat of a long-term issue," Caldwell told Karsch and Anderson of 97.1 The Ticket. "Obviously any time that he's hampered a little bit I know folks are going to be concerned, but he's always been a quick and steady healer, and we anticipate the same thing in this case."
Quarterback Matthew Stafford has thrown to Johnson just three times in the last two games after targeting him 34 times over the first three games. With Stafford targeting Johnson so much less now than he did earlier in the season, many have characterized Johnson as a decoy because though the injury might limit what he can actually do, he still draws attention from defenders, theoretically allowing his teammates to operate more freely.
Caldwell disputed the characterization of Johnson as a decoy.
"You've never heard me ever use the term 'decoy,'" Caldwell said. "We've never, ever considered him in any way, shape or form to be a decoy. He's out there on the field because of the fact the doctors feel that he's capable of playing, although the first week that he played through it he was a little bit limited, but never in the sense of any sort of a decoy routine that we put any player in the position to do so, so that's not the case, but nevertheless, I do think that he'll bounce back and you'll see him back in uniform and playing the way he always plays."
As far as whether fans should be panicking about Johnson's long-term health, the coach had a short answer.
"I would think not," Caldwell said.
The most discussed player other than Johnson this week has been kicker Matt Prater, the third kicker the Lions have signed this season. Rookie Nate Freese was released after making 3 of 7 over three games, and the Lions cut ties with Freese's replacement Alex Henery after Henery missed three on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
Prater made 25 of 26 attempts for the Denver Broncos last season and set the NFL record with a 64-yard field goal.
There is little doubt about what Prater can do on the field, but he has not been on the field yet this season because he just finished serving a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy. Prater had been - and still is - prohibited from drinking following a 2011 DUI arrest. Prater said Wednesday he gets tested randomly on a weekly basis for alcohol. Another positive test could trigger another suspension.
Caldwell said, however, that Prater made an impression off the field as well as on it when he tried out for the Lions on Monday.
"He's a sincere guy," Caldwell said. "He's a guy that really has high standards for himself, but he's like everybody else in this world. We're all human, and we all have our human failings. The two of you talking to me on the phone have issues just like the rest of our guys, like I have issues, and often times people try to discount that. I don't because there's only been one perfect being on this earth, and I don't think anybody else on this earth has been perfect in that regard. So nevertheless, we talked and sort of squared things away, and I told him what I expected and so we could see some things eye to eye, and we're glad to have him. There's no question about that."
Henery, the previous kicker for the Lions, had a respectable track record, but he ended up making just one of five kicks in two games for Detroit. Between Henery and Freese, Lions kickers are an unfathomable 4 of 12 this season.
"It's an inexact science," Caldwell said. "Until you actually get him out there on the field, see how they match up to the competition, speed, ability, the mental task that it takes because there's stress level on it that cannot be - you can't duplicate it, I don't care who you are, you cannot duplicate the stress level they go through when there's 50-something thousand fans sitting there with their eyes on you and two seconds left to win the game. You can't do it. You can try to make them nervous and all those kinds of things, and yeah, we do, and it adds some stress even unto itself, but the fact of the matter is you really don't know until they're out there."
This week Prater will debut on the road against the Minnesota Vikings, who are missing embattled running back Adrian Peterson, the six-time Pro Bowl selection and 2012 MVP.
"They're still a team that can run the ball at you," Caldwell said. "They have good backs that do a tremendous job in that particular area. [Fullback Jerome] Felton does a great job kind of leading the way, so they have a real good strong running game. You couple that with the fact that they have a quarterback that also can run, so he gives you a real threat on their zone read plays, so they're pretty explosive. And then the guy that's as dangerous as anybody as anybody that we'll ever face is [wide receiver] Cordarrelle Patterson.
"He does a little bit of everything for them," Caldwell continued. "You've seen him line up in the I and take a toss and run it for a distance ... they hand it to him on speed sweeps, and then he's also a big play threat down the field and obviously in the return game, so offensively, I don't think that, even though obviously he's an outstanding back, Adrian is, and has great talent, these guys can move the ball equally as well, I think, without him."
