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Caldwell Hopeful Bye Week Helps Injury Situation But Says 'No Guarantees' On Which Players Will Return

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - With a bye on Sunday, the Detroit Lions will not practice this week, head coach Jim Caldwell said Tuesday.

"The guys are going to get a chance to heal a little bit," Caldwell said. "Our team, I think, has been battling through a number of different injuries and things of that nature, and we need to get our health back. I think that's key, and although the guys have done a great job battling through, this week's going to give us an opportunity to convalesce a little bit, and I've encouraged them to kind of get away from it some.

"Obviously we've got to stay in some kind of shape to be ready to roll for the second half of the season, which will be long and arduous, without question," Caldwell added, "and I think our guys are, certainly have done their best and given us their best, and done a tremendous job, I think, overall, but we've still got a lot of work to do, and this second half of the season's going to be difficult for us."

In Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons, the Lions were missing wide receiver Calvin Johnson, right tackle LaAdrian Waddle, running back Reggie Bush and tight ends Brandon Pettigrew, Joe Fauria and Eric Ebron. Defensive tackle Nick Fairley went down with an injury during the game.

Johnson, whose absence Sunday marked the third straight game he has missed, practice all three days the week leading up to the game, and center Dominic Raiola sounded Tuesday like he expected Johnson back for the season's second half.

"Getting these guys that have been injured back, that's very encouraging, when you get the best player in the world back, you go 3 and 0 without him," Raiola said. "He really only played two-and-a-half games maybe, and we get him back at full speed, not limping speed - full speed and he's not a decoy out there. It's going to be awesome."

Caldwell, however, cautioned that the bye cannot be expected to fully resolve the team's injury issues, noting repeatedly that there are no guarantees regarding how fast players heal.

"I've gotten beyond that in my career, of ever even thinking it's going to be absolutely perfect," Caldwell said. "There are no perfect scenarios in this league. It just doesn't happen that way. Typically there's going to be an issue. Very rarely do you go through an entire season and have the same group of guys to work with the entire season or get the number of guys back you think you're going to get back and all that kind of stuff. If you hinge your thought process on anything of that nature, you're setting yourself up for a letdown.

"My job is to get our team in position to win games regardless of who lines up for us out there," Caldwell added. "I don't think about these sort of rosy scenarios. They don't even cross my mind."

Though all injuries might not heal during the bye week, players can certainly benefit from the time away from the game in plenty of other ways. Caldwell said he suggests players use the bye to do what they often cannot do during the season - spend time with family, go to church, even return to their alma maters to watch their college teams play.

"Those are great experiences that you cannot get back, so we're trying to give them a vehicle, an opportunity, to go back and enjoy some of those things, and then when we come back, our focus is narrow," Caldwell said. "We've got a determined group of guys that I think will take advantage of those opportunities to relax, but when we come back, it's all business."

The Lions start their second half of the season at home Nov. 9 against the Miami Dolphins.

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