Caldwell On Lions Offense: 'We Have No Comfort Zone'
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - With the final month of the regular season approaching, the Detroit Lions still have not hit their stride offensively. They have gone two games without scoring a touchdown, and the team's average of 17.9 points per game ranks 28th in the league.
"We have no comfort zone," Caldwell said Tuesday. "We have no area in which we are comfortable with at this point in time in our offense.
"The reason why I'm not comfortable is because we haven't scored enough points, more so than anything else," Caldwell added. "Often times it doesn't matter how you score as long as you get them on the board. Right now we just have not been consistent enough to get that done in so many different areas."
The coach has refused to blame the sluggishness of the offense on the myriad of injuries the Lions have suffered this season, from wide receiver Calvin Johnson to running backs Reggie Bush, Joique Bell and Theo Riddick to tight ends Joe Fauria, Eric Ebron and Brandon Pettigrew to offensive linemen Corey Hilliard, LaAdrian Waddle, Larry Warford and most recently Riley Reiff.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford, however, has acknowledged on occasion that the constant personnel changes due to injury have made it more difficult for the offense to produce consistently.
"I think there's still a little bit of a period of trying to figure out what we're really, really good at," Stafford said. "When you look at the offenses that are really successful, they have some things that they can go to that they know they're good at, that they know they can do against pretty much anybody in any look. With the amount of turnover we've had with certain guys being in and out, up front, at the skill position, wherever it may be, it's been difficult to kind of develop that through the year, so we'll continue to try and find that and figure out what we're best at.
"I think obviously we have players on the outside," Stafford continued. "We can throw the ball. We've got great skill players. That's our calling card right now. We've got to find a way to get them the ball a little bit better. It's on me. It's on everybody."
Left guard Rob Sims said he agreed that the offense is still trying to figure out what it does well. Detroit's run game in particular has struggled, but the passing attack - expected to be potent - has not panned out as envisioned either.
"Hard to say why not," Sims said. "You've got some play makers in this locker room, you've got an offensive line that above all else goes out there and puts it on the line. It may not be perfect every time, but they put it on the line. I feel like we're coached well. For some reason we've gone eight quarters with no touchdown. It's rough, and it's uncharacteristic for who we are, but you just keep going back to the drawing board until you find it."
