Opening comments:"We'll put Chris Crocker and Frostee Rucker on injured reserve. Antwan Odom will go in one spot, and we signed a cornerback today, Jonathan Wade, who had been with the Lions until two weeks ago. He'll fill the spot there in the secondary and give us some depth there. That's where we are.
"Obviously the game (yesterday), we do some good things offensively in the first half and then in the second half the tale becomes the turnovers. We have one three-and-out series, but other than that, the turnovers are the deal. We fumble the football right away and gave up the touchdown with it. Then we drive the length of the field and then have the turnover in the red zone. Then we have a three-and-out and then drive the length of the field again and take a whack at the field goal. That all being said, the thing we have to focus on is limiting our indecision, limiting our error. Our margin for error is so slight right now that every little mistake we have ends up being a huge difference for us. We have to work. We have to play physically stronger. I think that's important.
"Defensively, we made some key plays on third down in the first half, but in the second half they were four-out-of-five, I believe, and that was huge. The penalties helped their first drive. The penalty on Michael Johnson was about as far from a hit to the head as it can be, but that's unfortunate and it is what it is. That being said, the penalties we had just were huge -- not necessarily justified, but they were huge changing points in the game for us. So again, back to that margin of error with that.
"Defensively, we have to understand that we're probably going to have some different players playing, some new younger players, so the other guys have to rise up and play smarter, play more aware and play really more efficiently. We continue to do a better job of rushing and getting after the quarterback, but we have two runs a game that just don't fit right. That's going to be big as we go into this game with the Jets, making sure we get everything fit right up front and play physical up front and play gap-sound, 11 guys playing together defensively. That will be huge for this game."
On if the low margin for error relates to psychological factors:"I don't know if it's psychological. Unfortunately, we have a fumble. Ced's been pretty good with the ball, but this year we've had five fumbles, and they've all been huge plays. I think he's had two other fumbles on the year, so I think we have to do a better job of ball security. And that's got to be conscious. As a runner you have to keep the ball tight and pressed and understand that we're all riding with you there.
"I think with the interceptions, again we just make sure that we're all doing everything the right way. We have some narrow spaces down there, narrower than we'd like, and we just have to make sure we're doing it right. We just have to keep playing better. Offensively, we have some things we have to finish better up front. I think that would have been helpful to us yesterday. We didn't quite get things finished right. Same thing on defense. We need to make sure we get to the right spots and make sure we finish the play. That will make a big difference."
On if he knows who from the secondary will be available Thursday:"Yes and no. We'll see as we go. It's going to be, as they say, nip and tuck. We've got some guys banged – bruised I should say. I think the best thing is we'll get out tonight, get through some things and then tomorrow, we'll see."
On getting Jonathan Wade acclimated quickly:"I think Jonathan will have a great opportunity to play this week."
On Terrell Owens' postgame comments yesterday about the team being 'terrible':"Well, based on our record, we're not very good right now."
On the injuries having a ripple effect on special teams:"I think, knock on wood, guys have been filling in. I think Darrin (special teams coach Darrin Simmons) has done a good job. Guys have gotten some opportunity and have stepped up. Guys have been doing double duty. Rico (Murray), who played most of the game on defense, still played quite a bit on (special) teams, so our guys have been getting spent that way. With 45 guys out there, I can't tell you where the stress of the game is going to end up. At some point, and it seems like each and every week, one area of the team is going to be overworked or overstressed."
On having to play Thursday after a tough loss:"I would like 14 days (to prepare), but we don't have that. I would like to have an opportunity to get our guys back feeling good and healthy, but it is what it is. Its four days, it's a great opportunity. It's a great thing for us. Let's go play. We need to go play and this kind of break through this and get the bad out of our mind. Get that taste out of our mouths and get after it. It's going to be a physical game. The Jets are a physical group and they aren't going to take any pity on us. We're going to have to bust up, get up, tape up and get going."
On keeping the team together:"You hopefully have the right guys on the bus with you, and the guys will be ready to fight. It's going to be a street fight. We might go in a little undermanned at some spots, but someone has to rise up and be the big hitter. Unfortunately I don't have time to look back. We can only look forward and that's my point. There's no time to look back and reflect or feel sorry and be pitiful. We have to move forward. We've been dealt this for a reason, and it tests you, and we have to go."
On how the players will react to the short turnaround:"I think they will react fine. We'll be ready to go. Lick their wounds a little bit this afternoon, come back tonight and look forward."
On Lewis having seemed exasperated in recent postgame news conferences:"It has been the case. I only have 24 hours in the day. I can't spend any more of them here. I left late last night and got back here early this morning. I watched tape last night and we had to get going on the Jets this morning. We worked three days on the Jets last week, and so the coaches have been busting their tails to get ready for this game, as well as during last week when they had an opportunity to be with family. It is what it is and the way the schedule works, and now it's time to go."
On having to simplify things with limited personnel:"You have a three-day prep basically. It's going to be what it is. I don't know what the word is ... I don't have any $10 words at work. It's going to be execution, playing fast, physical and smart."
On his future with the team:"Oh, I see a future here. Again, I have been telling you guys this. For everybody involved, I want this thing. I haven't got done what I came here to do, and I failed them. But we're still doing it, and we're going to keep on doing it and just keep working at it. This has not been the season we all wanted, but it is where we are right now. I think we continue, my guys coach very hard, and that's not going to change."
On if he draws on anything during times like this:"You just have to go out there each and every week. I cannot predict what's going to happen. We just have to try to be the best-prepared team that plays the best on Sundays. And, we are just going to keep working at that. For all those guys, trying their tails off. We have to take care of the football. We have to make first downs. We have to catch the ball all the time. We have to make blocks all the time. There are plays we are leaving out there that we have to get done."
"Defensively, we have to stay in the right leverages, we have to tackle, we have to attack things with the proper leverage, our eyes have to work right. On special teams we have to place the ball where we want it placed, and we have to block guys in the return game. It still comes down to the fundamentals of what we are doing. Yeah, that's what I go back on. When you are not doing things quite right and good enough to win, we have to go back and fundamentally really look hard and make sure we are getting exactly what we want as much of the time.
"We are getting some new guys interjected in here. Maybe we need to continue to interject some more. That will be another thing we'll look at. Is there somebody that's standing beside me more than they are out there on the field that might help us or at least might urge somebody, help somebody else do better? Maybe we need to split snaps. So, we'll keep looking at that, but the focus is to win this football game."
On if he's ever experienced as much of an avalanche between struggles and injuries:
"I don't know. We have to make our own breaks too. We are not doing enough of that. We have to keep making our own breaks --stay aggressive and make our breaks and not worry about everything that can go wrong. Let's focus on what's going to be right and let's focus on what we got good and let's use those, use our strengths to our best ability."
On the mentality of just going out and playing in a short week:"Whether it is (a short week) or not, that's all we have the chance to do. That is what it is."
On if he's ever seen a position group get as decimated within the game as the secondary yesterday:
"I don't know that I can remember anything being that bad -- maybe at linebacker where maybe you don't carry as many guys. I think a couple games last year we had that. That's a difficult spot to take the hits we took. Because they are not only the guys that came into play, but the roles they already had on special teams and so forth. They are some of our core players on special teams. So they were pressed into double duty a little bit. Guys like Chase Coffman got a little bit more work on (special) teams, a little different than what he had. I thought guys like Brian Leonard stepped up and made some plays on special teams and so forth. That is what we have to keep having. Guys went down there on the back end and that hurt us a little bit."
On if times like this are if he finds out where his true professionals are:
"I think guys know people have an eye open on them. They have one eye peeled watching them. We have six football games left. We still can – this season is not where we wanted it to be – but we can end this season feeling, at least feeling, at least finishing it the right way. That is what we are going to work hard at doing. We are not going to sit here and worry about what we didn't do already. Let's focus on what we can do the next six weeks."
