National Football League

Notes: Lions, Caldwell on track through first quarter of season

Published Sep. 29, 2014 3:25 p.m. ET

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ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- The Detroit Lions have won three of their first four games for the fourth time in the last 10 years.

It's generated some optimism, and rightfully so, especially coming off victories against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers and then on the road against the New York Jets.

However, be warned: None of those other 3-1 starts in the last decade ended with so much as even a winning record. The Lions finished 7-9 last year, 7-9 in 2007 and 6-10 in 2004.

NFL coaches typically break their seasons down to four-game segments with the goal to go 3-1 each time.

So far, Jim Caldwell is right on track in his first year as the Lions' coach.

What's been most encouraging to this point is the way this team has overcome injuries. They've already lost four players -- middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch, offensive tackle Corey Hillard, and cornerbacks Bill Bentley and Nevin Lawson -- for the season.

Safety James Ihedigbo didn't play the first three games, and star receiver Calvin Johnson was extremely limited against the Jets because of an ankle injury.

On top of that, the Lions already had to release a struggling kicker.

Nevertheless, they appear -- and we stress "appear" simply because of the track record -- to be developing a strong mentality along with playing smarter football.

"They've been able to battle through it, been able to not let injuries affect them adversely," Caldwell said Monday during his weekly news conference. "We've got great leadership. We have a veteran guy in every area that understands what it takes to get better every day and to find a way to win games. I think that's a great benefit of ours.

"We're learning as we go. The first four games, typically, you have a pretty good sense of where you are. I think we do.

"Where we are if we need to continue to improve in almost every area."

One of the most impressive parts of Caldwell's opening four-game stretch is that the Lions seem -- and, again, we stress "seem" -- to be correcting their self-destructive tendencies of the past.

They've had a knack for making boneheaded plays at crucial times, but they've started to clean that up.

Caldwell is getting a lot of credit for the apparent -- stress "apparent" -- progress in this area.

"I don't want to stand up here and act as if I have all the answers because we don't," he said. "There's an old adage that says 'the teacher appears when the student is ready.'

"I think you have a number of guys that understand what the situation is, understand the problems that they've had maybe previously in some situations. We've pointed out some things, made them aware of the gravity of some of the mistakes and things of that nature. I think now you have a group of guys with enough leaders that have sort of taken that cause on themselves to make certain they don't do it on a consistent basis.

"Early on, we can say that in this first quarter (of the season), it's kind of what we got accomplished. It doesn't say what we're going to do in the future. There are no guarantees in this league but I do think that it shows that our team does have some grit."

Instead of doing the wrong thing at the worst time, the Lions have been doing the right things at the right time more often than not.

The offense has closed games out with time-consuming drives at the end so they didn't give the other team a chance to make a late rally.

Caldwell was impressed Sunday with how running back Reggie Bush and quarterback Matthew Stafford both got down inbounds after making first-down runs late in the game rather than stopping the clock by going out of bounds.

The coach also liked the way his defense forced a three-and-out with under two minutes remaining in the first half and then the offense promptly capitalized for a touchdown -- and a 17-3 lead -- with 22 seconds left.

"I think our guys are becoming astute in situational football," Caldwell said.

He's also encouraged the way all three phases of the team contributed.

"There were times when our defense lifted our offense, particularly shutting them down for a length of time with the three-and-outs, and times when the offense came back and sort of gave the defense a lift as well," Caldwell said. "When we needed a great punt, Sam (Martin) was able to get it for us, without a return, to give our guys good field position to work with.

"I think, across the board, there were a lot of really fine efforts, but we've still got a lot of work to do. That's the thing that we're dead set on, that we have continuous improvement."

The next four-game stretch begins Sunday at Ford Field against the Buffalo Bills, followed by a road game against the Minnesota Vikings, a home game with the New Orleans Saints and then a trip to London to face the Atlanta Falcons before the bye week.

Another 3-1 stretch sounds realistic based on how both the Lions and those opponents are playing right now, but these things change rapidly in the NFL.

EXTRA POINTS

--- Stafford was limping around at times during and after the game, but Caldwell indicated it's nothing serious.

"He's OK," Caldwell said. "The game is a physical game. A lot of collisions out there. Guys are going to sometimes come out of those games pretty sore. I doubt there's anybody walking in this building that played 65 plays, like he played, that didn't come out of there with some issues."

--- Caldwell wouldn't comment on the status of running back Joique Bell, nor confirm whether Bell, who left the game with a head injury, had indeed suffered a concussion.

--- Caldwell also wouldn't budge on his refusal to discuss the future of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who can become a free agent after this season.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Suh and the Lions are preparing to part ways and that Suh is interested in playing in New York for either the Jets or the Giants.

Pushed on the topic Monday, Caldwell replied, "It might be important to you, but I'm not going to address it at this point in time. Next question."