Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell Discusses Off-Season
Changes
INDIANAPOLIS – As Jim Caldwell sees it, change is nothing new.
The Colts head coach said when coaching an NFL team, he doesn't expect it to be an occasional thing, either.
So, while Caldwell said he doesn't expect the recently announced changes to the team's coaching staff to be major, he did say at the NFL's Annual Meetings on Tuesday that some change from year to year is expected.
The Colts dealt with change last season.
And Caldwell said they'll do so again now.
"Every year, there's something different," Caldwell told the Associated Press Tuesday morning during the AFC coaches' breakfast at the annual meetings, being held this week at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Fla.
"There's always things to sort out."
The Colts this past Friday announced the additions of Wide Receivers Coach Ron Turner and Assistant Offensive Line Coach Ron Prince, while altering the titles of four others on the staff. Tom Moore will hold the title of Senior Offensive Assistant, while Clyde Christensen has been promoted from Assistant Head Coach/Wide Receivers to Offensive Coordinator and Pete Metzelaars from Offensive Quality Control/Assistant Offensive Line to Offensive Line Coach.
Jim Bob Cooter, who joined the Colts in 2009 as staff assistant, has been named Offensive Assistant.
Speaking at the coaches breakfast, Caldwell said he doubts there will be major changes to the offense.
"I'm not certain why you would try to take a guy (QB-Peyton Manning) who's been on the rise statistically in every single category, MVP of last year and just keeps going in the right direction – why in the world would you want to change it?" Caldwell told the AP.
Caldwell also said at the breakfast that Christensen will call plays and likely be in the press box on game days. He also said there was a chance he could remain on the sideline, which is where he worked this past season.
"Every year we look at different ways to get a little bit better," Caldwell told the AP. "But that's one of the things that I think is dangerous. You have to be careful. You want to stay with your core values, I think that's extremely imant. But you don't want to get stale. It will catch up with you quickly."
OFFSEASON PROGRAM TO BEGIN APRIL 12: The Colts' off-season program will begin April 12, Caldwell told reporters Tuesday.
That's about a month later than the program began last season, with the idea being to allow players more time to recover physically after a five-week post-season.
"What we have to do is from this point forward, we have to become a better team than we were last year," Caldwell told reporters in Orlando. "There's a couple of things that can derail us. One is fatigue and the other is complacency. We get started on our off-season program on April 12 and some guys have obviously begun. We're looking forward. . . ."
"Winning is a fleeting thing. . . . There's a period of time where you're riding high but at some point you have to get focused and try to get together for the following year. When you lose, sometimes that tends to linger a little longer for no good reason, other than just your mental state.
"I'm aware of that, and I want us to try to get over that rather quickly. What happens is people keep bringing it up and everybody wants to look back rather than forward. What I'm doing is I'm shifting gears, we're trying to look forward, and we have some important things to get accomplished."
CALDWELL: MANNING OK: Manning on March 2 underwent a procedure to relieve pain in his neck caused by a pinched nerve.
Caldwell on Tuesday addressed the situation publicly for the first time, saying he expects Manning to be ready to throw when organized team activities begin this off-season.
"He's in good shape," Caldwell told reporters. "He'll be fine. He's coming along, and we anticipate he'll be able to do the things required of him during the off-season."
OVERTIME APPROVED: The NFL owners Tuesday approved a proposal that will modify overtime for the post-season, with the vote reportedly 28-4 in favor of the rule.
Twenty-four votes were needed to pass the Competition Committee's proposal, under which each team will get at least one offensive possession provided the team receiving the overtime kickoff does not score a touchdown on its first possession. If the team receiving the kickoff scores a touchdown, it will win the game. If it scores a field goal, the other team receives possession after a kickoff.
If the team receiving possession second scores a touchdown, it wins. If it the teams are tied 3-3 after each has had a possession, the game will revert to the league's current "sudden-death" format.
"Plenty of people on the committee, myself included, are so-called traditionalists," Colts President Bill Polian, a member of the Competition Committee, told the Associated Press after the vote. "I am proud to be one. But once you saw the statistics, it became obvious we had to do something."
COLTS AWARDED TWO COMPENSATORY SELECTIONS: The Colts have been awarded two compensatory selections in the 2010 NFL Draft, the league announced.
The Colts received two seventh-round compensatory selections -- the No. 33 selection of the seventh round (the No. 240 overall selection) and the No. 39 selection of the seventh round (No. 246).
A total of 32 compensatory choices were awarded to 19 teams.
Compensatory selections are awarded based on free agent losses and acquisitions from the previous off-season. The Colts last off-season lost DT-Darrell Reid (Denver) and P-Hunter Smith (Washington) and did not sign an unrestricted free agent.
The Colts now have eight selections in the April 22-24 Draft: one in Rounds 1-5 and three in Round 7. They hold the No. 31 selection of the first round.
