DETROIT LIONS WEEKLY RELEASE PRESEASON GAME 3: VS. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS MEDIA INFORMATION GAME INFORMATION 2017 DETROIT LIONS SCHEDULE DETROIT LIONS (2-0) VS. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (0-2) PRESEASON (2-0) Date: ...............................................................................Friday, August 25 DATE OPPONENT TV TIME/RESULT Kickoff: .........................................................................................7:00 p.m. 8/13 at Indianapolis Colts WJBK-TV FOX 2 W, 24-10 Stadium: .....................................................................................Ford Field 8/19 NEW YORK JETS WJBK-TV FOX 2 W, 16-6 Capacity: .........................................................................................64,500 8/25 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS WJBK-TV FOX 2 7:00 p.m. Playing Surface: ........................................................................FieldTurf 8/31 at Buffalo Bills WJBK-TV FOX 2 7:00 p.m. 2016 Records: .................................................Lions 9-7; Patriots 14-2 TELEVISION Network: ............................................................................ WJBK-TV FOX 2 REGULAR SEASON Play-By-Play: .....................................................................Matt Shepard DATE OPPONENT TV TIME/RESULT Color: ..................................................................................Chris Spielman 9/10 ARIZONA CARDINALS FOX 1:00 p.m. Sideline: .................................................Tori Petry/Jennifer Hammond 9/18 at New York Giants ESPN# 8:30 p.m. LIONS RADIO NETWORK 9/24 ATLANTA FALCONS FOX 1:00 p.m. Flagship: ......................................................... News Talk 760 | WJR-AM 10/1 at Minnesota Vikings FOX 1:00 p.m. Play-By-Play: ........................................................................... Dan Miller 10/8 CAROLINA PANTHERS FOX 1:00 p.m. Color: ..............................................................................Jim Brandstatter 10/15 at New Orleans Saints FOX 1:00 p.m. 10/22 ***BYE WEEK*** SERIES INFORMATION 10/29 PITTSBURGH STEELERS NBC# 8:30 p.m. The Lions conclude their home portion of the 2017 Preseason 11/6 at Green Bay Packers ESPN# 8:30 p.m. as they host the New England Patriots at Ford Field. Detroit and 11/12 CLEVELAND BROWNS CBS 1:00 p.m. New England have met eight times in the preseason, with the Lions leading the all-time preseason series 6-2-0. The teams' 11/19 at Chicago Bears FOX 1:00 p.m. most recent preseason meeting came in 2013 when the Lions 11/23 MINNESOTA VIKINGS FOX# 12:30 p.m. defeated the Patriots 40-9 at Ford Field. The Patriots hold the 12/3 at Baltimore Ravens FOX 1:00 p.m. edge in the all-time regular season series 7-4-0. 12/10 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers FOX 1:00 p.m. SERIES BY THE NUMBERS 12/16 CHICAGO BEARS NFLN# 4:30 p.m. Preseason Record vs. NE: ...............................................................6-2-0 12/24 at Cincinnati Bengals FOX 1:00 p.m. Regular Season Record vs. NE: ..................................................... 4-7-0 12/31 GREEN BAY PACKERS FOX 1:00 p.m. Home Record vs. NE: .........................................................................2-3-0 # Nationally Televised Record at Ford Field: ........................................................................0-2-0 Road Record vs. NE: ..........................................................................2-4-0 FOOTBALL COMMUNICATIONS CONTACTS Record at Gillette Stadium: ...........................................................0-2-0 Last Game (Regular Season): ..................Det 9 at NE 34 (11/23/14) Matt Barnhart ....................... Director of Football Communications ¾ [email protected] 2016 STATISTICAL COMPARISON Eamonn Reynolds ................. Asst. Director, Football Communications OFFENSE DET Rk NE Rk ¾ [email protected] Points/Game 21.6 20 27.6 3 Deanna Caldwell ................... Manager of Football Media Services Total Offense 338.8 21 386.3 4 ¾ [email protected] Rushing Offense 81.9 30 117.0 7 Solomon Williams................. Coordinator of Football Communications Passing Offense 256.9 11 269.3 4 [email protected] 3rd Down Offense % 42.6 8 45.8 4 Bill Keenist ............................. Senior Vice President of Communications Red Zone Efficiency 54.2 17 63.3 8 Giveaways 15 5t 11 1t ¾ [email protected] DEFENSE DET Rk NE Rk MEDIA.DETROITLIONS.COM Points/Game 22.4 13 15.6 1 Media.Detroitlions.com is the team’s media-dedicated Inter- Total Defense 354.8 18 326.4 8 net site. Information on the site includes the daily schedules, Rushing Defense 106.3 18 88.6 3t press releases, news clippings, statistics, updated rosters and Passing Defense 248.4 19 237.9 12 current depth chart. Individual registration is required. 3rd Down Defense % 45.5 31 36.9 7 Red Zone Efficiency 67.9 30 52.3 8t Takeaways 14 28t 23 14t WEEKLY RELEASE CALDWELL’S FOURTH SEASON IN DETROIT JIM CALDWELL COACHING OVERVIEW Head Coach ¾ Hired as head coach for the Detroit Lions January 14, 2014. Years with Lions: 4 ¾ In 16 previous NFL seasons, Caldwell has worked on coaching Years as NFL Head Coach: 7 staffs that have led teams to 13 winning seasons and only Years in NFL: 17 twice finished below .500. Overall, Caldwell’s teams he coached for have compiled a 165-91 regular season record, along with 14 playoff appearances, eight division titles, three conference championships and two Super Bowl wins. ¾ As an NFL head coach (six seasons), Caldwell has led a team to 11+ wins twice (14 with Indianapolis in 2009, 11 with Detroit in 2014). Coached in three Super Bowls with With two playoff appearances in his first three years, Jim Indianapolis (XLI and XLIV) and Baltimore (XLVII) and won Caldwell has established himself as one of the most successful two Super Bowl titles (Ind and Bal). head coaches in recent franchise history. His 27 wins are the ¾ In his first year as head coach for IND (2009), he won the AFC most ever by a Lions head coach over his first three seasons Championship and led the franchise to Super Bowl XLIV. He and his winning percentage of .563 (27-21) is the highest by any became the first NFL coach to win his first 14 games and the Lions head coach in the Super Bowl era. fifth rookie head coach to reach the Super Bowl. With a 26-19 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016, ¾ One of four head coaches to produce 24+ regular-season Caldwell earned his 50th career regular season win as an NFL wins and a Super Bowl berth in their first two career seasons head coach. In six seasons, including three in Indianapolis, he as head coach. has accumulated a record of 53-43 (.552 pct.) in 96 games, and ¾ From 2003-09, Caldwell was the Colts quarterbacks coach and he has led teams to the postseason in four of his six seasons. was also promoted to assistant head coach and associate Beginning his football coaching career in 1977 as a graduate head coach during that time. He worked closely with QB assistant at his alma mater, the University of Iowa, 2017 marks Peyton Manning and the team’s quarterbacks. During that Caldwell's 40th consecutive season coaching football. span, Indianapolis set NFL records with seven consecutive LIONS FINISH 9-7 IN 2016, EARN PLAYOFF BERTH seasons finishing with 11+ wins (6, Dallas 1976-81) and 12+ The Lions finished the 2016 season with a record of 9-7 and victories (4, Dallas, 1992-95). earned the team’s second playoff berth in the past three ¾ After being appointed Ravens offensive coordinator in seasons. The last time the Lions made the playoffs twice in a December 2012, Baltimore went on to win five of its next three-year span was 1997 and 1999. seven games, including Super Bowl XLVII. During that span, ¾ By earning a playoff berth in 2016, Caldwell joins Buddy the offense averaged 400.6 yards per game, including an Parker (1952, 1953) and Bobby Ross (1997, 1999) as the only average of 410.3 yards per game during the four playoff wins. coaches in Lions history to lead the team to the playoffs CALDWELL’S HEAD COACHING RECORD twice in their first three seasons with the club. REGULAR SEASON Year Team G W L T Pct Result EIGHT COMEBACK WINS IN 2016 2009 Ind 16 14 2 0 .875 1st AFC South The Lions finished the 2016 season with a record of 9-7. In eight of 2010 Ind 16 10 6 0 .625 1st AFC South the team's nine wins, the Lions trailed in the fourth quarter and 2011 Ind 16 2 14 0 .125 4th AFC South went on to win the game. Detroit set a new NFL record, surpassing 2014 Det 16 11 5 0 .688 2nd NFC North 2015 Det 16 7 9 0 .438 3rd NFC North the previous total of seven set by the 2009 Indianapolis Colts 2016 Det 16 9 7 0 .563 2nd NFC North (also coached by Jim Caldwell), for the most wins in a season Totals 96 53 43 0 .552 after trailing in the fourth quarter. POSTSEASON REACHING 50 WINS Year Team G W L T Pct Playoff Berth With a 26-19 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars (11/20), 2009 Ind 3 2 1 0 .667 Super Bowl XLIV Caldwell, currently at 53, earned his 50th career regular season 2010 Ind 1 0 1 0 .000 AFC Wild Card 2014 Det 1 0 1 0 .000 NFC Wild Card win as an NFL head coach. In six seasons, he has accumulated a 2016 Det 1 0 1 0 .000 NFC Wild Card record of 53-43 (.552 pct) in 96 games. Totals 6 2 4 0 .333 ¾ 25 WITH THE LIONS: The 16-13 win over the Vikings (11/24) gave Coach Caldwell his 25th win as head coach of the Lions. OVERALL G W L T Pct He became the third head coach in team history to reach Regular Season 96 53 43 0 .552 25+ wins in a coach’s first 50 games. He reached 25 wins in Postseason 6 2 4 0 .333 his 43rd game with the Lions, joining Buddy Parker (35 from Totals 102 55 47 0 .539 1951-55) and Potsy Clark (33 from 1931-34) as the only Lions head coaches to win 25 games in their first 50 with the Lions.