Schwartz on Kwan's job security: 'I'm not George Steinbrenner'
As one of a handful of coaching holdovers from the Lions' previous staff, Stan Kwan didn't have a lot of support from the fans even before this season began. But after Sunday's disastrous day for Kwan's special-teams units, the inbox is full of emails calling for Kwan to be gone -- now.
But when Jim Schwartz was asked Monday if any coaches -- not just the players -- were in danger of losing their jobs after he'd vowed to make changes, the head coach got a bit defensive.
"At this point of the season?" Schwartz said. "I'm not George Steinbrenner. Is that what you want, me to make changes in coaches? Like I said, coaching is my responsibility. That's my job to make sure that the players are being put in good positions. It's to make sure that the points that we want to make as a coaching staff are getting across and that players are responding. It's a two-way street. It's one thing to put players in good positions, it's another to be able to execute for them to be able to finish that."
Earlier, Schwartz was asked about keeping Kwan, who's in his third season as special teams coordinator after seven seasons -- in two stints -- as a special teams assistant under Chuck Priefer. The Lions' return units ranked 24th in both kick- and punt-return average last season -- personnel was a big part of the problem there -- while the coverage units ranked 19th (kickoffs) and 11th (punts), allowing two punt returns for touchdowns.
"I think Stan did a good job last year and like I said, I don't want to pin this all on one person," Schwartz said Monday. "When I say coaching, I point to myself with that. I don't point to an assistant coach. This is my job, this is my responsibility. Everything that goes on that field is ultimately my responsibility to make sure that it gets done. There's no calling out a particular coach or anything like that."
(Updated 10 p.m.) The players' jobs aren't quite as safe, as Schwartz announced Monday he'll replace Aaron Brown with another rookie, Derrick Williams, on kick returns this week. Schwartz noted the absence of safety Kalvin Pearson, a special-teams ace who missed the Bears game with a quad injury, and the Lions have since claimed safety Marvin White off waivers from Dallas today -- he's a hard-hitter who can help on special teams, perhaps -- while putting Adam Jennings on IR. (Jennings left the stadium in an ambulance and stayed in Chicago overnight for tests on his injured ankle -- he was on crutches this afternoon when he showed up at the training facility.)
We'll see what other changes are made, but we also could see linebacker Zach Follett signed from the practice squad to help out on special teams and at linebacker, with Ernie Sims injured again and Julian Peterson moonlighting as a defensive end.
