Press Conference with Detroit Head Coach Gary Moeller and President Bob Pinter

DRIVE P.R. DIRECTOR MIKE QUEEN: Okay, before we begin, please direct your questions either to Coach Moeller or Mr. Pinter. We'll only take a limited number, so be brief if you can. First question.

REPORTER: Coach Moeller, do you still feel you can make the playoffs even though you've started out 1-2?

COACH GARY MOELLER: Yes.

R: Follow-up, please, you're going to have to string together a lot of wins from here on out...

GM: Look, this team got off to a slow start last year and still finished respectably. We can still hypothetically finish the season 12-2, that's a pretty safe bet to the playoffs. But we're not thinking that far ahead.

REPORTER: Coach, were you looking past the Yoopers to your arch-rival England in Week 4?

GM: Hey, they ain't MY archrival, this is my first year. We weren't looking past anybody. They played great, we didn't.

MQ: Mitch.

DETROIT COLUMNIST MITCH ALBUM: Bob, your team has a history of losing to perennial losers. You lost to Benton Harbor in Week 1 last year, they had gone 0-14...

DRIVE OWNER BOB PINTER: (chuckles) Yeah, Mitch, I don't know what to tell you. It's strange. All I know is, I put the best team together possible that will win more games than it loses in the long run. Everyone keeps saying this is our year, but we're not placing those expectations on ourselves. At least not this year.

MA: But I doubt you expected to give Northern Mich its first win of the year, right?

BP: I'm not gonna lie. We thought we had this game in the bag. I wanted to play it conservatively right from the start, and I told Gary to do that. I said, "Do everything you can not to blow this game." We didn't want to make any mistakes, but then again, neither did they.

MA: Coach, is that true?

GM: I told our guys not to gamble on any plays, just make the right decisions. Play smart. Mr. Pinter said to me, "Coach, we can either blow this game wide open and risk losing it, or we can play it safe, because I don't want to start the season out 1-2." They did everything they had to do to beat us, because we didn't give them anything to work with.

REPORTER: What about Bledsoe throwing two interceptions? And I think even Henry threw one, too, didn't he?

GM: Yeah, he did. Drew had two, Travis had one.

DETROIT REPORTER STEVE PADDY: Coach, why did you have Travis throwing the ball anyway?

GM: It was something we'd been working on in practice, we thought we'd try it early.

SP: But you just said you wanted to play it safe this week...

GM: Look, I'm not gonna sit here and say we thought we were gonna lose this game. We were going to WIN. This was the week to try some things out.

REPORTER: So you overestimated Northern Michigan, is that what you're saying?

MQ: Who's that question directed at?

REPORTER: Uh...Bob.

BP: I've never overestimated Jon. He's a smart guy who put together a good team. Everyone in this league knows his reputation for making winners. He's going to win a lot more games than just this one. I'm just sorry we were the first one, but I guess some people aren't going to be surprised.

MQ: Last question.

MADISON REPORTER MIKE KELLER: How many games do you think they'll win this year, Bob?

BP: I'd say at least five. They'll probably get about five.

MK: What about you guys?

BP: Please. I'm not going to give anybody any fuel. We just lost to Northern Michigan. (gets up and walks out of the room)

MQ: Okay, guys, that's it. Thanks for coming.