Lions coach done talking about controversial play

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Jim Caldwell wants to turn his focus to Detroit’s next game — and he’s insisting his players do the same.

No more talk about the controversial ending in Monday night’s loss at Seattle.

“I’m going to tell them not to talk about it,” Caldwell said Tuesday. “We can’t be hanging on something that happened a night ago that we can do nothing about.”

Caldwell says he doesn’t want the Lions to be distracted by more discussion of Calvin Johnson’s fumble on Detroit’s final possession Monday. The ball was knocked out of the back of the end zone by the Seahawks’ K.J. Wright. Rather than flag him for illegally batting the ball, officials ruled the play a touchback.

Caldwell said he spoke with NFL VP of Officiating Dean Blandino on Tuesday, but the Detroit coach would not go into detail about that conversation.

Lions players were not available to reporters Tuesday. Caldwell began his news conference by talking a bit about the disputed play, but was unwilling to say much more about it.

“I don’t want it to linger. I don’t want our guys talking about it because it’s over and done with,” Caldwell said. “As we looked at it from the sideline, we saw Calvin with the ball in his hand. The ball comes out and then I actually saw the young man bat the ball out.”