FLOWERY BRANCH — Detroit coach Jim Schwartz said Wednesday he’s trying to put his fracas with San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh in his rearview mirror.
“Yeah, I was for 49-for-49 on shaking a hand before that,” Schwartz said on a teleconference call with members of the Atlanta media. “I think I’ll get back to that this week. I mean, I don’t know if there’s a coach I respect more in the NFL than [Falcons coach] Mike Smith.”
Schwartz and Smith coached against each other in the AFC South and have a strong mutual respect.
“I came up and started at the very bottom,” Schwartz said. “That’s the way Mike did, too. He earned everything he’s gotten in the NFL. He started in quality control and moved up to linebacker coach, moved up to coordinator and did a good job at what he was assigned and ended up as a head coach and has done an outstanding job of getting the Falcons to be a consistent winner.”
Schwartz was also effusive in his praise for Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
“I couldn’t have more respect for Thomas Dimitroff,” Schwartz said. “I was a kid who started about as low as you can start in the NFL and Thomas was with us in Cleveland, and Thomas was probably lower than me. At least I was in the building. Thomas was out on the grounds crew, pulling tarps and painting fields.”
After what happened with Harbaugh, he’s looking forward to the handshake with Smith.
“I think I’ll get back on track with handshakes this week,” Schwartz said.
The Lions are 5-1 for the first time since 1991.
“We’ve come a long way,” Schwartz said. “We lost a game last week, but it was nice to see an opponent celebrating a win over the Detroit Lions. If we beat somebody the last couple of years, a lot of times they were shaking their heads going how did we lose to those guys.
“It’s nice to see somebody celebrating a win against us now, and I think our fans are right there with us. Like I said, it will be a good atmosphere when you guys get here on Sunday.”
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