The Texans skipped their morning practice because of the bad weather, but head coach Gary Kubiak liked what he saw from the team in the afternoon. Kubiak told the media he is deciding who will play Saturday against the Broncos.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on anything new today) "No, we just changed that schedule. But, that might have been one of our better practices. I'll tell you, we were bouncing around, very physical in the front end of practice and a lot of mental stuff on the back end - trying to freshen them up here the rest of the week and get these kids in the position to go and compete."
(on if anything specifically stood out) "No, I just liked the way they responded. They had an excellent morning yesterday morning and I thought we were a little bit sluggish yesterday afternoon, but this team bounces back. It knows when it needs to pick it up a notch and we definitely did that today."
(on offensive line coach John Benton) "John is a heck of a teacher. One of the things that is going to be great in his career is he's had a chance to be around, I think he's been around (former St. Louis Rams offensive line coach Jim) Hanifan who is considered one of the best in the business. He's been around (Mike) Sherman, and now he's going to get a chance to be around (assistant head coach/offense) Alex (Gibbs). I think these guys that end up being these great coaches don't have egos and John doesn't; he's just feeding off Alex and he does a great job with our players. ur players respect him and he's an excellent teacher."
(on DT Travis Johnson) "We were concerned with him coming off of the problem he had. We're working him once a day. He's getting better and he can play better. We've got to continue to push him more and I'm hoping he goes twice tomorrow. He's getting in a little bit better condition, but he's still got a ways to go. As I told you all before and I've told Travis, he played as good as he's ever played for us last year, but there is still another level for Travis to reach as a player if we're going to go where we want to go. He's got to find another gear and we've got to work him to get that done."
(on finding the next gear for DT Travis Johnson) "I think we've done a good job of the way we've used him. Our trainers and stuff, we've worked him into this and that hasn't' been a problem in camp. He's the one saying, 'Hey, I can go twice a day.' So that's what we wanted. We wanted to keep him healthy and get him in the best position to compete. And we think we've got him there right now, and now its time to go."
(on if the next level for DT Travis Johnson is mental or physical) "I think it's a little bit of both. I think one of the things that has held him back is his conditioning level, being able to withstand for a game or for that 50 plays that he plays in a game. Some of the physical things that have happened to him have kept him from getting in the best shape that he can be in. So we're just taking a little different path with him and hopefully it's the best path."
(on if RB Mike Bell will play vs. Denver) "As of today I would say no. He claimed he had this problem before and he was back in a couple days, but we don't feel like he's close right now. As of right now I would say it doesn't look good."
(on if RB Chris Brown will play vs. Denver) "I don't know yet. I have to make a decision. He looked pretty good. He came out of yesterday pretty good, and we'll see how he comes out of today. We'll take him a day at a time."
(on RBs Steve Slaton, Darius Walker and Chris Taylor taking most of the reps vs. Denver) "We're going to talk about it as coaches the playtime. We'll start talking about that probably tomorrow. I'm hoping they all work, and I actually want to see those young guys more than anything."
(on the importance to the team that DT Travis Johnson develop) "It's very important. Travis is a first round pick and a big factor in this organization. We've been pushing him to get the most out of him and he did play pretty darn well last year. But, if he becomes a great player, a Pro Bowl player, then our football team is going to benefit from that. So that's our job as coaches; is to keep pushing him and see if we can find that."
(on if DT Travis Johnson is capable of reaching the next level) "I think he's capable of it. I think he's capable of being one hell of a player, but his conditioning level has got to be the best it's been and keeping him healthy and that is why we're taking a different approach with him so we'll see."
(on if he'll play QB Shane Boyd) "Don't know. Like I said, we'll talk about that tomorrow night. I would be talking out of turn if I tried to give you those answers today - really haven't thought about the playing time yet. We'll do that tomorrow night."
(on anything he wants to see) "We've got a lot of things we need to look at. I couldn't put my finger on one thing that I want to see. I think our preseason is a very good preseason. We play dang good football teams. We line up against Denver, at New Orleans, at Dallas and Tampa Bay. We're going to work against darn good teams. We're going to get to work against a 3-4 (defense) team. It's set up for us to get the work we need to in the preseason. We need to look at everybody. We've got some key young players that we need to see if they can help us. We've got to remember that we're a very young team, so the bulk of our team has still got to get plenty of work and we'll do that."
(on if RB Ahman Green will play vs. Denver) "Yes, we plan to play him. He's had a great offseason and having a good camp. He needs to play. His stages need to pick up as we go through preseason. But yes, he'll play."
(on if WR Andre Johnson will play vs. Denver) "We've got a bunch of Andre's. (the receiver?) There is a good chance that one doesn't play.
