On Friday, the Texans cancelled their morning practice and elected to hold team meetings. The players made the afternoon count. Head coach Gary Kubiak told the media it was the team's best practice of camp.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on the afternoon practice) "I thought it was our best practice of camp to be honest with you. We actually didn't come on the field this morning for special teams, some good meetings today and guys really bouncing around. We want to have a good, physical practice in the morning, and then we'll give them a break."
(on fewer practices and not much contact) "I just think we're getting better. Our competition is so good it keeps people on the field. I think we're getting mentally tougher, physically tougher as a football team. I just think you see it on a daily basis, and we've been a little lucky, too, from the standpoint of injuries."
{QUOTE}(on a hard hitting practice in the morning) "We won't scrimmage, but we're going to put our pads on. We need to bang around pretty good tomorrow and then give them a good break tomorrow night and all day Sunday. We start playing every week now, so we'll get a chance to judge ourselves at the end of every week. It's been a good week and we need to put the pads on. I want to see some of the backs in some blitz pick-up and stuff like that. So we'll have a good day tomorrow morning."
(on being nervous about a game coming up next week) "No, I'm excited. We get to test ourselves. For the players, when you walk in camp it's a long time before you actually get to walk into a stadium and play, but now there is a little light at the end of the tunnel each week. We just hope we get a few of these kids back next week and get healthy and get ready to play next weekend."
(on WR Andre Johnson) "He's fine. If I have a choice, and I don't have to practice him on this turf I would rather not. We actually are taking him outside and going to work him a little bit, but just hold him off the turf."
(on RB Chris Brown's progress) "Yes, he's much better. Probably the smart thing to do is wait until Monday morning and bring him back. I would think that would be our plan."
(on DE N.D. Kalu) "His wife is in labor. So she's in labor right now and he's at the hospital. He called a few minutes ago and said the baby was turned a certain way, so he may be a little late. I told him it's the most important thing for him to take care of his life and his baby, so we're waiting to hear."
(on TE Ryan Krause and if he's making an impression) "We kind of replaced Jeb (Putzier) with him. He's an athletic kid, can make plays in the pass game and has been a surprise in the run game. We actually thought about him as a little bit of a fullback. But what we're doing right now with our players, I don't think we need to do that. We'll give him a lot of reps in the preseason and see how he does."
(on RB Chris Taylor's progress as a fullback) "He's fine, he's fine. He's running the ball so well now we're not going to by any means abandon his opportunity to be one of our backs carrying the ball. We're just trying to be smart and give him a few reps each day at the backs position so that he's learning and ready to do that during the season, if need be."
(on if RB Mike Bell being here is speeding up RB Chris Brown's recovery process) "I don't think there is much Chris can do. His back has been a problem and I think he wants out here as bad as anybody. It's like I told you all yesterday, I know he can help our team and this team knows he can help, so we're excited to see him get out here and show us what he can do. Lets get him healthy and hopefully it happens."
(on DE Earl Cochran) "He's one of those players you talk about guys that all of a sudden start to become really good pros. You talk about (WR Kevin) Walter and we talked about Zac Diles' progress; you could throw Earl in that mix. He's a better player. He's held up better because I think his work habits in the offseason have taken a step forward. He's got a chance to be a fine player."
(on using DE Earl Cochran in different ways) "He plays in and out. In nickel, he'll go inside and rush. He's a versatile kid. Great special teams player for (special teams coordinator) Joe (Marciano), so we'll just keep him going."
