Following are excerpts from coach Gary Kubiak following the final practice of the Texans' 2006 training camp.
**Gary Kubiak
(on wrapping up training camp)** "Biggest thing today is that it's our last day of camp, we won't practice tomorrow. I think we've had a good camp. We got some guys nicked. We had great work today. I told them if we worked well today and if we were physical I'd give them tomorrow off and just start on Denver on Wednesday. I'm very impressed with our training camp, we've got a long way to go but we have some guys paying the price."
(on RB**Vernard Morency**'s injury) "It was surprising really. He has a bad bruise on his lower leg. He needs to get back out here. He's got to get back to work, that's part of being that back. If you're going to carry the ball that many times you're going to get banged up. So hopefully he'll be back Wednesday."
(on other positions) "We'll continue to play our guys right down the middle. Approach the game different, but all those battles that are going on left tackle, linebacker, we'll continue to split those right down the middle."
(on starters' playing time for Sunday) "I told them that they'll play three quarters and they'll expect to play three quarters. That's where we'll operate from, it could be more depending on how the game goes."
(on his overall assessment of camp) "I felt good about the camp. We've got further to go than anybody else in this game, so we've got to be willing to pay an extra price, in my opinion, to get to where we want to go and I think our players have done that. They've worked hard, they've come together as a group. They know what's expected of them from our staff in how we want to play the game, the type of effort that we want and we've been getting it. Today's was as physical and as spirited as we've had all year."
(on amount of progress made during camp) "I don't know. I think that you find that out in a couple of weeks. There's been some good things going on, there's been a lot of mistakes, too. The work habits have been excellent and that's all you can ask for."
(on QB**Sage Rosenfels**) "He has played very well. He's a very composed young man. He's got starter ability, like I told you all. You guys watch practice, he makes a lot of plays and players really gravitate to him. It's great for our team, it's great for David (Carr). It pushes David every day, that's why we got him because we know what type of football player he was and he's a wonderful young man as well."
(on G**Steve McKinney**) "The groin has been a problem, we thought we'd see him back Saturday. I just talked to him, he feels better today. That's really the purpose of tomorrow, to give some of these guys an extra days' rest. So hopefully Wednesday he's ready to go. He needs to play a bunch this week."
(on C**Mike Flanagan**and T**Zach Wiegert**) "I think Flanagan has had an excellent camp, there's no doubt he's our starting center. I think Zach has had a good camp. He battled his shoulder a little bit and his elbow, but he's done a good job. I think we know who our starters are at guard, it's just that we've got three guys that we consider starters, so I wouldn't read too much into that. You all know the camp Fred (Weary)'s had, I think Chester (Pitts)'s practice today was as good as I've seen him practice. We got to get Steve back on the field, the left tackle thing will work itself out. Two kids are going at it, they both kind of stepped it up a notch last week, in my opinion. We'll see what happens."
(on moving T**Eric Winston**to left tackle) "No we didn't do that today, but we will start to look at that. And the reason we're looking at that situation is because we have to decide who our swing tackle is this season. Who is going to be the third guy that can play on both sides. That's a very important decision on this team and we're looking at him to see if he can handle a little bit of both."
(on RB**Domanick Davis**) "He ran well last week. He stayed here for treatment this weekend, everything's been good up to this point, when that day's coming that he comes back out here I'd like to hope that it's before the week's out, but I don't want to put that burden on him or tell you guys that and be wrong. We're playing it day-to-day, but I know he's made a lot of progress. He's going to have to come out and practice and get the feel, get hit and get the pads on because that's a stage he hasn't been through in a long time. Hopefully that'll happen here at some point. As I said, and I'll continue to say, we're going to do what's best for him. When it's right, he'll be back out here. He won't be pushed to be back out there. It's got to be right, it's his knee and he'll know. We're just trying to do everything we can for him physically and as a player."
(on the cornerback situation)"Dexter McCleon played really well last week. What a pick up he's been. He played real well in the game and deserves the opportunity to start with Lewis (Sanders) out. Expect him only to get better. He's an eight or nine year veteran and I expect him to play like one."
(on CB**Phillip Buchanan**) "He did some good things last week. It looked like his first time out, which it was. Phillip missed a lot of practice time and he looked very good returning. On the backend he was in position and we want to see him make those plays on the ball. But it did look like it was his first preseason game so hopefully he takes a step forward this week."
(on**Dexter McCleon’s **availability) "It's really interesting how that works. Because when it works good everybody's says 'I was the one who found him', but to be honest with you Dick Vermeil called me throughout the off-season and said, 'If you're looking for a corner give this kid a chance. He's a good kid, a good player.' When we had our problem that's the first name that popped up, so we want to thank Dick for giving us the call."
(on QB**David Carr**) "That's tough when you go through a season when you get beat up a lot as a quarterback, that's something you have to battle through. I went through kind of a little bit of the same situation with (Brian) Griese in Denver. We struggled a little bit in trying to settle him down. He did and I expect David to do the same thing. David's got to hold up his end of the bargain when it's time for him to make that play and then we've got to do a better job in certain situations giving him time to make that play. As I told the offense this morning, it's about 11 guys doing their job. If one guy lets down, it doesn't matter, it's not going to work. They owe responsibility to each other."
(on team's impression) "I like the work habits of the football team. I think it works extremely hard, it works fast all the time. Even on days when it's not on its best mood, they still know how to work and that's important for the team."
(on unanswered questions regarding the team) "I think we still have a lot of questions. We may still have a lot of questions
as we go into week one, but that's okay as long as we're out there battling looking
for the answers. When those answers pop up then good things happen. That's just
part of the game and we understand that and we'll keep looking."
