(on the opening win at Miami) "After reviewing tape of the game yesterday, I felt that number one, we played as a team and I think that every phase of our team complimented the other phase. We're still a very young team in many areas, especially on the offensive side of the ball and I thought our team really showed a lot of poise throughout and determination throughout the course of the game with all the lead changes and all the situations we were confronted with yesterday."
(on the team's preparation) "I thought all week our team prepared well and I believe that when you prepare well, you go into the game confident. I thought they were confident, focused, very determined because there were some tough situations we were faced with. It's hard to go into Miami with all of the distractions of opening day and the fact that they'd won 11 straight openers and had a good record in the month of September. I thought it was a real credit to our guys that they went in, fought hard and we found a way to make key plays at key times in the game."
(on the Texans' formula for success) "Every team has a formula that they think will win for them and yesterday you saw the formula that we felt we had to have to win the football game against a good, veteran team like Miami. We felt that would give us the best chance of battling in the fourth quarter and make a key play at a critical time."
(on the Texans' special teams) "Our special teams was a key factor again. I thought Kris Brown did an outstanding job. He went in there with the game on the line and kicked the ball through. He very well could've been seven of seven. He had the distance on all seven kicks, a couple were a little off."
(on P Chad Stanley) "I thought Chad Stanley did a good job punting, we netted 42 yards per punt. Our goal going into the game was to net 40 yards per punt. I thought our coverage teams, our kickoff coverage especially, did a good job. We feel that if we can force teams to start down there (in their own territory) against our defense, then they'll have a hard time going the length of the field."
(on the Texans' offense) "On offense, we had no turnovers and no sacks and that's a major step in the right direction. It enabled us to do a good job managing the game in down and distance situations. We had five big plays: the 15-yards by Domanick Davis which was really an outstanding run and we had four pass plays; 78-yard touchdown pass to Corey (Bradford) and then a 33, 28 and 26-yard pass. Those five plays netted 180 yards."
(on the running game) "Everything that we do starts with our ability to run the ball; we ran the ball 34 times for 127 yards. Many times running the ball for three yards is certainly not the worst thing that can happen to you because now you're keeping the down and distance zeros in your favor."
(on the penalties) "We had six offensive penalties so we need to make sure we limit the penalties. We need to take advantage of our opportunities when we get in the red zone to score touchdowns. We were kicking field goals and were in the red zone a number of times and came away with three as opposed to seven."
(on the Texans' defense) "On defense, I thought we made big plays when we needed to make big plays. When you're going on the road and playing in tough conditions you never know how the heat will affect you but on eight of the 13 defensive series, we had three-and-out series. That is very significant when you're playing in tough, hot conditions, you don't want to stay on the field for the long drives where guys get worn out."
(on creating good field position) "We created good field position for our offense. Our offense went on the field four times in Miami territory. They did not come on the field in our territory, that's significant. It's a game of field position and we clearly won that battle."
(on the Texans' takeaways) "We had three takeaways and two sacks and when you combine that with the fact that our offense didn't turn the ball over, we didn't have a sack, we were plus five in that area. That's a statistic we'll take every week, that we'll end up on the plus side of that battle."
(on CB Marcus Coleman's interception) "We responded late in the game with a four-minute situation, we were down by two and Marcus Coleman came up with a great interception which gave us an opportunity to move the ball down and kick the winning field goal. Then they got the ball back and we had to stop them in a two-minute situation because they were playing for a field goal late in the game."
(on stopping Dolphins RB Ricky Williams) "I thought our defense did a very good job on Ricky Williams. We all know what he's capable of doing and I thought up front people played physical and held him to 69 yards on 17 rushes. If we didn't stop him from running the football it could be a long day."
(on missing tackles) "On defense, we gave up some big plays and it was primarily because we missed tackles so we have to go back and make sure we do a better job of tackling. We only had one defensive penalty and one special teams penalty."
(on his overall thoughts of the win) "Overall, I thought our team matured yesterday. We knew it was going to take tremendous focus and effort on our part to go in there and win the game and our guys did that. I think yesterday was a good start and we have to learn from it and then go back to work. We've got to put it behind us and we know we have a big challenge going into New Orleans this week so we have to go in there an show improvement."
(on the win in Miami being more significant than the opening win against Dallas last season) "I felt like it was more of a team win. The things that we've been working on in training camp and during the preseason finally came together yesterday, offense, defense and kicking game. I think that our staff and players did a very good job of preparing. It was rewarding from the standpoint to see our guys go in and do something that I don't think many people gave us a chance of doing other than the guys in that room and I think our guys expected to do that."
(on the play of the offensive line) "Well, I think our offensive line has been improving. We have more experience there than we did a year ago on the right side with Zach Wiegert and Greg Randall. Steve McKinney's an experienced lineman and Milford Brown was starting his first game. Chester Pitts is a second-year left tackle and I thought our line went in and did an outstanding job against them. We knew that their defensive ends combined for 29 sacks last year. Their two inside tackles are big, physical players that stop the run. I think our offensive line met the challenge; any time you keep the Miami Dolphin from getting a sack and throw the ball as many times as we did and it helps when you can run the ball."
(on Domanick Davis) "Domanick's only really had a week and a half of practice but through the offseason, what we saw in Domanick was that we thought we had a good, instinctive football player. I like his approach to the game. He's very serious about it and I think he prepared well. He did a good job blocking for the most part. He was very physical in his approach to running. The 15-yard run that he had, he broke four tackles. We think he'll do nothing but get better and be a good receiver coming out of the backfield."
(on their red zone execution) "We had opportunities for plays and had the ball in our hands down there. We just didn't get the plays made. I think we're close."
(on the performance of the team in games after a win last season) "Obviously, we did not follow up with another win after a win last year. There were phases of our football team that played extremely well after a win last year, but we didn't put it all together and play well as a team. As I look back after the opening Dallas game, our defense played an outstanding game against San Diego. After the New York Giants win here, our defense played an outstanding game in Indianapolis the next week. We did not play very well overall as a team. After the Jaguars win, we had the Cincinnati Bengals and had probably our poorest performance of the year.
"One of the things that I like about our team is we have a number of veterans who understand what it takes to have success at this level. In the NFL, when you win a game, you enjoy it for a very short period of time, put it behind you and zero in on your next opponent and do an outstanding job on preparation."
(on WR Jabar Gaffney) "I think Jabar did an outstanding job getting yesterday in terms of getting open. One play that stands out in my mind is when we hit Jabar on a crossing route and they had a defender coming to make the tackle for less than what he needed for the first down and he stopped, made a move and got up the field and picked up the first down. That tells me it took some instincts to do that."
