Head coach Gary Kubiak addressed the media Sunday and shared his thoughts on the Texans' 24-14 preseason-opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Aug. 12.
*Kubiak *
(on what he saw after reviewing the game film) "The one thing I saw that I mentioned last night was that our kids played hard. I felt just as good about that this morning as I did last night. Offensively, the biggest positive, I think, was for our first time out, we played pretty clean. We didn't have any penalties, no turnovers. Our third downs were pretty good; in the red zone we were pretty good. I think we averaged 4.2 yards per carry, somewhere in that neighborhood, so I thought we ran the ball well once we got going. (T) Seth (Wand) was very positive. I liked some of the things up front with our offensive line. I think some of the things we're doing offensively are going to help those guys with us moving around so you're not putting so much pressure on them with us in the pocket the whole time.
"Some young individuals stood out, of course (RB) Wali (Lundy), everybody noticed that he played extremely well. He got introduced to the NFL on a blitz. I don't know if you guys were able to pick that out of the film, but he got a good one. I was very impressed with (T Charles) Spencer after I watched the film. Charles Spencer played extremely well, and played very physical and very fast, and that's what we're looking for.
"Some of the questions on offense: I didn't like the way we ran the ball in short yardage; there were some mistakes there in the running game; I'd like to see us throw and catch the ball a little better. We moved around a lot last night, so that's something we'll have to continue to work on. I want to see our fullback position played better. We're going to split the reps between (FB) Nick (Luchey) and (FB) Jameel Cook. Our fullback has to play well for this team, and I had some concerns there, there were some mistakes on the field. I liked their effort, don't get me wrong, but we have to play better at that spot, and we will. I think Jameel will definitely step it up, and I think Nick is pushing him.
"A big concern for this football team is finding that fourth, fifth and sixth wide receiver if we chose to keep that many. We want to look at a lot of guys at those spots. I was a little disappointed from that standpoint; there were too many mistakes, too many MA's (missed assignments) from those kids. They have to fight for those jobs. They have to be not only solid players for us, but to be very smart. They have to be able to cover a number of spots and play special teams. We may move a few more guys around there, take a look at a few guys this week, but we had too many mistakes when we were playing our young group back there. Once again, it wasn't a lack of effort, it was just more MA's. We could have taken advantage more of that field position in the third quarter, and done a little more with the ball."
(on the defense) "On the defensive side of the ball, I loved their effort; I think we had seven three-and-outs. I was very impressed with our back ends, with as many problems as we've had, and as much jiggling around with our secondary. I thought (defensive backs coach) Jon (Hoke) did a heck of a job getting those guys ready to play. We had some new faces step in back there with (CB Dexter) McCleon and (CB Kevin) Garrett, and I thought they did a good job. I was very impressed with (CB) Lewis Sanders as he continues to, in my opinion, hold down a spot that he deserves right now. He's done a great job and played very well in that game. You don't have to cut on the film long to see that 59 (LB DeMeco Ryans) is a football player. I asked him to go out opening night and play middle linebacker, and he did a heck of a job. He's got a long way to go, but boy he made some special plays; he plays with a lot of energy. I think he can be a leader on that defensive side of the ball at a very young age, and that's a good thing.
"Our communication needs to get better, probably in some situations.
gives you a lot of formations, and through communication we had some issues, so that has to improve. I was very impressed with the young guys getting after the quarterback. I liked what I saw in (DE) Antwan (Peek). We had some young players step up. (DE Earl) Cochran, a young player fighting for a spot on this football team, played well. That's some of the things we're going on on the defensive side of the ball.
"The negatives on the defensive side of the ball, I'm not going to say is a negative, but one of the things we're fighting to find on this team is our Sam and Will position, and we've got good battles going on with (LB) Shantee (Orr) and (LB) Charlie (Anderson), and with (LB) Morlon (Greenwood) and (LB) Barrett (Green). We're not sure how that's going to pan out, but that's going to be some great competition here over the new two or three weeks, but somebody has to step up and fill those roles. We've been very pleased with what DeMeco has done, but we have to have some guys stand up and solidify those positions. In the red zone, we could have played better on defense also. But like I said, I did like our effort."
(on special teams) "On special teams, 54 (LB Troy Evans) always plays well on special teams, that's why he's on this team. He does a heck of a job; he played well again. He will get more defensive time; I think he deserves it. He's busting his tail for this team, and (defensive coordinator) Richard (Smith) will get him some more time on the defensive side of the ball, but he played very well. I thought our effort was good. We had that mistake at the end of the game with (WR) David (
); that's on us as coaches. That can't happen. We shouldn't be fielding that ball—he still has to catch it, but I promise you we won't be fielding the ball when the season starts in that situation.
"Just overall, like I said I liked the effort; we have a lot of things we have to work on, and we'll go right back to work tomorrow. We may slide a few people around in various situations. It doesn't mean we're changing a starter here or there, but I think we should take a good hard look at some of these young kids in a tough situation going on the road and playing in
. We want to put those young guys in some tougher spots."
(on DE**Mario Williams**) "I'd say Mario played like a rookie. He did a good job; we moved him around a little bit. He had alignment problems a couple of times, but he played hard. In some pass rush situations he got locked up on (
Chiefs RG) Will Shields, so he got introduced to the NFL real fast. That's a pretty tough one to start against, but that's what he's going to play against every week. I was encouraged by what I saw, but I also know he has a long way to go; he knows that. I expect him to come back and be better this week. I thought he was fine; nothing jumped out at me big-time, but there was nothing that concerned me either. You have to keep working with him, and he's going to make more plays. What I did see though was that I thought he made people around him better. There was so much concern with him sometimes that I think our edge rush was pretty good. As I've said all along, hopefully he'll have an effect on the whole defense."
(on what the defense did that can be attributed to Mario) "I attribute pressure to him because he's so physical on the edge and when he was inside he pushes the pocket so well that helps the edge rushers with (DE Jason) Babin and Peek. The fact that he moves around a bit helps make people account for him. I think that just his presence in there will have an effect on everybody in the long haul. I want to say he only played about 20 plays, and we'll up his reps this week, but I was encouraged. I know he has a long way to go, and as I've told you I'm going to treat him like anybody else and let it run its course."
(on the play of the tight ends) "Well, (TE) Mark (Bruener) played a little. Mark was on the line of scrimmage, just like he's always been; he did a good job there. I was impressed with (TE) Owen Daniels. As I've told you all I think he has the ability to be a down-in, down-out tight end in this league. He played the most out of all of them, and he showed both things. He should that he can work on the line of scrimmage, and of course he made some nice catches. He had some mental things he has to clean up, but he will get plenty of reps from us because he can help this team, and help us fast. We're going to continue to bring him along as fast as we can.
"It was good to see (TE) Bennie (Joppru), Bennie hasn't played in what, three years. It's nice to see him get in there, and make a play on third and eight there. He did some good stuff for (special teams coach) Joe (Marciano) on special teams, so that's a step forward for Ben, so hopefully we'll keep going. He may actually work a little more at fullback this week too. We may give him a look back there."
(on if Joppru is working as a fullback or an H-back) "He works as an H-back, but we'll put him at the fullback position. What we do out of two backs, we could do it out of one back with two tight ends on the field, as long as that guy is versatile. I think Ben can do that. We started doing that with him early in camp and we felt like we may have impeded his progress a little bit because we were asking too much of him. But I think we're at a point now where we scale back a little bit as we get closer to the season. We need to give him a look back there because that gives him another opportunity on our football team. We won't totally move him there, but a few reps a day won't hurt."
(on what he wants out of his fullbacks) "He has to be an extremely sharp player on our team. We ask him to diagnose a few things that are happening at the front, whether we're running the ball against a seven-man front or an eight-man front. He's a key figure in everything we do. He makes a lot of adjustments at the line of scrimmage. We do a lot of play-action stuff with him on the move. He's your guy at the point of attack, you line up at a certain one, and he's got to get in there and knock that Will linebacker off the ball, or knock that Sam linebacker off the ball so we can move the chains. I was not concerned at all with our effort or how we were going about it, we just had some MA's back there that we have to clean up that can't happen. That kept us from staying on the field in a couple of situations."
(on keeping more tight ends) "Yes, especially when you get a player like Ben who's a dual role player for you; that could definitely pan out that way."
(on the play of G**Fred Weary**) "He played well. If you had asked me going into the game to name a few players who are going to play well, I mentioned I thought (RB) Wali (Lundy) would play well because I liked the way he's practiced. I knew Fred would play well. Fred has had a good camp; he's very consistent. He hasn't missed a day of work, so you knew he was going to step out there and keep going, and that's what he did. The thing I was really impressed with was that he played on both sides—he played right and he played left. No big deal. I think he understands what we're doing, and it fits into some of his strengths, and it's starting to show up."
(on the offensive line making mistakes) "We had mistakes, don't get me wrong, in some various situations. You go out there the first time, and you think you had some false starts, some movement, some this or that. Knock on wood, hopefully they're not coming next week, but for the first time out, I thought we were pretty clean coming off the ball. We looked good coming off as a group. Now it's time to do it some more, but I was encouraged by that."
(on QB**David Carr**making the right reads) "Yes he did. He had one throw he'd like to have back to (WR) Andre (Johnson) on a dagger, and he was a little late with the ball, and Andre did a good job of breaking it up. One of David's strengths, I tell you what, he can run around. He's very athletic, and you have to make people account for that. I told him to go make some plays. He's very smart when he runs around—he knows when to get out of bounds, he knows when to get down, but that's an added factor in what we do.
"If he is moving around, it's going to help us protect him when he is in the pocket. You don't put so much pressure on your offensive line and say, 'We're going to throw it 30 times, but David is going to be sitting in the pocket all thirty times.' I think we had, I want to say 27 throws, and we may have called 34 throws. Our quarterback was actually sitting in the pocket on about half of those 33 or 34 throws. We're going to move that guy around so people can't get a lock on where his throw point is all the time."
(on the progress of RB**Domanick Davis**) "Oh yes, there's no doubt about that. (GM) Rick Smith and I had a great meeting with Domanick on, I want to say Thursday night. We just sat down and told him, 'We have patience, and we have to get you well, and we don't want you to get frustrated, but at the same time we need to know where you're at and how you're feeling, and how you see this thing coming along.''
"We had a very positive meeting from that standpoint. Over the course of the last couple days, it's really been the first time in about a week that Domanick said, 'I'm feeling better; it's starting to heal.' That's very encouraging, and whether that means he steps back out there this week or not, I don't know, but the key thing is that we're going to get the knee back to where he started at the beginning of camp.
"He's got a bad bone bruise, which is what he has. Those things have had guys out a while, they've had guys out for a week or ten days. You don't know. I have my fingers crossed, and hopefully the time's come to where we can get him back onto the field."
**(on
helping the younger backs)** "Domanick will get out there when he's healthy. He's been great with these kids; he's been right there for them. They did do a good job, and in fairness to (RB) Antowain (Smith), I want to say he had three carries, four carries, five carries, something like that. We have to get him some more work, and on half of his carries, it wasn't his fault; we had a couple of breakdowns. We need to give him a good look again, and I know this week for a fact that we'll get (RB Vernand) Morency going and take a good look at him. It's an interesting battle going on, and we'll get it settled on the field."
(on injuries) "We were pretty good. I think the only one we had was (LB) Barrett Green. He re-aggravated his groin injury. Other than that, we came out fine."
(on the communication between the coaching staff) "We needed it as much as the players. We had some bugs to work out as far as our pictures and our books and in between series. To be honest with you, I haven't been on the field for four years. I've been in the booth, so being back in that quarterback's helmet and being a part of that, we have to work that out. For the most part it was OK. Now we have to correct the mistakes and clean it up this week."
(on offensive coordinator**Troy Calhoun**) "
. With the system nowadays in this league, you can get a lot of guys involved in play-calling. That's a nice tool to have that you can actually talk to your quarterbacks instead of having to signal. We're going to keep working at that, but we're pretty good."
(on Lundy and RB**Chris Taylor**earning their yards) "I think they're starting to understand what we want. The first carry was on third-and-eight, and we ran a zone scheme, and they called a zone blitz away from the run. That's about as good as you can get from an offense. His first touch with the ball was about as clean a look as he can get. I know Antowain (Smith) have loved to get that carry too. He got off to a good start and got going, but I really liked his vision, I like the way he finished his runs with his pads up the field. In the red zone I liked the way he ran the ball. It takes a lot of people to run the football. It takes a bit of luck with these blitzes sometimes, and we got a little bit last night."
(on Lundy's touchdown run) "He made a nice cut. Jameel Cook did a great job on the first touch on the Will linebacker. He did a heck of a job, and Lundy did a great job. That whole system is set up for repetition. We're doing it, we're doing it, we're doing it. We're being consistent, and all of a sudden you catch somebody right, and it's a big play. That's the way the system is set up."
(on finding the next Terrell Davis) "I know as a coach when you've seen it happen and you've been around it happening, it's not that you expect it, but you know it can happen. When you watch a guy work for two weeks, and the way you've worked, and the way he's practiced, you say it's not going to go away when he comes onto the field. If they do it across the street, they'll do it when we come into this stadium, and he's (Lundy) been doing it over there everyday and doing some good stuff. It wasn't a big surprise, and now he has to continue to get better. I mentioned he had a blitz protection, and he had to step up and pick up the Mike linebacker, and he got rolled pretty good. There are just so many phases he has to go through. I think he's a young man with a lot of class and character that plans on getting there, so I'm looking forward to watching him."
(on playing Morency and sitting the other running backs) "We won't try to play too many of them. There's going to be at least one in the game that won't carry the ball. It's the same way we'll approach it this week. (RB) Damien (
) actually came in and did a couple of nice things, and we're going to give him a look as a kick returner this week too because I know he's done it in the past. I don't think there's a way to get all of those guys the ball. We'll probably isolate towards the end of the week."
(on his first win as a head coach) "It was great. I told the guys the other day, I said, 'You know, if we're going to try and win and learn how to be winners around here, lets not wait until September. Let's start figuring out how to do it right now.' In preseason you want to look at a lot of players, but it's a game, and you approach them all the same way. I know our guys felt good, but I also know they're smart enough and sharp enough to know how much work we have to do. I'm sure they're looking forward to coming back tomorrow and looking forward to training camp."
(on the players seeing results in his system) "That's going to take a long period of time. That's not one week. I think for
a player, the key is when you're trying to put them in situations to be successful
and do what they do best, and when they come out of a game and say, 'That's going
to help me as a player,' that's the key. The team part will come along. I look
at David, and David did some good stuff. Hopefully he came out of that game saying,
'They're going to utilize my ability to move around,' and we will. Hopefully all
the players are beginning to feel that way. It's the same way on the defensive
side of the ball."
(on what he saw after reviewing the game film) "The one thing I saw that I mentioned last night was that our kids played hard. I felt just as good about that this morning as I did last night. Offensively, the biggest positive, I think, was for our first time out, we played pretty clean. We didn't have any penalties, no turnovers. Our third downs were pretty good; in the red zone we were pretty good. I think we averaged 4.2 yards per carry, somewhere in that neighborhood, so I thought we ran the ball well once we got going. (T) Seth (Wand) was very positive. I liked some of the things up front with our offensive line. I think some of the things we're doing offensively are going to help those guys with us moving around so you're not putting so much pressure on them with us in the pocket the whole time.
"Some young individuals stood out, of course (RB) Wali (Lundy), everybody noticed that he played extremely well. He got introduced to the NFL on a blitz. I don't know if you guys were able to pick that out of the film, but he got a good one. I was very impressed with (T Charles) Spencer after I watched the film. Charles Spencer played extremely well, and played very physical and very fast, and that's what we're looking for.
"Some of the questions on offense: I didn't like the way we ran the ball in short yardage; there were some mistakes there in the running game; I'd like to see us throw and catch the ball a little better. We moved around a lot last night, so that's something we'll have to continue to work on. I want to see our fullback position played better. We're going to split the reps between (FB) Nick (Luchey) and (FB) Jameel Cook. Our fullback has to play well for this team, and I had some concerns there, there were some mistakes on the field. I liked their effort, don't get me wrong, but we have to play better at that spot, and we will. I think Jameel will definitely step it up, and I think Nick is pushing him.
"A big concern for this football team is finding that fourth, fifth and sixth wide receiver if we chose to keep that many. We want to look at a lot of guys at those spots. I was a little disappointed from that standpoint; there were too many mistakes, too many MA's (missed assignments) from those kids. They have to fight for those jobs. They have to be not only solid players for us, but to be very smart. They have to be able to cover a number of spots and play special teams. We may move a few more guys around there, take a look at a few guys this week, but we had too many mistakes when we were playing our young group back there. Once again, it wasn't a lack of effort, it was just more MA's. We could have taken advantage more of that field position in the third quarter, and done a little more with the ball."
(on the defense) "On the defensive side of the ball, I loved their effort; I think we had seven three-and-outs. I was very impressed with our back ends, with as many problems as we've had, and as much jiggling around with our secondary. I thought (defensive backs coach) Jon (Hoke) did a heck of a job getting those guys ready to play. We had some new faces step in back there with (CB Dexter) McCleon and (CB Kevin) Garrett, and I thought they did a good job. I was very impressed with (CB) Lewis Sanders as he continues to, in my opinion, hold down a spot that he deserves right now. He's done a great job and played very well in that game. You don't have to cut on the film long to see that 59 (LB DeMeco Ryans) is a football player. I asked him to go out opening night and play middle linebacker, and he did a heck of a job. He's got a long way to go, but boy he made some special plays; he plays with a lot of energy. I think he can be a leader on that defensive side of the ball at a very young age, and that's a good thing.
"Our communication needs to get better, probably in some situations.
gives you a lot of formations, and through communication we had some issues, so that has to improve. I was very impressed with the young guys getting after the quarterback. I liked what I saw in (DE) Antwan (Peek). We had some young players step up. (DE Earl) Cochran, a young player fighting for a spot on this football team, played well. That's some of the things we're going on on the defensive side of the ball.
"The negatives on the defensive side of the ball, I'm not going to say is a negative, but one of the things we're fighting to find on this team is our Sam and Will position, and we've got good battles going on with (LB) Shantee (Orr) and (LB) Charlie (Anderson), and with (LB) Morlon (Greenwood) and (LB) Barrett (Green). We're not sure how that's going to pan out, but that's going to be some great competition here over the new two or three weeks, but somebody has to step up and fill those roles. We've been very pleased with what DeMeco has done, but we have to have some guys stand up and solidify those positions. In the red zone, we could have played better on defense also. But like I said, I did like our effort."
(on special teams) "On special teams, 54 (LB Troy Evans) always plays well on special teams, that's why he's on this team. He does a heck of a job; he played well again. He will get more defensive time; I think he deserves it. He's busting his tail for this team, and (defensive coordinator) Richard (Smith) will get him some more time on the defensive side of the ball, but he played very well. I thought our effort was good. We had that mistake at the end of the game with (WR) David (
); that's on us as coaches. That can't happen. We shouldn't be fielding that ball—he still has to catch it, but I promise you we won't be fielding the ball when the season starts in that situation.
"Just overall, like I said I liked the effort; we have a lot of things we have to work on, and we'll go right back to work tomorrow. We may slide a few people around in various situations. It doesn't mean we're changing a starter here or there, but I think we should take a good hard look at some of these young kids in a tough situation going on the road and playing in
. We want to put those young guys in some tougher spots."
(on DE**Mario Williams**) "I'd say Mario played like a rookie. He did a good job; we moved him around a little bit. He had alignment problems a couple of times, but he played hard. In some pass rush situations he got locked up on (
Chiefs RG) Will Shields, so he got introduced to the NFL real fast. That's a pretty tough one to start against, but that's what he's going to play against every week. I was encouraged by what I saw, but I also know he has a long way to go; he knows that. I expect him to come back and be better this week. I thought he was fine; nothing jumped out at me big-time, but there was nothing that concerned me either. You have to keep working with him, and he's going to make more plays. What I did see though was that I thought he made people around him better. There was so much concern with him sometimes that I think our edge rush was pretty good. As I've said all along, hopefully he'll have an effect on the whole defense."
(on what the defense did that can be attributed to Mario) "I attribute pressure to him because he's so physical on the edge and when he was inside he pushes the pocket so well that helps the edge rushers with (DE Jason) Babin and Peek. The fact that he moves around a bit helps make people account for him. I think that just his presence in there will have an effect on everybody in the long haul. I want to say he only played about 20 plays, and we'll up his reps this week, but I was encouraged. I know he has a long way to go, and as I've told you I'm going to treat him like anybody else and let it run its course."
(on the play of the tight ends) "Well, (TE) Mark (Bruener) played a little. Mark was on the line of scrimmage, just like he's always been; he did a good job there. I was impressed with (TE) Owen Daniels. As I've told you all I think he has the ability to be a down-in, down-out tight end in this league. He played the most out of all of them, and he showed both things. He should that he can work on the line of scrimmage, and of course he made some nice catches. He had some mental things he has to clean up, but he will get plenty of reps from us because he can help this team, and help us fast. We're going to continue to bring him along as fast as we can.
"It was good to see (TE) Bennie (Joppru), Bennie hasn't played in what, three years. It's nice to see him get in there, and make a play on third and eight there. He did some good stuff for (special teams coach) Joe (Marciano) on special teams, so that's a step forward for Ben, so hopefully we'll keep going. He may actually work a little more at fullback this week too. We may give him a look back there."
(on if Joppru is working as a fullback or an H-back) "He works as an H-back, but we'll put him at the fullback position. What we do out of two backs, we could do it out of one back with two tight ends on the field, as long as that guy is versatile. I think Ben can do that. We started doing that with him early in camp and we felt like we may have impeded his progress a little bit because we were asking too much of him. But I think we're at a point now where we scale back a little bit as we get closer to the season. We need to give him a look back there because that gives him another opportunity on our football team. We won't totally move him there, but a few reps a day won't hurt."
(on what he wants out of his fullbacks) "He has to be an extremely sharp player on our team. We ask him to diagnose a few things that are happening at the front, whether we're running the ball against a seven-man front or an eight-man front. He's a key figure in everything we do. He makes a lot of adjustments at the line of scrimmage. We do a lot of play-action stuff with him on the move. He's your guy at the point of attack, you line up at a certain one, and he's got to get in there and knock that Will linebacker off the ball, or knock that Sam linebacker off the ball so we can move the chains. I was not concerned at all with our effort or how we were going about it, we just had some MA's back there that we have to clean up that can't happen. That kept us from staying on the field in a couple of situations."
(on keeping more tight ends) "Yes, especially when you get a player like Ben who's a dual role player for you; that could definitely pan out that way."
(on the play of G**Fred Weary**) "He played well. If you had asked me going into the game to name a few players who are going to play well, I mentioned I thought (RB) Wali (Lundy) would play well because I liked the way he's practiced. I knew Fred would play well. Fred has had a good camp; he's very consistent. He hasn't missed a day of work, so you knew he was going to step out there and keep going, and that's what he did. The thing I was really impressed with was that he played on both sides—he played right and he played left. No big deal. I think he understands what we're doing, and it fits into some of his strengths, and it's starting to show up."
(on the offensive line making mistakes) "We had mistakes, don't get me wrong, in some various situations. You go out there the first time, and you think you had some false starts, some movement, some this or that. Knock on wood, hopefully they're not coming next week, but for the first time out, I thought we were pretty clean coming off the ball. We looked good coming off as a group. Now it's time to do it some more, but I was encouraged by that."
(on QB**David Carr**making the right reads) "Yes he did. He had one throw he'd like to have back to (WR) Andre (Johnson) on a dagger, and he was a little late with the ball, and Andre did a good job of breaking it up. One of David's strengths, I tell you what, he can run around. He's very athletic, and you have to make people account for that. I told him to go make some plays. He's very smart when he runs around—he knows when to get out of bounds, he knows when to get down, but that's an added factor in what we do.
"If he is moving around, it's going to help us protect him when he is in the pocket. You don't put so much pressure on your offensive line and say, 'We're going to throw it 30 times, but David is going to be sitting in the pocket all thirty times.' I think we had, I want to say 27 throws, and we may have called 34 throws. Our quarterback was actually sitting in the pocket on about half of those 33 or 34 throws. We're going to move that guy around so people can't get a lock on where his throw point is all the time."
(on the progress of RB**Domanick Davis**) "Oh yes, there's no doubt about that. (GM) Rick Smith and I had a great meeting with Domanick on, I want to say Thursday night. We just sat down and told him, 'We have patience, and we have to get you well, and we don't want you to get frustrated, but at the same time we need to know where you're at and how you're feeling, and how you see this thing coming along.''
"We had a very positive meeting from that standpoint. Over the course of the last couple days, it's really been the first time in about a week that Domanick said, 'I'm feeling better; it's starting to heal.' That's very encouraging, and whether that means he steps back out there this week or not, I don't know, but the key thing is that we're going to get the knee back to where he started at the beginning of camp.
"He's got a bad bone bruise, which is what he has. Those things have had guys out a while, they've had guys out for a week or ten days. You don't know. I have my fingers crossed, and hopefully the time's come to where we can get him back onto the field."
**(on
helping the younger backs)** "Domanick will get out there when he's healthy. He's been great with these kids; he's been right there for them. They did do a good job, and in fairness to (RB) Antowain (Smith), I want to say he had three carries, four carries, five carries, something like that. We have to get him some more work, and on half of his carries, it wasn't his fault; we had a couple of breakdowns. We need to give him a good look again, and I know this week for a fact that we'll get (RB Vernand) Morency going and take a good look at him. It's an interesting battle going on, and we'll get it settled on the field."
(on injuries) "We were pretty good. I think the only one we had was (LB) Barrett Green. He re-aggravated his groin injury. Other than that, we came out fine."
(on the communication between the coaching staff) "We needed it as much as the players. We had some bugs to work out as far as our pictures and our books and in between series. To be honest with you, I haven't been on the field for four years. I've been in the booth, so being back in that quarterback's helmet and being a part of that, we have to work that out. For the most part it was OK. Now we have to correct the mistakes and clean it up this week."
(on offensive coordinator**Troy Calhoun**) "
. With the system nowadays in this league, you can get a lot of guys involved in play-calling. That's a nice tool to have that you can actually talk to your quarterbacks instead of having to signal. We're going to keep working at that, but we're pretty good."
(on Lundy and RB**Chris Taylor**earning their yards) "I think they're starting to understand what we want. The first carry was on third-and-eight, and we ran a zone scheme, and they called a zone blitz away from the run. That's about as good as you can get from an offense. His first touch with the ball was about as clean a look as he can get. I know Antowain (Smith) have loved to get that carry too. He got off to a good start and got going, but I really liked his vision, I like the way he finished his runs with his pads up the field. In the red zone I liked the way he ran the ball. It takes a lot of people to run the football. It takes a bit of luck with these blitzes sometimes, and we got a little bit last night."
(on Lundy's touchdown run) "He made a nice cut. Jameel Cook did a great job on the first touch on the Will linebacker. He did a heck of a job, and Lundy did a great job. That whole system is set up for repetition. We're doing it, we're doing it, we're doing it. We're being consistent, and all of a sudden you catch somebody right, and it's a big play. That's the way the system is set up."
(on finding the next Terrell Davis) "I know as a coach when you've seen it happen and you've been around it happening, it's not that you expect it, but you know it can happen. When you watch a guy work for two weeks, and the way you've worked, and the way he's practiced, you say it's not going to go away when he comes onto the field. If they do it across the street, they'll do it when we come into this stadium, and he's (Lundy) been doing it over there everyday and doing some good stuff. It wasn't a big surprise, and now he has to continue to get better. I mentioned he had a blitz protection, and he had to step up and pick up the Mike linebacker, and he got rolled pretty good. There are just so many phases he has to go through. I think he's a young man with a lot of class and character that plans on getting there, so I'm looking forward to watching him."
(on playing Morency and sitting the other running backs) "We won't try to play too many of them. There's going to be at least one in the game that won't carry the ball. It's the same way we'll approach it this week. (RB) Damien (
) actually came in and did a couple of nice things, and we're going to give him a look as a kick returner this week too because I know he's done it in the past. I don't think there's a way to get all of those guys the ball. We'll probably isolate towards the end of the week."
(on his first win as a head coach) "It was great. I told the guys the other day, I said, 'You know, if we're going to try and win and learn how to be winners around here, lets not wait until September. Let's start figuring out how to do it right now.' In preseason you want to look at a lot of players, but it's a game, and you approach them all the same way. I know our guys felt good, but I also know they're smart enough and sharp enough to know how much work we have to do. I'm sure they're looking forward to coming back tomorrow and looking forward to training camp."
(on the players seeing results in his system) "That's going to take a long period of time. That's not one week. I think for a player, the key is when you're trying to put them in situations to be successful and do what they do best, and when they come out of a game and say, 'That's going to help me as a player,' that's the key. The team part will come along. I look at David, and David did some good stuff. Hopefully he came out of that game saying, 'They're going to utilize my ability to move around,' and we will. Hopefully all the players are beginning to feel that way. It's the same way on the defensive side of the ball." (on what he saw after reviewing the game film) "The one thing I saw that I mentioned last night was that our kids played hard. I felt just as good about that this morning as I did last night. Offensively, the biggest positive, I think, was for our first time out, we played pretty clean. We didn't have any penalties, no turnovers. Our third downs were pretty good; in the red zone we were pretty good. I think we averaged 4.2 yards per carry, somewhere in that neighborhood, so I thought we ran the ball well once we got going. (T) Seth (Wand) was very positive. I liked some of the things up front with our offensive line. I think some of the things we're doing offensively are going to help those guys with us moving around so you're not putting so much pressure on them with us in the pocket the whole time.
"Some young individuals stood out, of course (RB) Wali (Lundy), everybody noticed that he played extremely well. He got introduced to the NFL on a blitz. I don't know if you guys were able to pick that out of the film, but he got a good one. I was very impressed with (T Charles) Spencer after I watched the film. Charles Spencer played extremely well, and played very physical and very fast, and that's what we're looking for.
"Some of the questions on offense: I didn't like the way we ran the ball in short yardage; there were some mistakes there in the running game; I'd like to see us throw and catch the ball a little better. We moved around a lot last night, so that's something we'll have to continue to work on. I want to see our fullback position played better. We're going to split the reps between (FB) Nick (Luchey) and (FB) Jameel Cook. Our fullback has to play well for this team, and I had some concerns there, there were some mistakes on the field. I liked their effort, don't get me wrong, but we have to play better at that spot, and we will. I think Jameel will definitely step it up, and I think Nick is pushing him.
"A big concern for this football team is finding that fourth, fifth and sixth wide receiver if we chose to keep that many. We want to look at a lot of guys at those spots. I was a little disappointed from that standpoint; there were too many mistakes, too many MA's (missed assignments) from those kids. They have to fight for those jobs. They have to be not only solid players for us, but to be very smart. They have to be able to cover a number of spots and play special teams. We may move a few more guys around there, take a look at a few guys this week, but we had too many mistakes when we were playing our young group back there. Once again, it wasn't a lack of effort, it was just more MA's. We could have taken advantage more of that field position in the third quarter, and done a little more with the ball."
(on the defense) "On the defensive side of the ball, I loved their effort; I think we had seven three-and-outs. I was very impressed with our back ends, with as many problems as we've had, and as much jiggling around with our secondary. I thought (defensive backs coach) Jon (Hoke) did a heck of a job getting those guys ready to play. We had some new faces step in back there with (CB Dexter) McCleon and (CB Kevin) Garrett, and I thought they did a good job. I was very impressed with (CB) Lewis Sanders as he continues to, in my opinion, hold down a spot that he deserves right now. He's done a great job and played very well in that game. You don't have to cut on the film long to see that 59 (LB DeMeco Ryans) is a football player. I asked him to go out opening night and play middle linebacker, and he did a heck of a job. He's got a long way to go, but boy he made some special plays; he plays with a lot of energy. I think he can be a leader on that defensive side of the ball at a very young age, and that's a good thing.
"Our communication needs to get better, probably in some situations.
gives you a lot of formations, and through communication we had some issues, so that has to improve. I was very impressed with the young guys getting after the quarterback. I liked what I saw in (DE) Antwan (Peek). We had some young players step up. (DE Earl) Cochran, a young player fighting for a spot on this football team, played well. That's some of the things we're going on on the defensive side of the ball.
"The negatives on the defensive side of the ball, I'm not going to say is a negative, but one of the things we're fighting to find on this team is our Sam and Will position, and we've got good battles going on with (LB) Shantee (Orr) and (LB) Charlie (Anderson), and with (LB) Morlon (Greenwood) and (LB) Barrett (Green). We're not sure how that's going to pan out, but that's going to be some great competition here over the new two or three weeks, but somebody has to step up and fill those roles. We've been very pleased with what DeMeco has done, but we have to have some guys stand up and solidify those positions. In the red zone, we could have played better on defense also. But like I said, I did like our effort."
(on special teams) "On special teams, 54 (LB Troy Evans) always plays well on special teams, that's why he's on this team. He does a heck of a job; he played well again. He will get more defensive time; I think he deserves it. He's busting his tail for this team, and (defensive coordinator) Richard (Smith) will get him some more time on the defensive side of the ball, but he played very well. I thought our effort was good. We had that mistake at the end of the game with (WR) David (
); that's on us as coaches. That can't happen. We shouldn't be fielding that ball—he still has to catch it, but I promise you we won't be fielding the ball when the season starts in that situation.
"Just overall, like I said I liked the effort; we have a lot of things we have to work on, and we'll go right back to work tomorrow. We may slide a few people around in various situations. It doesn't mean we're changing a starter here or there, but I think we should take a good hard look at some of these young kids in a tough situation going on the road and playing in
. We want to put those young guys in some tougher spots."
(on DE**Mario Williams**) "I'd say Mario played like a rookie. He did a good job; we moved him around a little bit. He had alignment problems a couple of times, but he played hard. In some pass rush situations he got locked up on (
Chiefs RG) Will Shields, so he got introduced to the NFL real fast. That's a pretty tough one to start against, but that's what he's going to play against every week. I was encouraged by what I saw, but I also know he has a long way to go; he knows that. I expect him to come back and be better this week. I thought he was fine; nothing jumped out at me big-time, but there was nothing that concerned me either. You have to keep working with him, and he's going to make more plays. What I did see though was that I thought he made people around him better. There was so much concern with him sometimes that I think our edge rush was pretty good. As I've said all along, hopefully he'll have an effect on the whole defense."
(on what the defense did that can be attributed to Mario) "I attribute pressure to him because he's so physical on the edge and when he was inside he pushes the pocket so well that helps the edge rushers with (DE Jason) Babin and Peek. The fact that he moves around a bit helps make people account for him. I think that just his presence in there will have an effect on everybody in the long haul. I want to say he only played about 20 plays, and we'll up his reps this week, but I was encouraged. I know he has a long way to go, and as I've told you I'm going to treat him like anybody else and let it run its course."
(on the play of the tight ends) "Well, (TE) Mark (Bruener) played a little. Mark was on the line of scrimmage, just like he's always been; he did a good job there. I was impressed with (TE) Owen Daniels. As I've told you all I think he has the ability to be a down-in, down-out tight end in this league. He played the most out of all of them, and he showed both things. He should that he can work on the line of scrimmage, and of course he made some nice catches. He had some mental things he has to clean up, but he will get plenty of reps from us because he can help this team, and help us fast. We're going to continue to bring him along as fast as we can.
"It was good to see (TE) Bennie (Joppru), Bennie hasn't played in what, three years. It's nice to see him get in there, and make a play on third and eight there. He did some good stuff for (special teams coach) Joe (Marciano) on special teams, so that's a step forward for Ben, so hopefully we'll keep going. He may actually work a little more at fullback this week too. We may give him a look back there."
(on if Joppru is working as a fullback or an H-back) "He works as an H-back, but we'll put him at the fullback position. What we do out of two backs, we could do it out of one back with two tight ends on the field, as long as that guy is versatile. I think Ben can do that. We started doing that with him early in camp and we felt like we may have impeded his progress a little bit because we were asking too much of him. But I think we're at a point now where we scale back a little bit as we get closer to the season. We need to give him a look back there because that gives him another opportunity on our football team. We won't totally move him there, but a few reps a day won't hurt."
(on what he wants out of his fullbacks) "He has to be an extremely sharp player on our team. We ask him to diagnose a few things that are happening at the front, whether we're running the ball against a seven-man front or an eight-man front. He's a key figure in everything we do. He makes a lot of adjustments at the line of scrimmage. We do a lot of play-action stuff with him on the move. He's your guy at the point of attack, you line up at a certain one, and he's got to get in there and knock that Will linebacker off the ball, or knock that Sam linebacker off the ball so we can move the chains. I was not concerned at all with our effort or how we were going about it, we just had some MA's back there that we have to clean up that can't happen. That kept us from staying on the field in a couple of situations."
(on keeping more tight ends) "Yes, especially when you get a player like Ben who's a dual role player for you; that could definitely pan out that way."
(on the play of G**Fred Weary**)
