Head coach Gary Kubiak spent close to 20 minutes visiting with Bayou Bowl players and coaches after Friday's practice.
On Day 12 of OTAs, the Texans were visited by high school players preparing to play in the annual Bayou Bowl, which pits high school all-stars from Texas against those from the state of Louisiana.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on the spectators at practice today) "Yeah, it was nice. We had the kids that are playing in the Bayou Bowl, so, happened to know a few of the coaches and told them to bring the kids out. I think they're actually going to practice here today. I told our players, they were all young guys once, too, so stop by and say hello. That's nice that they came out."
(on practice today) "You know, I thought we looked a little slow today, which that's understandable. We've been at it now for how many is it, 12 (days), and I think they're kind of a little tired of us right now, ready to get away from us before we go to training camp. But our work has been excellent. We're far more progressed in our teaching than we have been in the previous years, so I like what's taking place. We still need a couple of things we need to cover in the next week before we get through."
(on anything unusual) "No, just the same stuff. Jordan Black's not here today. He has some doctor appointments, those type things, but other than that, everything's the same."
(on QB Sage Rosenfels) "Well, I'm proud of him. I mean, he's played really well. He's been in this league for a long time and he really hasn't had many chances to play and got an excellent opportunity last year with our football team and showed the National Football League that he's a very capable player and starter, and that's why we brought him here. So I'm proud of what he's done. I know that there was some talk of him having a different opportunity this offseason, but as I've said before he's very important to this football team first and he's got to get ready to play for this team."
(on having a quarterback "1" and "1A") "Well, it's very important. All you've got to do is look around this league and normally the backup quarterbacks are playing at some point in the season, so you better have a good one. And we've got a good one. And he just needs to have a good camp. He's had a good offseason. He needs to have a good training camp so we know he's ready to go in case something happens with Matt (Schaub)."
(on empathizing with Rosenfels wanting to play) "Yeah, I mean, I understand that. Believe me, I understand how tough that is. And as I've told him, and I would say nothing different to you, 'You get opportunities because of what you're doing now.' And if he keeps doing what he's doing, there's no doubt in my mind his opportunity's coming somehow, someway, and you never know what's going to happen throughout your season or throughout his career, so if he just keeps his nose to the grindstone, keeps working the way he's working, Sage is going to play football for a long time and he'll get many opportunities."
(on if T Charles Spencer will return before training camp) "Well, obviously, we're down to a couple of days. We've had long discussions with him yesterday. The bottom line is that we're not quite sure that he's ready to get out here and be more active, so they'll evaluate that through the weekend and make a decision."
(on DT Amobi Okoye maturing) "Well, I want to knock on wood, but in all honesty, this camp, I think he's the most improved player. He's a pretty dang good player to begin with but what you saw take place here over the course of the last three weeks, you saw a guy go from still having some of his rookie habits, they went away in one week and we haven't noticed them in the last two. That's a good thing. It tells me he's growing up. He's becoming better. He's becoming a pro. And if that happens, we're going to be a better football team. I've been very impressed with the player he's become through OTAs."
(on if he expects the same improvement as DE Mario Williams made last season) "Well, hopefully we see the same thing. I don't think it's fair to compare players. They're different. But the thing that is very comparable right away is the maturity, I guess I should say, and how he's handling himself right now. There's not a lot of distractions going on. He's just playing ball and he's got his mind in the right place, and I think that those are good things."
(on if would be a big deal if Spencer doesn't make it out before training camp) "Well, it's a big issue, you know, and the issue is strictly a numbers issue with the football team because taking 80 guys to camp and having 80 guys to go through an NFL camp is just a very small number. And it's new water for all of us as coaches and general managers, so that's why it makes this decision even tougher as we move forward."
(on if they will have to make that decision over the weekend) "Well, I'm not going to say we're going to make that decision. I said we've got to make some progress in what we're going to do over the weekend, and we spent a lot of time on it yesterday and we'll spend some more time on it today."
