The Texans fought hard as a team for a 34-31 victory in Tennessee on Sunday
The Texans and Titans spoke to the media after Houston's 34-31 victory at Tennessee in Week 2.
Texans head coach Gary Kubiak Texans QB Matt Schaub Texans LB Brian Cushing Texans WR Andre Johnson Texans CB Dunta Robinson Texans LB DeMeco Ryans
Texans head coach Gary Kubiak
(on what happened from start to finish) "They're a great football team and we came into their place and obviously they're pushing us around pretty good early in the game. We made some mistakes defensively. Big plays offensively kept us in the football game and then we got into just a heck of a battle in the second half, field position, and we were able to make one more play. It was just a great game and I feel very fortunate. We got a lot of problems and a lot of things to fix. We are very fortunate to win but proud of the way our guys fought."
(on the difference in the offense from last week) "I think we just kind of got back to some of our tempo, some of the things we do. We still didn't run the ball very well. We felt like we have a beat on some of the reasons why. Not going to go into those, I'm going to try to fix those. We just kind of went back to some of our base stuff and things that our players were comfortable with because we were making too many mistakes. I think tempo and just how we play, speed of how we practiced made us play a little better."
(on how big this win is) "It counts as one. We're a one-and-one football team. We're a .500 team that is very inconsistent and we got some many things to fix to be competitive week in and week out. We feel good about winning today but we have a long, long way to go."
(on QB Matt Schaub answering any questions) "No, you don't answer the questions in one day. We got so many questions and we have got to get back to work Wednesday. There are so many things we have got to shake so if we are going to be competitive week in and week out, if not we're going to be a very inconsistent football team. But Matt played hard and all of our guys played hard all day long and they were rewarded at the end."
(on how RB Chris Johnson got free so often) "We think we know why, but it doesn't matter if you're not fixing it. For them to run for nine yards a clip, how we won the game is amazing. That doesn't happen in this league."
(on the defense playing better in the second half) "Kind of feast or famine, and our team is that way. We are inconsistent as a team and we're inconsistent offensively and defensively. Defensively we give up huge plays and all of a sudden we make big plays. When you are an 8-8 or 1-1 team, you've probably got some issues and we've got some. If we get consistent someday then we got a chance to be pretty good."
(on what was said in the locker room to create a big cheer) "I don't know what I said. I gave Bruce Matthews the (game) ball. To be honest with you, that's probably when you heard the roar. I told him welcome to our side. That's probably when you heard the roar."
(on TE Joel Dreessen in the progression on the fourth down play) "He could have been one, he could have been none. It all depends on what they were doing defensively. Gutsy situation. Give our players a chance to make that play. Joel stepped up and did a good job."
(on enjoying the win) "I am because, like I said, we have got so many issues that it won't take me long to start worrying about the problems we've got. I am going to enjoy it. I am trying, I am tired."
(on last week being negative in Houston) "It should have been negative. We played very poorly. We deserved everything we got. When we become consistent as a team then maybe we will get the other end of the stick. That's part of the business. You can be down one week and have something great happen the next week. You have to keep it all in perspective and move on to the next one."
(on the fight on the Texans' bench) "I was very concerned. It was a heck of a battle going on, and it could get out of control over there with not much room. But I think the players were just playing hard. Give Jeff's [Fisher] team a lot of credit. They're very physical, they played very hard. I thought our guys played extremely hard. It was a great football game."
(on the Texans' toughness) "I don't think this game answers anything. I think we have a long way to go. We got it done today. I'm concerned of our inconsistency as a football team, very concerned. I told you guys I feel great, I feel good and I'm going to have fun.
(on the play of LB Brian Cushing) "He's a hell of a player. You can see that he makes special plays. But he had some busts today, too, as a young player. I think we had three busts by very young players - (Brice) McCain, Dominique (Barber), and I think Brian had one of them. Some of those touchdowns they had were just way too easy and strictly assignment problems. Those are things we have to get better control of."
(on what his team did best versus the Titans) "Battle. You give up the plays we gave up in the first half on the road, and you're still battling 24-24 at the half, that says a lot about what your guys stand for. Hopefully we can find some consistency in that level of play."
(on how much the practices during the week contributed to the win) "I think it started in practice. I made them practice on the clock all week. We changed up the tempo as a football team and practicing with the noise all week I thought it showed the adversity a little better as a team."
Texans QB Matt Schaub
(on the franchise's second win at LP Field) "Well, it was a big win for us. We are on the road in a tough environment against a very good football team. Our guys fought for 60 minutes. It was a hard fought game. They're a good football team right there, but, we are excited on how it turned out. But, it's only one. We have to go back to the drawing board. We are 1-1 and we have to ready for the next one."
(on the offense's confidence) "We have confidence in what we can do. Last week, we stumbled a little bit, but, that is the nature of the game. Football, you got to move on to the next week. Once Monday is over and you review the game prior to the next one. So, you have to keep moving forward and good or bad, put the past behind you."
(on coming back, down 21-7) "Well, they're a heck of a defense. Their front four, really they play like eight guys so they keep it fresh. They are very relentless getting to the quarterback. We know we have to drop back, we can't hold them. Guys were getting open. Making plays is what it's about. That was very good defense we faced."
(on the win bringing the team together) "It's a win on the road against a great team. It just brings us together and we have to take it from here and keep moving forward."
Texans LB Brian Cushing(on what he brings to the team) "I am a guy that will give you four quarters and will be running to the ball. I know that running back on the other side is going to get tired of me tackling him and I know the offensive line is going to get tired of blocking me. I am a non-stop guy. I am a guy that brings that intensity."
(on the game) "It is a conference game. These are two teams that don't really like each other too much. Overall, we were able to get by at the end. We are pretty happy right now, but I don't know about them. It was a very hostile environment out there and we know we had to match their intensity."
(on playing in this type of environment) "I love this kind of environment. I love getting booed. I actually like getting booed better than being at home and being cheered. It just makes you feel like you need to stick together as a unit. I think the team gets closer. You have to fight and you have your backs against each other."
Texans WR Andre Johnson(on clearing up the early miscues and dropped passes) "The passes that I dropped were balls that I could have caught. I made harder catches later on during the game. We started off kind of slow but once we got into rhythm everything started working for us."
(on the Titans' secondary and game adjustments) "We play them twice a year. We pretty much know what they are going to give us. When they come out and do things, we just try to adjust to it. We went out and made those adjustments and the plays worked for us today."
(on the passing chemistry between he and QB Matt Schaub) "Me and Matt talk a lot, we watch film together every morning. I go in our quarterbacks' room and sit with the quarterbacks and watch film with them. We are on the same page. We do a lot of talking and try to communicate with each other."
Texans CB Dunta Robinson(on the difference from last week) "It is not the same team. All week, (Gary) Kubiak talked to us and told us that we need to man-up when things go wrong. That is what we did. We played fast. We played physical and ended up coming away with a win."
(on the performance of the defense) "We made a lot of plays defensively, but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. A lot of those big plays they got were because guys weren't where they were supposed to be. Once we got those corrected they weren't able to move the ball much. We have to be more consistent as a defensive unit."
Texans LB DeMeco Ryans
(on his defensive style of play) "We go out and try to be as physical as we can. That is our style of play. We just have a lot of mistakes to correct. Once we get those corrected, who knows where we can be."
Titans head coach Jeff Fisher Titans QB Kerry Collins Titans LB Keith Bulluck Titans RB Chris Johnson Titans DT Jason Jones Titans DE Jevon Kearse
Titans head coach Jeff Fisher
(opening statements) "What you saw out there today was a game of big plays, and unfortunately for us we did not make enough in the second half to win this ballgame. Congratulations to the Texans. They bounced back after a tough week. We are in hole now. We've got to get back to work. As I told the guys inside (the locker room), we are a good football team. But we have got some work to do. All focus is going to be on winning the next ballgame."
(on the biggest problems on defense) "We had a number of breakdowns, we gave up some big plays. They schemed well. They jumped off the line of scrimmage with play action. Grff (Michael Griffin) gave up the big play. We gave up too many big plays."
(on the fair catch interference rule) "A player who signals a fair catch has an opportunity to complete the catch. And that means that you can recover after it hits the ground, so it was the correct call."
(if the team got too caught up in some of the officials' calls) "No, we stayed focused. The staff was making their calls. And there was some obviously … We will go back and look at the tape, but that was the correct call. It is frustrating, because it is huge. You have a first-and-10 on the nine and then you don't."
(on Craig Hentrich's injury) "He pulled a calf."
(on the decision to go on fourth down rather than attempting a field goal) "It was wind and field position. I liked our chances of converting."
(on the sidelines incident with Jason Jones) "I was told he went into the bench swinging and if he does, he should have been kicked out. He should be fined substantially if he did it. I have to find out. I didn't see it."
(on what they did offensively to get RB Chris Johnson so open) "We had some formation things that we liked during practice. We didn't think they'd leave him uncovered but they did. You know, the draw or the screen, the huge play for us. The draw was a huge play for us. And then of course, the uncover. You get C.J. the ball and space, which we continue to try to do, and he makes plays. It's unfortunate, he probably got 280 yards or something, I mean, it was nothing."
(on the Texans adjusting to Chris Johnson well) "No, I mean, he's also involved in our conventional offense where you hand it to him and you do those kinds of things to him. They took some of them. You saw them knock him down a few times in some of the early screen passes and things, but I thought the offense, considering, did a good job getting the ball to C.J."
(on communication in the secondary between veterans Nick Harper and Michael Griffin) "It happens in the NFL. Regardless of whether you've got Pro Bowlers or not, it happens in the NFL. It's a long season and it happened today. They're certainly… they're not satisfied with it, and we'll get it fixed. We weren't asking them to do things they couldn't do. We set out in this game to shut down number 80 (Andre Johnson). It was important to us and we got caught. They got him deep unconventionally. It was good concepts, I think."
(on the team's 0-2 start after starting last year 2-0) "It's a significantly different start, obviously, but we're about trying to find a way to win the ball game now. That's what's important now. That was yesterday. There's no carry over. I mean, we're a good football ball team but there's no carry over."
(on how long Hentrich will be out) "That's hard to say right now."
(on if the officials lost control of the game at any point and if the players got chippy) "No. They didn't lose control. That's an experienced crew. They never lose control. I mean, they're right. It's a hard thing to stomach, but the call was correct. I think it kind of woke us up. I mean, it does. The fans were great after that. We got a three-and-out and the fans jumped into it. But it's the correct call. I didn't get the explanation at that point but I had an opportunity to think about it and it was the correct call."
Titans QB Kerry Collins
(on tucking the ball late) "I tried to tuck it and run and it just hit my leg. It was a bad play on my part."
(on RB Chris Johnson's long first-quarter touchdown catch) "I kept waiting for someone to go out there and cover him and they didn't. I was on top of it. I just wanted to get the ball to him as quickly as I could. I heard the cadence up because I knew he was uncovered, so I just took a hop, really, and just got it out to him."
(on Houston's defense) "They did a couple of things differently, nothing really major. Nothing we couldn't adjust to. It actually was more of a coverage thing."
(on losing after leading 21-7) "You hate to let these get away, but we all had a problem in this one, including myself. You know, the interception was bad. It set them up for a touchdown. And then of course there at the end, I needed to make a play and I didn't do it."
(on the 0-2 start and the schedule ahead) "Well, it's obviously not ideal, and we have to suck it up and realize that we're behind the eight-ball. We just have to come back to work and keep doing things that we believe will win games and learn from what happened today, and go to a tough place to play and try to get a win next week."
(on wasting a great effort from RB Chris Johnson) "He obviously had a great day to break two long runs like that and have a big touchdown reception; it was a great play. It's unfortunate that he's not going to get the credit he deserves for having a great ballgame."
Titans LB Keith Bulluck(on the loss) "They had a great day. We didn't have such a great day. They deserved to win this game, and we didn't. They converted a lot on third downs and a lot on second and long. We played great first-down defense when they would come out and run. But that's what killed us. We didn't play good second and third down long-distance defense. That kind of killed us. And I'm sure as an offense, if you're converting on those downs, even if you're first down isn't very good, as an offense, you get confidence in what you're doing."
(on starting the season 0-2) "We've got to play. We've got to play football. The way the game is played does not change with tonight's game or next week's game. We've just got to go to practice, continue to play, and plays will start going our way. They definitely will. We have a lot of talent on this team, and it's just a matter of getting it clicking in the right direction. I've been 0-5 and been right outside the playoff's door. And I've been 1-4 and went to the AFC Championship game. This is my 10th year in this league, so it will take a lot more to convince me. But one thing I am convinced of is we're not playing good football. We definitely need to pick it up as a team and come out and play better, if we want to win next week."
Titans RB Chris Johnson
(on having such a big game individually and then losing) "It was crazy. Basically, we just wanted to get out there and play hard and execute the plays that the coaches called. It's good to have great days like that. But at the end of the day when you take that L, it puts a damper on your whole day."
(on how it felt to be on a 91-yard run) "It made me feel good coming through the line. I just had one man to beat. I relied on my offensive line still running downfield, trying to get blocks downfield, helping me have a good day. I've got to give credit to my receivers and offensive line for blocking downfield and getting me some daylight because they know that once I get the daylight, I can make the big run."
(on the running game starting slowly and then opening up) "Going into the game, we knew it would be like that, watching film from last week when they played New York. I can tell you, the whole first half and the third quarter, the Jets weren't successful running the ball. Then, Thomas Jones broke one or two long runs that gave him over 100 yards. Playing Houston, it is going to be tough running the ball against them but you've just got to complete those third downs and stay on the field, and eventually it will work."
(on worrying about QB Kerry Collins seeing him wide open) "No, not really. We worked on that play I'd say six or seven times in practice. I start off in the backfield and then I line up outside and I'm his first read on that play. So the only thing I was thinking about was should I run the fly or just jog off the ball. Just to make it safe, I jogged off the ball and he hit me quick."
(on being surprised that Houston lost track of him as a receiver) "Of course I was surprised. I was looking at their defense. I was looking at their safety and he was still waiting inside. When I got to the sideline, Kerry (Collins) said he was trying to get the snap off quick enough and he eventually got it off and they still didn't roll down to where I was."
(on whether he was supposed to run the fly route to get open) "Yes, I'm supposed to. If he would have came out there, I was supposed to run the fly route, but he didn't come out."
(on what this game show the Titans are capable of) "Looking back at this game, it just shows that we can make plays on offense. We can put up our points. Like last week, we had a chance to go down like Houston did and like Pittsburgh did last week on their two-minute drive to go down and get a field goal to win the game. The past two weeks, we've had that opportunity. Even though the defense gave up points, they still came back and made plays to get us the ball and go down in our two minutes to make a play."
(on being disappointed about how the game turned out) "Of course, I'll be thinking about this up until the game next week. You can't dwell on it until the kickoff of the next game. We just need to go out there and work hard for next week."
(on having a sense of urgency after the bad start to the season) "I look at it as a 16-week season. Of course, there is going to be urgency because we are 0-2. We lost to Pittsburgh, AFC, Houston, AFC, so we've got to get some wins in that win column. It is going to make our offense, defense and special teams work harder to get that first win, and hopefully that win will get us going."
Titans DT Jason Jones
(on getting ejected from game) "I saw Cortland (Finnegan) and Andre (Johnson) going at it, and once I got to the sideline it felt the whole team was going against Cortland. It was just me trying to help out a teammate. I went over there and pushed one guy, and the ref, he ejected me right away. He said, 'You can't do that. You're ejected.' I was going and helping out a teammate and that's what I thought I did, you know. I already apologized to my D-line and the team, and I just have to move on from it."
(on the incident) "I was under control. I didn't go over there swinging or anything. I just went over there. I saw it and I stopped, and I saw them fighting and once they got to their sideline, all the blue jerseys got on top of them. I went over there and pushed one guy. Yeah, I pushed one guy and then the ref ejected me right away. He pulled me away and put me back on the field. While everything was still going on, he ejected me. I didn't throw a punch. I just pushed a guy."
(on no sacks for the Titans defense) "It's something we need to just look at on film and see what we did wrong and get ready for next week."
Titans DE Jevon Kearse
(on the loss) "I can't comment until I go back and watch film, but we keep putting ourselves in a hole right now. We're going to put ourselves in a hole too deep to get out of if we don't get it turned around this week. It's like we stayed in the game until towards the end and we gave it away towards the end. So, we have to do what we have to do to finish up these games. When we get the lead, we've got to hold onto it."
(on being concerned with the pass rush during the first two games and allowing 300-yard passers with no sacks today) "Somewhat, but then again, we're going to do what we're supposed to do up front. If something breaks down on the back end, that's not our fault. It's just a few things here and there. We've been in these last two games. We just gave it away towards the end. We have to figure out a way to end these ball games to close them out."
(on being concerned with Titans' future with bad things continuing to happen) "They can, but then again, we have enough veteran leaders on this team. There are a lot of guys with years and experience to let these (young) guys know, 'Hey, we've got to turn it around. We can't just sit back and expect for it to fix itself. We've got to go out and do it ourselves.'"
(on starting the season 0-2) "It's a huge hole. It's too big of a hole that we don't want to be in right now. So now, maybe we're just getting our losses out of the way right now. Maybe we're going to finish up strong. Whatever it is, we've got to hurry up and get to it."
