Members of the Texans talked to the media Friday about Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on CB DeMarcus Faggins playing well this week) "Petey? Yeah, he's had a great week of practice. He's been practice extremely well, though, for a long time. He's playing really well right now."
(on what the difference is with CB DeMarcus Faggins) "It's confidence. To me, in this league you have ups and downs as players, and he went through some tough times last year. He's never lost sight of what he's trying to do as a player and he's worked his way back to confidence. He's got a lot of it right now on the field."
(on TE Owen Daniels leading AFC tight ends in every statistic) "Well, I think it's a lot of credit to him, just from the standpoint of his work habits. This kid hasn't missed a day of practice in three years. This kid is something else. He's out there every week. He's a very smart player. We play him all over the place. We probably challenge him more than any player on the offensive football team. He's an unselfish player, and good things are going his way."
{QUOTE}(on if the fact that WR Andre Johnson is back opens things up for TE Owen Daniels or vice versa) "I think it's a combination of both. If people play us in a bunch of two-deep, then it frees up O.D. (TE Owen Daniels). But O.D. is beating a lot of man coverage, too. The thing that I've been impressed with is he's become a better player on the line of scrimmage than he was the first two years. He wasn't as good on the line of scrimmage before. We tried to hide him sometimes. We don't do that anymore. We try to challenge him. I think he's really become a better player from that standpoint. In this league, there's usually guys that do one or the other (receiving or blocking). There's not many guys that do both. and he's doing both pretty good right now."
(on if everything is a go for CB Dunta Robinson) "Yeah, a great practice today by him. Unless he wakes up tomorrow morning with a problem, we'll go. So we'll have to make a move here in the next 24 hours. I expect him to play somewhere in the high-end of 20 plays. So, we'll see."
(on if they are going to introduce CB Dunta Robinson before the game) "Yeah, we talked about that. He's our captain this week. He's our sixth guy. Everything he's been through to make it back and be ready to go in this game, it's special with that injury he had. These players are really pulling for him. He's brought a lot of energy to our football team in practice this week."
(on if CB Dunta Robinson has shown any ill effects this week) "We thought the times we were working him out, watching him work out as he was going through his rehab process, we felt like a few weeks ago that he was showing signs that he was ready to play. But we didn't quite know until we got him in a competitive environment, put his pads on. If anything, it looks like he's raised his level. He feels good. Great frame of mind. So, ready to go."
(on TE Mark Bruener) "Bru (TE Mark Bruener) will be a game-time decision depending on which way we go. But he's fine. He can play. If we suit three tight ends, he's ready to go. But (S Dominique) Barber and (RB Chris) Taylor, it doesn't look good because they haven't done anything all week."
TE Owen Daniels
(on how he feels about the way he is playing right now) "I feel confident about the way I'm playing. I think I've gotten better on the line of scrimmage as the year has gone along. It's always one of the biggest things for me to be looked at as a guy who can hold up and be counted on to block defensive ends and be able to hold up in pass protection and run blocking when they want to run behind me. I think I've improved from Week 1 until now. And as far as the pass game goes, I'm trying to catch everything they throw my way."
(on if he would rather make a big catch or make a great block that saves the quarterback) "I don't think I could say either one, really. If the catch is a huge part of the game like a big first down on a third-down situation at a crucial time in the game, that's huge. But I think maybe people expect that a little more than me making a big block, me holding up in pass protection against a good defensive end. So I get a lot of satisfaction out of both, for sure."
(on the common person not noticing the blocks, but coaches and teammates noticing) "Absolutely. It gets pointed out on film when you don't do a good job on there, and I want to be a guy that's on the field every play. And I am, for the most part. I don't think they would put me out there if they didn't think I could hold up. I want to be out there doing everything, and being able to block is a huge part of that."
(on the fact that he's leading AFC tight ends in all the statistical categories) "Well, it's still early in the year. I feel good about it. I think there have been a couple plays that I missed that I could have made, so I think maybe my numbers could be even a little better. But I'm going to try to continue what I've been doing and being consistent. I think coming into this year, that's what I wanted to do. I said it last year. I think I was a little better than I was my rookie year. But in terms of being consistent this year, so far it's leaps and bounds ahead of where I was last year."
(on what he has to do to get more touchdowns to lead in that category, too) "Same thing, just make plays when they throw it to me down there in the red zone. We have so many guys that can make plays with Andre (Johnson), Kevin (Walter), the other André (Davis) and Steve (Slaton) and Ahman (Green), so a lot of guys to spread the wealth to down there. I think I had a point last year where I had 50 catches with no touchdowns, but we were winning some games. So if we keep winning games, I can't complain too much."
(on if he is envisioning a trip to the Pro Bowl) "No, I'm not. A couple people have said that to me. It hasn't even really crossed my mind because it's just so early in the year. Maybe 12, 13, 14 games into the year, I might think a little bit more about that. I'm just focused on getting this season turned around, helping out the team and heading in the right direction."
(on it being hard for a tight end to make the Pro Bowl in the AFC with guys like Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez) "Yeah, the AFC is loaded with tight ends. You can start with those two guys and Dallas Clark and Kellen Winslow. Todd Heap is a good player. You can rattle off names left and right."
(on this being a contract year) "I would like to have some security. I love playing for the Texans. I think Coach Kubiak does a great job. I trust him with the team and where he has things headed. I really like our team a lot, so I'd love to be here for the long haul."
CB Dunta Robinson
(on if he is surprised how well this week went for him) "Actually, I am. It's almost been a year. It's been 11 months. I expected to come back, and I didn't expect things to go as smoothly as they did. I didn't expect to feel as good as I did or cover the receivers as well as I did. All these things, I didn't expect. I'm glad to see things going well. Just hopefully, I can continue to progress every week."
(on if he was thinking about his knee the first time he had to cover a receiver) "No, I really didn't think about it once the ball was snapped. I wondered before the play how it would feel, but once the ball is snapped, it's football. I really didn't have time to think about it. I was thinking about the receiver's movements, reading his body language. So I think that's probably what kept me from thinking about that. So, like I said, it was a lot better. I expected to have a little bit of pain and I didn't have any pain, and that's a good feeling."
