Kubiak will have a couple of old weapons back in his play-calling arsenal this week.
Texans head coach Gary Kubiak spoke to the media on Friday about the upcoming game with the Jacksonville Jaguars, detailing the status of DeMeco Ryans, Jacoby Jones and Ahman Green.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on how LB DeMeco Ryans is doing) "Good. He's fine, he's ready to go. Everybody's ready to go. Jacoby (Jones) looked really good today, Ahman (Green). So we're getting a couple of faces back; that'll be nice. But everything looks like we're OK."
(on how important it is that LB DeMeco Ryans plays) "It's very important. He's the leader of our football team, as well as our defense. He could have practiced yesterday, that was us kind of holding him. But he took it all today and that's really good for the other kids, too. It's good for Danny (Clark) to get the MIKE and it's good for Zac (Diles) to get a lot of reps because we've got to get Zac involved with this team here as we go throughout the season, so you don't mind resting a player like him. He knows what the heck he's doing. It's just a matter of being ready to go."
(on why it's important to establish a consistent running game) "If we go out there and we throw the ball 50 times this week at Jacksonville, we're going to get our quarterback hurt. He's going to get beat up. The flow of the game, you just can't do that and you've got to establish identity in football. We're playing a team that's extremely physical and if we're not willing to line up and try to run the ball at them, go toe to toe with them, then we're going to be in trouble. So it's important that we figure out a way to do it. Getting Ahman (Green) back hopefully helps, but the bottom line is we've all got to be a little better, so that's a mentality of your football team. If you have a football team that knows you're not going to run the ball or you're not going to attempt the run the ball then all of a sudden you're mentality is not what I want it to be. So we're not going to head in that direction."
(on if there's much he can do to help G Chester Pitts and G Fred Weary against the Jaguars' defensive tackles) "They know what they're facing. They face good inside players all the time, but these two guys are just as big of players as they'll face all year. I told them, when they come out of the tunnel and the smoke's flying, don't look over there because they're big. They know that. We've got our work cut out for us, but those two guys are ready to play."
(on the matchup between the Cowboys and Patriots) "You know, we're so busy with what we're doing. Really don't know what's going on until you get on the plane after a game and guys are talking about other games. We've got our hands full this week. I better worry about who we're playing."
(on if he'll limit RB Ahman Green at all) "I think we monitor what he's doing, but he's ready. He's had a full week of practice. He probably could've played last week; we did the right thing and fortunately for us things worked out. But he's ready to go. We'll play him normal, but naturally you're not going to go give him the ball 40 times or nothing, so we'll monitor what he's doing."
(on WR Jacoby Jones) "He's ready. He's ready to go. His specialty will be as a returner this week."
(on if that means as a punt returner) "Could do both. And as far as wide receiver, he'll back up those three guys. He will play, but he won't be a starter in any capacity from that standpoint."
(on if WR Jacoby Jones could do both kick and punt returns) "Yes, he very well could. He's done all the punt and he could very well do the kicking. It has a lot to do with we've got a decision to make on our 45th player – is that Dexter (Wynn) or is that (Jamar) Fletcher? Is that Shantee Orr? We've got a decision to make on that last guy, and we'll make that decision tomorrow on the plane."
(on if that's the main decision facing him as far as the roster) "Yes, that's our biggest decision, that last player. And it has a lot to do with when we do have our returner in place, Dexter (Wynn) has been down. If our returner's not in place then Dexter is up. So we'll make that decision after we talk about practice."
