Head coach Gary Kubiak talked to the media after Thursday's practice.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on the players saying that it's time to get something going) "I thought that way three weeks ago. I don't ever feel any different. We've got to start playing a lot better football than we've been playing to give ourselves a chance to win. Like I said, I felt that way before. I'm going to feel that way again next week. The bottom line right now is we've got to worry about ourselves and clean up what we do so that we can take an honest look at ourselves and give ourselves a chance to beat a good football team on Sunday. So that's what we're trying to get done."
(on if the Texans are doing anything different) "I think you're always looking for little things that you think you are trying to do. The thing that I try to do as a coach when we're struggling is go back and study some of the things we were doing in the past that the guy was doing successfully and maybe we got away from that or asked him to do something he can't do. That's your job as a coach to look at those things, but we need some plays. We need some plays to get the confidence back up and going. We're working to try to do that."
{QUOTE}(on if he plans to work WR Andre Davis more this game) "He deserves to get on the field. He played well on special teams last week. He played well when we gave him his chances to make plays, and when guys do that then you've got to get them out there and give them opportunities. He should be a big part of what we're doing all the time. He's earned that right, and we'll get him the ball."
(on RB Ahman Green) "He practiced more today than he did yesterday, so that was positive. We beat on him a little bit today. So we'll see how he comes out tomorrow. I think we're day to day."
(on if he is worried about special teams and the long snapping) "Yeah. It's been an issue. He (LS Bryan Pittman) has struggled, not just last week, but he has had some rough snaps throughout the course of the last month. So we get him some extra work this week; even more than we give him normally. We're working the (TE Clark) Harris kid also, who can snap, who's on our practice squad. So it can't happen. It's got to be right."
(on if the snapping issue is strange considering the previous consistency of LS Bryan Pittman) "Yeah, he has been consistent my few years here. But, like I said, he had some issues in training camp and it raised itself again last week. In this league, you count on those things being automatic and when they're not, it can really, really affect the football game. That extra point affected the game the rest of the way. So it's something that has got to be automatic."
(on if there is anybody else on the team that can long snap) "Yeah, we have guys who can do it in an emergency, but they are strictly emergency guys. They have to be really good. Can you do it? You have to be real fast, you have to get it back there real fast. Our backups are our backups."
(on how the return game is and if it's close to what it was last year) "We were close to getting one going last week with Jacoby (Jones). Return game is something that you have to keep pounding on. How many did we end up with last year? Three touchdowns on kickoff returns, that's a big year. So you never know when they are going to come. We just have to keep working on it. We were close in the punt return and (WR) Andre (Davis) keeps working. We'll get him a break."
(on DT Travis Johnson) "Has practiced better this week than he did last week. We'll still continue to evaluate him through tomorrow and make a decision."
(on if he knows if DT Travis Johnson will play on Sunday or not) "No, I don't know. We'll see."
(on if DT Jeff Zgonina played well in DT Travis Johnson's absence) "Yeah, he did. Yeah, he did. He played solid. He played very hard. Frank (Okam) showed some good things. He really chased the ball and worked extremely hard. He's a young guy with a lot of upside so we have to keep working him."
(on how they plan to play against Jaguars running backs Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor) "Well, one is a three-down back and the other guy raises a lot of problems for you on third downs and those types of things. Two great players. I've watched (Jaguars RB) Fred (Taylor) for many, many years. When they can rotate those guys and keep them healthy and you have to tackle those guys, between the two of them, 45, 50 times a game, that's very difficult."
