The Texans practiced Friday inside the Methodist Training Center and afterward, head coach Gary Kubiak and safety Bernard Pollard answered questions from the media. The following is a transcript of their respective interviews.
Head Coach Gary KubiakSS Bernard Pollard
* *
Head Coach Gary Kubiak(on the Texans' injuries) "OD (TE Owen Daniels) is out. He will not play. We're hoping there's a chance for next week. We'll see where we are at Monday morning with him, but not quite ready yet. (LB Xavier) Adibi will not play. Adibi is out. Other than that, we are good to go."
(on if LB Zac Diles will be ready for this week's game) "Yes, (LB) Zac (Diles) is good to go. He's had a good week. We are going to play them both. He and (LB Darryl) Sharpton will play. Sharpton played really well in the game and deserves to go back out there and play some more with what he did. So, we'll play them both, but Zac has had a good week."
(on rookie LB Darryl Sharpton earning his confidence) "Yeah, I think this is a league of opportunity and sometimes you get it in the craziest ways. He went out there and played 40-something plays last week. We as a defense played one of our better games of the year. We got to give the kid a lot of credit. He deserves the chance to go back out there and help us continue to get better. (LB) Zac (Diles) has had a good week. He's back to himself. They will both play."
(on will LB Zac Diles be in the starting lineup) "No, (LB Darryl) Sharpton will start the game."
(on the status of LB Brian Cushing's knee today) "We are just basically doing some mental work, but he's fine. He could've practiced yesterday. That was just me. It was sore. We needed to bang a little bit yesterday so I kept him out."
(on why does WR Andre Johnson have big games against the Titans) "I was going back and looking at some of the games. We've had some wild games against this team. We've had some 16-13 games, those types of games, 20-17. Then we had that wild one last year, 34-31. He's always ready to play. Like last week, he doesn't get many opportunities to catch a lot of balls, but he played very hard in the game. He got the ultimate respect in football, in my opinion, when he got the best corner in football and they gave him help over the top. He's just back to himself again. I think this past week he's looked like his old self. He played hurt for this team for five weeks this year."
(on if going against Titans CB Cortland Finnegan gets WR Andre Johnson's competitive juices flowing) "I think it's a great competition between them. Two Pro Bowl players playing twice a year, they go after each other, they respect each other. They play hard. It's fun to watch as coaches. That's throughout the group. They're a big-time challenge for us."
(on if the Titans change their strategy from time to time or stay the same way when they face the Texans) "They tend to play us different all the time. You got to adjust. They have the capabilities of doing a lot of things, but it all starts up front with the job they can do on your quarterback. You have to protect your quarterback."
(on what does he see different in Titans DE Justin Babin that he didn't see when he played for the Texans) "Obviously it's a situation where players bounce around a little bit and they find a home and find something that really suits them. They play a lot of wide nine-technique. He's playing extremely well and been very effective. He's always been a guy who plays extremely hard. Wash (Titans defensive line coach Jim Washburn) does a great job with those guys there. He's found him a home and he's been very successful. He's taken advantage of an opportunity."
SS Bernard Pollard(on the dangers Titans RB Chris Johnson poses for the Texans defense) "When you look at the way (RB) Chris (Johnson) runs, I think the biggest thing with him is that he has so many skills as far as speed, patience and breaking tackles. He can do it all. He can catch the ball and he can beat you in so many ways. As far as rating him, I think he'll be definitely rated in the top three running backs in the league. I think he understands that. I think the Titans understand that. The crazy thing about it is we get to play him and see what we can do against him."
(on how to defend Titans RB Chris Johnson) "The biggest thing is you try to take out the outside. He can catch you through the middle. I think the biggest thing we need to do is we have to be sound. There have been so many things that have beaten us the last few weeks. Right now we're at that point where we are going into this game, knowing and understanding where we are at. Knowing and understanding where they are at, it's still a chance for us. I think we have to mature in so many ways if we want to do what we are saying what we want to do. We just got to go and play football. It's going to be man against man. Their 11 against our 11 and we have to show our fans and our offense that we can go out here and not lose a game."
(on how much of an impact WR Randy Moss has been to the Titans' running game) "The thing with (WR) Randy (Moss) is that he's a deep threat. He's going to pull a safety out of the box. He's going to back him up so you lose rush support right there. He's going to pull a corner and they are going to back him up so you lose rush support right there, and depending on what else you do. I think the big thing with having Randy on their team, it helps with (RB) Chris (Johnson), but you look at their teams in the past couple of years; it really doesn't matter. I think Chris is going to get his yards, regardless. They are going to be aggressive in the running game regardless if he's on the field or not."
