Texans head coach Gary Kubiak answered questions from the media in a Friday press conference at Reliant Stadium. The following is a transcript of his interview.
Head coach Gary Kubiak(on if there were any injuries in last night's game) "No, we came out fine. It has no factor as far as putting our team together in the next two days. We came out okay."
(on if the last game of the preseason is useful) "No doubt it is. I got to get on the plane and watch some guys play offensively. I think we had 55, 60 snaps. Defensively, I think there were 70, 71, 72. We got great tape of the guys and actually when you look at our preseason, our twos and threes probably got a lot more time than they normally do. It was very beneficial and it helped us start to make some of these decisions today and finish tomorrow as we put the team together. I felt good that those kids got to play a lot. Obviously, you'd like to play a lot better, but I was glad they got to play a lot."
(on his thoughts about losing 28-0 last night) "It's not good. Anytime you get beat, it's not good. We moved the ball on offense. First half, we had 200 yards of offense and no points. When your average drive start is the 15-yard line, it makes it tough. Defensively, we struggled keeping the quarterback in the pocket and turned the ball over on top of that. Like I told the guys last night, it doesn't matter if it's the fourth preseason game or the fourth regular season game. If you play like that way as a team, you're going to get beat. I didn't feel good about that, but like I said, looking at the big picture of training camp and the abbreviated or no offseason and the training camp, I feel good about the process and where we're at heading into next week. I think it was a good camp."
(on if there's any update on RB Arian Foster's injury) "No, it's just going to be day-to-day, like I told ya'll. I'll continue to tell you, until he's out there, it's a concern, but everything's moving in the right direction, so it will be a day-to-day process."
(on how the team reacted to RB Arian Foster's tweet about his injury) "Guys are so busy, guys got enough stuff to worry about. They're trying to get ready to play a game and playing for jobs there in Minnesota. I can't begin to tell you how important that game is to so many players and how hard they work get involved in it. It's an emotional game for them, too. To watch those guys after the game, to go in the locker room knowing that 27 of those guys are fixing to not have a job the next day, so they're focused on a lot of other things. Arian and I will handle that. The guys were focused on their job trying to win a job last night."
(on if there will be a policy for the players on using Twitter) "We're going to deal with that. We're going to deal with that internally and obviously we'll handle that here, but I'm worried about football. That's my concern."
(on if he's concerned that some of the players aren't concerned enough about football) "No, there's always going to be issues with your football team. There's a lot of issues. You deal with them, you go to the next day and you get ready to play and that's part of what we do. It's part of our business and we don't need distractions and got to stay focused on our jobs, so that's what we'll do."
(on if this is the best he's felt about the team going into the regular season) "I felt real good last year. I felt good last year. We played some real good teams in camp. Our record was better this year obviously, but I thought we had a good camp last year, really ready to go opening day. I think there's some unknowns all the time when you go into the first game because you're fixing to play more plays than you've ever played, so how are you going to react come mid-third quarter, fourth quarter as a football team? Last year, we reacted very good from a conditioning level in the second half of that opener, so how do we do this year? I think our conditioning level is good once again this year. Every team's different. This will be a big one, just like it always is, being a divisional game and an opener also."
(on which players on the bubble stood out to him in last night's game) "I don't know about the bubble part, but the stood out part, that's easy. I thought our quarterback played very well, Matt Leinart, and then the easiest guy to watch play is Tim Jamison. He was exceptional last night and has been throughout training camp. It's fun film to watch on the plane to watch him compete. It really was."
(on if RB Steve Slaton was healthy enough to play in last night's game) "Yes, he was healthy enough to play. That was strictly me, as I said after the game, he was coming off the hamstring, we really only had two practices going into that game and one of those was a walkthrough, so I did not feel comfortable putting him out there on turf after he had been gone for so long. It was just a decision on my part and I obviously wanted to watch (Chris) Ogbonnaya play a great deal."
(on if he feels comfortable keeping three running backs instead of four) "I don't know. That's going to be worked out. I think you keep good football players. Steve's a good football player, so we'll have to see how that pans out."
(on if he felt like he didn't need to see RB Steve Slaton play to know what he can do) "I know what Steve (Slaton) is. I never felt that way at all that I didn't need to see him. I did it because I didn't think it was real smart. Guys coming off hamstrings that don't practice for a couple days and show you that they're really ready to go, I think you're taking a big risk and playing on turf too makes it even more so of a risk. It was just a decision on my part."
(on if he knows the amount of players he will keep at each position) "Well the overall picture goes back to numbers at positions. Obviously you're working with 53 and how that 53 fits with your team, you don't know until you start looking at it. We'll be different. We'll be built a little bit different because of the 3-4 just naturally from a linebacker standpoint as compared to a defensive line standpoint. The key is when you're putting 53 guys together, you got to keep good football players. You may go light in one spot and heavy in one spot. It's a long season. A lot of things have to come into account as you're putting a team together. It's a tough day today letting players go, make it even tougher over the course of the next 24 hours trying to make some more tough decisions and trying to see where you're going to go next with your football team. A lot of tired guys here trying to make some decisions right now, so we've got another 24 hours to do it."
(on the secondary in last night's game) "We played a lot of man, so we covered pretty good. We made them hold the ball, but we just didn't get to the quarterback. Those two guys (Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks Christian Ponder and Joe Webb) are very good athletes. They run very well and when you're playing man coverage, you got to keep the quarterback in the pocket. It's a good lesson if nothing else. We struggled for those guys to run around like that."
(on his thoughts on the Colts) "I studied them in the offseason. Right now, I've still been focused on the preseason. We'll get a good head start over the weekend as coaches with nine days to play and we'll actually have an extra practice on Monday. We'll have plenty of time, but obviously a team we see twice a year, we know each other very, very well. All I know is one thing, you have to be at your best to beat them so we got to get ready to do that."
(on how to not put too much emphasis on the Colts game) "Hopefully we take every game the same. The difference in the opener in this league is everybody's got more time to prepare for it. Everybody played last night. I think there's one game tonight if I'm right. Everybody gives themselves extra time. They give themselves extra time to heal and extra time to prepare and everybody's got a fresh football team on opening day and that's what you see, so that's the big difference. As far as the excitement and getting ready to go, well I hope we're ready to go. I hope they're ready to get out there. It's been a long camp, but it's been a good camp, so I know our guys are ready to get to work."
(on where the team is now compared to where he thought it would be) "First off, you're right, when they came in, very concerned; what were you getting? I think we have to be impressed with our guys and what they did in the offseason and the way we held up throughout camp in the heat. Obviously we always work in the heat in Houston, but it's been exceptional this year and we've held up through that. I think we knew offensively, we weren't going to change all that much, but we did have some holes to fill. I think James Casey has had a good camp, so that was very, very important. We're sitting here, picked up a receiver late in camp, so we'll see how that works out. Defensively, we knew we were starting from scratch. I think the impressive thing is how quick we've been able to grasp what (Defensive Coordinator) Wade (Phillips) wants us to do, so to speak. Now we need to grow from that and continue to get better. I think the way we've been able to pick up with that, I don't want to say it's been a surprise, but it's been a pleasant surprise how quick we've been able to get some of those things done."
(on if he's started game planning for the Colts game) "My focus is on our team right now, to be honest with you. We'll start here over the weekend as we get started, but I had so much to do today. We got home about 3:30 in the morning, so working on borrowed time right here. I got to work on us and we'll get started on Indy tomorrow."
(on WR Bryant Johnson) "You're fortunate to get a player like that. First off, not only has he been successful in this league and he's a veteran, but he and Matt (Leinart) had played together some, so there's a little connection right there. He knew some of our terminology, so he went and played right away. It was impressive. He's a very impressive person and it was good to see him go out there and still make some plays. He can help us. His knowledge of what's going on in this game and some of the things he can do, I think he can help this football team."
