Texans coach Gary Kubiak reviewed his team's 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. Kubiak discussed the team's situation at kicker with Kris Brown and revealed news on an injury to safety Eugene Wilson.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on what he thought about the horse-collar penalty on S John Busing) "Yeah, it's obviously not a horse collar, but it's a judgment call on the field. He just got the jersey, a handful of jersey, and actually a little lower than the neck area. But once it's called, that's what you've got to live with."
(on critical penalty calls) "Yeah, we had them backed up twice. Inside the eight-minute mark in the game, we had them, I think, on the six one time and on the 10 one time, and we let them out of the hole both times. So that was disheartening, because we had the game on basically our end of the field with an excellent chance to win the football game, so them getting out of a hole, which they did well all night long. I think six times they started inside the 20. So field position-wise, we were in excellent shape as a team, but we just didn't finish the drill."
(on Titans QB Vince Young saying he was watching the corners and decided to run when they turned their back and ran) "No, we played some zone, we played some man, and obviously, any time you're in man, you're going to run with the receivers. So that's part of it. We spied for him some. We didn't spy good enough. He's an heck of an athlete. He found some lanes, and I think he made four or five big first downs on third down. So that was very disheartening, but you've got to give the kid credit. He made some great plays, and obviously us trying to contain him in those situations were very important and we just didn't get it done."
(on his decision to use RB Chris Brown and not give RB Ryan Moats a shot) "Well, we went back and studied ourselves. The times that we gave Chris opportunities in our offense, we were very impressed with what he had done. We played very clean football when he was in there, which we did last night. We played very clean from a standpoint of protecting the football throughout the game. Our protections, he was excellent in protections. He picked up about two or three safety blitzes that gave us chances to make plays. So we felt like he needed to be more involved with what we were doing, so that was the rotation that we decided to go with. (RB) Steve (Slaton) did some good things; had one play there at the end I know he'd love to have back, the catch. So that's just the way we decided to go, and I wasn't disappointed in either one of them. Obviously, there's only 16 touches to go around running the ball so that's not a lot, but I thought they both did their job."
(on what he was most disappointed in about this game other than losing) "Really, just the way—I think the fourth quarter just disappoints me, because we had excellent opportunities on both sides of the ball. Defensively, we had them backed up, and I don't want to be repetitive there, so I really felt good about the flow of the game and where we were pinning them. (P) Matt (Turk) punted extremely well. And then offensively, we're in a tied game with I think 3:40 left and I think we had two chances to make big plays that could've put the game away or been the difference in the game and we didn't get that done offensively. So just I guess overall disappointment in the last eight minutes of the game, not being able to get it done, because we had excellent opportunities to get it done."
(on if the they plan to bring in another kicker given K Kris Brown's strugglegs) "No, Kris is our kicker. Y'all know I have a lot of confidence in him. Obviously, I'm disappointed. Kris is disappointed. We're disappointed as a football team, but we've just got to keep working. Nobody knows this business better than Kris. We're going to work extra hard at it and like I said, we've got confidence in him. We've just got to do everything we can to get it corrected, because I expect him to make those. But more importantly, he expects to make them. So we've just got to make sure that we get that done."
(on CB Dunta Robinson getting beat on a couple key plays) "I think he's about like a lot of players coming out of the game. He did some good things. Obviously, we didn't do enough good things to win. They did. I think a lot of guys could say that they'd like to have a few plays back."
(on what is wrong with DE Mario Williams) "I think I would say the same thing for Mario. I think Mario did some good things in the game. Obviously, he didn't do enough because our team didn't win. So he just needs to keep working and obviously, we need him playing well to be successful."
(on if he is worried about the offense) "We need to score some more points. We played a clean football game yesterday. We were good on third downs, no turnovers. We missed one try in the red zone. I think we were two for three. I think that opportunity really hurt us. You're right, when your defense is holding people to twenty in this league, you have good chances to win and you ought to be winning some games. Yeah, you're right, we've got to find a few more points. I agree with that."
(on how he feels about the quick turnaround to play the Colts) "I'm glad we have a quick turnaround. We need to go play again. If that was tomorrow, that would be fine with me. We're very familiar with them. They're familiar with us. It's going to be a tough week from a practice standpoint. That was a very, very physical football game yesterday, so I've got to get them mentally and physically prepared to go back and do it again. I know we're ready to go play again. It won't be too soon."
(on if FS Eugene Wilson is out for awhile) "Yes, he's going to be out for awhile."
(on if the injury was to his big toe) "It was actually two toes: the big toe and the other one, I think. I don't have all the particulars. He will definitely not play this week, and we'll make a decision on him here in a couple days."
(on if FS John Busing will be the starter) "We'll see. He came in and did a good job. I'm hoping (FS Dominique) Barber comes back, coming off that ankle. He was close to being ready to go last night, but didn't think he was ready to do it. We'll see. Obviously, I think we'll play a lot of people back there. "
(on his expectations with WR Jacoby Jones) "Jacoby went all the way up to game time. We worked him out yesterday and just didn't feel good about the progress he had made or the way he had worked out for us before the game. And then also, like I think I told you guys, part of that decision was that I had so much confidence in (WR) Glenn (Martinez). I thought he did a heck of a job for us. I'm expecting Jacoby to go back on the field tomorrow and prove to me and his teammates that he's one-hundred percent and can go back and help us win. So we'll see. Other than that, health-wise, how are we? DeMeco (Ryans) has got a little ankle. He's going to be day-to-day throughout this week. Joel (Dreessen) has got a little shoulder. He'll be day-to-day. I think these guys will be ready to play, but I think we'll be okay other than Eugene."
(on if he feels like he called the game too conservatively) "No, we had some opportunities for some shots. They played us in a lot of two-deep. I guess that's what you're saying, throwing the ball down the field more and stuff? That's the way they played us. We called the game to take some shots. Obviously, we only got a few that we were able to take, but they didn't give up the big play in this game and they did down there (in Tennessee). But we had a couple of chances to make a few. We made a couple, had a few that we missed. I don't think we played the game conservative at all, if that's what you're asking me. It wasn't called conservatively. I don't know."
(on not second guessing QB Matt Schaub's taking a knee to set up the field goal) "I wouldn't do that any different. I mean, we had a goal: We had to get our football team in field goal position and with eight seconds left, having (K) Kris (Brown) right there at a 48, 49-yard field goal, I'm not going to take a chance of a penalty, a sack or a turnover that would take you out of having any chance to play any more football. So I'd do that the same way."
(on if he's worried about the players bouncing back this time) "We'll see. Am I worried? I worry every day. I worry about a bunch of things. But I told them last night: You can't feel sorry for yourself in this league. It's a tough league and it's very, very disappointing and it's a rough day today for everybody but we get a chance to go back and we're going to have to be very, very good to win this week. I've been doing it a long time. We've got to get over it real quick."
(on if playing well against the Colts the last three games helps them) "Does it help us? I don't know how it helps us. We've got to play better this week than we played them last time. We've been in some good games with them but they've been making the plays at the end and they're coming in here 10-0, so we've got our hands full and we'll have to play as good as we can play."
(on the opportunity to bounce back over the next couple of weeks) "I'm worried about one. I'm worried about the Colts. We've got to figure out a way to win our sixth game. That's all we can do right now, and obviously we're going to have to play better than we did last night to get that done."
