Head Coach Gary Kubiak
ILB Tim Dobbins
FS Ed Reed
Gary Kubiak
(on ILB Tim Dobbins working out with the team after missing OTAs) "He looked good. He's on top of his stuff. We had a lot of reps today. I was pleased with what we did at practice. We threw a lot at them and he handled himself today."
(on the plan with S Ed Reed) "He's been back for a couple of days now. We're just working the rehab process and continue what he's been doing in Atlanta and setting our gameplan for now up until training camp. But yeah, it's good to have him back."
(on if he is encouraged with where S Ed Reed is at) "I don't know. They tell me he's coming along fine and that everything is going good. It's just a matter of continuing the rehab process and obviously we've got a target date that we're shooting for and hopefully it will work out."
(on ILB Tim Dobbins being back at practice) "He looked fine. He did his job today. I thought they all did a good job. It's good to have him back."
(on ILB Tim Dobbins saying he hasn't spoken with Kubiak yet and what his message for Dobbins would be) "I've barely seen him yet today. I'm glad to have him back. I'm glad he's here. We've got a lot of work to do and he had a lot of catching up to do, but he was on top of stuff today."
(on the veterans not participating in minicamp) "They're just working out. They're working out with (head strength and conditioning coach) Cedric (Smith). What I wanted to do was take all the young guys and go back, everything we did the last month, and just kind of have a crash course—kind of a test in a lot of ways. I'm not so concerned about the physical part right now, finding out where they're at mentally. I was impressed with what they did today. They obviously looked at it hard and were ready to practice today so that was impressive."
(on the fitness level of ILB Tim Dobbins) "We didn't do much. We were really a jog-through tempo today in what we were doing. We ran a little bit at the end."
(on if he feels good about where all of the first-team guys are at) "I think I've done that the last three or four years. I just think they've had 10 good practices under their belts, healthy, relatively healthy with all the things that are going on as far as everybody being ready for camp. They don't need three more days of the same reps. These young guys need them. I think as a coach, it's my job to get them in a position where they can compete to make a team. That's why we're trying to get them the reps."
(on WR DeVier Posey's progress) "I was impressed today. I watched from afar while he was doing his work over there, but I watched him run and watched him work. Like I told him, hopefully he makes a real tough decision on us as we get towards camp and those PUP decisions and that type of stuff. Hopefully it's going to be a very, very tough one, but he's doing his job. He's working hard."
(on if he will have WR DeVier Posey on the field at all this week) "Posey? No, absolutely not. No."
(on S Danieal Manning sticking around to watch the younger guys practice) "It means he probably has nothing else to do. No, he's a great kid. He's a mentor to those young guys. He's just one of those guys that loves being around ball all the time. He's standing back there with me making calls. I think that's great. As I told the guys just before we left a few minutes ago, everybody can't make our team, but everybody can make it in this league. So we're trying to help everybody have a chance to play in the National Football League. We've got a lot of guys working hard to do that."
(on T David Quessenberry) "I'm impressed with how far he's come. He's obviously been put in a very tough spot, but sometimes that's how you find a heck of a player. So he's working as a starting right tackle in a lot of situations along with (T) Ryan Harris. You never know. There have been some sixth and seventh round draft choices in this league start and be great players. With the work he's getting, he's going to get a good chance to have that type of situation as a young player, so we'll see what happens."
(on if he thinks ILB Tim Dobbins hurt himself by not coming out for OTAs) "No, they're voluntary. That's the way it works."
(on the health status of RB Arian Foster and T Duane Brown) "They're both doing fine. Arian is doing good. Duane had to shave the situation he had on his ankle. He's up and around and doing good."
(on the progress of QB Case Keenum) "It's been very impressive. He's very comfortable in what he's doing. Its second nature to him now, so you see his talents taking over. He did some great things over OTAs. He ran the team today. It's going to be very competitive when we go to camp. He knows that. Everybody knows that in what we've seen, but that's what we expected. He took advantage of last year. That's what a young guy on a practice squad does. He took advantage of it and he's ready to compete now."
(on the progress of T Brennan Williams and his knee) "It's slow. He needs to be out here, but he's not. Nothing we can do. My biggest concern with him, he'll be ready for camp, but my biggest concern is his conditioning. All these young guys know what Houston is about and know about the heat and have been doing a pretty good job of that. He hasn't even begun to figure that one out. That's my biggest concern right now."
(on what T Brennan Williams had done to his knee and if he had to have anything repaired) "I'm not sure what he had. He just had a clean-up, whatever that means."
(on if the team knew S Ed Reed would need surgery on his hip after going through the physical when signing with the team) "I guess the best way for me to answer that is that we did not expect for him to have to have a surgery, if that's what you're asking me. After he started to have some issues during his workout routine, we thought the best thing to do was to get it cleaned up like he did the previous time, which obviously we weren't a part of. He's been through this process before, but once this started to bother him, obviously we got aggressive in getting him ready to go for the season."
(on if he knew he had a torn labrum in his hip) "No, obviously I didn't know."
ILB Tim Dobbins
(on being at mini-camp) "It's great being back out here with the team. Running around here, it's hotter than what I was running in already."
(on what he feels he missed out on by not being at OTAs) "The camaraderie of the team, as far as that but I've been running in this system for eight years, so I'm pretty sure it'll take just brushing up on my skills and knowledge of our scheme just to get back where I was."
(on why he was not at OTAs) "I had obligations with my family. We were renovating the house, that's what it was. We were renovating the whole house. I've been having this house for a year already. I (demolished) all myself, I've been trying to work on it all myself and just trying to learn another skill, as far as that. But I definitely missed out on some things, learned some names and seen some new faces on this team."
(on if he feels like he let some of his teammates down or if they understand why he wasn't at OTAs) "I'm pretty sure I let some of the guys down, but at the same time, I'm hoping they understand. I hope they understand that I'm here and when I'm here, I'm giving them 110 percent of everything I have. There's nothing left in the tank. So I don't want them to have that doubt that I'm not going to be a part of this team and give all my effort on this team."
(on the pros and cons of not coming to OTAs) "The pros; I don't want to say it but, it's just more rest even though I was still working out. But it's still more rest and spending more time with my family. This was the longest time I've ever been with my family, which was a treat for me. But that's pretty much about it."
(on if he was making a statement that he wasn't happy with his contract by not showing up to OTAs) "No, it wasn't no statement. I have nothing against this franchise, this organization. I appreciate the contract they gave me. As a person, you always want more though, but it's definitely nothing with that at all."
(on if he's worried about losing his job or being demoted because he didn't show up to OTAs) "My first goal here on this team is special teams and I hope they know I know how to do that. As far as being a starter or a backup, I feel like that's second nature. I feel like my role on this team is special teams. It'd be a positive thing for me to play on defense but I have no control of that."
(on what head coach Gary Kubiak has said to him) "We have not spoken today. I am looking forward to it. I'm sure it's not going to be anything polite. I already know how he feels about the whole situation and I feel disappointed in myself, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was something I had to do for my family."
(on if he would do anything different if he could do it all over again) "No, I would not. I would do it all the same way."
(on if it was his decision or his agent's decision not to go to OTAs) "This was pretty much my mine; all mine."
(on what type of role his agent played in the decision not to attend OTAs) "At first, I was nervous about the whole situation because I had never done this before in my career. I kept calling to make sure there was nothing they could do, to make sure they didn't want to fire me. I had to make sure what was mandatory, what was not mandatory. So I was pretty much on top of making sure I didn't miss anything."
(on what he did to work out while he was not at OTAs) "I trained at D1 (Sports Training) in Nashville, Tenn. I pretty much did some boot camps for a little bit. Then I started practicing with a college guy named Sam that goes to Austin Peay and then I just jumped on his program and started working out and running with him."
(on how he was received in the locker room) "Everybody, they seemed like they were happy to see me but I was happy to see them. I feel like everybody was happy I came back, but at the same time, I just came here to work."
(on head coach Gary Kubiak had expressed disappointment that he was going to miss OTAs) "Before I had made a decision, I had came here and worked out for like two days because he wanted me to and I talked to him and he let me know then and there that he was disappointed. But it was still my decision if I would come or not. He just let me know, if I was not here, he was going (to be) disappointed and that he expects me to be here."
(on if he understands that some fans are upset that he was not at OTAs) "I have no idea about the fans because when I'm gone, I'm gone. I didn't look at the news, I didn't watch the news or read the newspapers. I didn't do anything. But I hope they know I'm here. I'm ready to work because I don't feel like I lost anything."
FS Ed Reed
(on if he feels like a Texan now that he is in Houston) "Yeah, man. Once I got everything done with my other team, you know, finished up everything, I gave it a 24-hour grace period to kind of let that soak in and make that transition, to really get acclimated. It's going good. Guys are welcoming, like it was when I first came. Just starting to get it going."
(on his timeline in Colorado) "I had surgery on April 30. I was there for four weeks. Just like I had surgery the last time, I stayed for about a month or whatever. That was the best thing to do, as far as the physical therapy. It's going well right now. There's really no timeline. I know what I want and I know what we want as an organization. We're just going to keep on grinding and keep on working and shoot for September."
(on potentially playing in the first game of the season) "Like I said, we're going to keep working out this offseason. Once training camp comes I'll have a better bead on it, as far as my progress. Right now, I can tell you, it's going well; going really good. No setbacks. I'm actually just coming from working out. As you can see, I'm a little fatigued from them getting the best of me. You know, that's part of it. It's looking really good right now."
(on if he'll be disappointed if he's not ready to play in Week 1) "Like I said, we're going to continue to work out. No disappointments because rehab is a process. I'm going to keep working out. Come training camp, like I said, I'll have a better bead on it, a better feel for it. Right now, it's still offseason and everybody's working out."
(on if he was surprised that he needed surgery and how that worked out) "Yeah. I mean, I really didn't know. I knew there was something there but it didn't seem major at all. Honestly, it was a slight tear and we did due diligence on both sides. Me, my doctor, Kap (Texans director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer Geoff Kaplan), the head doctor here and Dr. (Marc) Philippon; we all put our heads together to make the best decision and that was the best decision. We're going through the process."
(on if his hip injury was something that showed up after he had his physical before he signed) "Yeah. We just really had to look into it. Like I told Kap (Texans director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer Geoff Kaplan), once I came here and started to run, it's like, 'Let's look at this again.' We did an MRI, sent it to (Dr. Marc) Philippon and had a better image of it. It revealed two things. The other one was slightly and I thought it was a minor procedure that I had to have done, but being that it was a slight tear in the labrum. It took me back to when I knew it could have had happened but I played in the Super Bowl. It's something that happened. Injuries happen in football all the time. We're doing everything and I'm in the right place to rehab and to get this thing rolling."
(on if he got an MRI when he was here for his visit) "No. After I came back, I got an MRI. We did everything. We did all kinds of stuff when I was here last time."
(on when he thinks the tear occurred in his hip labrum) "If I go back to it, the only play I can look at is when I got kicked by a certain quarterback. But like I said, even then, I played in the Super Bowl and you saw what happened there. Even then, I had two MCL sprains; a second-degree one on my left in the Super Bowl in the first quarter and played through that. So, if you've got any questions, I think that can answer your questions about my heart and how I play and how I work. We're going to go through this, process."
(on if the quarterback he was referring to is Tom Brady) "It was, but it happened. (Tom) Brady called me after and apologized, but that's neither here nor there. What happened, happened and we're moving forward."
(on how this latest hip injury is different from the one he had a couple years ago) "Aw, man, the one a couple years ago, he had to take a piece of my IT band. I had to have reconstructive surgery. I had to have some bone spurs shaved down. This was a minor procedure. I definitely feel a lot different than I felt last time. Like I said, it's minor to the one I had in 2010, so the recovery is going a lot different. Being that I had surgery then, same surgery, I think the body is more receptive to it. I'm doing a lot of things differently than I was then; eating differently. When I stayed out in Vail, I had a chef out there who really helped me out, according to my diet. That helps to recover a lot better. Like I said, I'm a lot stronger. If you ask my trainers, if you ask my doctor, they can't believe where I'm at right now. But it's still a process and regardless, we're going to be smart through it because at the end of the day the smartest thing to do is to be ready when it really counts; that's the latter part of the season, when you're trying to make that run or you're making that run to the playoffs and on to the Super Bowl in New York."
(on if having this injury could be a benefit in the sense that if he's not ready to play until Week 3 or 4, he may be fresher at the end of the season) "We're going to go through the process. I don't know when I'll be back. I know what my goal is and I know what the team goal is. But I know being here and just talking to everybody and even when you see Mr. Bob (McNair) there, it's about being smart and getting the longevity out of it. The season is a grind, man. The season is a grind. Of course, you never want to have surgery. I fought with it, man, because I had to sit in an office by myself and they were like, 'You've got to make a decision.' And I'm in the office by myself, just praying, 'Lord, I don't know what to do.' Because I don't want to have surgery if I don't have to. But the smartest thing to do, the smartest decision at the time was to have surgery."
(on if it was in April that his hip was bothering him enough to have it looked at again) "It was like March, April. Yeah, like right before."
(on how long he waited between thinking he might need surgery and actually deciding to have the surgery) "All it happened in like a day's time. It happened like that. I talked to (Houston Texans general manager and executive vice president of football operations) Rick (Smith) and Rick was like, 'Let's get the doctors on it and see exactly what it is.' The decision and everything happened so quick. It happened within a day's time and I flew out to Vail. I really just flew out to Vail to get evaluated and if I had to have surgery, I was already there. Dr. (Marc) Philippon saw a tear and was like, 'Look, a tear would heal pretty much everything else in the hip.' Him and Dr. Myers had a talk in which; if you do the history, they know each other very well. Like I said, it was the right decision; had every head on it here. We'll be fine. Trust me, we'll be fine."
(on if he had to have any bones shaved down during his surgery) "No. Not at all."
(on if he will tell the media his goal) "I mean, when you set goals, do you tell people your goals? My goals are simple. My goal was to be part of this organization that welcomed me, that wanted me, that respected what I did knowing what I've done on the football field and know what I'm capable of doing. Yeah, I'm older but I'm still gonna give everything I'm going to give to this sport and definitely to this organization for what they've done for me, my family and how they've backed me. I've made promises that I intend to keep.
"I mean, my goal is New York, if you really want to know. And I think everybody knows that because that's the ultimate goal at the end of the day. It's not San Diego. It's not Baltimore. It's not New England. It's not the Colts. It's New York and I'm talking about Super Bowl, if you must know. That's my goal. That's our goal."
(on the talent on the Texans' defense and playing with them) "Oh, man. That was part of the decision to come here. I knew what these guys had. I knew what they've been going through. I knew the grind, I knew the battle that we've had when I was part of the Ravens. Like I said, they welcomed me. The door was open and I just want to be that piece that fits right in to the defense, that keeps that train rolling and start to make some plays."
(on President Barack Obama giving him grief at the White House) "He wasn't giving me grief, man. That's the President. If you're in any situation, any of those surroundings, when you're with a team and the President's talking to you; that's what he's doing. It was more like a conversation, man. He wasn't joking on me or anything. That's the President. I actually was answering him back and forth, so it was good, man. I enjoyed it."
(on President Barack Obama saying he looked like an old man) "I mean, he's not lying. I've been having the gray hairs since high school. My foundation, working with kids and stuff, it tends to do that. When you're trying to help people, it tends to put a little bit more stress on you than the norm. It's something I embrace, Obviously, I don't cut my hair. I'm not putting the Just For Men in there to try to hide the gray and what not. It's something I embrace as part of me. It says a lot. I have a lot of wisdom and I've experienced a lot."
(on what he was saying back to President Barack Obama at the White House) "I just told him, 'You know what your job can do to you.' And he was like, 'I understand exactly what you're saying.' It was a great time and I really enjoyed it."
(on where he is at in his rehabilitation) "Week 7 tomorrow."
(on what sorts of things he is doing in his rehabilitation) "Rehabbing and working out now."
