The Texans practiced Monday night at the Methodist Training Center and after, head coach Gary Kubiak answered questions from the media. The following is a transcript of his interview.
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on having a quick turnaround this week) "I tell you what, I think it's kind of good. We need to get back on the field and play a lot better than we did last week. It's a tough turnaround physically, but mentally, it's probably the best thing we can do is go play another game here real quick."
(on if the Colts' core players are still playing at a high level) "Yeah, I'm going to tell you what, that's impressive after what they've been through as a team to see those guys in the lineup week in and week out playing as hard as they've played, and they've always been that way as players. You can't help but even gain more respect for them as you watch the film and what they've been doing. They've been through a tough time without their leader, but those guys have been there all year long and they've always been there for that organization."
(on any team being able to win on a given day) "Yeah, they're playing really well. They've played good the last month. They've been in some tough football games that they haven't won and they found a way to win this weekend. They've been playing very well. They always play well there, so it's very difficult. Our organization has never won there, so that's a big challenge for us. We know they'll play well. We're trying to get the taste out of our mouth. We're just trying to improve our brand of football, which wasn't very good the other day."
(on how happy he is to see Colts QB Dan Orlovsky get another opportunity) "Well, you're happy for any guy that you cross paths with that you have to let go for whatever reason. Dan's a good guy. He works really hard at the game. [I was] watching film this afternoon before we came over here and he played well in the game and wish him well. He's done a good job."
(on who the biggest concerns are injury-wise this week) "Well, there's really no big concerns yet because we're not doing much in practice. Anybody who's nicked up is going to be a game-time decision. We're not going to do much. We're going to mainly work mentally here the next couple days and get ready to go play. We've got our share of nicks, but with what we did today, everybody cooperated."
(on how WR Andre Johnson looks) "He's doing fine. He worked with (Director of Sports Medicine/Head Athletic Trainer Geoff Kaplan) Kap today. We didn't do any field work, so tomorrow we will be on the field. He will work on the field. Whether or not he works with the team, I don't know."
(on if the team lost any edge after clinching the division two weeks ago) "Something happened, because we didn't have our concentration and weren't as sharp as we had been throughout the course of that run and the way we were playing, even though we did show some signs of exactly what we did in Cincinnati. I don't know. We've just got to get our energy back, keep going and got to figure out how well we can be playing here in a couple weeks and we know last week wasn't good enough. We're focused. We had a good meeting on our problems today and the way we played the other day, we let them go and move on."
(on what he saw from QB T.J. Yates' performance against the Panthers) "Well, I continue to see good things, so that's very encouraging, but there were too many mistakes in the game the other day. He knows that, but what you're seeing is a guy who can make all the plays an NFL quarterback needs to make. Now, the consistency of making them and doing it on a week in, week out basis, that's the key. But he's very open for criticism, if you want to use that word, and getting better, and he handles things very well. I expect him to bounce back."
(on if FS Quintin Demps will remain the kickoff returner) "Yeah, he did a really good job. We emphasized that last week. We hadn't been doing that very well. We did it much better, so yeah, he did a good job."
(on if the Colts will be less hungry to win after getting their first win) "No, I think they're feeling very good after what happened last week and they should be because they beat a good football team and they played very well to do it. You know, the Thursday night game gets a lot of attention. We'll know they'll play well. Like I said, our history in that building hasn't been very good, so we're going to have to go change that and play much better."
