Texans coach Gary Kubiak addressed the media on Saturday following the team's final practice in preparation for the New York Jets on Monday Night Football.
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(opening statement) "Practice-wise, (RB Ben) Tate did practice. (RG Antoine) Caldwell did practice. I would rule out (WR) Lestar Jean and (FS Quintin) Demps as of today, but Caldwell is definitely ready to go. I'll go back and look at Tate. I expect him to go but I am very comfortable with (RB) Justin (Forsett) and the practices he's had if he's our two in the game. He will do a good job for us. We'll see."
(on how practice went today) "Good. Very good. They're probably as hard of a team to prepare for as there is in football, for all the things that they do. Our focus yesterday and today was excellent. I had to put them through a lot of things. They've been really good and we've got a lot of time between now and Monday, so we're going to have to stay in our book and continue to get better with our preparation and those types of things, but it was good."
(on if it's a challenge preparing for a night game over a day game) "I don't know. The routine changes a little bit. I think it's a challenge for 16 weeks in this league. You play a lot of football. Four preseason, 16 regular season games, that's a lot of ball and you have a lot of young players that get to Week 10 and they've already played a college season and they're halfway. I think that's always a challenge in pro football and that's why you're always looking for professional type guys. Guys that handle their business those are kind of the same all the time, not real up or down. We've got a good group from that standpoint. They just tend to go about their work and get ready to go each week. That's what you've got to have."
(on how things change preparing for a Monday game) "It hasn't changed at all, other than moving the days. The difference, like today, we'll meet today. We normally don't meet on Friday afternoons when we get through with a practice, but we'll meet today because we have to fly early in the morning to go east. Then we'll use Monday morning to do some things we wouldn't normally do on a Saturday morning before a Sunday game. We do the same stuff, we just kind of move it back a little bit."
(on if WR Trindon Holliday has the green light to take any kickoff out of the end zone to return) "No, he doesn't have a bright green light. He's got a rule, where he's supposed to line up. I'm not going to divulge that, but he's got a rule. If he steps backwards, he's supposed to stay in there. If he steps forward, he can come out. I would say he's probably broken the rule a few times, but he's back there for a reason. We want him touching it and returning it, but unfortunately nowadays with the new kickoff spot, most of the times you touch it you're six, seven, eight yards deep. It's a fine line there."
(on the Jets having the second-worst run defense in the league) "I don't look at that at all. I understand what took place last week and where a lot of the yardage came from. We're not built that way. (QB) Matt Schaub is not going to go out there and run the Wildcat this week. We just have to go do what we do. I know what they stand for defensively, and have for years. We know we're going to get their best shot, so we're just trying to stay focused on what we do."
(on the Jets having their ones go against each other full-speed in practice) "We do it all the time. That's just part of our routine. We always go at each other. Every Thursday we put our pads on and bang. That's part of what we do to be a physical football team. We're always going against each other."
