AIEA, Hawaii -- After the Pro Bowl on Sunday, Texans left tackle Duane Brown, center Chris Myers and left guard Wade Smith spoke about their experiences in the game at Aloha Stadium and in Hawaii for the week.
T Duane BrownC Chris MyersG Wade Smith
T Duane Brown
(on the experieince of being in Hawaii and if he'd like the game to stay here) "It's a great experience. My first time in Hawaii, being able to come out here and enjoy the sights, enjoy the camaraderie amongst players around the league. It's an awesome place to have that and I wouldn't want to be in any other place."
(on what he would say to hopefully keep the game in the islands) "A lot of people don't get the opportunity to come out here. A lot of these fans out here don't get the opportunity to see us on a yearly basis. A lot of concern was guys not giving enough effort, having enough intensity throughout the game. I think that (the intensity) showed up today. We lost by a pretty big margin but that doesn't show the effort that was put forth. Guys really picked up our play as the game went on. You can't ask for a better place. Hawaii is awesome. I had a great time here. The people here are amazing. They really welcomed us with open arms and are really excited about having it here. I've never seen so many fans excited about seeing NFL players. So I think that should definitely be taken into consideration going forward."
(on some of his offseason plans) "Right now I'm just relaxing, just spending time with my wife, with my family. After that, getting back to work. Working on technique. You can never have enough technique at the left tackle position. Getting bigger, faster, stronger and going and getting that ring. That's the main focus and that's what I'm working toward."
(on his first Pro Bowl experience) "Great experience. It was everything I thought it would be and more. Being in Hawaii and enjoying it on a daily basis, it's a beautiful place. The fans here are awesome. The people on this island are awesome. Being able to bond and create friendships with some of these guys around the league, some of the greatest players around the league, it means a lot to me. Having my teammates out here and sharing the experience with so many of them, it means a lot to me. We lost the game but I had a ton of fun playing. The intensity was there. The effort was there on both sides. Just a total awesome experience, in whole."
(on playing right tackle in the game) "I was like a fish out of water. I'm going to be honest, those first few plays were rough. I kind of settled in there and got my feet under me and was ready to go. But I didn't like it, man. I'm a left tackle and that's where I feel comfortable."
(on Cleveland Browns T Joe Thomas giving up a sack to Julius Peppers while Brown was in at LT) "It went around the board. Every guy on our team is a left tackle, so when they were trying to go to right tackle, we were really dreading it. It's not like you're playing right tackle against someone that's not that good. You're playing against some of the best players in the league. So that didn't make it any easier."
(on if he would advocate having a starter at right tackle let into the Pro Bowl) "Absolutely. I have a ton of respect for those guys. Their job is just as hard as ours. You have to keep the wuarterback clean. You have to create running lanes for the backs, whether you're a front side or blindside tackle, you still have the same job. So I definitely think they should have right tackles in the Pro Bowl."
(on J.J. Watt getting thrown a pass) "He was so excited, man. All week they practiced it and I was excited for him. I was upset. One was batted down, the other was picked off. Tough luck."
(on what it was like in the huddle when Jeff Saturday snapped the ball to Peyton Manning) "That was awesome, man. I take my hat off to that guy. He's been a great player for a long time in this league. When he came out there, I thought he was joking. I was like, 'Okay. Wait for our center to come in.' He stayed in and wanted to give it one more go. I thought it was great they did it for those two guys."
C Chris Myers
(on the experience) "It's unreal. Any time you get a chance to be able to come to one of these things which you're voted by all your fans and the players and the coaches. It's a very humbling experience."
(on mixing it up with the NFC guys) "It's good; obviously the scoreboard is a little lopsided right now, but it's one of those fun situations where you get to come out. We had the Bronco's staff run a few new plays and get to play with a lot of other guys. Fortunate enough, I got to play with a lot of Texans at the same time, so that's a lot of fun."
(on the plays like Jeff Saturday snapping to Peyton Manning making the game special) "That's different; you won't see that anywhere else aside from here. Being able to have both coaches be classy enough to be able to do that for Jeff and for Peyton, it's pretty cool. He had a hell of a career and I just told him that afterwards, and it's been a pleasure being able to play against him."
G Wade Smith
(on the Pro Bowl experience) "It was an awesome experience up until the point we got blown out. But everything besides that went good. We got to meet a lot of guys, I had a great experience with my family being out here in Hawaii. So it was a great experience."
(on the strange plays and situations in the Pro Bowl) "Me and Duane, even though we started, we never played beside each other in the whole game, which is completely awkward. We tried to keep it as normal as possible. On the bench when we sat down, we'd sit by each other so we kept that similar. But we both played left, right, a lot of alternating things like that, but that's the Pro Bowl and that's how it goes."
(on what it was like for him when Jeff Saturday came in) "I thought it was a great idea when I heard that they were gonna do that. Those two probably played 15 years together and won a Super Bowl so just for them to get an opportunity to do a snap together one last time, I thought that was cool."
(on what it was like to have J.J. Watt in the huddle) "It was weird, man. But we had so many Texans in the huddle it felt kind of normal. Yeah, J.J. got a couple passes thrown to him, one guy intercepted, but maybe next year."
(on what it means to make the Pro Bowl after 10 seasons in the NFL) "It's a great feeling, humbling feeling. Not everybody gets to this level to where you're a Pro Bowl player, so for me to grind it out for 10 years to get to this point is a great feeling."
(on what he's going to need to do to get back to the Pro Bowl) "More of the same. We have to continue and improve on offense and basically do what we do. Kind of the way the Pro Bowl works is once you get there the other ones come. A guy like Duane Brown, a pride in his career was to be here, get voted here multiple times. Me, I probably have three, four more years left and hopefully I'll make it here a couple more times just off of being voted. But the way it's set up now, nobody wants to play in this game. We felt like we left something out there for the season, and we'll try not to play this game anymore."
(on the intensity of the game) "It was hit or miss off the line, some guys kind of had an understanding, some guys were going really hard, you really didn't know with certain guys on the defense. I don't know from watching it at home, but I know that from guys that were here before, they said the intensity was definitely higher this year. That's what the NFL asked for and that's what they got."
