Head Coach Gary Kubiak
T Duane Brown
DE J.J. Watt
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on the status of G Wade Smith) "We made a decision last night to have Wade's knee scoped today, so we took an aggressive approach to clean it up. He's already done. Everything went good, so now we start the process of coming back. It's going to be a day-to-day deal right now, but he's got some work to do to get back."
(on if there's a timeline when G Wade Smith will be back) "No, I really don't. It's going to probably take a good week to see where we're at, but obviously we thought it was the best approach to take to get him back the quickest."
(on if there's anything new with RB Arian Foster or FS Ed Reed) "No, Arian's working good. (NT Chris) Jones, our young defensive linemen had a little calf strain this morning. Ed Reed, what we're doing, is Ed, we've got him working with a certain guy who's been working with his rehab that's done it before. He's going to spend a couple of days with him. We're going to do it this week and we're going to do it early next week, so that we're proceeding in the right direction in phases of his rehab."
(on if the person working with FS Ed Reed's rehab is someone outside of the Texans) "Yeah, it's somebody that he's worked with before that's worked through his rehab process, but obviously we're working with the guy too. It's been all part of the same process."
(on if FS Ed Reed has to go out of town to work on his rehab) "Yeah, yeah."
(on if FS Ed Reed's rehab work is not any sort of setback) "No, absolutely not. It's just something that we've made our progress here for a couple of weeks. Kap's (Head Athletic Trainer Geoff Kaplan) been in contact with this guy. He's worked with us before, so we wanted him to go see him for a couple of days and basically make sure we're doing the right things. We're going to do that for a couple of days each week."
(on how QBs T.J. Yates and Case Keenum have played while Matt Schaub is absent) "They're both doing some good things and both doing some bonehead things, but what an opportunity for two kids. It's very competitive. We get to go back right now and look at about 50 reps this morning and see how they played. The whole team's watching too, so it's an interesting situation that I think is making everyone better and obviously there are a lot of things that they've got to improve upon, but we knew that before we even came out here."
(on NT Terrell McClain and how he's playing) "He's been pretty darn good. He's had opportunities in this league and this is a big opportunity for him. Took huge advantage of it the other night and it continues on the practice field. Hopefully, we keep moving in that direction. We're looking for somebody to go in there with (NT) Earl (Mitchell) and rotate, and boy he's doing his part right now."
(on how much different the defense looked with ILB Brian Cushing back at practice today) "Yeah, it's good to have him back to work. Pretty full-go with what we're doing except for quarterback this morning. Any time Cush is on the field, the intensity picks up. We've got to start to get him ready to go, so back to work."
(on if fans should be concerned about RB Arian Foster not practicing yet) "Any time guys aren't on the field, you're concerned when they get back, but as far as are we concerned about him at this point about his process? No, we know what we're going through. We know where we're at, so we've got time. Do I want him out here? Do we all want him out here? Yes, we do. He needs to work to get ready for the season and I think we're awful close to doing that."
(on if RB Arian Foster's back is the issue) "Yeah, his back's bothering him a little bit. I think his calf is doing just fine. Some tightness in his back and we're just trying to find the right moment to when we get started in the process. The question is always when do you put him off PUP."
(on with QB Matt Schaub being out of practice and how much that helps to be able to look at QBs T.J. Yates and Case Keenum) "It's huge because they're put in a tough spot when you come out here and have to run the team for a couple of days. That's a tough spot to get put in and everybody sees how you react to it and how the team reacts to it. It's kind of like having extra preseason games for me because of what's taking place. It's awesome for them and I think it's going to be good for us as coaches as we try to make this evaluation."
(on if he's figured out the order of when the quarterbacks will play on Saturday) "Yeah, I don't know. We'll probably talk about that on Thursday. Like I said, my thought process right now is for Case to go second, so that I can get this thing evened out in the long haul. That's part of the deal, but whatever happens, they're going to end up playing right now."
(on WR DeAndre Hopkins limping a little after making a diving catch in practice) "No, he just banged his knee when he hit the ground, so I took him out of the two-minute drill. He's fine. Made some great plays this morning, but we made some big plays down the field offensively and made some great plays defensively at the end of practice."
(on CB A.J. Bouye having an interception in practice) "Yeah, we're out there in the two-minute drill, so somebody's got to end the game one way or another. Bouye steps up and K-Jack (CB Kareem Jackson) steps up. That's good for us, good for the Texans."
(on how it makes him feel to see both sides of the team making plays) "Good, got to be able to make plays in all three phases of the game. I think today's one of our better practices. Very competitive and a lot of good things going on. I love our conditioning. We're really holding up through some heat and practicing very well."
T Duane Brown
(on what he's seen from G/T David Quessenberry) "Very talented. I really like D.Q. a lot. Very hungry to be better. Very passionate and intense in his approach to the game. Very versatile as you've seen. He's played guard, tackle. Whatever they ask of him, he lines up and does it. Someone I think who is going to be a pretty good pro."
(on if G/T David Quessenberry has picked his brain at all) "Yeah, we've talked a lot. We've had a few conversations about my experiences and just techniques, film and things like that. I'm always willing to help him. Like I said, he's very hungry and really, really wants to learn. That's all you can ask for for a young player."
(on how much time he spends in the offseason studying himself and his technique) "I've got cut ups of all of my plays from last year and I'm always looking to get better, whether it's the urn game, pass game. Always trying to find out how I can improve. It's something that every day I come out here that's something I work on."
(on going up against DE J.J. Watt in practice and how that prepares him for games) "It's awesome to prepare for him because you know that he has everything, quickness, speed, power. You have to be prepared for that. Going against a guy like that is very beneficial for myself and the rest of the line. Sunday's, there not very many people that you're going to line up against that are going to be as talented and it slows the game down for you."
(on the addition of T Nate Menkin who has been here before) "Nate is someone who came in for us last year and worked very hard. I was very happy to see him go play in Philadelphia and now to have him back would be great. He's someone who can come in and help us immediately. He knows the offense. He's got some experience playing now. Looking forward to it."
(on if there are any concerns health-wise on the offensive line) "No, we're all feeling pretty good. We're very fortunate, so just looking to keep that going."
DE J.J. Watt
(on his ability to do the jugs machine with receivers) "It's just about being an athlete. I have fun, catching balls is fun, just doing whatever you can to be an athlete, working on hand-eye coordination, and the little things. It never hurts to be able to catch a football."
(on lobbying with head coach Gary Kubiak to be in an offensive set) "I've been lobbying since day one. It hasn't worked yet, so I don't think it's going to work anytime soon but it's his team."
(on what those conversations are like) "We always joke about. It's never anything really serious. Who knows? Maybe one day."
(on the possibility of lining up at tight end) "Whatever I can do to help the team win, I will do."
(on playing in the second preseason game on Saturday) "I sure hope so. Yeah I think I'm playing Saturday. I feel great and I think it was more just about a little bit of rest in the last game. I feel great. I want to get out there. I want to play and I believe I'm going to play."
(on his approach to preseason games) "I approach it pretty much the same. A game is a game to me doesn't matter if it's preseason, postseason, or regular season. There's no way, I don't even think it's possible, to dial down or do something different. There's only one way I know and that's game mode and that's beast mode, so you got to go out there and play your best."
(on practice getting testy) "Always, it's always good. You love it when there's a little aggression and when there's a little tension. That means guys are hungry. That means guys are aggressive, they are fighting and ready to roll. It makes it a little interesting, you know? It's always a little bit fun and as a defensive guy, we're always a little extra aggressive anyways so it's fun to see that."
(on NT Terrell McClain getting 2.5 sacks vs. Minnesota) "Yeah he played great. I mean if you're trying to make the football team, that's one heck of a way to do it. He played very good football. Obviously, I hope he keeps doing that moving forward, but I would say that's definitely a great start to it."
(on NT Earl Mitchell having a good game) "I don't know if you can play much better in seven or eight plays than Earl did there. That's just a glimpse. Everybody's wondering how Earl's going to fit in as a starter; Earl has been playing for a while. He has gotten a lot of snaps and it was no shock to us. Earl's a good football player and it was nice for everybody else to get to see what we know."
(on NT Earl Mitchell not having a sack celebration) "I know. In the past, he has had this thing 'the thunder stomp' where he stomps like three times. We're trying to get him to do it again. I don't know. I don't celebrate in the preseason, so I understand he didn't celebrate in the preseason but yeah we've got to get the thunder stomp coming back. That's our goal for Earl."
(on going against LT Duane Brown and the rest of the offensive line in practice) "It's great preparation. Going against our offense, they are a great offense so when we get to game day, we're obviously seeing something different, but you've been prepared. You've gone through a whole week; you've gone through a whole training camp of grinding your head against some of the best. Obviously, Duane is one of the best in the league so it's nice to be able to go up against a guy like that. You don't want to go up against somebody you're going to beat every play. You want to go up against somebody who's going to challenge you, who's going to give you a little bit of competition, and I think that's why it's good for us."
(on missing QB Matt Schaub at practice) "Of course, I mean you always want your number one quarterback. He's taking care of some business, so no issues there. (QB) T.J. (Yates) and (QB) Case (Keenum) are very good quarterbacks, so just practice the way we can."
(on getting towards the end of camp) "I think it's been great. The goal of camp is to get better every day, to improve upon the skills you've already had, and to acquire new skills. I think we've done all those things. I think our young guys have come along really well. I think they've really taken to the playbook and they've taken to our program and what we're trying to do. I think the older guys, we've done a great job of getting better and improving upon the skills we've had. Nobody's complacent. Nobody comes out here every day and just goes through the motions. Everybody is focused on something and I think that's why we're getting better."
(on ILB Brian Cushing) "Cush is a great player. He's fun to play with; he's great to be behind me. Obviously it's fun to play with him behind me because I know he's going to fly around. It's good to have him back, I'll say that. It's definitely good to have him back."
(on ILB Brian Cushing's intensity) "Yeah, I do enjoy it. I enjoy having him out there. I don't want a guy on the field who's not intense. It's always fun to see him and see how he fly's around."
(on if he remembers a point in his career when he thought he did something well, and then had the coaches point out all of the wrong things that he did) "I don't remember one specific game behind me, but every single game, you do stuff wrong. You want people pointing out the stuff you do wrong. You get to the point where you point it out yourself and you are your harshest critic because if it takes somebody else to point it out or it takes somebody else to motivate, you're probably not going to be very good. You need to want perfection from yourself and you don't want somebody to baby you. You don't want somebody to sugar-coat it for you. You want to be the best you can possibly be and that takes figuring out what you're doing wrong and correcting it."
(on if there was ever a point where he felt like he had done something good, but was taken aback by a coach) "I don't think there's ever been a game in my career where I left the game and I felt I played awesome. And there's never been a game where I just left and I was like 'that was really, really good'. There's always a few plays here, a few plays there where I'm like, 'Man, I've got to get that fixed. I need to get that corrected.' And whether it's the perfectionist in you, whether it's a pessimist in you, I don't know what it is but I think that's what keeps you hungry. That's what keeps you getting better. That's what keeps you from being complacent. If you walk of the field and you're like 'I played really good today' then you're probably not going to get much better, you've probably hit the peak of your career, so every single I'm finding something new that I need to fix."
(on how long it takes him to get back into tackling after time off) "It doesn't take every long, I mean, especially for me. You've been tackling your whole life and you get out there and once you get in live action, obviously there's a little bit of rust to knock off, but as soon as you get that first tackle, you get that taste back in your mouth. It comes back pretty quick."
(on if tackling requires a thought process) "Yeah, when you're out there, that's your job. That's what they pay us to do. You go out there, make tackles, make plays, so there's no thought process to it really."
(on if college for him was different with tackling in practice than the NFL) "We tackled in college sometimes, but not terribly often, so. I was somewhat used to it. It's just something that I don't think is a big issue."
(on seeing S DJ Swearinger's pick in practice) "I didn't see it, but I obviously I saw the result and that's what we want. It was a two-minute drill so we needed to get off the field, so that's exactly the type of plays we need. Then (CB) Kareem (Jackson) came back in the next period and they won, so that's exactly the type of plays we need from our defense. That's what's fun. You never know where it's going to come from. You never know where the play's coming from."
(on what size glove he wears) "I wear a 4XL glove."
Afternoon practice
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on if G Ben Jones will play for G Wade Smith while he is out) "Yeah, Ben will go for Wade. (G/T David) Quessenberry is playing over there too. They're both going to get a ton of work. It's going to take some time. Don't quite know how much time right now. Probably have a better feel probably toward the end of the week exactly what we're dealing with. Feel good that we did the right thing and got aggressive with it, and get him ready to go."
(on how he feels about starting the young guards Ben Jones and Brandon Brooks) "Well, they're young, but the good thing is both those guys played of big-game football last year. We line up in New England in playoff games, these two guys are playing. We know they're second-year players. They've been through it a little bit and they're getting a ton of reps through the offseason and training camp. Their progress is key to our football team like many positions and they've got a good head start."
(on what he thinks about DE J.J. Watt working on the Jugs machine) "Yeah, he wants on the goal line package. We'll put that on hold for a while."
(on DE J.J. Watt mentioning that he's been lobbying to play on offense in the goal line package for a while) "We might let him in there at some point, but it's not going to be any time soon."
(on what would be the reason he would allow DE J.J. Watt to play on offense in the goal line package) "No, we've talked about it actually. We talked about a Wisconsin package with him and (TE) Garrett (Graham) and OD (TE Owen Daniels) in the game on the goal line. I don't know what part of the Wisconsin package he would play, but we'll see."
(on if the Pro Bowl was not a good audition for him to play on offense) "No, I didn't like that personally. When I saw he was going to line up out there, that scared me a little bit. We'll let him keep getting after the quarterback and maybe we'll find him a play or two of offense down the road."
(on DE J.J. Watt flashing good hands) "He probably can do anything he wants to do."
(on if he's decided whether ILB Brian Cushing will play on Saturday) "That's part of the process, see how he's doing. He did well in pads today. Not sure if we'll be in pads tomorrow or not. All signs are pointing towards him being able to get some reps, but we'll see. We'll make a decision at the end of the week."
(on DE J.J. Watt saying that he expects to play this week) "Oh, yeah. Everybody will go this week. We'll get good reps. We've got two grass games coming up at home against these two opponents. Our one's, those guys need to play a bunch of football the next two weeks."
(on if T Nate Menkin will be practicing tomorrow) "Yeah, he's taking a physical right now. He'll be in meetings tonight and on the field tomorrow."
(on if he's looking at G/T David Quessenberry to build on how he played last Friday) "Yeah, he handles himself like a guy who's been around for a little bit. Heck of a draft choice for us, he's in a big competition right now working with (G) Ben (Jones), with the (G) Wade (Smith) situation going on. We'll see how far he can come. We probably ask more of him as a young player than anybody playing him all over the place and he's responded."
(on T Duane Brown saying G/T David Quessenberry is so eager to learn) "Yeah, you can tell. He's fit in the (offensive linemen meeting) room. Those offensive linemen are kind of different guys. He fit right in the room and he just likes to play ball, very smart. That's a big plus."
(on if NT Chris Jones has a calf strain) "Chris Jones has a calf strain. Don't know how severe it is. He's getting checked right now."
(on if there's any other health stuff) "No, we're good other than that."
(on OLB Trevardo Williams' status) "Oh yeah, Trevardo wasn't out there this morning. He had a cyst on the bottom of his foot drained, so we're giving him a day off. Should be back tomorrow hopefully."
