The Texans executed almost according to plan on offense against the Colts, but defensive breakdowns in the second half cost them the game. Coach Gary Kubiak explained why those breakdowns occured in his Monday press conference.
Schaub to begin throwing: Quarterback Matt Schaub could begin throwing this week for the first time since he injured his knee on Nov. 2 at Minnesota.
"It doesn't mean he's going to be out there moving around," Kubiak said. "I think they'll bring him out there at some point this week and let him throw the ball around, set his feet. But I guess I'm beginning to think and feel more confident that he will play this year."
{QUOTE}The week after Schaub hurt his MCL, Kubiak worried that his quarterback would be out for the rest of the season. The Texans will have a better idea about his return timeframe after this week, but Kubiak expects Schaub to play before the end of the season.
"He's made a lot of progress this past week," Kubiak said. "You're talking about six weeks right now, so I'm sure hoping that a couple of weeks from now, we're very close to getting him back on the football field."
Emphasizing the run: The Texans ran for 177 yards against the Colts and threw the ball only 18 times. It's exactly how they wanted to play an Indy defense that ranked 24th against the run in the NFL.
"That was the formula for yesterday," Kubiak said. "Obviously, it wasn't enough. But would I like to see our football team run the ball as much as we did yesterday? Yes, I would."
The key ingredient to Kubiak's formula was rookie Steve Slaton, who ran for 156 yards and a touchdown at Indy.
"There's still a lot of football to play this year, but he's putting up some very good numbers," Kubiak said. "When you average 11 yards a carry in this league, I don't care where you play or where it happens, that's a special day. It's sad because he had a special day as a player. It's a shame we couldn't hand him a (game) ball and win a football game."
Kubiak beaks down defensive breakdowns: The Texans' defense didn't get the job done on Sunday, plain and simple. They let the Colts put up 474 yards of total offense, with 302 yards coming in the second half.
"I just think we've found ways to break down, whether it's breaking down assignment-wise (or) breaking down not tackling well yesterday in the second half," Kubiak said. "Obviously, as coaches, we can always do a better job.
"But when you're not doing something effectively in this game, there's enough blame to go around, and we start with ourselves as coaches, trying to figure out a way to do a better job for them and players doing a better job of doing their jobs better."
Kubiak said missed tackles factored heavily into the Texans' struggles with their run defense.
"We knew that we were trying to force them to run the ball, and in the first half, we did an excellent job of tackling," Kubiak said. "When they were running the ball, those plays were two-, three-yard gains. We're playing the same type of defense in the second half, the same type of things and all of the sudden you miss a few tackles here or there and those become eight-, nine-yard plays."
Cornerback Dunta Robinson blamed the defensive miscues in the secondary on blown assignments.
"It was sloppy by the defense," Robinson said. "We didn't play well, especially in the second half. A lot of mistakes, a lot of blown assignments—so, things that we shouldn't be doing, things that we do over and over in practice and it's still going on."
Kubiak had a different opinion, saying that technique issues caused the defense to give up plays.
"I would disagree with him (Robinson) there," Kubiak said. "I think there's some technique issues - there's a difference in not knowing what you're doing and knowing what you're doing and not performing the technique. Whether it's a coverage technique or a stunt technique, we did have some technique issues in the game that we did right during the week (but) did not do right during the game."
Rookies to get more involved on "D": Rookie linebacker Xavier Adibi started for Morlon Greenwood (fibula) and led the team in tackles with 14. Adibi isn't the only rookie who could be making big contributions this year. Kubiak would like cornerback Antwaun Molden to get more playing time.
"We've got to take a look at Molden and continue to take a look at what we're doing and try to get better each week, try to give our guys a way to be successful," Kubiak said.
Injury notes: The biggest health concern for the Texans coming out of the game will be guard Chester Pitts, who injured his calf and will be listed as day-to-day.
