Following are post-game quotes from the Texans after the team's 40-7 loss Sunday to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
*Head coach Gary Kubiak *
(on his feelings about loss) "I am extremely disappointed. We were out-coached, out-played. We got our (tails) kicked in every phase of the game. There are no excuses. That's on me. We definitely weren't ready to do our jobs."
(on blaming the loss on QB David Carr) "Don't put it all on him. I can promise you we made a ton of mistakes, too. I know he's got some throws he'd like to have back. You can't turn the ball over against any team, much less a good football team like this. We all had plenty of mistakes, not just one person."
(on the Texans' defense) "I thought they played their hearts out. We put them in a horrible position in the first half. I thought they were doing everything they could to keep it from getting away. They didn't give up a lot of yards, I don't think. I don't have (the stat sheet) in front of me. But I thought they played their hearts out and showed a lot of pride. I'd like to see us get off the field on the last drive, but I thought they fought through it."
(on if he thought of benching Carr during the game) "No."
(on why he didn't bench Carr during the game) "David's our guy. We're going to play with David. He needs to play through those things. So to answer your question, no."
(on the Texans showing pride by responding early in the second half) "I am sure it was. It was a pride thing and it was just an execution thing, too, and doing the things you have to do to be successful. The first half was very ugly and we came out in the second half and went down the field. That was positive. But then it went right back to where it started, so we have a long way to go."
(on the fake punt run by safety Jason Simmons) "I give Jason the freedom, if he gets the look he wants. It was about half a yard and he'd done it all year. We called it off a couple times. They had (Larry) Izzo in there. We felt good that we could get a half a yard, but it didn't work out that way. It looked like Izzo made a hell of a play. That's not Jason's fault. He did what we coached him to do, it just didn't work out. We should have gotten the first down the play before. We never should have been in that situation. We tried to be aggressive, tried to do some things to create some momentum. Against a team like that, it backfires and it started going the wrong way."
(on RB Ron Dayne's performance) "Ronnie's been doing some good stuff. He plays hard. He's a load to bring down. He's got a couple runs I think he can run better. I think we should be on the field that first drive, and I told him that. But he has done some good things."
(on Carr throwing four interceptions) "All I can say is against a team like that, you're going to have to play well. You can't help a team like that. We get the ball tipped early, and then we have a few poor throws. We could've had another (giveaway) with the ball knocked out. But (David's) got to play well for us to be successful, and guys have to help him play well. And that's a big part of it. But we made plenty of mistakes. It's not all on him. Believe me, we made some mistakes on that screen when the kid got hit in the mouth and lost 14 yards. That's inexcusable. Those things need to be looked at, too. That wasn't a turnover, but it was probably just as big as one. The next play, we fumble. So we have some busts in what we're doing by veteran, veteran football players that have been in a lot of stadiums in a lot of games. When you do that, personally, to me, it comes back to coaching. I have to figure out why we have guys that have played that many football games make those types of mistakes. I have to figure that out."
(on the decision to fake punt in the first quarter) "There's a look that we send (Jason Simmons) up to the line of scrimmage looking for, and if we feel like they're little in the middle of the field, or soft in the middle of the field, then we give Jason the freedom to go ahead and get under center and try to make the yard. (Larry) Izzo was in there, and we felt like we could knock him off the ball and get a half a yard. We didn't do that. The kid made a great play."
(on if he thought the Patriots would play well based on their loss last week) "I can't worry about them. I'll worry about my team. I thought we would come out and play well and play hard. I'm disappointed because I have to figure out how we could be that sloppy early in a football game on the offensive side of the ball. Some of the mistakes we made, they're just inexcusable. I don't know where to begin when you prepare with the grouping of your first 15 plays, or whatever, and you go out and make some of the mistakes that we made as a group. What to attribute it to, I don't know. But I know I will attribute it to me. I'm the one that has to figure out how to fix it."
(on if he's worried about team not finishing strong)"It isn't going to happen. There's some pride in that locker room. There are some guys that have been busting their tail. I don't see that. I see guys playing hard, but it's just that when you turn the ball over that many times against a good football team, you're going to get your (tail) kicked in this league. That's exactly what happened. I've said it before, I'll say it again. There are good guys in that locker room that are fighting like hell. They're extremely disappointed. They're going to fight. They'll get ready to play."
Quarterback David Carr
(on the loss to New England) "We were already underdogs going into the game, but to just give them points like that, that was our undoing definitely. Then I tried to do too much after that, and things got worse."
(on his interceptions) "On the first one, (Richard) Seymour just made a nice play. On the second one, the secondary moved around late and they did what they do. But they weren't playing anything that they haven't played before. Especially after they got up, we just didn't make enough plays and I tried to do too much."
(on the frustration of losing) "This is hard because it's getting past old for me. To get going on doing this and coming up here and just getting beat the way we got beat today, it's very frustrating, and even more frustrating because I let myself get out of my game plan, which was to manage the football game. The defense was playing great, and we were trying to run the ball a little bit. And then once they got up two or three scores, I just got out of my game plan. I just started trying to make plays that weren't there, and, honestly, that we're not capable of making yet. I was just trying to do too much."
(on not being able to get the ball downfield to Andre Johnson) "It's tough. It's hard. They did a good job taking him away and trying to do what they can do. But we had plays out there. We had opportunities. But they got up on us quick, and especially here it's going to be tough."
(on the offense putting the defense in tough situations) "We didn't help them. The defense played great. None of those points are on them. We put them in some terrible positions. We thought we had a chance. Obviously, you watch what Miami did last week, and they're a beatable team. But yeah, you knew they were going to come back out and play with the kind of intensity that they play with. They haven't won three Super Bowls in the last couple years for nothing. They came back out and gave it to us."
* (on finishing strong)* "You never want to lose, but the last two weeks have been real tough on our team, me, everybody, because just the way we've kind of played them. It's rough. We're just going to have to dig deep and see what we're made of."
(on speculation of his job security affecting him) "Yeah, it makes it tough. But quite honestly, we've been losing for a while, and I am tired of it. If you want to blame me, blame me. It's not the first time. I just want to win, and that's really what it comes down to being a competitor. I'm past the point worrying about what's being said about me. I'd rather just do nothing, just go out there, hand the ball off, make a couple plays, and you just praise every one of my teammates, because they deserve it. And if we're winning football games, if we're winning championships, that would be the best thing going, because honestly, I just want to win football games."
(on protection problems) "We had some things in there, but I tried to force the issue. A couple times, I was kind of getting hit throwing it, but I just tried to do too much. It does take a total team effort, but at the same time I should have just checked the ball down and made the play. But when we're down like that, I'm trying to win the football game. I'm tired of being close. I'm tired of playing good and losing by 20. I was trying to win a game, and we didn't win it. It didn't matter really what the score was. We lost."
(on how much his confidence is rattled) "It's not really my confidence that I'm worried about. I know what I can do. I know the kind of person I am. I know the kind of husband I am, and father. That stuff is all fine. That stuff is all taken care of. The stuff that bothers me is the football stuff. Going out there, I know I can play the game. But just what I've been doing these last couple of weeks and how we've lost these games, it's been frustrating."
Wide receiver Eric Moulds
(on the loss)"We just came out flat and we aren't playing smart football. I know that it is tough to watch. It is even tougher to be out there and going through it. We just aren't playing smart football and we have to get better. We have been trying to put our finger on it the whole season. Now we have two games left. It is frustrating to me as a veteran player because I try to get the young guys up to play, but we continue to go out there and struggle. You have to be professional and that is what I tell the young guys, but I know it's frustrating. We came out in the second half and scored a touchdown. It shows we are capable of doing what we were supposed to be doing, but we have to do that earlier in the game. We haven't been good this year overcoming adversity. That has hurt us a lot this year. Any time you play a good team like New England, you can't come in and turn the ball over. You have to play smarter football and we didn't do that today. That is a very good defense over there and if you give them the opportunity to make plays on you, they will make them. They are one of the most well-prepared teams that you will ever play, and if you make mistakes they will exploit you. You can learn from playing any good team. We didn't play well enough to beat a team like New England.
Cornerback Dexter McCleon
(on New England having good field position)"The last few weeks we have been playing pretty decent out of bad situations, and today we felt we could have done the same thing. We had breakdowns defensively that gave them two touchdowns, but other than that, we felt we could have held them to three points or less. Then they returned the kickoff and took the wind out of us."
(on having a young team) "I think this team has experienced losing so much and not having success in the past that when something negative goes against you, you get into the mind frame of, 'Here we go again. That is it. We are out of it.' That is something that this team has to work towards, getting out of that mentality. The only thing that is going to take care of that is winning. Guys will start to gain confidence and realize that no matter what happens on the negative side, we can pull out of this. We still have a job to do. We have to make plays on defense. It takes a toll on some guys."
**Running back Wali Lundy
(on the offense)** "(The Patriots) capitalized on our mistakes, and we didn't put drives together like we should have. Any time you have turnovers, it is going to be rough. Why hasn't it clicked in? That is what we have to find out. We won't be down for too long. Every week I feel like we get better, but (today) doesn't show it. Any time you turn the ball over, it is going to be tough to win."
**Wide receiver Andre Johnson
(on the loss) **"We had third-and-one and we did not get it. Then we did the fake punt and they stopped us. So the momentum for the other team stopping us on fourth-and-one, and giving them great field position, did not help. If we had converted that third down, we would have had a longer drive. Who knows what would have happened after that. When you look at it, it is just the same thing every week. It is frustrating, and a lot of the guys here are frustrated. I know the coach is frustrated. We just have to try to stay focused and get this thing turned around."
(on the offense) "We came in at halftime and we were down 27-0. We came right out and took the ball right down the field and scored. I was sitting on the sideline and said, 'Why couldn't we do this at the beginning of the game?' I guess we just have to get that mindset, and not wait to be down. We just need to come out and score first and not let the other team get us down. We just need to go out and find a way to make plays and win games."
Guard Steve McKinney
(on the loss) "Our hats off to them. They played extremely well, but we definitely helped them. It was one of those days, the ball was not bouncing our way. To their credit, they were making some of their breaks happen for them and we weren't."
(on ranking this loss)"It's hard to rank them. They all hurt and this one hurts just as bad as any of the others. The way the game started out, it went all downhill quick. We thought we were going to get a little something going after halftime. We went down the field, scored and looked great, then they run the kickoff back for a touchdown. Every time we did something good, they responded and we didn't."
(on rallying around David Carr) "He's (David) handled it like a pro. David's our teammate and we all love him. We really care about him, not just as a player, but as our friend. I've known him since the first day he's been with us, so I'm going to back him until the end. I know the potential he has and everyone around him has to help him. He can't do it all by himself. Unfortunately today, no one ever stepped up to make any spectacular plays. You just can't blame it on one person."
*Defensive end Jason Babin *
(on defense holding Pats to field goals)"It's not really exciting, but it's better than the other option."
(on the disappointment of stopping Pats and then having to go right back in) "We don't really look at it from that point of view. It just gives us another chance to go back out there and make some plays."
Free safety Jason Simmons
(on the fake punt attempt) "We tried to make a play. It's fourth-and-inches, and we have got to try and get it. It is not like one of those, 'Wow. Why did they call that?' or a play out of the ordinary. When it is fourth-and-inches, you try and get it. It was one of those things that I thought we could do it and sometimes you pull the trigger. If I make it, it is a good play, and if I don't, it is a bad play. It is one of those situations that the coach has trust in me to do. If I had to do over again, I would still probably do it again. We should be able to get a couple of inches."
(on the loss)"We are disappointed. I know the one thing that has carried us since we have been here is our special teams, and to give up points on that, it really hurts. Defensively, our guys stayed in there and fought hard. Despite the circumstances, there was no quitting. Guys showed a lot heart out there to me.
"When we break (the huddle) up, we say, 'family,' and that's what we are and we are going to stick together. Not one side of the ball lost the game. We all lost the game as a team."
