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Head Coach Gary Kubiak**
TE Garrett Graham
WR Andre Johnson
WR Keshawn Martin
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(opening statement) "(Tim) Dobbins didn't practice. Andre (Johnson) did practice and Keshawn (Martin) did practice. I think Andre and Keshawn are probably game-time decisions, but they both did practice."
(on WR Andre Johnson saying he's going to play) "Did he? I like that. It must be game time."
(on what it is about WR Andre Johnson that he always does whatever it takes to play) "Yeah, he's been that way ever since I've been with him. What's Andre now? 10 years or something like that. He's been playing a long time. You know if he can get there, he's going to get there for you, as a coach and as a teammate. I know his leg has not felt good. He's played really nicked up for us the last two weeks and probably not going to feel real good on Sunday. He always gives it up for his teammates."
(on WR Andre Johnson saying that he was dragging his leg when he looked at the film form last week) "Yeah, that concerns me and I think that's our responsibility. If you feel like any player can't protect themselves regardless of how bad they want to play for their team or something, I think you, as a coach, have got to step in. But he's worked through this and found a way to work through it. If today's an indicator, he should be able to do it again. We'll see, but we owe Andre, from a respect standpoint as a coach, you have to, if he's not able to do the things he's capable of doing, we can't put him in a bad situation and we won't do that."
(on TE Owen Daniels being out and who will occupy the emergency QB spot on Sunday) "Shane Lechler or I might go in. How about that?"
(on if he's done anything to help with QB Matt Schaub's confidence) "Are you asking if you go do a certain set of plays to get him going? I think you always look at things and say, 'How can I jumpstart him? How can I do this? How can I do that?' Still, it just gets down to playing the game and decision-making for a day. It's not about the first 10 plays of the game; it's about the three-and-a-half hours being consistent. He knows that. He's had a good week. He's practiced good and we need to go to play a good team football game. We have not been doing that. That's our focus, but we've had good work this week and good focus in what we're doing. I know they're ready to go play."
(on if the offense has been too predictable) "I look at everything every week. Well, any time you're not successful, there's all kind of questions asked about what you're doing and stuff. We've been four games out of five, that are certain type of football games, which gets us out of the element of what we want to be in. But I believe in what we're doing. We've got a lot of young guys playing. We've got a first-year receiver who's in his sixth game as a pro. I think our other receivers other than Andre (Johnson) have 54 catches in the National Football League history. So we've got a young group. As coaches too, you've got to be smart with that you're doing with your guys and give them a fair chance. We're always looking at what we do and doing everything we possibly can do to put our players in a position to be successful."
(on if any of the interceptions were because of the young receivers making mistakes) "No, I wasn't saying that because of that. I'm talking about as far as how much you do, what you do scheme-wise, being fair to guys, not overloading them, letting them play. That's what I'm talking about."
(on TE Ryan Griffin adjusting to more playing time) "Well, I think Ryan (Griffin) has kept up pretty good. He's worked in that role throughout camp. It is different when you're working and you're the third. There's been a difference this week. He's fixing to play. The load gets a little bigger, everything gets a little tougher and it's our job as coaches to make sure we don't put him in a bad position. A lot of young guys having to contribute with what's going on. It's our job to at least get them in position when they know what the hell they're doing so they can go compete and go fast."
(on if QB Matt Schaub is sliding more when the pocket collapses) "Well, I think he's had to slide some because of some things going on. I can sit here and we could go through every interception, they're all different. They're three-step drops, five-step drops, first reads, second reads. I can't sit here and say that there's some specific pattern. If there was, I would say we're sure as hell not going to do this anymore. It's just a matter of focusing and keep going. We need some good things to happen for him too. I watch a lot of football. I was watching a game the other day on film in preparation for this and the exact same thing happened to a quarterback on a stick route getting the trap corner coming inside. The same thing that happened to Matt in San Francisco, but the corner dropped the ball. So sometimes a break might sure as hell help too. He'll get some breaks if he keeps working the way he's working. He'll get some breaks."
(on if the team's attitude has been upbeat) "Yeah, they've been upbeat. They've been a little angry too, which we need to be. We probably had as competitive of a practice as we've had yesterday. Went it at it in pads and got after each other. We need that. We need that competitive fire. We can't wait until Sunday to find it. We've got to find it during the week. Like I just said, we've got a lot of young guys that need to contribute to this team and there's no time to wait on them. A lot of them are getting forced into action quickly. They need to grow up very quickly."
TE Garrett Graham
(on how he feels about this game having started eight games in his career) "I feel good. I feel very confident in what I'm able to do. It's kind of just like a normal week this week. Obviously, playing a little bit more and I'm looking forward to Sunday."
(on how much more playing time he'll get this week) "I would say probably 15 to 20 more plays, maybe. We've obviously run a lot of two and three tight end sets, so I've been able to be in there a lot. But obviously, with Owen (Daniels) out, it's a shame, but I'll probably be in there another 20 plays or so."
(on what he's going to show people since he's the starter) "I'm going to play hard every play, give 100 percent effort. I'm going to try to win versus man and make as many plays as I can. I'm going to try and get open for Matt (Schaub) and I'm looking forward to getting out there."
(on if he already has a lot of chemistry with QB Matt Schaub given that he plays a lot) "Yeah, definitely. We were out there today running a bunch of plays and making plays. It's chemistry that's been built over time. I feel like me and Matt have it, along with a lot of other guys on this team. I'm looking forward to making a bunch of plays."
(on if he feels like this week is a lot different than other weeks) "Not really. Obviously, I'm getting a lot more plays because Owen (Daniels) is out. I'm running a few more different routes that I haven't ran before. Not all that much different."
(on if it's been a difficult adjustment knowing he has a new set of routes) "Not really, it's stuff I did during camp. Everybody would kind of play both positions and get used to running everything. It's just something that I kind of have to get used to and being out there every play. It'll be fun."
(on what he's told TE Ryan Griffin now that he's going to take his role as a backup) "He's handling it very well. Ryan runs good routes. He can hold up on the line of scrimmage and just told him to do what he does. He'll be prepared."
(on being in the last year of his contract and if this is chance to show that he can be a starter in this league) "I think so. I think anybody coming in the NFL and making a team wants to show that they can be a starter. So that's something that I certainly want to do and show my teammates that I can do that."
WR Andre Johnson
(on how he's doing physically) "I'm doing good. I went through practice, I felt well. I'm feeling fine."
(on if he expects to play on Sunday) "Yeah. I don't see why not."
(on if the shin is the issue) "It's still the same injury, but the other day I felt a little better than I felt last week. Hopefully, it'll keep going that way."
(on if the injury limits him in any way) "At times. After watching the game last week, you can see I was dragging my leg when I was trying to run and stuff like that. But today, I went out there and practiced and I felt like I got my range of motion back and stuff a little bit. It's the best I've felt so far since I've had the injury. I'll be out there."
(on how he feels the team is responding and how important it is to respond on Sunday) "Everybody's doing well. Like I said, you really can't get caught up in what's going on around, what's being said outside of the building. As far as practicing and everything, everybody still has that same upbeat attitude, trying to do things to get everything on the right track. There's nobody here hanging their heads or anything like that."
(on going about the treatment the same way or if it has changed) "This week, I did a little bit more biking and running in the pool and stuff like that. That was the only thing I did different than I did last week."
(on if he expects this injury to linger) "I don't know. To be honest, I didn't think it would be around this long, but it's part of it. I had a lot of fluid on the shin and, with the muscle not being that big, it's hard to absorb all of that fluid. That's what is slowing down the healing process because I've had a lot of fluid there. Other than that, like I said, I felt fine today. I felt better than I've felt the past two weeks. Hopefully, it'll keep healing."
(on if the injury is on the top of the shin) "No, it's not on the top, but it's right on the side of the muscle."
(on if the injury can be drained) "No, it's nothing they can drain. We've already tried to explore that."
(on if he can take medication to help the injury) "You can try that. They give you anti-inflammatories and stuff like that. But after the Seattle game, my leg was pretty big. When I woke up the next morning, I was pretty surprised at how big it was. Like I said, this week though, it's progressing in the right direction."
(on TE Owen Daniels being out and if he feels like he has to shoulder more of the load) "You just go out and play. You can't replace a guy like that. He's made a lot of plays for us over the years. It's sad to see what happened to him. Everybody has to step their play up, not just me. Everybody has to step their play up all around the board and just pick up the slack for him."
(on if the offense has been predictable the last couple of weeks) "I don't know. It's something you think about after what teams have been doing to us over the past few weeks. I don't know. Maybe it's something they may have seen on film or something, but, like I said, this is a new week. Everything that has happened in the past is behind us and we're just moving forward."
(on how QB Matt Schaub's confidence has been this week) "I think he's been fine. You just try to let him know that you're behind him, you've got his back. The first day he came in after the game, you could tell he was kind of down. Everybody was with what had happened. Next day, he came in and same old Matt, upbeat attitude, working his butt off. Like I said, I don't have a doubt in my mind that things will get changed around. He'll be ready to go Sunday."
(on if he's excited to go against Rams CB Cortland Finnegan on Sunday) "I really don't care to be honest. If he plays, he plays. It doesn't really matter."
(on if there's anything more special going up against a guy like Rams CB Cortland Finnegan) "No, I just play. The things that happened in the past were just things he did. I don't know, I guess he tried to provoke me or whatever. It got a little out of hand, but, other than that, I'm not worried about that. I don't really care. That happened a few years ago, so I'm not really worried about it."
WR Keshawn Martin
(on his thoughts on playing Sunday considering Head Coach Gary Kubiak said he's going to be a game-time decision) "Yeah, I feel good. I feel like I'm going to play this game. Just got out there back today and getting used to how it's feeling. It's a little sore, but I should be good for the game."
(on how he hurt himself) "It was a kick return. I just landed on it, got tackled on it. A couple of guys landed on me. It was unfortunate, but I should be able to pull through it."
(on if he'll return everything and play offense if he plays this week or if there's a chance he might do one or the other) "Yeah, I look forward to doing everything I was doing. Just getting back out there and getting into a groove."
(on what kind of guidance he receives about when to bring the ball out of the end zone) "Well, they have me six yards deep and they say, if I have to step back to catch it at all, to just take a knee. That's what I do, just try to listen what they tell me."
(on if he was initially worried when he hurt this shoulder) "No, I wasn't worried. I wasn't worried at all. I knew it wasn't collar bone or anything because I had one of those before and it didn't feel anything like that. I knew it wasn't as bad as that, so I knew I would be back."
(on if his range of motion is impacted at all) "No, it's not. It's still a little sore when I do flex it a little bit. It's pretty good and I'm going to feel good before the game."
