After the Texans' 27-16 loss to the Raiders at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, member of the Texans spoke to the media.
Coach Gary Kubiak
(on how the Texans played) "We didn't play very good at all. You have to give them credit. They beat us in all phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. They deserve the credit. We didn't play well at all."
(on why the Texans didn't play well) "Obviously, it starts with me. I have to have them ready to play. We didn't play with the same emotion or do some of the things that we've been doing as a football team this past month, so that starts with me. But all of the things we went into the football game with saying we had to do to win, we didn't get them done. We did not run the ball well. Special teams-wise, we got beat in that phase handily. We didn't stop the run well enough throughout the game. OK, we stopped it at the end. Then, their quarterback played his best game of the year. If you look at every phase, we got beat in every phase. If that happens, you lose the football game."
(on what he said to the team after the game) "How disappointed I am. Like I told Rick (Smith), we go and beat the best team in football and if we are not ready to go, anybody can beat us, too. That's part of this game, and I knew that before this game started. That's part of the NFL. As I told them, it always starts with me. Obviously, I didn't have them ready to play."
(on if the team took a step backwards) "Anytime you get beat, you take a step backwards. That's part of this league. Anytime you don't play the way you plan on playing or are prepared to play, that's disappointing. The good thing is we have another game to play. We have to go back and take a look at this and we have to play a tough Chicago team and end this season hopefully the right way."
(on if the Raiders did something to take WR Andre Johnson out of the game) "I would say not that much. I mean, we were moving the ball. They didn't really do anything – they weren't sending 21 (Nnamdi Asomugha) with him all day. They really didn't do that match up-wise. They were just playing their defense, and they're a pretty good pass defense as they have been pretty much all year long. But we moved the football. We didn't play well in the red zone. We haven't been playing well in the red zone the past two or three weeks. That ended up being the difference as far where the game was headed late in the game."
(on G Chester Pitts being flagged) "I don't know, but I do know this: Anytime something happens on the football field, if you are the second guy, you are going to get the flag. They told me he was the second guy, so he got the flag. We lost our composure and it hurt the football team."
(on going for it on fourth-and-one) "I felt good about the play. I know you kick a field goal there and get it within a touchdown and a two-point conversion. We had some momentum right there and we were going to have to do something special to come back and win that game. I liked my play I had. I thought they would come after us. They didn't; they didn't come after us. We still had a chance with Kevin (Walter), but that's me and my gut feeling making that call. But it didn't work out."
(on if he is shocked by the loss) "I'm just very disappointed. I'm not shocked that we got beat because the way we played, we were going to get beat by anybody today. That's this game. I never go into a game thinking one way or the other. I expect out football team to play well and win. And if we go out there and play like that, we're not going to win. I said that all week. I was a little concerned Thursday when I left the practice field. I thought we practiced well on Friday. I thought we were ready to go, but obviously we were not."
(on what the Raiders did to stop the running game ) "I wouldn't say that. The field was pretty nasty. A lot of Steve's (Slaton) stuff that he makes big plays on, his cutbacks and some of those type of things, got negated I think a little bit. We got away from the run when we got down by two touchdowns there, so it gets unbalanced from that standpoint. But I wouldn't say they did anything different."
(on taking out WR Jacoby Jones on a punt return) "I'm concerned. I mean, the kid put the ball on the ground and said his shoulder was bothering him. So we were going to go with David (Anderson). (Jones) said he was fine later, so we gave him another chance to go in there. But that has been a concern all year. Him putting the ball on the ground right there could have cost us very dearly."
(on if the defense shut down WR Andre Johnson) "No, that is our job to find a way to get him open. He's a great player. He always does his job. We struggled to get him the ball today. But I will say this, I thought we were moving the football. As I tell you all the time, my concern isn't how many balls somebody catches. It's my concern whether or not we move the football. We were moving it in the first half, Like I said, we just don't have enough points to show for it. we weren't very good in the red zone."
WR Andre Johnson
(on we he wasn't a factor in the game) "They were double covering me in certain situations. That happens. Every game you are not going to come out and have a big, huge game. I had a few opportunities and I tried to do the best I could."
G Chester Pitts
(on the players' effort in the game) "I feel like guys really did want to play as well as they could, want to compete as well as they could. I feel like we moreso fell short than guys weren't here to play. I don't feel that at all."
CB Dunta Robinson
(on the team's performance) "We didn't perform the way the way we were supposed to, the way we are capable of performing, the way we performed the last four weeks. And, like I said, when you don't perform in this league, bad things happen. We might have played our worst game of the season. But we've got to move past that. With that being said, this game is over and done. We've got to move on to the next one and hopefully the results will be a lot better."
QB Matt Schaub
(on how he feels after the game) "Disappointed. We absolutely did not play the way we are capable of playing. We didn't make the plays that we have been making all year and especially the last month. Give a lot of credit to their players. They played hard. They won the game and they made more plays than we did. It's just disappointing the way we came out and played."
(on what was different in the game) "Not much changed. They made the plays. We weren't making the plays when they were there. We got down to the red zone and we weren't capitalizing on those opportunities. We settled for a couple of field goals. And then that last one we got down there and missed a third and a fourth down. That's inexcusable."
(on the fourth-down call) "I think we were expecting to come after them with one-on-one routes from the outside and they ended up playing coverage, so there wasn't much there. I tried to get it in there to Kevin (Walter) there in the end zone and it just didn't end up working out in my favor."
(on if the Raider took away WR Andre Johnson) "We knew they would try to. Everyone is going to try to come in and take him out of our plan and what we are trying to do. We still have other guys who can make plays. Owen (Daniels) played big today. You know, we still got Andre the ball a few times. They tried to take him away and they executed their plan better than we did."
(on how the sloppy field affected RB Steve Slaton) "It was a problem for both teams. You can't just say it's problem for you team because they had to deal with it too. It wasn't the best conditions, but that's the way the game was played today."
(on how shocked he is about the loss) "I am very shocked because we are a team that prides ourselves on being prepared and being ready and then making the necessary adjustments throughout the game to what the team is doing and also out-executing them. We feel like we go out there and we execute our plays that we're best at and we're going to out-execute them. Today, that wasn't the case."
(on if the Raiders were giving the offense a different look in the running game) "They weren't giving us anything different. We were prepared to run it and they were just making plays. We got a few runs there, but they out-executed us."
(on if he was frustrated with himself) "It was a frustrating entire game, not making the plays that offensively we are capable of making and we have been able to make. That's me; that's our entire group. That's frustrating to see because we make those plays on a regular basis. When we go out there and don't do it, that's tough to swallow."
(on if he got upset with himself after misfiring on a third-down pass to Slaton) "It was the entire play, it was how it developed and how it transpired. It's a play that we've working on the past few weeks. We had a good look for it."
(on what the loss means) "Every game is important and the next one is your most important one. This was disappointing today and we just have to move on from it and learn from it. Knowing how to handle in the future when this team and this organization gets four wins in a row and has a win like last week against Tennessee, being able to rebound and come back the next week – good or bad, you have to be able to handle that adversity and your successes and your tough times and be able to put it out of your mind and move on to the next game and the next play, whatever it is. That's what we have to learn from this and come back next and go find another win."
(on if the Raiders were taking away long routes) "They were playing some coverages that they are not normally running for them. They were trying to take Andre (Johnson) away and they were taking some things away from us that we normally could do on a normal basis. They were giving us some underneath stuff and some other concepts and we were going to them. And eventually, we had to go back to what we normally do."
