General manager Rick Smith
(on ILB Darryl Sharpton being placed on the P.U.P list but still being able to practice) "That is correct. When you place a player of the reserve P.U.P list, once you get passed the sixth week of the season, you have a window until the ninth week where you can begin his 21 day window where you can make a determination whether you think the player is healthy enough to be activated to the 53-man roster or if he will continue to be on the P.U.P. for the entirety of the season. I'm excited for him and his rehab process. He's gotten to the point now where his next transition ought to be onto the practice field, and it'll be exciting to get him back out there. Hopefully, he can continue the rehab practice and be ready to help us."
(on ILB Darryl Sharpton ending last season well) "Well, he's a good football player. He's a physical player, he's a good athlete, and he brings a physical presence to the group. Good special teams player, but I think also can help us on defense because he's a sure tackler. And he's got good football instincts, so it'll be exciting to see him out there. I'm happy for him. He's worked extremely hard over the last year to put himself in the position to be ready to help us again, and hopefully that happens."
(on WR Andre Johnson's explosiveness coming back) "Well, obviously it gives us another weapon. Andre has been a weapon for us, and I think he's played extremely well, particularly over the last few weeks. As you mentioned, him saying that he's getting his explosiveness back, we see that. I think it probably is attributed to the way he is taking care of his body now a little bit differently than he has in the past. He's been in the training room. I think our training staff headed by Geoff Kaplan is as progressive a group as there is in the National Football League in terms of modality, treatments, in terms of being outfront and trying to help our athletes not only to recover but also to put themselves in the position to be as good as they can be. I think he's bought in to some of the things that Geoff has suggested to him, and I think it's working for him."
(on how he sees the Houston vs. Chicago matchup taking shape) "Well, I think it's going to be old fashioned, 'rock 'em sock 'em' football. I'm excited for it. We've earned the right to have a big time football game this late in the season like this. We keep it in perspective, we're 7-1, they're 7-1, we have the chance to be 8-1. And that's really what it's all about. It's going to be fun, it's in a historic tradition place in our league against a good, physical football team like you mentioned. They do an outstanding job; I think it will be well documented how they turn the ball over. We've been good about that, and if we can continue to do that, that's our brand of football: protecting the ball, running the ball, if we can do that and then create some turnovers on our side of the ball, then I like our chances."
(on if he'll have the chance to see friends from Purdue University while in Chicago) "Actually, I am. I've got some friends that are in the area that have reached out and said 'hey, we're proud of you, it'd be good to see you,' so I suspect I'll run into a few."
(on what he's reading) "Yeah, it's an interesting question. First of all, I do a lot of introspective study and leadership study. I like to read books on leadership. I just got a book from a friend of mine, he just sent it in the mail and I got it yesterday. It's called Transcendence and it's a book by Michael Bernard Beckwith. He's a fantastic motivational speaker, he leads the Agape International Spiritual Center is what his day job is. This is a fun project that he did, he did some stuff to some music and it was basically tied to his message to music, and he has since then put a book out with some of the messaging behind the words to music. So I'm reading a little bit of that right now."
(on FS Glover Quin volunteering to read to kids) "Yeah, reading is fundamental. That's the old riff programming campaign that used to be out there. It's important; it's the way that I exercise my brain in a relaxed way. I think everybody needs to do that. It's very similar to how you exercise your body, you need to exercise your brain as well and reading is a great way to do that."
