[Week 1] Redskins @ Texans 9/7/14

Quotes from after the game:

OWNER BOB MCNAIR (Transcribed by John Byczek)

Spoiler

(on finally getting a win after losing streak from last year) “Right now we’re undefeated. Let’s talk about this year.”

(on the victory today) “I think it was tremendous. Any time you hold a team to six points; think back, what games have you seen where a team has scored six points? In this league, that’s fantastic. So, we did it. Our special teams came through. As we said, everybody plays their role. Offense played well. Fitz (Ryan Fitzpatrick) played well, protected the ball. We had one fumble; didn’t have any interceptions. Everybody played hard and we’re going to keep working and try to get better.”

(on his thoughts on J.J. Watt’s performance) “J.J. was unbelievable. I mean, what can you say? He just did everything. I guess the only thing he didn’t do was intercept a pass and run it back. That’s about the only thing he didn’t do.”

(on his concern with Jadeveon Clowney’s injury) “I’m concerned about him because he is a terrific player and we want him out on the field, so we’ll see what’s going on there.”

(on what he wants to say to fans) “I think what you need to take home from this is that the players have bought into what coach (Bill) O’Brien is teaching and his methods and the way he goes about preparing for games. What have you, produces these kinds of results. I think, as I’ve said all along, I think we’ll be a competitive football team as long as we stay healthy. I think tonight kind of confirms that feeling.”

HEAD COACH BILL O’BRIEN (Transcribed by Ellie Pardee)

Spoiler

(on the play that Jadeveon Clowney was injured) “I don’t know what happened on the field. I’m not sure what happened on that one. We’re consulting with the doctors and trainers right now. I’m not sure about the status, but I will say right now that they think it’s a good prognosis so it looks like he’s going to be ok. He may miss some time, he may not. Who knows. We’ll know better as the week goes on.”

(on what the locker room feels like right now) “It’s a good locker room. Anytime you win over a really good opponent, a tough team, in a hard fought game, that’s a good feeling for the winning team. We had good examples of complimentary football today which was good to see. I’m really proud of these guys. I told them last night, I couldn’t be prouder leading this team, and there’s a bunch of good guys in that locker room that are happy right now which is good. On the flip side of things, we have a lot of things we need to improve on. Offensively we need to improve on many things; defensively I thought we did a good job all day. When we had to have it at the end, we had a good drive on offense and then we stopped then on defense, kicked the good field goal there with (Randy) Bullock. Played some good football there in the end.”

(on JJ Watt’s performance tonight) “Yeah, he’s a great player. He’s a great player. He’s a hard working guy. He’s an explosive athlete. He’s a great teammate. He’s everything you want in a great player.”

(on how it felt for him to get his first win) “It feels good. You know, it’s a long season. It’s one game. It was a good game, it was a good win, but it’s pretty quickly on to Oakland. Oakland is a very good football team, it’s in Oakland. I’ve been down that road before in the black hole and that’s not easy. We’ll enjoy it tonight but it’s moving quickly on to Oakland tomorrow.”

(on if J.J. Watt is an even better athlete than he expected) “Well, again, when I went to Penn State, I hadn’t seen him in the pros. This is obviously my first experience with him in these last six or seven months, so I’ll tell you, to have a guy like that on your team, along with these other guys like (WR) Andre Johnson, he played a whale of a football game too, (LB) Brian Cushing, (RB) Arian Foster. I thought Fitzy (QB Ryan Fitzpatrick) did some good things. We’ve got a bunch of great guys in that locker room. Watt is obviously a hell of a football player, there’s no other way to put it. He plays a lot of different spots on the line, he has the ability to disrupt the game, he plays within the scheme, he’s a great teammate, and there’s not too much more you can say about him. He’s just a great player.”

(on Ryan Fitzpatrick becoming more confident and building toughness) “He did exactly what we asked him to do. He played a smart game, George (Godsey) has done a great job with him. Fitzy’s really followed what we’ve asked him to do as a quarterback and as a leader and as a teammate. That was a good example of it today.”

(on Arian Foster’s performance today) “He did a good job, he got some really tough yards. It’s hard to run the ball against Jim Haslett’s defense with those players there. Their defensive line and their linebackers, (Brian) Orakpo and (Ryan) Kerrigan, I mean it’s hard to run the football there. I thought Arian got every inch that he could out of the running game and he meant a lot to our team today.”

(on if he expected for the first half being a sparring match) “I expect that type of sparring match in every single game. All of these games are hard fought games, tough battles, great coaching on both sides of the ball, obviously great players on both sides of the ball, so all of these games are tough.”

(on if the special teams performance today was preparation meeting opportunity) “You have to give a lot of credit to our players. They’ve really done a good job of understanding their roles on special teams, and understanding how that can affect the game. Whether that’s a punt blocked like you saw today or a good punt return, something that they can see during the week where they know they’re going to help the team win, those guys did a really good job today for the most part on special teams.”

(on the big special teams plays tonight) “In an NFL football game, just asking about the tough battles and the tough games, those plays are the plays that make a difference. I told the team last night, if you go back and you look at all the great, even the great close games, regular season playoffs, championship games, whatever, they all come down to like five or six plays, and it’s the team that makes those plays that, the team that makes the least amount of mistakes that usually wins the game. Turnovers, third down, punt block, something on special teams that can help you win a game, those are huge in an NFL game. That was a good start for us on that today.”

(on what he feels personally after his first win with the Texans) “I’m excited, I’m happy for these guys. I’m really happy for that locker room. I’m happy for the veterans in there that have been part of this change. There’s all different ways to skin a cat, and no way is better than another way. We have a philosophy here and these veteran players, like I said, I start with Andre Johnson. Andre Johnson is a guy who has put his heart and soul in to this organization and I’m happy for a guy like him and many others. It’s only one game, it’s one game out of a long season and there are so many things we’ve got to get better at. It’s good to start off with a win but we’ve got to get right back to work on Monday with the players and our coaching staff tomorrow.”

(on if he expected the defense to be so dominant today) “I wouldn’t say that, there’s nothing with our defense that really surprises me. We’ve got some guys on defense that are explosive, that understand the scheme, that are getting better and better within the scheme and I think there are some things we have to do better, like we have to fit some of these runs better, some of the zone runs. They were able to get some running yards on us, but I think overall our defense did a really nice job today and I hope that continues throughout the whole year.”

(on D.J. Swearinger’s impact today) “Yeah, he’s an improved player. I’ve said this all along about D.J. that he’s a passionate guy. He loves football. He doesn’t want to make a mistake, he wants to be good, he works extremely hard, he’s always out a practice. Just like everyone else there’s probably a couple of plays he wishes he had back, but I believe he’s a much improved player and he just needs to keep working and keep getting better and that’s going to help our team.”

(on if he had planned for the in-game adjustments with Arian Foster and Jonathan Grimes) “W had planned for that. In game adjustments are more like, ok in the second quarter let’s think about using this scheme or this personnel group. Everything is planned for. I believe that you have to practice what you’re going to do. Now there are certain plays throughout the year that we feel like we can call that these guys will know because they’ve been running them since April and OTAs in May and things like that, but overall, everything we do there’s a plan for, or at least we try to have a plan for it. I know it doesn’t always look that way but we try to plan it.”

(on switching from Keyshawn Martin to Damaris Johnson on punt returns) “Keyshawn’s done a good job it’s just, it was more about we felt like Damaris came in there and practiced and did a really nice job. He was quick, he fielded the punts really well, he understood how to set up the return, he just did a good job in practice. I think if the guys do a good job in practice and they’ve earned the right to play then we need to play them and that was the case with D.J.”

RUNNING BACK ALFRED BLUE (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub)

Spoiler

(on the blocked punt) “I was roughing the wing all night and getting that outside presence. When we called the block, I just put the up-and-under on him. I did what the coaches taught me to do. I put my hand out there and he punted it right into my hand, so I just scooped and scored.”

(on the play call) “It was a called block punt.”

(on what it felt like to score a touchdown) “Oh man, words can’t explain. All I was thinking about was getting that ball and getting into the end zone.”

(on what player set him up) “I know (Mike) Mohamed told me that he grabbed the tackle, so I could get up and under him. He probably would have put his shoulder on me and kept me out. “

(on how he felt going into the game) “I felt like something was going to happen today. I thought a touchdown or a good run. I just felt something.”

(on if the blocked punt hurt) “No, but he did kick it right into my hand.”

(on the team planning to block a kick) “We talked about it in practice. We trying to get there and block the ball. I got my number called, so I just made a play.”

(on his first game) “It means a lot. I’m off to a great start. I just need to keep up the intensity and keep playing hard.”

(on if he has blocked a punt before) “No, but I played special teams at LSU all four years there.”

(on what his teammates said to him) “They told me congratulations and said it was just the beginning, so I need to keep moving forward.”

(on the ball he blocked) “I left it on the field, but one of my teammates grabbed it for me. I’m going to keep it. I was just too excited when I scored. This is a dream come true right here.”

(on his role on special teams) “I just need to keep living up to the hype. The coaches have high expectations for you on special teams when you are not in there on the offense. You just need to go out there and make plays. Special teams are a big role in the game.”

(on if special teams are his focus) “Yeah, that’s my mindset. Arian Foster is the go-to guy, so you just need to get your name called somewhere on the field. I’m going to try to make special teams my knack. When special teams are on the field, Blue is going to make a play. “

(on J.J. Watt) “He just hypes up the whole team. When one player makes a big play or stop, it gets everybody riled up. We get out there and we are ready to play and go hard again.”

TACKLE DUANE BROWN (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub)

Spoiler

(on the offensive line playing better throughout the game) “I thought we progressed well. We started slow. That was a bit frustrating, but that’s kind of the game we expected. Our defense did a great job of holding those guys. We just wanted to get going and I think we did that when we had to the most. Towards the end of the game, we put together a good drive, ate some time off the clock, and came away with some points. We just need to work on doing that more consistently throughout the game.”

(on opening up the playbook) “It was great to open it up. We caught them off guard with some play actions. We had a nice mixture and balance of the pass and run attack. That’s what you want to do. It all starts with establishing the run. You are really able to open the offense up when you are able to run the ball effectively. We were able to do that in the second half.”

(on what it means to open the season with a win) “It means everything. We have worked so hard this offseason to get to this point and start off the way we wanted to. We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we played good, complimentary football. Special teams made big plays. Defense played excellent throughout the game. The offense scored and ate the clock up when we needed to.”

(on David Quessenberry being at the game ) “It’s great, man. It’s great to have him here. We spent some time with him throughout the week. For him to be out here meant a lot to him, but it meant a lot to us as well.”

(on starting off the season with a win) “It means a lot. We don’t dwell on last year. It’s all about starting off great and getting this thing going in the right fashion. That’s what it’s all about. For the guys who were here last year and endured what we went through, it means a lot starting off with this team the right way.”

(on the offensive line) “It felt good. We knew they were going to bring it. They have some great pass rushers on that side of the ball. We weren’t able to run the ball as effectively in the first half, so we had to drop back a lot. We kept Ryan (Fitzpatrick) clean. That’s one of our keys to the game, so it’s a testament to those guys working hard and staying committed to that.”

(on Ryan Fitzpatrick) “He handled it great. He kept his confidence and his poise throughout the game. He told us to be patient and not go crazy or get too anxious. We were going to get our chances when we needed them and that’s what happened. The defense did a great job of giving us time to progress, so we can get to where we needed to be as an offense. It’s about playing complimentary football and that’s what we did.”

(on Arian Foster) “I told you guys. When he is out there, good things happen. He came out in his first game in a long time and got 100 yards. I know it’s a great feeling for him and it’s a great feeling for us. We got the ball with like six or eight minutes left in the game, so we knew we had to run some time off the clock. They knew we had to run the ball. Everyone in the stadium knew. We were able to do that, so hats off to him. He did a great job today.”

(on the entire team playing healthy for the first time in a long time) “Having all of those key guys out there opens up our offense a lot. It’s a great feeling knowing we can get the job done and get some big plays. We also know we left some out there. We have a lot to improve on. We can be very, very dangerous as an offense. It’s good to have everyone out there and contributing so we can get this win. That’s the kind of results we are going to have if everyone stays focused and committed to winning.”

INSIDE LINEBACKER BRIAN CUSHING (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub)

Spoiler

(on getting the first win) “It feels good. Last year is over. Obviously, we know this is a pretty different team. We figured we can win a good amount of games, but we have to work at it. We have a pretty good team.”

(on Brooks Reed) “There are a lot of good football players on this defense and a lot of good football players on this team. There is going to be guys who step up week in and week out. Brooks is a great football player. JD (Jadeveon Clowney) goes down, but Whitney (Mercilus) is a great football player. We have a lot of depth on this team, so that’s good. ”

(on the entire team playing well) “It’s complimentary football. All phases have to help each other and I think we did a good job of that today. It was a tough, physical win and a very good win for the first one.”

(on J.J. Watt) “I mean it’s pretty typical by now to have a day like that. Anytime he steps on the field, special things are going to happen. That’s the kind of player he is. He is a tremendous football player and, like I said, every time something is going to happen.”

(on winning the first game) “1-0 is a good feeling. We got off on the right foot and we need to continue to build from here.”

(on feeding off the crowd) “It was, you know, it’s a lot different when you are not playing and just watching. To go out there and know you are going to make some calls, make some plays, and play with your guys, it’s a great feeling. It’s a game I love, so anytime I get to go out there, it’s great.”

(on if he had a moment to appreciate the game) “No, the game is so fast and there is so much going on. I think if there is ever a moment, it’s after the game, But like I said, I’m just excited to be here.”

(on the crowd noise helping) “It did. Obviously it helped with Washington talking to each other and the receivers coming in to get some calls. That’s expected when we play here. We have great fans. It’s extremely loud and a tough place to play.”

QUARTERBACK RYAN FITZPATRICK (Transcribed by Seth Medvin)

Spoiler

(on winning the game in a tough fashion) “Yeah, this was, you know, obviously, a great start for us. To me, it was so exciting to get out there and to just feel the energy in the stadium. When our defense is out there, the energy in unbelievable in terms of the noise. It was great. I felt like in terms on the special teams touchdown, what the defense did today, we really tried to feed off of that. The most important drive for us was the last drive to get the points. It was a hard fought game for us today. As I think everybody found out here last year, everybody knows in the NFL any win is a great win, and so we’re real happy in that locker room right now.”

(on his scramble for a first down) “No, I almost pulled something. He’s definitely faster than me. Then I got down there and I saw, somebody was saying there was a flag. That wouldn’t have been pretty if I had to go back and call another play. Luckily, it was on them.”

(on having the entire offense back out there) “It was good to get everybody out there on the field and we need to continue to just get better and improve all season long. Andre (Johnson) did some great things as he always does. DeAndre (Hopkins) on the deep ball. I thought Arian (Foster) ran really hard. But we’ll just look at it and continue to get better.”

(on being on the same page as Andre Johnson) “I contribute the chemistry really to Andre being a great receiver. He’s a quarterback’s dream in terms of being in the right spot at the right time. Always running the proper routes. That’s why for me, and there is still a lot of things we need to work on, but I was never really worried about that connection only because not just the tremendous amount of talent that he has, but how smart he is as a football player and how much he’s seen. It was nice. I threw one a little early and missed him on one today, but the other ones were some good hookups for us.”

(on working to make good decisions with the football) “I think part of it is just feeling how the game is going as well. When you need to take your chances and when you do. Today was one of those games were really we didn’t have to take any of those chances. It’s not necessarily meaning squatting on the ball, but throw it and be smart when you have it. When you don’t, throw it away. After the first quarter, seeing how the game was going, that was kind of the deal today.”

(on doing what the coaches ask him to do) “”Yeah, I think in general for me, yeah, I need to just continue to play the mistake free football. I mean, turnovers are going to happen at times. Whether it’s an interception or today a fumble or whatever it is. We want to eliminate all of them, but there’s no team that’s ever gone through the season without turning the ball over. Part of it is eliminating those as much as you can. Limiting the ones that are cause by bad decisions. I think that is going to be a big thing for me this year. And then how do you respond to it. Even on Arian’s (Foster) fumble, he comes back and really runs for some tough yards after that on that last drive. But I think those are the keys for me this year with turnovers.”

(on showing excitement after his first down scramble) “Yeah. Probably, yeah, a little bit. Man, I love playing this game. It’s fun. It’s definitely fun. You know, something just from being here right away, the comradery in the locker room, the guys on this team, you don’t have to like each other. It’s not necessary for being a good team, but we all have a good time together and enjoy competing together. That was part of that.”

(on ever playing with these types of offensive weapons) “I mean, I think for me, just this situation as a whole, this is probably the best situation I’ve been in in terms of the talent, in terms of just overall team, in terms of the scheme fitting me. A lot of different things. Yeah, I feel comfortable, but obviously we need to get a lot better and I need to get a lot better.”

RUNNING BACK ARIAN FOSTER (Transcribed by Nida Chaudhry)

Spoiler

(on how it feels to get going and get the win) “It just felt good just to get a win. We haven’t got a team win for a while, so it feels good to get that monkey off your back and continue to keep the ball rolling and hopefully go back to work tomorrow.”

(on biggest motivating factor to get prepared for this game) “In this league, every week is pressing. It’s a ‘win now’ league. You have to have a short-term memory and people do have short-term memory, so like, the pressure is always on week by week. Nobody is ever out there thinking that we’ve got to redeem ourselves from last year, we’re just trying to get the win for this year.”

(on last drive and making a two-score game) “It was tough sledding out there today. It was one of those games where, you know, they were stacking the box and it was hard to get yards, but I felt good. The cohesiveness of our unit is going to start showing after a while. This is the first time we’ve been out there as an offensive unit together, so I’m pretty proud of what we did. I got to take a look at the film, but for the most part, I feel like we did pretty good for our time that we’ve been together. I feel like the more and more the season goes, you’re going to see us start to peak and it’s going to fun.”

(on how it feels to be back on the field) “It was a little rust off today. It was good. I haven’t played since November or something like that, so it was good to get those hits. You feel sore, but it’s a good sore and you miss that feeling. I feel like it’s going to be a really fun year. You just got to keep working. I felt good for the first time back.”

(on Coach Bill O’Brien saying they are going to depend on him this year) “Most definitely. He said that all offseason, and he’s not lip service, that’s what he wants to do, but it’s a very, very diverse offense and I’m excited about what it can be and I think we have to establish ourselves in the run game in order to make this offense go and I felt like once we started to do that a little bit, things started opening up and I feel very confident. Our offensive line did one heck of a job today and our tight ends and full backs and everybody did what they were supposed to do and we got those tough yards. They have a really good run ‘D’, I’ve got a lot of respect for their run defense.”

(on the way Ryan Fitzpatrick ran the offense) “I mean, he’s a Harvard kid, so he’s got the smarts. He’s very calm and I love his demeanor out there. He’s doesn’t get shook. He has his air bottom and nothing really gets to him and you like to see that from your quarterback. He just shakes everything off. He gets hit, he just gets up and goes back to work. I’m excited to see what he’s going to do this year. It’s going to be a fun year.”

(on how Ryan Fitzpatrick plays a role in Foster’s success) “Well, I mean, anytime your teammates play well, you feed off of that energy, so I guess that’s how that helps me.”

(on coming out on the drive after the Redskins fumbled the ball) “I’m 28 years old. I’ve been playing football for a long time and I remember Marcus Allen said, ‘If you haven’t fumbled, you haven’t carried it,’ so, I mean, it’s a part of the game. You don’t want it to happen and it’s one of those things you can’t control, but it’s one of those things where you have to have a short-term memory in this league, so it’s just on to the next one.”

(on if this was the freshest he has felt going into week one of the NFL season) “Never really fresh going into the NFL season. You’ve still got practice and run and lift and all of that kind of wears on you, but I’m pretty fresh every start of the season.”

(on if he will be able to get 27 carries week-in and week-out) “Yeah.”

(on Alfred Blue’s big play) “Yeah, man. I just keep telling him to be patient, man. His time will come. It’s good to see all those young guys out there just making plays and getting involved in the game. Special teams is a huge part of what we do here. O’Brien preaches it, so it’s good to see our special teams make plays like that, especially coming from our room and the running back room.”

(on the fans’ perception of him) “Other than Twitter, fans are cool. They come up to you and show love. I’ve never had anybody say ‘Hey, man. Talk to the media. What the—’ Nobody really cares. I’ve never had any kind of—social media is probably the biggest where everybody gets real tough, but as far as, like, person to person, I mean, I’ve never had a problem with fan. Hopefully they don’t have a problem with me, so we’re good.”

WIDE RECEIVER DEANDRE HOPKINS (Transcribed by Trevor Caswell)

Spoiler

(on taking the pressure off from last year’s season) “We’re really not worried about last year. We did have a bad season; it’s the NFL, things happen. We have a bunch of new guys on the team, so nothing is the same from last year.”

(on the feeling after starting the season off with a win) “It feels great to start off with a win. Any win feels great, but just to have that momentum going in to the second game, I think it’s good for us.”

(on the 76-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick) “Fitzpatrick, he took time in the pocket, he didn’t look like he was too worried back there. He’s a veteran quarterback, he knew we would have a good play downfield, he stood in the pocket and made a great throw.”

(on what it meant to score the touchdown in that given situation) “I knew we had a long game to go, so I didn’t want to get overly happy just off of scoring one touchdown. I knew it was a long game ahead.”

(on what Ryan Fitzpatrick does well) “He’s a veteran quarterback in this league, he knows defenses like the back of his hand, so he just stood back there and took time to make his reads and came down with a touchdown.”

(on DeAngelo Hall’s on-field talking) “It’s a part of the NFL, guys are going to talk, it’s all fun and games. After the game is over with, we’re all friends.”

WIDE RECIEVER ANDRE JOHNSON (Transcribed by Shelby Wells)

Spoiler

(on how it feels to win the home opener with how the offseason went and what he has done to be here today) “It feels good just to win a game. I knew when I came in I had a lot to learn. I had to play catch up, so I did it. I wanted to make sure I was ready to go opening day.”

(on what the feeling was like in the locker room after a win when it’s been so long) “The funny thing is that nobody talks about that actually. We put that behind us. You know, when we start a new season, everybody starts with a clean slate. You don’t really think about that. I think the biggest thing everybody just knows the work that we put in before this game, so I think everybody was just anxious to get out there and get to playing.”

(on how he thinks QB Ryan Fitzpatrick ran the offense) “I think he did a great job. I think he’s going to continue to get better with time. Even though we are all healthy, we all didn’t play a lot together during the preseason so I think just with time things will continue to get better and better.”

(on how much of his game he has used to help WR DeAndre Hopkins) “I think he’s grown a lot. I think he’s playing with a lot of confidence. I think last year he was thinking a lot while he was playing. I think now he’s just out there playing and having fun. There’s still little things here and there that he may do and I may tell him about it. I always tell the young guys, that if they see me do something that they think I can do better, let me know. I just try to keep it open with them and let them feel comfortable that they can tell me if they feel like I’ve done something that I maybe can change to help myself also.”

(on how it feels to have Coach O’Brien point out that he was happy to have the veterans win after sticking it out from the previous season) “To be honest, I hear it all the time. Even before the game just talking to some of the guys on the other team just telling me to hang in there and stuff like that. I think sometimes things especially amongst your peers who understand, those things don’t go unnoticed. I’ve been through a lot with this organization. I think everyone knows that, but my biggest thing is that I just want to win. That’s it. It’s not about money, I just want to win. I want to win football games and that’s what I’ve been trying to do since I’ve been here.”

(on if he feels that this team has a good chance to win) “I think we have a great chance. I guess after going 2-14, no one talks about you, but I like that. No one has to talk about us. We’re just an unknown team and we will just keep getting better and keep working like we have been. I think that’s the most important thing is just for us as a team to keep working and putting in the work that we have been.”

(on what it means to him to pass Art Monk and be up with those top fifteen guys) “When I came into this game, I never thought about being even in that category. Coming in as a kid, you always say that you want to be the best, but you just want to come out and play football. I’ve always loved the game of football and I just always want to be a good football player. To even be mentioned with those guys and to even be in that top fifteen or whatever it is, is an amazing feeling it just shows the work that you’ve put into your craft and just all of the hard work is paying off. It’s a great accomplishment.”

(on how it feels to make a play when it needs to be made) “That’s what I get paid to do. That’s what I thrive on that. When there’s a play that needs to be made, I want it. I want to make that play. I’ve always been that way, ever since I’ve played the game of football so that’s pretty much it.”

(on how nice it was to have RB Arian Foster behind him to run on the last drive) “I think before we went out on the field, we all knew that we were going to have to run the ball. When we huddled up on the sideline, we said that and we just told everyone ‘let’s lock in, were going to have to eat up some of this time to get out of here with a win.’ I think it was just big for a group of us to come together knowing what we had to do and getting it done. That’s something we couldn’t do before. That was big for us as an offense.”

(on how his intensity increases as he gets older to win a championship) “I play every game to win, I think we all play every game to win. It’s not a sprint, it’s a journey. It’s sixteen games. You try to win every one you play. At the same time, you want to put yourself in a good position leading up in to that November, December area. That’s the times when the great teams play their best football, getting ready for the playoffs and stuff like that. Right now we are just taking it one game at a time, we will see what happens.”

(on if he thinks this Texans team can win this division) “Yeah, definitely thought in my mind about it.”

(on if he finds its strange that he has passed up Art Monk and the team that he played for) “Never thought about that. That is kind of crazy. Like I said before, just to be mentioned with those guys is a tremendous honor. Hopefully I can keep playing the way I’m playing and move on up the list.”

(on if he had a chance to see how J.J. Watt performed) “Man, I don’t think there’s a word that can really describe J.J. (Watt). He affects the game in so many ways, whether it’s knocking down passes or sacking the quarterback or just even causing confusion on the play. That’s why he was rewarded the way he was. He deserves every penny of it. I’m just happy he’s on my team and I don’t have to go against him.”

GUARD BEN JONES (Transcribed by Trevor Caswell)

Spoiler

(on thoughts on getting the win) “It’s always good to start the season off right. We had the whole off-season with a bad taste in our mouth, now we finally got the ‘w’ on our belt and now we’re just moving forward, looking forward to next week.”

(on how it felt to have teammate David Quessenberry at the game) “It’s great man, he’s one of our best friends and just to have him here supporting and seeing him in here, we know we were going out there to fight this battle today, but he’s fighting the bigger battle. Just seeing his emotions and how happy he was to see everybody, it’s good having him around.”

(on communication on the line) “It’s always good, we have great leaders on our team. We’ve got Chris Myers and Duane Brown, who’ve played a lot of football and everything. It’s football, you can always get better at something, so we’re going to fix what we did bad and come back next week and try to get better.”

(on RB Arian Foster’s performance) “Arian is a great player, I think he’s proven that in the league. We’re just going to try to do our job and he’s going to do his and we’re just going to look forward to the next game.”

CORNERBACK JOHNATHAN JOSEPH (Transcribed by John Byczek)

Spoiler

(on a combined effort by defense) “You can’t have great cover guys with no pressure up front and you can’t have a great rush of front with no cover guys. I think it ties itself hand-in-hand. I think today, the defensive line and linebackers, those guys, everyone blitzing the quarterback, did a great job of corralling him in the pocket and keeping him contained, getting in his face and making him kind of feel a little uneasy in the pocket. I think we did in the secondary a great job of staying on top of the receivers and minimizing big plays.”

(on J.J. Watt getting paid and playing well) “That’s the way this league is built. Sometimes you get paid a big contract you have to do a little more. Today is a prime example of it and that’s what we expect out of J.J. Nothing different.”

(on the game plan with DeSean Jackson) “You just got to go out and play your fundamentals and use your technique and let everything else take care of it itself because you can only game plan for so much and once you get into the game you got to just kind of feel the game out and play the game.”

(on finally having the first unit defense out) “It was a great feeling because it was a lot of moving parts in this defense and a lot of different packages and things like that. We enjoy one another and being around one another and just competing and playing football. Today was a prime example of it on the field.”

(on if he thinks he got the strip by the goal line) “I thought it was a strip but anytime you have a replay you have a chance to go back and look and they made the call. We lived with it and we came back and we played ball. Anytime you have a chance and the runner’s not looking, you want to secure the tackle and come up with the strip and that’s what I was just trying to do on that play.”

(on starting season off with a win) “Enjoy it today and forget about it tomorrow. Come back in, I’m sure there are a ton of mistakes that we made, and we have to go back and correct those things and move forward to next week.”

SAFETY KENDRICK LEWIS (Transcribed by John Byczek)

Spoiler

(on only giving up six points) “It was just forming our identity, coming out, playing physical, playing tough and not allowing guys to get in the end zone. That’s how we want to come and play and prepare week in and week out. Today we did a good job.”

(on forcing turnovers today) “It was a big emphasis. We knew we had to apply pressure on this guy. This guy, he had the capability to get the ball into big players’ hands. Our front seven, J.J. (Watt) and the guys, those guys really came out and applied pressure on this guy, had him running, get after his first read, he couldn’t get back to his second read. So, it made our job easier. For us, it was covering these guys as long as we needed to cover them so our rush could get there. In a sense, we played complimentary defense. We were holding up our end in the defensive backfield and the front seven getting the rush they needed to apply pressure to RGIII (Robert Griffin III).”

(on first time playing with J.J. Watt) “It was amazing. I always was a fan of the guy and just watching him come out there, I’ve seen the dude in practice, but to see it in the game, the guy is the real deal. So week-in and week-out, we do that we’ll have good days come.”

(on the emphasis of getting turnovers) “We practice it. We practice good habits. As far as every time they break through, the receiver breaks runs through with the ball, we’re stripping at the ball, we’re punching at the ball. That kind of practice brings on consistency where in a game it’s second nature. We’re always attacking the ball, trying to get the ball, force turnovers anyway we can.”

(on D.J. Swearinger getting the sacks and turnovers he predicted) “Hey, he’s a man of his words. He backed it up. The guy came out and played ball, played relentless and was a big part of our success this game.”

FREE SAFETY DANIEAL MANNING (Transcribed by John Byczek)

Spoiler

(on D.J. Swearinger making improvements from last season) “I think he understands NFL-style football. I think he could still be the aggressive player you see, full of energy, but I know how he can channel that into one play and focus on that one play. Never think about the next play, just continue to work in the play he’s in and then get to the next play. I think that’s good about D.J. You always make a big jump from your first year in the league to your second year. It’s huge.”

(on D.J. Swearinger stripping the ball inside the 10-yard line) “That’s the part that you like. Just kept hustling, but D.J.’s always been like that.”

(on talking to D.J. Swearinger about penalties) “He can control himself. Sometimes you may say something to him and he knows, but I think with D.J., it’s just sometime it may be a bad call, like today. I think that was a bad call and a great play. He’s going to have to understand that he’s going to be targeted and everything that he does from this moment is going to be questioned. So they’re going to lean more towards a foul on him than clean play and until they see something different, that’s what it’s going to be. He said on the sideline to us that he understands that.”

(on getting ready with just a week in Houston) “I felt good. Coaches came in, I came in, they sat me down and they started installing things with me and they broke it down where I could understand and compete and play this first game. Plus that, you got guys like J-Jo (Johnathan Joseph), Kareem (Jackson), Ken Lew (Kendrick Lewis), who’s played in this system for a while. Those guys worked with me, so if I didn’t understand anything, I just looked at them and they told me exactly what I was doing. It was pretty much playing pickup ball up there.”

INSIDE LINEBACKER MIKE MOHAMED (Transcribed by John Byczek)

Spoiler

(on the special teams playing well) “Yeah, I think for the most part, we haven’t seen the film obviously, but we’ll break it down tomorrow and go from there. There are always things to work on. Anytime you get a punt blocked for a touchdown, that’s big time.”

(on J.J. Watt blocking the extra point) “Blocked that kick. That’s an extra point right there. Down the road, if they were going to tie it they would have to go for two. You never know what play is going to change the game.”

(on block punt play call sometimes but not all the time) “Yeah, exactly. That’s just depending on the current or certain situations. He made the most of it, obviously, and came up big for the team.”

(on if the punt block call worked exactly as planned) “I mean, I was on the field at the time, so you can’t really say for sure without seeing the film, but I think so. We blocked the punt and got a touchdown and it doesn’t get much better than that.”

(on Brian Cushing coming out in first half) “We’re just rotating, keeping everybody fresh.”

(on getting win and being more involved this year) “It’s awesome. It’s almost been a complete year since our last win. Just to come in here and work as hard as we have since April, to come in here and kind of see the hard work kind of pay off and get that first W, it feels really good.”

CENTER CHRIS MYERS (Transcribed by Trevor Caswell)

Spoiler

(on the difference between mindsets this year compared to last year) “Last year is over, we’re on to 2014. Coach O’Brien, the whole staff, we worked tremendously hard throughout spring and training camp. To be able to come in here and get the win, no matter how it was, just to be able to establish ourselves is the biggest thing.”

(on feeling good about expanding the playbook) “Yeah, we have the ability to do a lot. It’s going to be interesting to see how the season goes, but we have the weapons with our receivers and our running backs to do whatever we need to do, pass or run.”

(on having to grind this game out to get the win) “A win’s a win, but if you have to grind it out on the ground and it’s not high scoring, so be it.”

(on Arian Foster’s performance) “Let’s put it this way—it’s been nice to have him as a running back behind you for a few years. To be able to have a guy like Arian (Foster) behind you, it makes you look good, better than you actually are at blocking sometimes.”

(on being satisfied with game ending drive) “Yeah, to start way back in our territory and to be able to drive the ball all of the way down. Obviously, we wanted more points than a field goal, but to be able to get that field goal and still find a win was big.”

(on performance of the o-line after short time of working together) “Good, nowhere near where we need to be, but communication is key and we’re going to build on that.”

(on importance of getting a win) “Huge, to be able to establish ourselves early and often is the biggest thing on the ground and I think we did that tonight. It took a while to get some points established, but sometimes it happens that way, but to be able to get the win was big.”

(on playing between Brandon Brooks and Ben Jones) “Ben’s a guy that has played center and treats the guard position like center, so it’s like having a second set of eyes out there sometimes. Brandon, if you’ve ever seen him be able to play in practice or in games, he sometimes gets lost watching him block a guy and cake him sometimes, but being able to have those two guys next to you is huge.”

NOSE TACKLE JERRELL POWE (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub)

Spoiler

(on where defensive end J.J. Watt’s performance ranks) “It’s up at the top. The best player I ever played with was (linebacker) Tamba Hali, but J.J. Watt is a great guy who works hard. It showed today.”

(on how J.J. Watt effected the rest of the defense) “He made big plays at big times. He stepped up. That field goal block was really big. It changed the momentum of the game.”

(on his first game playing with J.J. Watt) “We always watched him when we were at Kansas City. We knew he played hard, we knew he was a sack master and we knew he could swat balls. Just seeing it first-hand definitely blew my mind, but I watched the guy work hard every day and he played up to it.”

(on the Redskins’ adjustments to J.J. Watt) “They tried to chip him a lot, but that didn’t really work.”

(on J.J. Watt’s performance after his contract extension) “It just shows that he is definitely worth it. The guy comes in every day and is outworking everybody. He comes in early and stays late. It shows why he should be the highest paid defensive end.”

(on Jadeveon Clowney’s injury) “I’m not allowed to talk about any other players’ injuries.”

(on D.J. Swearinger) “He made plays when we needed him to. That fumble was really big. That changed the momentum of the game as well. He is a guy we look to as a leader. He made big plays. That’s swag. That’s why he has that nickname. Expect the unexpected from him.”

OUTSIDE LINEBACKER BROOKS REED (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub)

Spoiler

(on playing with a lot of energy) “Yeah, it felt like it. I felt in good shape down the stretch of the game. They were booting a lot and coming to my side, so I knew that I had to be disciplined with my eyes and make sure RG3 (Robert Griffin III) didn’t escape on any negative boots. I had to be disciplined in that regard.”

(on if this is his best game as a pro) “I have to look at the tape. It’s kind of fuzzy after the game. We will go back and see. There are always things I can work on. It’s a good start. The goal is always to win and it was a good team effort.”

(on how the team did containing the Redskins’ scrambles) “I think we did a great job with that. We knew that was going to be a challenge for us.”

(on if he was concerned after losing linebacker Jadeveon Clowney) “No, we weren’t concerned. We did it all last year, so it was nothing to us.”

(on how it felt to get a tackle for loss) “It felt good to start off the game with a three-and-out. Whenever we can put the ball back in our offense’s hands that is always a good thing for us. That’s our job.”

(on the offense sealing the victory) “We had a lot of plays going into that. The offense really buckled down there and burned a lot of clock off for us. It just came down to them (the Redskins) needing a touchdown, so we just pinned our ears back and rushed the passer.”

(on J.J. Watt) “He is a matchup problem for them and we are able to move him around a lot. We just counter him and work off of him. The center can only slide one way, so it creates good matchups for us.”

(on playing under Romeo Crennel) “I thought we did great. We won. We did give up a lot of unnecessary yards and we made some mistakes, but we’ve got a lot of guys on this team that are playmakers. They can make plays when the time is right.”

(on creating turnovers) “That’s the key to every game: the turnover ratio. It’s what every statistician looks at to see how they lost the game. It’s about taking care of the football on offense and getting the ball out on defense. We won that battle today.”

SAFETY D.J. SWEARINGER (Transcribed by Trevor Caswell)

Spoiler

(on if the roughing call was a horrible call) “In my eyes it was, but it’s all good. It is what it is. They call what they want to call, it’s football.”

(on being a targeted player for calls by refs due to reputation) “It is what it is. Whether it’s fair or not, I’m going to play ball the way that I’ve been doing it. It’s not going to change, it’s never changing and it never will. I’m just going to play ball the way that I know how and if there’s a target on my back, it is what it is.”

(on getting revenge when J.J. Watt caused a fumble the next play) “The ball doesn’t lie. All of us are going to play ball the way it’s supposed to be played. We try to shy away from the penalties as much as we can and just play football.”

(on getting a sack) “It felt great, first career sack.”

(on thoughts on his forced fumble) “He wasn’t supposed to catch that ball from the beginning, it was my bad on the coverage. We had to finish, I just thought I’d strip the ball out and I got it out. It was just a play of me finishing, and I made a play.”

(on how the defense played) “We played great, six points. Six points, if we can do that every game, it’s going to be hard to beat us.”

(on being disappointed after his forced fumble) “I was disappointed because of my miscommunication with one of the safeties. We sort of left a guy running, so I was disappointed at that. We’ve got to get that corrected. I made a play on the fumble, but we’ve got to get that corrected.”

(on how much better can the defense get, based on its performance today) “The sky is the limit. All I can say is the sky is the limit for this defense. When we get everybody clicking on the same page it’s going to be tough to move the ball on our defense and score.”

(on thoughts on J.J. Watt’s performance) “He’s the man, he just got the ‘hundred mil’ (million). He got it for a reason, you can see that. The blocked field goal was huge, the sack, everything man, J.J. is the ‘hundred mil’, so he’s supposed to do that.”

(on how he got the sack) “It was sort of an instinctive play. I was dropping back in coverage and as soon as I saw the boot, I thought I could take off and have time before he released the ball, and I guessed right.”

(on having Brian Cushing back) “It feels great, when I first got here, me and him were in the middle when I went down to dime, so it’s great to have him back. We give each other that look and we get the defense on the same page, so it’s great to have him back.”

DEFENSIVE END J.J. WATT (Transcribed by Laci Theriot)

Spoiler

(on his recent contract extension) “I am just having fun.”

(on the feeling and importance of this game from last week’s game) “I feel like we play a big game every week- it sounds cliché’. That is absolute from the truth. I want to go out there every single week and put out a great performance for this team, and as a whole, I want to play good football.”

(on goal as an NFL player) “Like I said all along, the goal is always be great. I don’t want to be that guy that people say that got money and shut down. I want to work hard every day- whether it is workouts, practice, games, and improve.”

(on today’s win against the Redskins) “It is excitement. I feels really good to get a win and we will enjoy it here for a little bit. At the end of the day, you have to realize it is one win. Wins are extremely hard to come by in this league. It’s been a while since we have had that feeling. It’s really nice to have that feeling again, and we want to keep that feeling. We want to have it at the end of the day and the only way to do that is to work at it”

(on the importance of special teams) “One of the big things that Coach O’Brien always talks about is complimentary football. There are three phases of the game, and we need to perform well in all three. When those three work together, that is when you really have success. Today, was a great example of that. The offense had that big touchdown by DeAndre (Hopkins), and then immediately after that defense went out there and had a stop, and then a punt block came through. That is a perfect example of all three phases working in conjunction together. The more that we can do that, the better we can be.”

(on importance of two turnovers in red zone) “Huge. Those were really big plays, especially the long pass. That’s one of those plays where it could be a little bit on the borderline for your team if they get into the end zone there. You have guys not giving up and you have guys giving everything that they have to the team. That’s huge.”

(On his sacks and hits during game) “I got a few hits today- I got the one sack, I was hoping for a couple more, but at least I got one.”

(on today’s plan and strategy against the Redskins offense) “I think it was a team effort- with a guy like that (QB Robert Griffin III), obviously, very athletic, he moves a lot and he is very fast. You need to have everybody on the same page and everybody putting in their effort, and I think we had that today. We had guys coming from everywhere, whether it was me or Cush (Brian Cushing), and when everybody chips in like that that is when defensive is fun. Everybody is playing, everybody is flying around, as a team.

(on Brooks Reeds’ performance) “I think he played very well. He had a heck of a game. That is a lot of fun to see. He works really hard.”

(on his first defensive tackle in the first quarter) “It was a great way to start out, definitely. You get in a situation like that with a third and one- you have to be tough and stand up, let’s see what you got. Our defense did a good job.”

(on Alfred Blue’s performance) “I have not talked to him yet. That was a successful play- to not only block it, but to pick it up and score, for a rookie is pretty high on top right now.”

(on expanding the J.J. Watt Foundation and community relations efforts with his mother) “Definitely, my mom needs all the help she can get. She is crazy with the work that she takes on. The biggest thing with the foundation and what we are trying to do is to make sure that we give every dollar that we can back. There are a lot foundations out there that do all these great things, but they have such high expenses. With my foundation, we try to keep the expense to a minimum and give most of the money back. It is so important to me and with every endorsement deal that I do there is usually some kind of foundation aspect to it.”

(on what the team did not accomplish during the game) “There are always those things. There nothing super big in mind that sticks out right now, but I will go back a look at the film. There will be plenty of plays. We can always be better.”

(on Brian Cushing’s return to the defensive line) “It feels really good. He is a great player and teammate. It is good to have that guy next to you.”

(on learning from today’s game and the future of the rest of the season) “I think it is definitely something to build off of. I think that complementary football is a big deal. I think you need to be able to play within the team. Another big thing that Coach O’Brien talks a lot about is everybody having a role. Some of those guys have different roles within the team. It is important that everybody knows that and plays that role. Whether it is going out there to score touchdowns or getting sacks, everybody has a job. If you play within the system and you do your job right, you can do great things. You need to do it week to week, practice, and do it all over again.”

(on the crowd pumping the team up) “It is the best. I love the crowd. We love playing for these fans and at your home field, and as an athlete and competitor that is what gets you through the game. It is a whole lot of fun and we hope that it stays like that way all year.”

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...postgame/644d6c0a-7ac3-41ca-9c7d-43e8a1ed6563

 

With New England losing yesterday, the Texans now have the longest active winning streak in week 1. Yesterday's win was their 5th straight on opening weekend.

Quotes from Bill O'Brien from Monday's press conference:

Head Coach Bill O’Brien

Spoiler

(opening statement) “Good afternoon. Like I said after the game yesterday, it was a good win—a really good way to start the season—but it’s one game. There are many things that we have to improve on. Offensively, we have to be more consistent running the ball, more consistent in our passing game. Defensively, we have to be more consistent in stopping the run. I think overall, we did a nice job on defense, but there are things that we definitely need to improve on. Stopping the run more consistently is important. Special teams wise, we have to get our return game going, our punt return, kickoff return—just get guys understanding the intent of the return and we’re working on that just a little bit more to improve. So we’ve got a long way to go, but like I said after the game, it’s a good start to the ‘14 season.”

(on if he can provide the update on OLB Jadeveon Clowney) “Right now, he underwent arthroscopic surgery this morning and he’ll probably be out from 4-6 weeks.”

(on if OLB Jadeveon Clowney’s surgery was to repair a meniscus) “I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know. It was just something, they went in there and tried to fix it and it seems like it went well, and he’ll be out 4-6 weeks.”

(on if OLB Jadeveon Clowney got injured coming down on a seam of the grass trays) “He didn’t say anything to me about that. From looking at all the angles on film, he just came down awkwardly. Most of those types of injuries are non-contact when you look back at those injuries, they seem to be non-contact. He just jumped in the air and came down a little awkwardly on it. Like I said, he’ll be out for a while and the next guy will have to step up.”

(on if he has a problem with the turf at NRG Stadium) “No.”

(on OLB Whitney Mercilus stepping in for Jadeveon Clowney in his absence) “He went in there and did a good job. That’s what I’m saying. Injuries in this league occur all the time. Every team today is sitting here with injuries. That’s just the nature of the game. It was a very physical football game on Sunday. Like we’ve said from day one, we’re trying to put together the strongest roster possible. It’s something that we work on every day, Rick Smith and myself. In this case, Whitney Mercilus went in there yesterday and did a nice job. He got pressure on the quarterback, played the run well and he just needs to keep continuing to get better and better and I think he’ll do that.”

(on if OLB Whitney Mercilus is a different player now than he was earlier in camp and how much he’s grown in this system) “I’ve seen that. I think he’s a very improved player over the last two or three weeks. He’s coached very well with Mike Vrabel and Mike is a guy that is very detail-oriented with him. I think he’s learning the scheme. I think it’s different than what he played in the previous scheme. It’s not the easiest thing to learn right away for some players. He’s improved over the last two weeks. Like I said, hopefully he’ll continue to improve. He went in there yesterday and did a nice job for us on defense. That’s what we’ll be looking for in the next few weeks.”

(on if he will cater the outside linebacker position to Whitney Mercilus than he would Jadeveon Clowney based on their skills) “That’s another good question. I think with every player on our team, you have to really look at what their skillset is, and what they do best, whether its Whitney Mercilus or Duane Brown. Whatever it is that they do best, you’re trying to fit your scheme to make sure their skillset is accentuated in that scheme. That’s something that we’ll do with all of our players.”

(on how OLB Jadeveon Clowney has handled the news of the injury) “He’s been good. He’s a great kid. He’s a resilient kid. He’s been a good teammate since the day he walked in the door here. He was disappointed, obviously. When something like that happens to a younger player, to any player, the immediate aftermath is you’re disappointed, but we’ve got great doctors here. He’ll be back. He’ll be back. Will he be back tomorrow? No, he won’t be back tomorrow, but he’ll be back soon. The next guy in there, Whitney Mercilus for instance, is going to step up and play well in his place. These things happen. Every team deals with them. We’re no different than any other team. I think J.D. (Clowney) is handling it very well.”

(on QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s play and the pass protection he received from the offensive line) “Fitz did a good job. He did what we asked him to do. He went out there and managed the game. He made really good checks at the line of scrimmage. He’s a smart guy. He’s a really good teammate, good leader. He made really good decisions in the passing game. Even the decision he made on a safety blitz early in the game, he got rid of the ball. It was not a good play call by me and he got rid of the ball. He made good decisions like that the whole game. Like I’ve said from day one, he’s a hard working guy and a fun guy to coach. We’re just going to continue to work together and continue to try to put a good gameplan together every week.”

(on how frustrating it is for OLB Jadeveon Clowney and the organization to be dealing with this injury after the sports hernia surgery and the concussion) “It’s football. That’s just the nature of the game. It’s not a matter of frustration. It’s a matter of, like I’ve said, every team in the league today is dealing with injuries. Like I’ve said, and I think I’ve said it three times now, the next guy steps up. That’s why you have a roster. That’s why you try to put together the most competitive roster you can, so the next guy goes in there and plays well. I think when Whitney (Mercilus) went in there yesterday, he did a nice job. There will be other guys. There will be Jason Ankrah. You’ll see him probably. I’ve had four questions about Jadeveon Clowney and nobody has asked me about Brooks Reed at that position. Brooks Reed played one of the better games that I’ve seen an outside linebacker play in the near past because he went out there and played a very disciplined game, got good pressure on the quarterback, played good against the run game. Brooks was awarded a game ball, along with J.J. Watt on the defensive side of the ball. There are guys in there. There a lot of good players on this roster and those guys are expected to go out and play well and we’re expected to coach them well.”

(on if having players who can play multiple positions helps when you lose a player) “In our scheme, you have to be a multitasker. You have to be able to play in different spots. J.J. Watt is a good example. He’s a guy that can play all across the line of scrimmage. Sometimes, he can play really far outside of a tight end and do different things out there—guys like that, and there are many other guys like that, you look at a guy like Tim Jamisonon defense, who can play nose and he can play end. Guys in the back end who can play corner and safety, there are a couple of guys that could do that for us. That’s one of the things that is really important to us on a 53-man roster and then 46 on a gameday roster, that the guys are able to do more than one job. That’s very, very important.”

(on one guy not filling in for OLB Jadeveon Clowney in his absence but the responsibility being split amongst the team) “That’s right. It’s an interesting point because it will be split up within the different packages. You go from the 3-4 package to a nickel package to a dime package to a penny package. We have a lot of different personnel groupings in which all of those guys are divided up amongst different players.”

(on if he felt the team came back focused after getting the win last night) “I did. We came back in the team meeting and we showed them tape and I felt like they were very focused. They were attentive. They know, form watching the tape, that the coaching staff, myself, that we showed them this morning that there are a lot of things that we have to get better at. It was one game. It was a good start, but it’s just a start. This is such a long season. You know the team that you are right now is really not the team you’re going to be in December. There is so much improvement that has to be made in so many different areas and our team understands that. We’ve got a bunch of great guys in that locker room. That’s one thing that as a coaching staff we talked about his morning, it’s just a really good locker room. There are guys in there that want to do well, that want to improve, that know that they have to play better than they did yesterday in certain situations. They were very attentive to that this morning.”

(on if there was a specific reason why WR DeVier Posey was inactive for the game yesterday) “It was part of the gameplan. We went with more DBs in this game and we went with more linebackers in this game so that affected other positions. Posey is working hard and he had a decent week of practice last week. He’ll always be in the hunt to be in the gameplan.”

(on if the Ray Rice situation will cause them to re-emphasize to the players the importance of what can happen to them if they make poor decisions) “Here, with the Houston Texans, we have a zero-tolerance policy for domestic abuse. There is no question about that. We talk to our players all the time about how they represent this organization and what this organization means to not only the city of Houston, but to the National Football League. I believe we have a really good locker room. A locker room of high character guys and we continue to educate them on things that we think are important.”

(on what adjustments they made to get better on third downs in the second half) “I think we were 1-for-6 in the first half on third down, which is not good. We went in at halftime and we looked at what we were doing on third down and we felt like it was more execution that the plays, so we talked to the players, ‘Hey look, we’re going to continue to do some similar things here, we just need to execute better,’ whether it was the protection or the route running or the read of the play. I think the guys went out there in the second half and executed much better on third down on offense.”

(on Bill O’Brien telling his player that last night was ‘Texans football’ and they needed to ‘get used to it’ and what he means by that) “Yeah, I’m not always real thrilled about those locker room videos. I do them for Coop (Kevin Cooper). No, what I was trying to say there was that I want the players to understand what it takes to win in this league. Every week, it’s a very, very difficult challenge. That’s the one thing that has always stood out to me about the NFL, that every single week it’s a really good coaching staff on the other sideline, it’s a really good bunch of players. Every week is different. It’s a different challenge. The players have to understand each and every week what it takes to win. It’s an opportunistic defense. It’s all three phases working together. It’s the ability to run the ball when you have to run the ball. It’s four-minute offense at the end when you have the lead, you have to be able to keep the ball. I wanted them to understand that and get used to that feeling of, ‘Look, this is what we need to do to win.’ I think that the guys are understanding that and we try to show it to them on tape and continue to educate them on what it takes to win.”

(on Bill O’Brien receiving a game ball) “Mr. McNair gave me a game ball and I was very appreciative of that. I quickly turned it over to the team because I think it’s a team ball, but I was very appreciative of Mr. McNair for giving me that.”

(on if he was surprised that Mr. McNair gave him a game ball) “I was surprised, yeah. I think people here understand how much respect I have for Bob McNair and the type of organization he runs here. When you work for a guy like that, you want to win. You want to win for a guy like that. I was happy and honored that he gave me a game ball, but I felt like the players—we were all in that together. Each guy in that locker room and even the practice squad guys and the injured guys that came down to the locker room after the game, everybody is in this thing together and it was a good scene there at the end.”

(on his thoughts on the NCAA lifting the bowl ban for Penn State today) “Kevin (Cooper) just told me that outside. I think that’s great news for Penn State. Penn State is a fantastic place. It’s a great education, great football program, a lot of good people have done a lot of great things over there in the last couple of years to make sure that they’ve learned from the past mistakes and understood that that’s a special place. I feel very happy for Penn State and mostly I feel happy for the players and the coaching staff that is there now.”

(on how they came up with the ‘pitch count’ for ILB Brian Cushing and the plan moving forward) “We’re going to look at that every week. He hasn’t played football in a while. He’s coming back off of a significant knee injury from last year. He’s had a really good rehab. I think it’s important not to just throw him in there and let him go play 80-85 plays in the game. I think it’s what’s best for the player, what’s best for Brian Cushing, is to manage him back through these first few weeks. We’ll look at it every single week to determine by gameplan and by how he feels—it’s all in consultation with him—to determine how much he plays each and every week.”

(on how hard it is to keep ILB Brian Cushing on the sidelines) “Oh yeah, that’s difficult to do. He wants to be out there. I think in critical situations, he will be out there.”

(on if he was able to attend the Brown University event last night after the game) “That was unbelievable. I was very appreciative of that. A bunch of good guys that played together at Brown. We didn’t play on too many good teams, but we had a lot of laughs together. I think there were about 100 of them and they went to cookout over at Dave Cromack’s house. Dave Cromack is a guy that played with us, graduated in 1992 and lives in Houston. We were very thankful to him for hosting that and we had some laughs and I stayed for about an hour and came home, but it was fun.”

(on going up against QB Derek Carr this week and what his pre-draft evaluation was of Carr) “A good player, accurate passer, smart player, instinctive player. He has good size. A guy that you could tell knew his offense and knew how to run his offense. It seemed to me to be a guy that was definitely going to be able to play pro football. You can see that, obviously Coach Allen has a lot of confidence in him, to name him the starter as a rookie. Obviously, he’s gone in there and done a good job.”

(on his inactive and injured players not being on the sideline during games and if there is some value to having guys like Tom Savage down on the field) “They are in the stadium. They’re at the game, but I think it’s important for the people on the sideline, for most games—sometimes that will change—certain games I may do something different, but for the most part, it’s important that the guys on the sideline are the 46 guys in the gameplan.”

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...n-Monday/ba0573a8-ef3d-4ccb-999a-2b7e1e708fc9

 

Nice video breakdown by John Harris and Bill O'Brien on the 77-yard TD pass to Hopkins and the blocked punt.

http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-med...r-Week-1/e6cf04ff-31c0-404d-9b69-4528c119f4ef