Hopefully this is the game where Waansuck gets canned and Fitz gets benched, but that won't happen. Wish Gailey and his pass happy offense would get canned after this game, but I will have to wait till the end of the season for that. Arian Foster will have a career day. Our defense is hot trash. Texans blowout win. Mario does nothing....again. This is going to be ugly.
Quotes from Wednesday's practice: Head Coach Gary Kubiak Spoiler (on the team’s health in practice today) “(RB) Ben Tate did not practice today. (ILB Darryl) Sharpton still is not on the field. (G) Cody White, our young center/guard, got sick on us today. He’s not at practice. (NT) Shaun Cody did not practice. That’s strictly part of a maintenance program. He will be back out there tomorrow, and (WR) Andre (Johnson) is missing today for some personal issues that he had to deal with today and will be back tomorrow. That’s where we’re at practice-wise.” (on if he’s concerned about NT Shaun Cody’s status) “There is some concern, but he’s been able to work through this. We dealt with some of it last year. We knew we were going to deal with some of it this year. (NT) Shaun (Cody) is able to play and do his job well even if he does miss some time practice wise. We’ve had him on the program now for almost a month .We’re not going to change it. It helps us get these young guys reps too with (NT) Earl (Mitchell) and with (NT Terrell) McClain. We’ll continue this process. We know what we’re going to get from Shaun on game day. We’re just trying to be smart.” (on NT Shaun Cody’s ailment) “It’s a back issue he’s been dealing with. Bottom line, we don’t want to leave his reps on the practice field. We want to make sure they happen on Sundays. He’s been able to work through it and hopefully we keep our fingers crossed that this program we’ve got him on holds him up throughout the season.” (on RB Ben Tate’s status for Sunday) “Yeah, if we’re playing today. It’s day-to-day with (RB) Ben (Tate), actually didn’t even send him to the practice field today, had him stay inside to do his rehab. I don’t know. I’m just going to have to talk to you guys day to day, but if I had to guess right now is he going to be there tomorrow? I would say no, that being our big work day tomorrow, but we’ll see.” (on the Texans’ low average per carry) “We have a lot of carries. We have had some games throughout the course of the season where we’re trying to eat up the clock, so to speak, late in the fourth quarter. I think there is some there, but as coaches you try not to hide anything there. You try to look at the big picture and say our yards per carry is still not good enough. We need some more big plays. We had one big play out of (RB) Arian (Foster) down in New York on the Monday night, but we’ve got to find him some more space and some big plays. If we do that, all that takes a couple big plays and your average goes up. We are running the ball a great deal too. That’s a good thing.” (on if the Texans would look to acquire a running back if RB Ben Tate is sidelined for a while) “We’re always looking. We’ve got three here right now. We’ve got (RB) Justin (Forsett) and then we’ve got (RB Davin) Meggett on the practice squad where we can do something with him if we feel the need when we get to the weekend. We’re always trying to improve our team. We’re always looking at everything that’s going on out there.” (on if there is interested in RB Jonathan Grimes) “I’ve been so busy with the team right now. We know that the waiver wire is out there until 3 o’clock today so I’ve got another hour and 45 minutes here before claims and those type of things have to go in. Obviously, he’s a player that we had come through here that did a good job for us. Whether or not that’s something we’d look at, I’d have to wait and see.” (on if he’s comfortable with RT Derek Newton handling DE Mario Williams) “I’m not comfortable with anybody handling him. He’s a great player. I think we know where he’s going to be the most part. He’s playing on our right a great deal so that means that challenge comes to (RT) Derek (Newton), but we got to help Derek, too. They’re very good up front. The best way to neutralize is to be able to run the ball for us. We can’t put Derek in satiations where we’re in a drop back all day long so hopefully we can help him out.” (on SS Quintin Demps’ status) “He’s doing good. I think our question is we’ve still got (SS) Troy (Nolan) here. The question is as we watch him practice with pads, can he wrap up? Can he tackle? Can he do the things with that cast on that he normal does because we definitely want him back? Tomorrow is a big day with us making a decision whether he’s ready to go back to work.” (on Bills DE Mario Williams returning to Houston) “I’ve got a lot of respect for (DE) Mario (Williams). You all know that. I think a lot of him as a person and a player. He’s a hell of a player. You got to pay a great deal of attention to him. We’ve had a few of these situations come up with some guys coming back here and us playing them whether it’s (TE) Joel (Dreessen) whether it’s (WR) Jacoby (Jones). That’s just part of it, but we got to beat their football team. We got to play good to beat their football team and Mario is a big part of that.” (on the Bills’ running attack) “It’s a tough run game too because it’s not your conventional, I back. They spread the field, a lot of motions, a lot of the three wides, four wides, and then here comes the run game and two very good players with (C.J.) Spiller with the big play. You’re very concerned about that so we’re really having to show our defense a different picture. (QB) Case (Keenum) is very much a part of our practice this week trying to get the look that we need. That’s a tough thing for us to adjust to but that’s part of it.” (on the Bills’ running backs duo ) “I think they have been. If you look at what they do. One is a grinder in there and really just a solid, solid player, has been. The other one makes huge plays and then he goes outside when they empty the backfield and makes big plays catching the ball. It’s a different situation for us. We’d appreciate a lot of noise at our place Sunday.” Offensive Coordinator Rick Dennison Spoiler (on reviewing the offensive line during the bye week) “Little bit, we’re still working with them. A little bit more solid on what we want to try and do as far as rotation, but there’s still a little play. (on if he expects to keep rotating the same games on the offensive line) “Yeah for the most part, I think we will continue to do that.” (on Bills DE Mario Williams) “He’s a very good player obviously and is a tough matchup for everybody. If he moves around it makes it even harder because you can’t turn towards him. They all play very hard up front. Obviously, being a great player and having been around him on a daily basis, I know what kind of disruption he can cause. We got our hands full.” (on what makes Bills DE Mario Williams great) “Certainly his size. He’s big, strong, athletic, fast, what else do you want? He’s very long. Length is a key for offensive linemen and defensive linemen because whoever gets there first tends to win the battle as far as length. He makes things hard for a tackle as far as his length. His speed to power, he has tremendous power. He gets his hips underneath him very well.” (on if he’s comfortable with RT Derek Newton facing Bills DE Mario Williams) “We’ll be working towards that. We have to do a lot of different things. It’s not going to be a one-on-one battle hopefully all day. We have to work the run. We have to do our play action. We have to do a lot of things to keep them as a team, not just (DE) Mario (Williams), off balance.” (on the offense’s play action) “We tend to put our hat on that quite a bit because it helps us with a lot of our big chunks come from our play action and our movement game. If they’re putting extra guys down in there and then certainly the transition from run to pass makes it a little bit harder if they’re always playing pass it’s a lot easier on the takeoff if they have to transition form run to pass. It makes it a little bit harder for them to get any pressure on.” (on RB Justin Forsett’s experience) “(RB) Justin (Forsett), every time we put him in he’s done a great job, practice, games. Obviously his experience plays into that fact, but a lot of times guys are experience in the league but not quite what you’d want in your system. Everything he’s done for us has been great.” (on how important time of possession is) “Obviously, it keeps you on the field and that’s what we like to do. Looking at our stats, we’ve done a nice job with time of possession. Keeping yourself on the field and the times that we’ve felt like we’re struggling a bit is when we’re in and out, three. We like to put series together and keeping those in a manageable distance is the biggest one, third and tens are a lot harder than third-and-fours, third-and-fives. That’s why we also emphasize the run game, try to get our first and second down yardage so that our thirds are manageable if we get to those. Yes, it’s a big key for us to continue and keep drives alive and keep our defense on the sidelines and wear them out.” (on the team’s average per carry) “We’d love it to be higher, but it’s not what it is. We keep working on that. I think we’re lowing than explosive runs. We don’t have those big ones that we’ve had. We looked at that when we could get those and how we can better improve that and hopefully we’ll work on that the second half of the second nine of 16, a little over a half.” (on the team’s practices) “No, we had a little deal on Monday that looked great. Today, with an install of a game plan it’s set up to try and take advantage of a few things that we think we can get in Buffalo. A little slower, but fine, they’ve all been good. They know the situation that it’s not often that you get to a point where we’re doing well and we have a good position in at least our division. It’s up to us to keep that going. They’re very, very focused.” (on if WR Lestar Jean will be more involved) “We do. Actually he looked really good on Monday. We’ll keep rolling him in. Like I said, if guys are making plays they’ll get more opportunity to make more plays.” (on RB Justin Forsett) “Very comfortable, like I said he’s got a great burst. He gets to the hole. He’s not as big as our other two guys, but he certainly runs with power. He’s a compact guy, and he does a great job of pass protection. He knows what he’s doing and he steps up and battles. We feel very comfortable with him going in and playing with however much time we need him.” (on if the game plan changes) “No, I don’t think so. We tend to kind of do what we do, do our game plan’s based on what we’re best at. Like I said, if there is a couple things that we think we can take advantage of we’ll do that but we haven’t changed very much personnel wise because our guys from training camp are molded in what we think we need to do as an offense. We’ll see how that works.” (on resting RB Arian Foster in games) “It might work out that way. It might now. Certainly it hasn’t hurt us to this point right now, and looking at (RB) Arian (Foster) and the pass the more he gets the ball the better of he is. He makes a lot of yards in the fourth. That’s a credit also to our line. We always tell them persistence is key. The three- and four-yarders in the first become 10- and 12-yarders in the fourth if we just keep battling them and wear them down.” (on LT Duane Brown’s success) “Well, talent would be one, obviously. The thing is that (LT) Duane (Brown) has worked very, very hard, had that little lay off a couple years ago where he wasn’t able to play. From that point on, he’s really put his nose to the grindstone. He came back in great shape. I think (Offensive Line Coach) John’s (Benton) done wonders with everybody up front, and Duane is just taking everything he says. He’s very easy to coach. John will give him one thing to work on and one thing to do and he’ll correct it quickly.” LT Duane Brown Spoiler (on if he expects a little noise out of Bills DE Mario Williams) “I don’t know, man. I’m sure he’ll be excited to come back here, be his first time playing here in a long time. I’m just going to do my job, that’s all.” (on the challenge RT Derek Newton faces with Bills DE Mario Williams) “He’s been watching film. He’s a pretty good player in his own right. I’m giving him tips that I’ve learned throughout the years facing him in practice. He’s had a chance to block on him in practice last year, so he has a pretty good idea of what to expect. (Bills DE) Mario (Williams) is a very good player, very physical, one of the biggest, most athletic ends in the league. He brings a nice group of challenges; he’s just got to buckle up.” (on if he’s seen anything different in Bills DE Mario William’s game) “What I watched on film is pretty much the same thing he’s been doing his whole career. Just expecting him to turn it up a notch. There’s a lot to be said about him coming back here. I’m sure he wants to perform. It’s my job to not let him.” (on if he’s surprised that the Bills are using DE Mario Williams on the left side) “No, he went back and forth when he was here. He’s pretty versatile, so I’m not surprised at all. I think early on they played him most on our right but the last couple games they moved him around. I’m not surprised though.” (on if he’s preparing to face DE Mario Williams) “I’m preparing like I will. They have a pretty good rotation of D-ends that they use. But I’m definitely preparing to face him.” (on the attitude of the team) “It’s back to business. We’re far from complacent; we know we have a long season left. We know that this is a game that we really have to prepare for. They have a lot of talent on that team, and they haven’t played that well up to this point but we know better than to think that we’re just going to show up and win. We know it’s going to take our best effort from here on out to win every single game, week in and week out. That’s our mindset.” (on the reception he thinks DE Mario Williams will get from fans) “I don’t know, man. I love Houston fans, and I’m sure they’re going to embrace him, one way or another. I don’t know what they expect for him, but we’ve got to make sure that he’s not on the stat sheet too much.” (on if he thinks it’s fair that fans boo past Texans) “That’s just how sports is. (Bills DE Mario Williams) definitely did a lot for this team, for this city but that’s just how sports are. I can’t say, they might cheer him, they might boo him, you never know. That’s not really my concern.” (on what tips he gave RT Derek Newton) “Just told him to brace for (Bills DE Mario Williams) and be aggressive. He’s a very big guy, very strong. So not anything that he’s faced this year. But he’s prepared, not too much that I can share. Just get ready for him.” (on playing against Bills DE Mario Williams) “We both know each other’s tendencies and each other’s strong points, so it’s going to be interesting. Going against him in practice isn’t the same as full speed on game day. It’ll be interesting, and I’m looking forward to it.” NT Shaun Cody Spoiler (on the Bills) “Their offense is rolling pretty good. Watching the offensive side of the ball, they’re doing a lot of good stuff. They’re putting points on the board and they’re moving it. We definitely have a challenge on our hands this week because like I said they’re moving the ball and scoring points.” (on the Bills’ running attack ) “They’ve got two great backs who do a great of job what kind of run game their running, working. The quarterback does a good job of spreading that ball out. They’re all over the place. They want to spread you out kind of to attack you in the run game so hopefully we’ll be ready for that.” (on if the Bills’ offense is very different from other offenses) “A little bit in that they’re predominately in 11 personnel which is one tight end, one running back. They’re trying to attack you that way. Most teams like to get in with a fullback or an H-back back there, but they’re predominately in that personnel group and they’re trying to attack you in that.” CB Johnathan Joseph Spoiler (on if it’s good to be back in the swing of things) “Absolutely. You know, Monday was a day to get you back used to practicing and today we game plan and got back out, our normal schedule. So today we get a chance to get back out there amongst your teammates and everything. Back to normal.” (on getting back to focus) “Absolutely. The bye week was time to get away from football, get away from everything. Relax your mind, relax your body, have a chance to see your family and friends you haven’t seen in a while. And now obviously of course with the bye week behind, it’s a long road ahead of us because we are looking to go deep into the playoffs and possibly the Super Bowl. Taking it one game at a time.” (on if he healed a little bit over the break) “Absolutely. Any time you have some extra time is always a good thing. For me, I use it valuably to sit down and rest for a week.” FS Danieal Manning Spoiler (on what he expects from Bill DE Mario Williams) “I think he’s going to be hyped up. Definitely coming back home playing his former team, and wanting to show out in front of the crowd, it’s a little bit going back and forth about what type of player he was here and what he’s done for this team. Guys hate to lose him and stuff like that. It’s going to be exciting to see playing this game with us.” (on the team’s attitude at practice) “Guys were definitely eager to get back on the field. Again, just getting back and the pads back on and running around. You get guys a little rusty. You have a week, almost week and a half off from ball, some plays your laughing about because you’re not making them. It’s just fun to get back in the groove. We’re playing against a team that’s definitely capable of putting points up on us and capable putting a big win together if we’re not careful.” (on what he sees from the Bills this season) “I just see the core guys they’re young. They put some guys in. You got an offensive coordinator who’s definitely a smart guy, been around for a long time. I guess it’s just all those guys trying to get on the same page. Like I said, the games that they have won the defense played great and the offense definitely put points on the board. If we can keep them from doing that, stopping them on offense, stopping their running game and the offense continue to hold on to the ball and force those guys to stay in coverage for a long time we definitely can win this game.” RT Derek Newton Spoiler (on facing Bills DE Mario Williams) “It’s going to be a big deal for me this week, a big challenge. My thing is to come to practice every day, get better, and be ready for the game on Sunday.” (on having practiced against Bills DE Mario Williams last year) “Pretty much just keep working, keep working hard at practice, keep working hard to get better, and things will turn out for the best for me on Sunday.” (on the biggest challenge Bills DE Mario Williams presents) “He brings a lot to the table, but at the same time, I’ve just got to be patient and play my game and just be ready for whatever he has for me.” QB Matt Schaub Spoiler (on his Halloween party) “We had a nice little get together. It was fun to get the guys and their significant others together outside of our football world. It was good.” (on who won best costume at his party) “(TE) Owen Daniels and his fiancé won the best one. They were the guys from Dumb and Dumber when they had the orange and blue tuxedoes. It was pretty good.” (on facing Bills DE Mario Williams) “I’m sure words will be exchanged. He was here for how many years and was the face of this organization for so long being the first overall pick. He’s having some success there. He’s a great player, glad to see him doing well.” (on the Bills’ front-four defenders) “They’ve got a great group. Their front four can match up against pretty much anyone in the league. He’s definitely playing well as are all their guys up front. They’re a good group. You can’t really key in and focus on one guy. You got to handle the whole group.” (on combating the Bills strong front with a good running attack) “Yeah, against anybody’s good pass rush that’s what you got to do. You’ve got to keep them guessing. You can’t get in situations where they can just pin their ears back and rush. You’ve got to be able to run the football, be able to run your action game, and keep them off balance from that standpoint.” (on Bills DE Mario Williams) “He’s a great player. He’s definitely one that you’ve got to be aware of where he is. (on facing the Bills) “It’s a football game. We’ve got a game to go win. We’re going to be pretty charged up and excited to go get our seventh win this week.” (on his bye week) “It was good to get away the point in the season where we’re at being that it was week eight. We’ve been going at it since the start of camp so it was good to get away, get refreshed, our minds, our bodies and come back. We had a great practice on Monday competing against one another and get back into football after a few days off. Guys are refreshed and ready to go.” (on if he’s concerned about lost timing after the bye week) “No, we’re not concerned about that. We’ve been going at it long enough. We have enough veterans that have been together now for how many years. A few days off isn’t going to hurt us.” (on RB Justin Forsett) “He’s been a good player in this league for a few years now. He’s demonstrated it to us as teammates that he’s going to be ready when called upon. Every time he’s been in there he’s performed whether it be in the run or the pass game so we got a ton of confidence in his ability and what he can do for us.” (on if he evaluated his performance during the bye week) “That was the thing that we did last Monday and Tuesday and early in last week, was just evaluate ourselves, kind of a midseason report of our offense and what we’ve done well, what we need to work on, things that maybe we won’t do these as much because it hasn’t been as productive. It was more of a self-evaluation those days. We feel pretty good about the direction we want to go and continue towards.” (on his discussions with the coaches) “I think the comfort level between myself and the coaching staff; I’ve been around these guys for a number of years so the comfort level is there to where they ask my opinions. They ask me what I’ve liked and what I’ve disliked and vice versa. It’s great interaction because we’re all in this together. We’re all on the same page of wanting to improve and continue to climb the mountain. Those talks were great last week.” (on watching the Bills on film) “We just turn on the film and to be honest with you, you see a ton of talent. You see a lot of good players making a lot of good plays. In this league, anyone can win on any given day. They’ve got an offense that can score points with the best of them. Their defense can make a lot of plays. They’ve got a lot of ball hogs in the secondary. Like I said, their front four can match up against any group. All you got to do is turn on the film. For us as a time, it’s about what we do. We say that a lot. You got to focus on our jobs and what we got to do to be successful.” (on RT Derek Newton’s improvement) “A ton, (RT Derek) Newton has really got a ton of confidence right now. He’s really challenged himself to get better every week, every practice, and he’s done that. The more reps and game experience he gets the more confident and the better player that he becomes. You can just see it on game days. He’s very confident in what he can go out and do.” (on G/C Ben Jones’ improvement) “(G/C) Ben’s (Jones) a hard worker. He goes out every day looking for things to improve on. You know if he’s going to make any type of mistakes he’s going to do it a thousand percent. He’s a hard worker who’s going to give you everything he has on every play. Like (RT) Derek (Newton), every playing time that he gets, every snap and rep that he gets he’s only getting better. Those two guys next to one another have really improved for us.” (on the work that is still to be done) “We realize the length of this season and the marathon that it is. You don’t win any prizes at week seven to be 6 -1. We know there is a ton of work to be done. We got to put ourselves in a position to do some great things, but we know that we’re only as good as the week in front of us.” (on succeeding with time of possession) “I think the big thing is keeping them manageable, being good on first down and being able to put ourselves in third and mediums and not put ourselves in those third and long situations. The thing is we’ve got a lot of playmakers. When you have that amount of weapons at your disposal, it puts stress on a defense in their matchups. They can’t necessarily focus on one guy to cover. They got four or five that they got to worry about. That plays in our favor.” (on if he has a favorite Halloween costume or memory) “No, not many. I’m working on those right now, making those with my little ones at home and our family working on making those Halloween memories, dressing them up.” DE J.J. Watt Spoiler (on attending the Justin Bieber concert) “It was really good. I was there with the Berry children. Justin (Bieber) has done a lot with the Berry children and I was there with them to meet Justin. It’s good. I have a lot of respect for him for what he did for those kids and obviously he does a lot of charitable acts, so it was a good time.” (on how it feels to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated) “When I was kid, we would go to Disney World and you do those photos where you put your face on the SI cover. Now my face is actually on the SI cover. It’s pretty cool. It’s surreal. It’s an honor. It’s just one of those things you dream about as a kid. It’s one of those things that you grow up looking at the cover and imagining yourself on the cover. To be on the cover, it’s very, very cool.” (on if he believes in the Sports Illustrated cover jinx) “No, I believe hard works cures everything. I don’t believe in jinxes. I don’t believe in sophomore slumps. I don’t believe in any of that. I believe if you work hard and you do things the right way you’ll be just fine.” (on his picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated) “It’s pretty cool. I think it’s pretty cool. Obviously I know wall the emotions that run through my head when I come out of that tunnel so it’s cool to know what it feels like in that moment.” (on when he first saw the cover)” I saw it yesterday. Obviously, a lot of people tweeted it to me and sent it to me so I saw yesterday. It was pretty cool. I had to check with a couple different sources to make sure it was real. When I found out it was real, it was pretty neat.” (on if he was surprised at all at being on the cover of) “I didn’t know they were going to do that. I got the picture and was pretty shocked. It was neat.” (on the Bills running game) “I think they’re number three or number four in the league, very good running team. They have a couple good running backs. They do a lot of good things. They’re explosive. You’ve got (C.J.) Spiller who can do a lot. Obviously (Fred) Jackson is a good runner, do a little bit with the Wildcat. Like I’ve said every single week, we need to stop the run first and that’s always our first goal.” (on the Bills spread like offense) “They definitely try and spread you out and still run the ball. I think if we play our game, just execute our assignments and do what we’re supposed to do we’ll be just fine. It’s always about us. It’s always about the way we play. We’re very confident in our scheme. Opponents can throw whatever they want at us, but as long as we execute and do our job we’ll be fun.” (on time of possession) “It’s huge. We want to get off the field. We want to give our offense the ball back so they can go do what they do so getting off the field is a big deal to us obviously. We want to be number one so it’s another goal to strive for.” (on his bye week) “It was great. It was great for me. Gets your legs back under you, got to go home, see both my brothers, see my family, hang out, just relax, still did a lot of working out, a little bit of stuff aback home so it was good. It also rejuvenates you. Not playing on Sunday, it’s nice, but it’s also frustrating. You want to get back out there. You’re hungry. You’re ready to roll so chomping at the bit for this Sunday.” (on his community involvement) “The community is huge to me. I’m a firm believer in if we want people to come out and support us then we need to give back and support them. Our fans are so great. They’re unbelievable all around town. I want to give back as much as I can and it’s so important to me that kids get the same opportunities that I got growing up. Obviously, that’s the whole basis behind my foundation. I was very fortunate. I understand I was very fortunate growing up as a kid and I was given many great opportunities. I don’t want kids to have to suffer because adults can’t afford those opportunities for them. That’s the whole basis behind my foundation. That’s why I give back when I do. You never want to see kids sad. You never want to see kids have to go through a tough time so any chance that we can put a smile on a kid’s face, even for five seconds, that’s a huge deal. I love doing that and I’ll continue to do it until I’m done because we have an unbelievable platform as football players as NFL players the world kind of looks up to us. I feel like it’s our job. It’s our duty to put on a good show and be a good role model for those kinds and be someone that they can look up to.” (on the Berry’s children and his involvement) “It was great. Those kids, they’re a riot. It was Peter’s (Berry) birthday and Justin (Bieber) took the cake and smashed it in his face so they loved that. They’re just great kids. It’s unbelievable to see their spirit. To go through what they had to go through at such a young age and see the way they bounce back, they’re so lively. I’m going to check out one of their basketball games here soon. They’re in a basketball league, a wheelchair basketball league. Last year they did wheelchair football. It’s just crazy to see as adults I feel like I would have such a hard time handling that and they’ve done an unbelievable job. They keep their composure. It’s just such a rewarding feeling to get a call from them or to see their smiles when you walk into a room. It lights up your world. It’s so cool and it’s so neat. Last night was great for me. It was a really cool experience to be with them just hanging out a little bit.” (on his success and goals) “I haven’t reached all my goals yet. It’s easy to stay focus when there are still things you’re working towards. There is a lot more things out there that I want to get done. The SI cover is nice but it’s not anywhere near my ultimate goal. I have a lot more things on the checklist. Every time I set a goal and I reach a goal, I have a new goal that I make. There is so much more we want to do as a team. We understand what it takes to get here. I understand what it took to get on the cover of SI and I also understand what it’s going to take to stay at this level and keep playing this way and our team to keep playing this way. Like I’ve said before, it’s a what have you done for me lately league. They can love you one minute and hate you the next. You just got to keep playing, keep doing what you do. I was brought up to work hard. Hard work is always going to be the basis of everything I do.” (on if there has been some rust coming off the bye week at practice) “No, I think coming back even on Monday. Monday we had a real great practice, high speed, high energy, high tempo. Today was good out there. That’s one thing we attack every practice with focus and intensity. We’re not out there just going through the motions. Everybody is trying to get better and that’s what I love about this team. That’s what I love about these guys is everybody is practicing with a purpose. Nobody is just trying to get by.” (on if he attended QB Matt Schaub’s Halloween party) “I did not attend. I felt like it was a little more of a couples party and I’m a single 23-year old. I didn’t have a date.” (on his Halloween costume) “My costume, I don’t have a costume. I’m giving out candy tonight so I dress as me. I don’t know. I’m not that creative like that.” (on the fan support) “It’s unbelievable. It’s extremely humbling. I’m almost at a loss for words at it. Just to see how much support, people are tweeting me their Halloween costumes. They’re carving out pumpkins that look like me, and they’re dressing up like me. Everybody is getting birthday gifts and it’s my jersey. It’s unbelievable. Probably the biggest surprise to me was at the concert yesterday I walk out and there is a whole bunch of little girls screaming my name and I’m like ‘Are you sure you know who I am? You’re not supposed to know me. I’m a football player.’ It’s really cool to see how all demographics, all ages, all sizes, male, female, there are so many fans and I think that is what’s awesome about Houston. It’s a football city. It’s a football town. These people love their ball and it’s really cool to be a part of that. I sure hope I’m a part of it for a long time. I love it here.” (on his favorite Halloween memory or costume) “I used to dress up as a Power Rangers all the time. I think I went as a Power Ranger three or four years in a row when I was a kid. I was red two years in a row and then I think I was the white one time. I’m big into hockey so if I dressed up, I would probably be a hockey player nowadays. You’re not going to see me dressing up. I’m not that creative and I definitely don’t have that much time on my hands to go get a costume. I’ll just throw the candy at the kids. They enjoy it. I know my house last year by the end got popular because I give out the big candy bars. You know how the kids are. They go crazy for that. I’m pretty sure a couple kids switched costumes and came back last year. They’re sneaky. They know what they’re doing, but I’m excited for tonight. It’ll be good. Hopefully, it stays safe.” Buffalo Bills Head Coach Chan Gailey Conference Call (Courtesy of Buffalo Bills PR) Spoiler Q: What jumps out at you defensively about the Texans? A: How hard they play. They are very active. They are very good tacklers. They play fast every snap. Q: How do you stop DE J.J. Watt? The other coaches we have talked to on conference calls have not come up with an answer that has worked yet. How do you take care of Watt and at least limit him? A: I think that is the $64,000-question. How do you do that? We are just going to do our stuff and hopefully we can get on him, occupy him long enough to get some runs and get a pass off every now and then. He is a dynamic player to say the least. Q: On the other side of the ball, RB Ben Tate does not look like he will be able to go this week. How much does it help you when you are game planning that the Texans are not going to have that two-headed attack on the ground? A: It always helps to take a good player off of another team, but to say they do not have enough weapons would be a misstatement. They have plenty of weapons. It is not like they will not be able to execute what they want to be able to do. They have done a good job using both of them, but I think they will be just fine. Q: A lot of people down here in Houston think WR Andre Johnson has lost a step as he has gotten up in years, do you see that when you look at film of him? A: I know one thing—he still scares the daylight out of you. If he has lost it, it is hard to see it that much for us. Maybe the people that play him more and see him more than we do might have a better idea than us. We do not see him that often. He looks great when we watch him. Buffalo Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick Conference Call (Courtesy of Buffalo Bills PR) Spoiler Q: Can you talk about when you watch the tape of the Texans defense, what stands out to you? A: Yeah, there is a lot. They are a top defense for a reason. I think you start up front and the pressure that they get on the quarterback. Some of it just from straight rushing, some of it from blitzing and some of it the games that they run, but a lot of pressure on the quarterback and they bat a lot of balls down. I know that there has been a lot made of that and that they are very effective at doing that. They are tough on the backend too. They have created a lot of turnovers and big plays on defense. They are playing really well. Q: When you talk about the batted balls, you are right they have been able to do that. A lot of clubs have tried to stop that, but what have the Texans done to be able to overcome that? A: I think they just have players up front that just have a good feel for it. There is not a whole lot you can do as an offense to stop that. I think they have good defensive linemen that have a good feel for it. Q: When you watch DE J.J. Watt on tape, what comes to mind? A: Relentless. He obviously makes a lot of sacks and bats some balls down, but he does a great job in the run game as well getting off blocks and creating havoc in the backfield. He is a guy that has been playing at a very high-level this year and a guy that really jumps off the tape when you watch it. Q: The Texans have talked a lot about your run game and how effective it can be. How much can you use that to off-set what they are trying to do with their rush and batting down passes? A: That is just part of us and our identity. I think we have two real talented tail backs and two guys that we need to get the ball. They are explosive players. That is something we try to do all of the time. Just get them their touches. We expect them to make big plays for us. That is always helpful when you can get the run game going. Q: One more thing about this batted ball deal. Do you have to kind of just put that out of your head and not let it affect you mentally knowing that they constantly always have their hands up trying to get in your passing lanes? A: Yeah, you just go about your business. There are too many things I am thinking about. It is something I cannot worry about. If it happens, it happens. Q: What is your biggest concern with this defense when you look at the film and the Texans? A: There are very few deficiencies. You look at them across the board statistically. Sometimes statistics lie, but they are in the top of the league in everything. You put on the tape and the stats do not lie. These guys are a great defense. Relentless was a word that I used for J.J. Watt, but it is their whole defense. It is their whole front seven. Just getting after the quarterback and playing hard. It will be a great challenge for us. Q: Do they remind you of any other defenses you have faced this year or recently? A: No, I do not want to throw out any comparisons or anything. We have played some good ones, but these guys are right up there. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...practice/6269dabb-9722-4ed6-ac0f-ccc9a9aed32f
Ben Jones will once again start at RG. Although Caldwell will rotate with him, Jones has moved in front of Caldwell on the depth chart. Game Release Flip Card Injury Report (Updated Thursday and Friday after practice) Preliminary roof report: Closed Uniform: Blue jersey, white pants TV Distribution Map (Texans game in blue) Win Probability Graph (will be live shortly after kickoff) Spoiler <iframe width="500" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="http://live.advancednflstats.com/featureGraph.php?team=HST" name="game" ></iframe> Go Texans!
I like the fact Ben Jones has emerged as the one at RG...I think next year he will improve even more..
There was talk in the organization that Mario's performance was due to the defensive players around him. The organization did not believe Mario to be worth anywhere near the top defensive players in the league money. Check the tape, a lot of slap boxing with offensive lineman and sacks coming after coverage delayed the QB. Bottom line, they never felt Mario had the tenacity to become monster on defense similiar to the Reggie White's, Joe Greene's etc...
The turf they purchased for the other games is a decent system for the games they'll be using it for (I work for a competitor). That said, they need to ditch the tray system. Most of the bad mouthing about synthetic these days comes from people who still think it's akin to what is laying in piles on the Astrodome floor. It's anything but that now. Today's turf systems are safer than natural fields in cutting and in helping to prevent concussions.
Interesting... An objective post from DonnyMost! I almost lost hope for you, but you came through in the nick of time lol. Confession : Kevin Walter seems to be playing better this year. As for the game, I'm expecting a win. Offense : Bills can't stop the run to save their life. Run, run and run some more. Bootleg to the opposite side of Mario should be a recipe for a W. OD should have a big game. Save AJ for next week. Defense: Linebackers have to show up and not make this a 4th quarter game. Spiller/Jackson have to be contained(esp in the flats) . Fitzpatrick doesn't worry me since he can't go deep. So our safeties will have opportunities to make plays in the run game or against intermediate passes. No let down before Chapter 3: Bears
Umm, we disagree about a few players (Schaub, Walter, etc), but I don't think either of our posts about the team in general (its strengths or weaknesses) are off-base or homerish much. Nothing that I stated in that post have I not already said in so many different words already (run defense suspect, Schaub's limited attempts, etc.) before this week, or even this season (except for the right side of the OL, them struggling is a new issue).
Consider me killed with kindness. All I can say is..... You're right. I guess objectivity/perspective is not dead on Clutchfans. As for HeySchaub.......
Quotes from Thursday's practice: Head Coach Gary Kubiak Spoiler (on the team’s health) “We had two guys that did not practice today. (G/C) Cody White continues to be sick and so we kept him out of practice. Then (RB) Ben (Tate), obviously, did not practice today. Other than that, we’re back to work, a few guys on a limited basis but back to work with everybody.” (on RB Ben Tate’s status) “I think I’ll know tomorrow. I’ll have a pretty good idea tomorrow. I knew he wasn’t going to work today with us being in pads getting back in our pads for the first time in over a week. We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow.” (on the military members attending practice today) “We had all the military at the barbeque before practice and we invited them all out to practice. We had a pretty good crowd. They watched about half of practice. It seemed to add a little juice to our players. I think they enjoyed it too, so got a chance to spend some time with them after practice. I think the organization does a tremendous job with this weekend for our troops so a very special day.” (on RB Jonathan Grimes’ quick return to Houston) “He sure did. He actually came running in the building at about a quarter to 12 and he went from a handshake to kickoff. He’s back to work real quick. He knows what we’re doing. He’s a very smart young man. It’s great to have him back, doesn’t happen like that very often. We knew we probably lost a darn good young player, but fortunately found a way to get him back. Happy that he’s on our team, he’s going to be up this week and he’s going to contribute somehow, someway. He’ll play for (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe (Marciano). He did some special teams stuff for us in the preseason.” (on TE Owen Daniels this season) “He’s playing very well. He’s having a really good year, just very consistent I think (TE) Garrett’s (Graham) development has helped (TE Owen Daniels) OD. I think I’ve said that a few times. What’s OD now? Year seven? He’s been with me here from the start. He’s mastered our offense. OD can miss some practice time and go play a game plan or operate a game plan without any problems so we’re able to rest him more. He’s a fine player. His career speaks for itself. He’s been a pretty consistent player the whole time. The only thing that’s held him back is a few injuries, but other than that he’s been a very good player.” (on if TE Owen Daniels is as strong as he was before his injuries) “I think he is. (TE Owen Daniels) OD, I could be wrong, he’s overcome two different knees if I’m right. One in college and then one here. That’s very hard to do. It tells you what type of worker he is. I would say he’s playing right now as good as I’ve ever seen him play since he’s been with me and he’s played pretty darn good in the past. Hopefully, we keep our fingers crossed here, he stays healthy. He’s on his way to a big year.” (on the Bills kick return game) “I told my team that we could singlehandedly get beat by these two returners. They’re excellent, punt return, kick return. Obviously we started over from that standpoint with the bye week and our approach and what we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to get better. It couldn’t be a bigger test for us right off the get go. If we’re going to change our field position, we’re going to have to get better in those two phases of the game. It will be as difficult this week as it’ll probably be all year so it’s a big challenge.” (on K Shayne Graham’s kickoffs) “I don’t think you can all of a sudden say if he’s kicking it two yards deep say it’s got to be out of the endzone. You can do what you can do. He does directional kick pretty good. The thing we’ve noticed he kicks off pretty well early in games and as the game goes on, they’re not as good. So we tried to focus on that trying to keep him focused on some things we think can help him. We’re going to have to be smart some of the things we do kicking the ball, too. If you know you can’t kick it out of the endzone then you better know where you’re kicking it and how you’re going to cover, so we’ve got our hands full there. Hopefully we can start to improve that this week.” (on if some starters will play on special teams) “I think you’ll see that as we go. We’ve got some guys working there, taking some reps there. When you’ve got a guy playing 60 plays, you hope that you can rest him on special teams, but I think the further we go, if we’ve got to call on a (WR) Kevin Walter or somebody to take a snap or two special teams, they’ll be ready to do it.” (on SS Quintin Demps’ status) “We don’t take people to the ground, but watching him practice today I know he had one interception. He might’ve had two so he’s using his hands good. He’s big to our team. He’s played well for (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe (Marciano), so all the indications today coming out of the padded practice that he should be ready to resume his role this weekend. So that’s important to us.” (on NT Shaun Cody’s status) “He’s fine. He operates on a limited basis in practice, but he had his pads on. He took nine-on-sevens, so that’s encouraging. He’ll work tomorrow. We’ll keep him on that program all year long. We know what we’re going to get from (NT) Shaun (Cody) and there is no reason for us to leave his reps on the practice field.” (on SS Quintin Demps ) “He’s a pro. He’s been doing it awhile, and he’s very demanding guy with his teammates and with his special teams guys. He plays the game physical so if we get down on the box and their running the ball nickel and we got him on the field, we feel good about him tackling, doing some type of things. I think we’ve missed his time on the field. I think it’ll be good to have his presence back.” (on honoring the troops today and all week) “It’s special for various reasons for me I don’t want to get into. I do know that my trip the NFL gave me the opportunity to go on a couple years ago really touched me with what they do and how positive they are and what they do. Just to have their families out there today and we’re starting to see a bunch of them. We’re starting to see a bunch of them for a second and third time come out to practice. I commend our guys. Our guys are excellent with them, spent a lot of time with them. Like I said, the organization does a great job. It’s a great weekend for them, and hopefully we can make it a little bit better.” (on why the Bills have a poor run defense) “They’ve been on the field I think more than anybody. I’m not positive with that, but I want to say time of possession-wise they’ve been on the field a bunch. When that happens that means somebody is probably running the ball on you. I don’t know. I got to stay focused on what we do and for us running the ball is very important. That’s the only thing I can think of right now.” Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips Spoiler (on his time with the Bills) “Obviously, I coached there six years, which really is the longest I’ve ever been anywhere. It was a privilege to coach for Ralph Wilson who was in the Hall of Fame, deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and an honor that he picked me as a coach there, as it was with Jerry Jones and Pat Bowlen, and even Tom Benson on an interim basis and Arthur Blank on an interim basis. I don’t have anything against Buffalo. I worked hard and tried to do the best I could do there and moved on when I had to. As far as any ill feelings or vengeance or all that, I’ll leave that to somebody else. I had a great time there. I enjoyed it there. Like I said before, if I had a vengeance against people that let me go then it’d most of the teams in the league.” (on if he misses shoveling snow) “I had somebody do that for me. She’s still with me though.” (on the Bills’ playoff loss to Tennessee when he was Buffalo’s head coach) “It was a low point but it was really a high point. Obviously, they had a great team. They were undefeated at home. It was 16 seconds left, we were ahead of them. It was almost a miracle victory for us. It was still a forward lateral, but that’s neither here nor there.” (on the Bills’ offense) “They’re averaging a 150 yards a game (rushing), 5.3 rushing. They’re the best running team we played against this season. They’ve got two really good backs. Both of them are capable of making big plays and they do. They’re a spread-out kind of offense so they spread you out. It’s more like a college offense than what we see every week. They’re spread out all the time. They do a lot of empty stuff. It’s a different situation, different challenge. Of course it is every week, but they give you a challenge especially in the running game because they have really good runners and their offensive line is good. When they get them all healthy, they’ve got a really good offensive line.” (on if there is any part of the defense that he isn’t satisfied with) “Coaching probably first, we can always do better. You don’t look at stats for everything, but I think it gives you a gauge on how you’re doing in most areas. We’re pretty strong in a lot of areas our guys don’t make many mental mistakes. I can think of one that we had against Green Bay where we didn’t cover a guy at all. Most of the time we have people-on-people covering them, guys rushing, our guys on the right responsibilities as far as the run is concerned. Our assignment football has been good. It’s always working on technique, which you try to get better. We have great effort. Our team plays with great effort.” (on if he thinks the Green Bay loss was an aberration) “We think so. I’d like to play green Bay again, see what happens.” (on playing against DE Mario Williams) “It’s a little bit different with players, I think. Almost every player I’ve been around, of course coaches can’t go out there and get anybody anyway, but players most of the time, they play harder or better against the team that they were with before. That’s what I’ve told my guys before. If you could play that good against your former team then you need to play that good every week. That’s what we expect of you. It’s motivation. With players, a lot of it is motivation to do better. It seems that for whatever reason even though they’re happy, even though they seem they’re not mad at the team they left, they tend to play better.” (on if it’s uncommon to lose a player like DE Mario Williams and have the defense not be affected) “We had time to adjust because it was really four games and nine plays is all he played last year. We had a chance to adjust defensively and see what our players could do. We had some guys come in that played tremendously well for us, obviously.” (on the crowd possibly booing DE Mario Williams) “They booed me when I went back to Buffalo. I did the best I could do. You’ve got to figure that’s going to happen.” (on people who think DE Mario Williams failed in Houston ) “No. (DE) Mario (Williams) played well for us the early part of last year.” (on OLB Whitney Mercilus having a larger role) “He showed some things last game, which we gave them an opportunity and took advantage of it. That’s what you ask players to do is when they get the opportunity try to take advantage of it. Once they do that, they get more playing time and more opportunities.” (on OLB Whitney Mercilus’ confidence level growing) “He and (OLB) Connor Barwin, you can just tell a difference even though both of them are doing well and what they did. You can tell confidence wise both of those guys are just stronger mentally.” (on SS Quintin Demps) “(SS Quintin) Demps practiced, except for two broken arms he’s doing pretty good. Actually, it’s an arm and a thumb.” (on SS Quintin Demps returning) “He’s a good player. He was starting for us in our nickel stuff and third down stuff. It’ll be good if he can get back and play.” (on if SS Quintin Demps can tackle) “I think he can. We’re not tackling, but I don’t think he’ll have a problem with that.” (on the Texans defense) “You really have to play good pass defense in this league. Our emphasis and everybody says, ‘Oh, you all don’t have a good enough running defense,’ and all that stuff at times. I just think we try to play really good with whatever the other team does. Our guys are focused on the two running backs this week. If we can stop those two guys, then that’d be a big part of winning. Our guys have learned to win. I think that’s probably the biggest thing is they’ve learned how to win.” (on ILB Barrett Ruud’s status) “We let (ILB) Mister Alexander go. I think he’ll probably, (Head Coach) Gary (Kubiak) can tell you more, but he’ll probably be active this week. He’s learned the defense, but you’re still playing with a guy that you hadn’t had. He’ll see limited action that way. We’d like to get him back in, because he has been a good football player in this league.” OLB Bryan Braman Spoiler (on stopping the Bills kick returners) “Just play the game plan that’s given, (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe’s (Marciano) drawn up a pretty good game plan. He’s given us a lot of good information for us to use so that way we can take their special teams out of the game.” (on what impresses him the most about the Bills) “They’ve got a good return game and their coverage game isn’t real horrible. We’ve kind of struggled in the return game. Their coverage game can obviously hurt our return game. Their return game can obviously hurt our coverage team. It’s something that we’re really emphasizing this week as far as their returners and making sure that we’re getting our returners going. We’re out there concentrated on that in practice. Hopefully we can get it going.” (on how the Bills’ return game compares to others) “They’ve got two returners back there. Normally the other teams that we faced have one returner back there. That’s an angle that we’re having to take a look at. (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe’s (Marciano) got us drawn up a pretty good game plan for us.” TE Owen Daniels Spoiler (on the challenges of helping block Buffalo DE Mario Williams) “Well, we know what type of player he is. I saw it for six years. He’s a big, physical guy. He’s good (against) both run and pass, I think. He’s really, really stout against the run and obviously a really powerful pass rusher. We tend to face guys every week that we kind of have help on. Don’t want to leave the tackles on an island too much. It’s good to get help from time to time. We’ll do what we usually do. But we know he’ll be ready to play, for sure.” (on his mindset going against a guy like DE Mario Williams who he’s gone against a lot in practice) “Same mindset. I don’t think because we know Mario (Williams)that things will be too different. I’ve got to be really conscious of fundamentals because he’s such a big guy and has such long arms. I need to pay attention to that and be on my game that way. Any way we can help out Newt (RT Derek Newton) and (LT) Duane (Brown), it’s going to help our team, for sure.” (on Head Coach Gary Kubiak saying this is the best he’s seen him play) “It’s good to hear that from him. Really good to hear that from him. I feel good. This is the best I’ve felt physically in a long time. I think it show up on Sundays. They’ve been taking really good care of me, obviously during camp and throughout the first half of the season, giving me breaks and taking reps off, just so I’m fresh on Sundays. I think I’m pretty good about making sure that I know what I’m doing mentally. So missing a couple reps during the week isn’t a big deal. It pays off on Sundays.” (on if he thinks he is playing as good now as when he made the Pro Bowl) “I think I’m more complete, honestly. I’m playing a lot better against the run, a lot better in pass (protection) than I was back then. I know I’m stronger than I was back then. I think I’m just a little more stout. I was younger then. I was like 26 years old. I’m getting close to 30, but I feel great. I feel as good as I did back then.” (on his route-running ability) “I played a bunch of sports growing up. Being able to use quickness from basketball, explosiveness from track and field, stuff back from high school I think that helped me transition when I was at Wisconsin, getting into route-running, just having a feel for it. I don’t if I think that just came naturally, but that’s something you’ve got to work on because guys in the NFL are good. They’ll watch film and they’ll catch up to you. You’ve got to change things up and keep people off-balance that way. I’ve continued to work on that and will continue to as well.” (on if there is a difference taking care of his body now compared to when he was younger) “It was just easier to recover back then. But I learned doing things differently in the offseason, making sure I’m eating right and doing the right things after practice during the week to make sure my body is as fresh as possible for Sunday. You didn’t have to pay as much attention to that when you’re first coming out of college. You learn from older guys. You see (WR) Kevin Walter and (WR) Andre (Johnson) taking care of their bodies. It’s no surprise that they’ve been playing as long as they have and as well as they have. I just try to learn from those guys.” (on if anything happened that made him alter how he takes care of himself) “I don’t think so, nothing really specific. I think, as you get older you just find ways to make sure you’re feeling good when you start training camp, make sure I did all the right things all offseason to make sure I’m feeling good and fresh and not overdoing it. Obviously you want to work hard, but you want to work smart as well. You don’t want to wear yourself out before things get going too much. I think I’m a couple years removed from injuries and had a healthy season last year, for the most part, under my belt. And that helps going into an offseason, where you can just focus on getting fresh and getting in shape. You don’t have to worry about rehab and stuff. I think that has a lot to do with it.” (on keeping his mind as well as his body fresh) “I think anytime you have a chance, we were talking about the bye week, to be able to get away, obviously taking care of your body, having a rest in that fashion helps out. You also have got to be able to get away from it mentally, so you can come back in the building, be fresh and ready to go that way. So much of the game is mental. I think it’s mostly mental, honestly, especially playing tight end in this offense, you’re expected to do a lot of different things. That makes it fun and making sure you’re fresh mentally is really important going down the home stretch in the second half of the season.” (on how long after his last knee injury did he feel like himself again) “That’s a good question. I’d like to say earlier than I probably was, in reality feeling great. I know I felt pretty good at times last season. I kind of felt like I was wearing down toward the end of the season. Sometime during last season I felt pretty good and I felt more explosive. Definitely this offseason with what I was doing with training and with Ced (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Cedric Smith) and the guys here felt really, really good.” (on if the success he is having this season may be because he is feeling better) “I think so. I can see, I can look on film and tell a difference with the way I’m moving this year compared to last year. I can probably show anybody and they can probably recognize it. That’s what I like seeing. I’m excited to see that and hopefully I can continue looking like that on film and I can continue moving around well. That’s where I’m at right now.” (on how his relationship with WR Andre Johnson has grown over the years they have played together) “I love playing with Dre (WR Andre Johnson). It’s an honor playing with Dre. He’s in my mind, the greatest, if not one of the greatest all-time. His game has helped me out a lot. I think the success I’ve had has had a ton to do with what Dre’s doing on the field. You’ve always got to have a safety over the top with Dre. He’s always getting help. There’s two people paying attention to him at all times, at least two people. That kind of leaves everyone else kind of manned-up. I take pride in beating man coverage. Just what he does out there gives us more opportunities to make plays. I’ve seen him grow as a player over the years. His talent is just limitless in my eyes. I’ve seen him get better at catching the ball from the time I was a rookie to now. He’s always been a hard worker. He’s always been the hardest worker out there. It’s amazing to see a guy as talented as he was, as a good a player as he was when I came in in 2006 to progress the way that he has and fought through in injuries and stuff like that and still be a positive leader for this team. He’s definitely opened up more. I think I was as a rookie, obviously, a little bit in awe of Andre. I think most people who come in here are. Still in awe but I can actually talk to him and we can joke around and stuff like that, as much as you can joke around with Dre.” (on if there are any tight ends he has tried to emulate) “The whole paying attention to tight ends was new for me because I only played it a couple years in college. I was more focused on the quarterback I wanted to be like. But since I’ve been in the league, one of the things I do every offseason is look at film from other player, other guys that are productive guys in the league that can run, that can catch the ball, that can block. I’ve always looked at a guy like Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, those type of guys that have been consistently productive and have been doing it for a long time. And there’s other guys on that list but just try to see what they’re doing and see what I can get from their game to improve my game.” (on what he wants to see from the offense coming out of the bye week) “Well, there’s a lot of things we need to work on, like starting faster. Those last few weeks before the bye we didn’t really get off to really great starts offensively. It took us a few series to get going. It was almost like we were waiting for something to happen before we got going. So if we get off to a faster start like we were earlier in the year and putting a great drive together and getting points right off the bat is big. We’ve been pretty good on third downs and I mentioned this before, being perfect on third-and-short yardage, third and 1 and 2. Since we pride ourselves in running the ball, being able to get a yard, if they have everyone in the box, it shouldn’t matter. We still should be able to get it. Those are the two big things that I think if we can get better there, we’ll be able to stay on the field longer and keep the ball in our hands, keep our defense off the field, keep their offense off the field, give us a lot better chance to get some more wins.” (on if he remember tearing his ACL against the Bills in 2009) “Yeah, I remember that day. I had done it before a couple times, so I knew exactly what happened right when it happened. It was tough for a lot of different reasons. I was playing well. The team was playing well and it was the best start we had had. At the end of the day on that Sunday I got hurt, we ended up winning and we were 5-3 and in control of our own destiny at that point. So not being a part of it from that point forward, that’s a nightmare as a player, having to watch your guys go to work and not being able to help them out. It’s always tough that way. Thinking about the road ahead, obviously, is tough, too.” (on if it’s tougher or easier coming back from an ACL injury when you’ve been through it before) “I’d like to say that in my mind it was going to be easier but it ended up being harder. I knew the lay of the land, I knew the ropes, in terms of what it was going to take getting back to rehab and how patient I needed to be. But I don’t think I was back as quickly as I wanted to be. I had a setback during the rehab, so that hurt. But we made it through that. I think it’s tougher because, probably because I was a little older. The body doesn’t react as quickly, doesn’t recover as quickly when I was 18 and hurt my knee. It was a tougher road. I wish it would have been easier.” RB Justin Forsett Spoiler (on if anything has changed for him this week knowing he could play a lot on Sunday) “Nothing has changed for me. I try to go out every practice and work as if I’m going to get time in the game. That way I’m not surprised or anything like that going into the game I’m ready for it.” (on this opportunity on Sunday) “Anytime I can step on the field and show what I can do is an opportunity for me. I’ve been in this league a long time and I still carry a chip on my shoulder. I still think I have something to prove every time I get on the field. It’s a great opportunity for me to seize.” (on Head Coach Gary Kubiak’s confidence in him) “That feels good to know that and the guys around me encouraging me and telling me they believe in me. It’s awesome to have that. I’m excited to go on the field and prove them right.” SS Quintin Demps Spoiler (on his injuries this season) “It’s crazy. It’s been a struggle, but without no struggle you can’t get better. I’m just looking forward to getting back on my teammates and making progress.” K Shayne Graham Spoiler (on the challenges of facing two kick returners) “Wherever the ball is, it’s going to be in someone dangerous’s hands. It’s not completely out of the ordinary to have never seen it before. I’ve seen it quite a few times. It’s always different. Every team is coached up differently and placed in different spots on the field. It’s just something you adapt to.” (on if he’s prepared to make tackles) “I think every time we line up we’re ready for that. We hope it doesn’t come down to that. Sometimes you make those tackles. I’ve made some of those tackles since I’ve been here and I’ve missed one of those tackles since I’ve been here. My job is to play my role on that team. If it comes down to making a tackle, then that’s what I’m willing to do.” RB Jonathan Grimes Spoiler (on how it feels to be back with the Texans) “It’s really good. (Head Coach Gary) Kubiak and (Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager) Rick Smith always said I had a home here. It’s just good to be back home, feels really great.” (on his arrival in Houston) “I got here around 11, like 10:15 and came here and got on the field as soon as I could.” (on him playing Sunday) “Alright, ready to go to work. It’s just good to be back and be back in this system and everything.” (on what he plans on adding to the team) “Whatever they need me to do, whatever role they want either on offense or special teams, I just want to contribute positively every play.” WR Andre Johnson Spoiler (on if it feels good to be back to work after the bye week) “It’s good. Football is always good. It was different. We had a little break, but I think it’s something that was needed for the team. Guys were a little banged up, but that’s just part of the game. We had a little break to get fresh and get ready to play nine straight.” (on the challenges the Bills present) “I think they’re a very talented football team. You can see it on film. They just haven’t been able to put it all together yet, but they definitely have a lot of talent. Like I’ve said before, you can’t overlook anybody in this league. You have to come and play every Sunday or you can be beaten. We’re going to go out and prepare and do what we need to do just like we do for any other team.” (on how he feels) “Yeah, I’m fine. I think week by week my body feels better and better. I’m fine.” (on TE Owen Daniels and this offense) “(TE) Owen (Daniels) is a great player. He’s runs great routes. I think that’s one of biggest things I recognize about Owen when he first got here, the way he set guys up when he runs routes and things like that. He means a lot to our offense. He’s another big weapon for us. He’s a Pro Bowl-caliber tight end. He’s on a great pace right now so far this season.” (on if TE Owen Daniels looks as good as he did before his injuries) “Yeah, you can tell he’s much more comfortable out there when he’s running and stuff with the ball. His running form and everything, he looks like he’s much more comfortable. He’s running a lot faster and things like that. Sometimes when you have those injuries it just takes a little time to get back comfortable especially when it’s dealing with knees and stuff like that.” (on facing Bills DE Mario Williams) “It’ll be different, but we’ve still got to go out and play the game. He spent several years here, and I’m pretty sure it’ll be different for him just being in the visiting team locker room. Pretty sure he’s going to come out with a lot of emotion and things like that. You can’t get caught up in all of that. You still have to go out there and play the game.” (on the Bills defense) “Like I said before, I think they’re very talented. You just see sometimes where they do things to hurt themselves when they bust a coverage or something like that. I think overall they’re a very talented group. It’s just about them putting it all together. They rely on their front to get pressure on the quarterback. They have a good front. We have to go out and protect (QB) Matt (Schaub). We as playmakers have to go out and make plays on the field.” (on why he’s wearing a Rice hat) “I haven’t had a haircut in a few weeks so I don’t want you all to see my hair.” (on if he knocked off rust earlier this season from missing preseason time) “When I actually sit down and think about it, the past two seasons I’ve missed a ton of football. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve really done a full training camp. Those are things that, training camp, even maybe full OTAs, those are things that get you ready for the season. I’ve missed a lot of that just battling through different injuries and stuff like that. I think now I’m just starting to feel faster, feel a little bit more flexible and things like that. I think my play is kind of starting to show it because I’ve had a few people that come up to me and say, ‘Hey man, you look like you’re feeling more comfortable out on the field and stuff like that.’ I’m starting to feel better and like I said before, every week I feel better.” (on if it’s exciting to feel that good right now) “Yeah, hopefully I can keep feeling better as we keep winning and it can just carry on throughout the season. Knock on wood, we just hope nothing bad happens.” (on his missed practice yesterday) “I just had something personal that I had to take care of. It wasn’t nothing about no injuries or nothing like that. It was just something personal off the field I had to take care of.” DE Antonio Smith Spoiler (on what concerns him the most about the Bills) “What concerns me the most is they got like a lot of things that we haven’t seen. That’s what I would kind of feel antsy about is that the offense they run we haven’t seen this year. They spread people out, but yet they still run the ball effectively. It’s something we’re going to have to adjust to and figure out how to play.” (on if the Bills’ offense reminds him of college offenses) “Yeah, basically. Basically a lot of the college teams are running that style of offense. When I was playing, Texas Tech used to kind of run it. Oregon is kind of running it now. If you’re familiar with that, you know it’s just a spread-out offense where they’re throwing quick, short passes to pick up first downs, but yet they still got a good running game, keeping you off your toes.” (on if he’s talked to Bills DE Mario Williams) “I’ve talked to him via text. Right now, he’s playing tough like I ain’t getting under his skin. I ain’t really messed with him yet, but that’s my brother. I’m like big brother, so I’ve got to mess with him.” http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...practice/99135258-6711-40a8-bc02-f7320176466b
^ great quotes by O.D. It's no wonder why when everyone has been healthy, this offense has been one of the best. Great chemistry. As for this game, Buffalo is one of those sneaky teams that if you're not careful they'll be up 14 points in the first half. Their defense is very uncreative and basically play man coverage, which will (schaub detractors close your eyes and don't read) give way for some big play opportunities down field. Texans win 35 to 17 after digging themselves from a 10 point buffalo lead. Things to look for.. *Our D against their running backs, as they have a really nice one and two punch. *Their special teams are a threat every time they touch the ball. have we fixed those holes in the kicking coverages? * & finally, Newton vs a motivated mario. Our young RT has been tested from the get go. Can only hope to see him improve so he's battleready come playoffs.
Somehow, I want to get all that our Texans don't get showcased in more zip codes as far as that map is concerened... but then I realize we've not done so well in "national" games... and it's all back to with me.
Nor, apparently, is abject stupidity. It's Hey No.... oh, wait just a minute... I see what you did there. You replaced the "Now!" with "Schaub" because I've been praising the QB of a team that is 10-1 in his last 11 starts. Also not dead on Clutchfans: hilarity. Good to see though that you're still moving your target with your "chapter" nonsense. Never satisfied; still constantly searching for the next, "I toldya so!" eh? As predictable as a Houston summer. If they thrash the Bears, we'll all eagerly await "Chapter 4: the Patriots," followed by "Chapter 5: (first playoff opponent)"; "Chapter 6: (next playoff opponent)"; "Chapter 7: Super Bowl"; "Chapter 8: ubigred Takes His Own Life"
Roof closed?? What the hell was the point of spending $50m+ on a retractable roof if the damn thing is never open?? That 50-80 rule is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. How often, at noon, in the city of Houston, is it EVER between 50-80 with a ZERO PERCENT chance of rain? Complete waste of time and money to have that thing if it's never going to be used. Sorry, I just had to get that rant off my chest.
It was all great until someone had the **** ***** ***** idea to open it up for boiling conditions in a home opener against the Steelers for "homefield advantage". I wasn't even in the sun and I was a miserable puddle long before halftime. Steelers pasted us and laughed about it not being the first time a team tried to punish them in road black unis.
Only way Bills have a chance is to keep our offense out of the game, but the way they have been playing D I don't see that happening. Texans W 34-13
