i guaranteed you if I was a god like andre johnson, I'd rather get hit on the head and be out for a week or two, spend it trolling on internet forums than be out for a year by getting hit on the knees. You're going to start seeing more of these injuries since you can't hit up top in fear of getting a costly flag. It's only a matter of time before it's considered an illegal tackle. Poor keller career probably lost.
I'm a little confused: I saw several sack dances last night, but they didn't throw any flags... why not?
The initial reports were overblown. These are things that were in the rulebook last year. It's just that some refs let it be known that they were going to be better at enforcing them now. It's still mostly about not directing the actions towards your opponents.
Next to last play in the first quarter, Keenum's first pass of his first drive. I'd forgotten about that.
If only that leg wasn't planted, Keller could still be playing right now. That really sucks. Hate to see anyone, especially a guy trying to prove himself, go down without a fight.
Ask NFL players what they would rather have...a concussion or an ACL injury... Bottom line, DJ's tackle is more dangerous to an athelete, but as the NFL has made it next to impossible to tackle a receiver high without appearing as a vicious hit, low tackles are going to be more common place. And as offensive players try juking and trying to gain additional YAC...they put themselves at risk for low tackle injuries...Feel bad for Keller...what a terrible way to go even before the season starts...
Has this been posted? There's a different camera angle to the hit. http://msn.foxsports.com/lacesout/dustin-keller-suffers-ugly-injury-against-texans/
I still find it really weird... The first press release said no to a big long list of items, which included sack dances and saluting. Then the NFL clarified that saluting was ok as long as it wasn't directed at an opponent, but they did not say the same thing for sack dances. I'm actually glad they aren't flagging the celebrations, but just confused as to why they aren't seemingly following the rules.
what a complete and utter cop out. dont aim for the head or anything below the knee. What is so difficult to understand about that? Above the knee below the head. That is a huge target area. This isnt rocket science. That play by swearinger is one of the dirtiest plays i have ever seen and that type of play should be outlawed and dj should be fined and or suspended.
Assuming it is a straight line tackle with people of same heights, yes this is extremely easy. However that scenario hardly gets played out, you have supreme athletes making moves, and people of different size and statures, and most of these people are fighting for jobs so a broken tackle might mean not being on the 51. In football i can target your chest, you duck i hit helmet. I can target your thigh you spin/jump hit your knee. It isn't easy to make form tackles every time.
are you fk'ing blind, contact was on the THIGH which last i checked is above the knee and below the head
what happens the year after this is implemented and 17 of the 32 injuries where concussions or head injuries? would this be better?
Never mind that 9 of the 17 ACL tears were to defensive players who were not being tackled. You'd feel that way now. I bet when you were 45 and having all sorts of brain problems, you might feel differently.
NFL players suck at tackling, it's all about blowing up the ball carrier. Launching whether high or low should be illegal, hit wrap up and tackle.
Swearinger, if you'll notice, hit Keller's leg above the knee. Unfortunately, it just so happened that Keller planted the foot, thus causing all the problems. It's not Keller's fault, and it isn't Swearinger's fault. Swearinger didn't have tunnel vision on the knee, and tackle that particular area. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if Keller's foot wasn't planted, he'd be good to go fot the next play. It was a clean hit, imo.
I don't know. If I played in the 80s when I made 90,000 putting up solid numbers I would sue the NFL for not warning me. But playing in 2012, All I'd be thinking is ..straight cash homie. what's the saying youth is wasted on the young. On a side note, Why haven't aikman or steve young, who suffered a concussion every other play not get in on the lawsuits? I think they would remain silent even if they developed something just because they still enjoy being around the nfl commenting and still bringing in the cream. who knows though. ha, this game thread has derailed a little. All things considered, Deandre should just chill til week one.
Quotes from after the game: OWNER BOB MCNAIR (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub) Spoiler (on backup quarterback battle) “I think it’s making both of them play better. They both had great nights. I mean how could you complain about either one? I’m proud of both of them.” (on the first two games) “Yeah, I think the team’s coming along. Of course, several of our key players only played a few plays tonight. (DE) J.J. (Watt) came out and (ILB) Brian (Cushing) came out and when they come out there is a difference in the defense. When they were in there, boy they were just flying around the field and I was really pleased to see them.” (on ILB Brian Cushing being out there) “I was pleased to see his quickness. That’s the big question and he’s got the quickness. He can get out there and run with recievers and cover a lot of ground.” (on the new video board) “I think the fans loved it. I thought it was great. It was exciting and, you know,the picture is so clear and it’s so large that it’s just really easy to keep up with what’s going on. Plus you got all the other statistics up there so you can be kept well informed to what’s going on.” HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (Transcribed by Tiffani Walker) Spoiler (on WR DeAndre Hopkins) “He got a concussion. I don’t know exactly what play it happened on, but I thought something was wrong. He seemed a little woozy. I told (Wide Receivers Coach) Larry (Kirksey) to get him out of there and then we checked him out. He’s fine now, he’s doing fine, but we’re obviously going to put him through the protocol. I think it happened on the first or second ball that he caught in the game, I think.” (on if he took a knee to the helmet) “ I have to go look. I have no idea. I just know that we ran another play actually on the interception, and he looked like his legs went out from under him. He just didn’t run the route, didn’t get his depth, stumbling all over the place. I told (Wide Receivers Coach) Larry (Kirksey) to check on him and then we got him out.” (on not using DE JJ Watt much during the game) “I want to make sure he is ready to go. I told him I would let him rush a passer a couple times and that is basically what we did. He will play a little bit more this week, but he’s been dominant in camp and been unbelievable, so we thought this week, the best thing to do was try to give him a few pass rushes and next week we’ll pick it up a little bit.” (on overall who has been playing) “We have so many guys we are trying to look at and we have so many tough decisions to make. You see me throwing it with these quarterbacks trying to make a decision; trying to play all these running backs. The defensive line, we are very competitive in a back up nature right now. So we have really got some tough decisions to make and the bulk of those decisions are going to come over the course of this next week with some of these veteran-type backup players. We want to play most of our young guys in the last game. (on LB Brian Cushing being back) “He told me he would play 10 plays, and the 10th one was awesome and it was going to be a sack. It could have been as good as it could possibly be. That was his last play and we got him out of there. I’m proud of him. I told him going out of the tunnel today, ‘welcome back. I’m proud of you. You worked your tail off.’ He’s got a lot of confidence right now and for him to get out there and get hit on again and all that type of stuff is a big step in the right direction.” (on the backup defensive unit) “We played really good in the second half of both games. I don’t know if anything is ever fixed, we get nine penalties and two turnovers and still win, that’s a good thing. We’ve got some things to clean up. We have some young guys doing some good stuff, I saw (LB) Willie (Jefferson) do some good stuff, looked like (NT) Daniel Muir did some really good stuff. T-Mack (DE Terrell McClain) did some good things again. Like I said, our back up defensive linemen is a competitive situation.” (on DE Trevardo Williams’ sacks) “It’s good for him. He needs something to (give him) confidence. Sometimes as a rookie you are just swimming in information. When you just throw them out there sometimes their talents take over. So it was good to see some good things happen to him. He’s been beat up, so hopefully it kind of propels him a little bit the back half of this preseason.” (on RB Deji Karim) “I was disappointed on how we ran the ball in general. I do trust the young man; he’s played a little bit in this league. He does all the right things. We can always do things a little better. But there is something about him; you can trust him. I think he did some good stuff tonight. He does a good job on special teams for (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe (Marciano). He’s got some kickoff return abilities. He’s the one who has probably been the most consistent of the four young guys.” (on WR Lestar Jean’s night) “Lestar has been playing well. Last week he had some good things happen to him, and some bad things happen to him. He has a short memory, comes back and makes big plays this week. Lestar has come a long way. And that is going to be important because we cant overload (WR DeAndre) Hop(kins) as we go into the season. We have to do things the right way. And Lestar playing at that level, and (WR) Keshawn (Martin) playing at that level, helps us keep (WR) Andre (Johnson) and Hopkins fresh (on running a variety of offenses) “We are bouncing around in personnels. Of course you had the turnover there early, but we moved the ball. We’ve been throwing the ball around pretty good. I think in camp we’ve been throwing it pretty good. Our quarterbacks have been pretty solid. (QB) TJ (Yates) is solid again, and (QB) Case (Keenum) makes some really nice throws in there. But, we have to be a little bit better running the ball. More consistent running the ball, but a lot of that is probably on me at this point because I’m wanting to look at those quarterbacks so much” (on the competition between TJ Yates and Case Keenum) “The easy way for me to answer that is to say they’re both doing their job. They are making really hard on me, they are both doing good things, and that’s a good thing for our team” (on the play of CB D.J. Swearinger) “I have to go back and look. I can’t just sit here and talk about it. It looks like he was little more solid in his coverage. He had some issues, some assignment issues. Looked like he did a little better for (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe (Marciano) on special teams. We got banged up at safety tonight. (S Shiloh) Keo’s got a quad contusion, (S) Eddie’s (Pleasant) got a knee, he banged his knee pretty good that we’re looking at. So we got really short at safety, real quick tonight with Ed out, so we had to struggle to get through.” (on if CB Brandon Harris has played safety) “Something we have talked about. That’s where he ended up and we’ll see. B-Money is a good football player. He’s smart. I think he could probably do anything we ask him to do. He’s gotten a lot better as a player.” (on the total yardage) “We moved the ball well last week and this week. The thing I’m bothered with right now is the penalties. But, it might be a good thing. Last week we walked out of Minnesota, didn’t have many penalties and didnt turn the ball over. Usually doesn’t happen the first time out. This is a great reminder, that hey, we have to have some discipline in what we’re doing, and that’s on me. I have to make sure we’re disciplined in everything that we’re doing and that we’re not giving up plays that we’ve made, or giving up free plays on the defensive side of the ball. So we have to be really hard on ourselves the next couple of days.” (on how close the competition between CB A.J. Bouye and CB Roc Carmichael) “I would say Bouye, Roc and (CB) Brandon (Harris), that is a very competitive environment going on right there.” (on the play where the Dolphins player was injured and if they talk about tackling technique) “I really didn’t see the play, exactly what happened on the play. Obviously the target level for everybody is the chest down. You hate to see anybody get hurt. I don’t know what happened. But the kid, he’s a fine football player and you hate to see anybody leave the field like that” (on his biggest concern after two preseason games) “There are many things. I don’t have one thing. The hardest thing right now is that I know I couldn’t make a decision today if I had to pull the plug on a lot things going on with our team. But maybe that’s good. I have to find out a lot more in the next two weeks. It puts it back in the kids hands that are playing. The young kids have to step up and do it.” (on the competition between T David Quessenberry and G/C Ben Jones) “I couldn’t tell you. I can’t see all that close enough. I know the second group offensive line we struggled in some things we were doing. They were both playing together at one part of the time, where Ben was playing enter, and he was playing guard. We’ll just go look at it. The nice thing is we’re deep and that is all you can ask for.” TACKLE DUANE BROWN (Transcribed by Adrian Jones) Spoiler (on backup quarterback competition between QBs T.J. Yates and Case Keenum) “It’s a great deal when you have two guys battling for this backup spot that are as talented as those guys are. They really work hard at it. Watching them go to work day to day, both of them really want to be great, and you can’t ask for more than that.” (on the importance of the third preseason game against the New Orleans Saints) “(It is) very important. We are looking to play the most football that we have played as a starting unit. We have got a very good team coming in here. They test us every time we step on the field against them. So it’s going to be good. We felt good tonight. (We are) just going to try and take another step forward next week.” TIGHT END OWEN DANIELS (Transcribed by Hank Nathan) Spoiler (on the depth of the tight end position on the team) “Yeah, I think we’ve got a really good group. We’ve had a pretty good group here all along, but with myself and (TE) Garrett (Graham) and (TE) Ryan (Griffin) coming into the mix, a couple of the young guys, (TE) Jake (Byrne) who got a chance to play the last two weeks, and (TE) Adam Schiltz as well. All guys can make plays and help us out. We use the tight end a lot in this offense. It’s good to have some depth there to give guys blows, keep guys fresh and give the defense a lot to worry about.” (on the way QB Case Keenum played tonight) “Yeah, I think Case has been doing a great job this camp. You can tell he’s grown a lot this past year with the offense, getting more confidence. He can throw the ball as well as anybody. It’s just getting those reps and getting the feel of things. I think he’s done a good job.” (on how it felt to get into the end zone) “It felt good, man. It’s been a while. Good to get into the mix and being able to score, a little icing on top of it.” (on how much he works with the other tight ends after he’s done playing in the preseason) “I definitely watch every move when they’re out there. See how I can help them out when they come to the sidelines. They don’t need a lot of help, but I give them as much as I can give them tip-wise and how they can maybe do a little bit better or make it easier for them next time out.” TIGHT END GARRETT GRAHAM (Transcribed by Matt Bodiford) Spoiler (on the improvement by QB Case Keenum and QB TJ Yates) “Yeah, you know they’ve been battling all camp long, and both are doing a great job. It seems like one will make a play, and the other guy is right behind him making another play. It’s great to see that competition, and it makes everybody better, and it gets those two better. It’s good to see, and we’ll continue to move forward.” (on the areas that both QB Case Keenum and QB T.J. Yates have improved) “A lot of the time, I don’t really know who’s throwing the ball until I go back, and watch it on film. I’m not a quarterback coach, but they’re both doing great things. Kubs (Head Coach Gary Kubiak) always talks about how quarterbacks are going to run this team. They’re going to lead us, and they’ve done that tonight, and they’ll continue to do that.” (on what he sees in TE Ryan Griffin) “He’s been great for us, and has done good things for us in camp. He’s able to stretch the field, and can hold up on the line of scrimmage. He’ll definitely help us win some ballgames this year.” WIDE RECEIVER ANDRE JOHNSON (Transcribed by T.D. Durham) Spoiler (on WR DeAndre Hopkins’ status) “Yeah he’s fine. He just got a little woozy on a pass he caught, but he’s fine.” (on what he likes about the Texans’ offense when QB Matt Schaub gets outside the pocket) “A lot of big plays come off of that and we’re able to throw the ball down the field and stretch the field a little bit. It’s been working for us over the years and it’s still working right now. With certain teams, it works better against, and it worked for us tonight.” (on the competition for the backup quarterback position) “I think we have three guys that can go out and get the job done. Right now I think all of them are playing well. I think (QB) Case (Keenum) is making a big push. Right now I think it’s just going to be a tough decision that’s going to be made. I think all (QB) T.J. (Yates) and Case are both playing their butts off. And that’s all you can do. You can go out and play as good as you can and you have to leave everything up to the coaches because they get the final say-so. So as long as you know you put yourself in a good situation, you can be okay with it.” (on having ILB Brian Cushing back on the field) “You know, he’s a big part of our defense, he’s a big part of our team. It was great just to have him back out on the field. I think it got everybody excited just to see him back out there because we know what he went through as far as with the injury and stuff. Anytime you get a guy back on your team like that who was a big part of your team, it excites everybody.” QUARTERBACK CASE KEENUM (Transcribed by Adrian Jones) Spoiler (on his performance) “I thought I did some things well. There were a couple of third downs, we converted on some. But there was one I have to watch the film again to see, it kind of went by fast. I tried to force on in there. I thought I played well. There’s obviously areas, like footwork, mechanics, and a few decisions. Operation of the offense, we had a couple penalties that were on me, and missed a few receivers. I have to watch the film again.” (on playing with the second team unit) “I think we did a pretty good job of knowing what to do from top to bottom on the depth chart. No matter what receivers are in there, backs are in there. I think we were able to do a lot of stuff last week and even more this week. Just another week of camp, another week to put stuff in and install and build on what we have learned.” (on WR Lestar Jean’s performance) “Star did a great job. He’s got a knack to get open, and made a big play on that fourth down. I think we had him on a couple other ones that I was flushed. He did a great job. I like when he has the ball.” (on his continuing progress) “[I am becoming] really comfortable. Trying to get as many snaps as I can under center, as many game-time situations that I can be put in, I think I am getting better each time.” (on current position battle for backup quarterback between himself and QB T.J. Yates) “It’s not my job. My job is to go out there and play. I think T.J. played really well. He made the offense play pretty well tonight. I think we are making the team better, both of us.” QUARTERBACK MATT SCHAUB (Transcribed by Shelby Wells and T.D. Durham) Spoiler (on his impression of the progression of the offense tonight) “Yeah, it’s just the natural progression in preseason, going into the second game. Get a few series, we want to move the football, be precise with what we’ve got going on. We had nice strides that ended in a touchdown. Obviously we had a couple mistakes. We had a sack, had a turnover. We’ve got to clean those things up but the guys looked sharp in what they were doing.” (on what impresses him about DeAndre Hopkins) “He just comes in every day with a workman like mentality. He just wants to get better. He’s all ears. He wants to listen, learn, understand the route adjustments, and everything that he’s responsible for in our offense. When you have a guy like that, it’s a great foundation that goes along with his physical gifts.” (on him enjoying watching the backup quarterbacks QB T.J. Yates and QB Case Keenum) “It’s fun watching those guys grow and learn and how they go and take things from the practice field, from the meeting room and then come out here display it in the games. T.J. (Yates) is going in to year three. Everything is clicking for him he understands everything, what everyone is doing mentally. And Case (Keenum) has really come a long way in a year from what he used to do in college to how we run the offense. They’re both doing a great job.” (on this year’s team meshing so well during training camp) “Exactly what you said, it’s all about the work. There are always things that we can control, is our play and our preparation on the field and in the classroom. We can’t control the heat we can’t control anything. It’s going to be hot; it’s going to be tough. Nothing’s easy. If it was easy, everyone would do it. It takes a special person and special guys to come and play this game and we just go to work every day to try to get better.” (on the first team offense is playing right now) “We got things going. We got into a rhythm. We had a good series that ended in a touchdown. Obviously we had a sack on one play. It took a while to get the run game going. We didn’t get the positive yards in the run game that we were hoping for and DeAndre was falling down on the pick and the guy made a nice play on the ball. We’ve just got to clean those things up, but it was good to come up with a touchdown on the last series. I thought we looked crisp and sharp and on top of what we were doing and the young guys did a great job coming in also.” (on his concerns about Arian Foster not getting on the field yet) “I’m not too concerned about it. I see him working every day to get back. He busts his tail. He’s working so hard to get back. Something we don’t want to rush. I don’t know the specifics because that’s the trainers and the doctors decisions but I know how he is mentally, how he works and I know when he gets out there, he’s going to be ready to go.” (on his general feelings of after the game) “We had a sack, we had a penalty, things were kind of ugly early and then we put a good drive together as a whole. I thought the young guys played really well, finished the game off. Defense played real well all night. I thought for the ones, you know we started slow but we finished well with the one scoring drive.” (on if he feels happy where the team is at offensively through two preseason games) “I think we’re in a good place right now after two games. We have to go back – we have to be harder on ourselves. Winning is a good thing, but there are definitely things that we can clean up across the board at all positions. Nothing was perfect out there but I feel like we’re in a good spot and we just need to be critical of ourselves watching this film and then go into next week as we treat it like a normal in-season game.” (on the regaining chemistry with some of the veterans) “Yeah, you know it’s huge because a couple of those guys didn’t play last week so it was good to hit Dre (WR Andre Johnson) on the first play and find (TE) Owen (Daniels) a couple of times – just get in a flow, get (RB) Ben (Tate) the ball when he was open on some wide routes. So we were just trying to spread it around. (WR) Lestar (Jean) made a nice play for me working back to the football on the one scramble. But it was good that we made some plays off of timing.” (on the play of QBs Case Keenum and T.J. Yates) “Yeah they did some great things. They got guys in position to make plays and they delivered the football – took some shots for it, but you know they got the ball in the right place. I loved seeing those guys compete and go out there and take what they do on the practice field and in the meeting rooms and then apply it in the games.” (on his own play tonight outside of the pocket) “Yeah, you know we just played our style of offense. We ran some of our keeper game and guys were working for me – got open. We tried a big play down to Garrett, the throwback, they had covered it alright pretty well, but (WR) Lestar (Jean) made a good play for me when I broke out of the pocket. We were just finding a rhythm there on that series.” (on the situation with RB Arian Foster) “You know what the situation is, but I’m not worried about it. I know what type of kid he is, and you know we have great trainers or whatever and I’m sure it’ll be fine.” (on the importance of getting RB Arian Foster back into the lineup) “You know we want all hands on deck. We want to have all of the pieces of the puzzle, especially as our true final tune up, I guess you could call it, before the regular season starts at least for the starters. So we want to get him in some action. But obviously he has his own situation. He’s got to get healthy and we don’t want to rush things, so it’s a fine line there. And I’m sure him and the trainers and doctors will handle it the right way.” SAFETY D.J. SWEARINGER (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub) Spoiler (on the hit that took Miami Dolphins Tight End Dustin Keller out of the game) “You know, I never go hit somebody to injure them at all, so I told him good luck after the hit, but I was just playing within the rules. I wish him all the luck and I wish him a speedy recovery.” (on if he feels bad about the hit that caused the injury) “Yeah, I mean I felt bad but at the same time it’s part of the game. It’s playing within the rules, so I felt a little grief for him but at the same time it’s football.” (on how he played tonight) “I felt I had a better game than I had last game. When I see on the film, I’ll know then.” (on his confidence and understanding of the NFL game) “With a lot of practices, a lot of older guys around me, the offense that I practice against, and the study habits, it all plays into factor for me playing well. I try to work on my craft every day and be the best I can every day. I’m going to keep trying to get better.” (on how he played in coverage) “I think I played well. I had two PBU’s (pass break ups), so I think I did very well in coverage, There’s probably some things I know I could work on, but for the most part I think I did well.” (on the injuries at safety) “Yeah I think we had two or three guys that went down today. I think they just got to get better, you know? Take it one day at a time with treatment. We got a good treatment staff so I think they’ll be good.” DEFENSIVE END J.J. WATT (Transcribed by Charles Hampton and Matt Bodiford) Spoiler (on how many snaps he played in the game) “I played two snaps. It was good. Obviously, you want to play every play. I want to be in right now. It’s smart to get ready for the season. You just want to be ready for September 9th. I missed the whole preseason last year, so I’m not worried about missing a couple snaps here and there.” (on what was the process for being comfortable saying he wanted to be the best of all-time) “If you’re an athlete, any athlete, I don’t care what sport it is, and your goal isn’t to be the best in your sport ever, then you’re wasting your time. You need to have that mentality. It needs to be a daily drive to be the best ever. If you’re just trying to be mediocre or just be average, you’re wasting your time. You’re wasting the fans time and you’re wasting everybody’s time.” (on why he feels so strongly about this team and this season to win a championship) “That’s the number one goal. That’s always the number one goal. With this team, we’re so focused, guys are so driven. We have the tools. We’ve tasted the playoffs. We’ve tasted the second round, but obviously the number one goal is that trophy.” (on wanting to get in on the goal line package on offense) “Apparently anything I do these days turns into a story. That story is such a non-story. That’s not even an issue. It’s just something that I do for fun. I like catching passes. I do it whatever I can to help this team win.” (on his first playing time of the preseason) “It felt good. It was a brief outing for me, only had two plays but it feels good. It feels great to get in front of these fans. It’s crazy how they’re supportive. A packed house, so loud for the preseason, gotta love it.” (on expecting not to play a lot) “Well I got two plays. Obviously I want to play a lot, but the most important thing is September 9th. Just making sure that we come out of everything healthy for September 9th that’s all that matters.” (on Bob Lilly saying if you stay healthy you’re in the Hall of Fame) “It always means a lot coming from a guy who’s played the game, and coming from a guy who really excelled at the position. So he knows, and he’s a guy who knows, and it’s an honor to hear things like that. It makes me work that much harder to prove him right, and to prove everybody right. It’s pretty cool stuff.” (on if he’s amazed former players take notice of what he’s doing) “It’s pretty cool. Those are the guys you grew up watching and hear about all the time. Those are the guys that paved the way. It’s really neat to have their respect, and they have all my respect. It’s definitely an honor.” (On wanting to get more snaps) “It’s just like last year. I’m like a caged animal, and I feel like I’m stuck in my cage, and they’ve got me tied up, and chained up. I’m just chomping, and they keep putting me in for two plays. It’s like they are putting a steak in front of me, and they pull it back. As soon as they open up that gate watch out. It’s going to be fun. I’m very hungry.” (On lobbying to play more) “No, they know I really want to play, but I trust them. We all know that September 9th is what matters. Last year I missed the whole preseason, but they know what I can do. So I trust them 100 percent, and I have no problem with my playing time.” QUARTERBACK T.J. YATES (Transcribed by Matt Bodiford) Spoiler (on if he likes the competition with QB Case Keenum) “Absolutely, you know in the games you have to go out there and treat it like a competition. It makes it a lot more fun. When you go out there, you know you have to perform. All the quarterbacks are playing really good football.” (on if there was more pressure on this game with more playing time than next week) “I think so. We knew we both were going to get a little more time. We just have to progress throughout the preseason, and get better each game. Keep progressing with what we’re doing offensively, and keep moving forward offensively too.” (on the improvement of recognizing things develop on the field) “Things slow down a little bit more being out there more. Getting a little more experience the count is a little slower, and work the cadence a little bit. Use stuff to your advantage, stuff we’ve been doing since my first year here.” Dolphins quotes in link. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...ost-game/3338cc7c-8db5-4afc-989e-74b2135db618 Quotes from Kubiak's press conference on Sunday: Head Coach Gary Kubiak Spoiler (on the teams injury update) “(WR DeAndre) Hopkins is doing better today. We’ll start the protocol tomorrow, but he is doing better. (S) Orhian Johnson had an abdominal contusion. He’s going to be day-to-day. (S) Shiloh Keo had a quad. I think it was reported last night, somebody said it was a calf. It was a quad. He’s got a quad contusion. He’ll be day-to-day. (ILB) Mike Mohammed has a slight hamstring. He’ll be day-to-day. (S) Eddie Pleasant has a knee sprain, could be a few days on Eddie before we have any more information for you but we don’t think it’s going to be long. I think that’s about it. The biggest thing tomorrow, coming back on the field tomorrow, the two guys that we expect back from the field tomorrow when we go back to work are (WR DeVier) Posey and (T Brennan) Williams at this point. That’s where we’re at right now.” (on RB Arian Foster) “Not tomorrow. I’m going to have to make a decision what I’m doing on Tuesday. As of right now, we’ve met with the doctors that have been treating Arian’s back yesterday, right before the game or a couple of hours before the game. It was determined that they want to give it a few more days or whatever that period of time is before they put him back out there. He’s still experiencing some soreness so the decision was made yesterday that he would not return tomorrow.” (on what is wrong with RB Arian Foster’s back) “Yeah, he just has some lower back soreness that is bothering him in his legs a little bit. He’s had some injections to try and alleviate some of the soreness and stuff. The way I understand it right now, we’re trying to get through the injection process, that it’s causing some discomfort and it’s something that’s going to take some time for him to get through.” (on if OLB Whitney Mercilus will be coming back this week) “We were hoping, but I just talked to Kap (Head Athletic Trainer Geoff Kaplan) walking in the door, and I know he will not be out there tomorrow. We’ll work towards Wednesday. We’ll see.” (on the possibility of CB Brandon Harris moving to safety with some of the injuries) “Yeah, we’ve got some issues, especially going into this game with (S) Shiloh (Keo) and (S) Eddie (Pleasant). Brandon can definitely go back there and play. We’ve got some maneuvering to do to play this football game and obviously we want to play our ones at least a good half of football, possibly more. We’ll see where Shiloh is. Shiloh probably has a better chance of playing in this football game than Eddie does, but we expect them both to be fine, so we’ll do whatever we have to do.” (on how he views S D.J. Swearinger’s hit on Dustin Keller) “It’s just unfortunate. Any time a player gets hurt is very unfortunate, so you feel bad for the player, whether that guy is on your team or you’re the guy playing against him. You just don’t want to see those things happen. All the targets are from the shoulders down in football now and D.J. was playing an out-route and reacted to an in-route and just reacting and making a tackle and unfortunately got caught in a horrible situation. You just feel very bad for the young man. You don’t want to see that happen at all.” (on the backup quarterback situation between T.J. Yates and Case Keenum) “Exactly where it was when I left here last night, a few hours ago. Like I said, I said last night they both are making it real hard for me and that’s good for the team. They both are doing their jobs and doing it very well. Both of them played very good last night. I thought (QB) Matt (Schaub) played very good. Our quarterbacks have played very good throughout the course of the preseason. There’s still a lot of football to play. Matt is going to play the majority of this one. I’ll decide what I’m going to do after Matt later in the week. Obviously, we have a four day turnaround or a three and a half day turnaround so we might have to go to Dallas where those two guys are going to play possibly the whole football game. We’ve got a couple of weeks, but we have a nice problem right now. We’ve got three guys playing pretty good.” (on if he anticipates making a decision about who will be the backup quarterback after the fourth preseason game) “Oh, no doubt. Yeah, that decision could be made middle of the opening week. I don’t know yet. We’re in no hurry there.” (on the latest on FS Ed Reed) “Well, what we did last week is we have him, he’s working with a guy out of Atlanta that he’s worked with before that’s been working with Kap (Head Athletic Trainer) Geoff Kaplan on his rehab process. We sent him down there to check to see where he’s at compared to when he went through this the last time. My understanding, got some good news yesterday. We think he’s ahead and has responded very well. We were going to do that again this week for a few days. So we’re just exhausting everything we possibly can do to get him ready to go and push toward the beginning of the season. He was with us here last night for the game last night and we did meet with the people he’s been working with. There has been a lot of progress, lot of good progress.” (on how concerned he is about the health of the safety position) “Well, you have to be concerned. Obviously, we draft a young man and we feel like we’re pretty deep there, and we’re playing pretty good through the preseason and, in one night, you have two guys banged up. But that’s kind of part of it right now. We just have to push through. We have to push through New Orleans and Dallas in a short period of time. What’s that, a nine-day period or a 10-day period? We’re going to play two games, so we just have to battle through it, do whatever we’ve got to do, and we do have a nice window between Dallas and opening night. We’ve got another big window there because we’re the last game of opening weekend. We’ll have to use our time wisely to get all of those guys back.” (on evaluating the rookie free agent running backs) “Well, I don’t think anybody has separated themselves. I think I said last night, there’s something about (RB) Deji (Karim) that’s very trusting. He’s played a little bit of football in the NFL. He does everything right. He’s helping (special teams coordinator) Joe (Marciano) on special teams. I think, if anything, he’s probably a little ahead of the other guys, probably just from experience. (RB Dennis) Johnson has shown some signs, has practiced extremely well. It hasn’t transferred to the field the way I’d like it to, but there has been some good things. He’s excellent in his pass protection. Last night, not much happened in the run game and then he turns the ball over, which obviously you can’t do. We’re going to continue to give him opportunities because it’s been an excellent camp. (RB Cierre) Wood’s got a lot of talent. He’s inconsistent in what he’s doing. He’s got to play better for Joe on special teams. Those guys have got to sort it out for us and they’re going to get a great deal of tome here over the next two weeks.” (on the depth at the linebacker position) “It’s a concern because we’re going to be very young from a depth standpoint of our team. It’s exciting though. It’s exciting to see some of these players like (OLB) Willie Jefferson that we think can really help our team and has an upside. To look at some of those guys that way, to look at (WR DeAndre) Hopkins with a huge upside and how young he is. I was sitting there with the coaches today, just kind of mocking myself through the football team if we were at this point in two weeks, what would we do here? What would we do there? It’s very difficult right, but that’s a good thing. We’ll just keep playing them and let them sort themselves out.” (on how concerned he is about RB Arian Foster being available for San Diego) “I’m not there yet because I see him work. I see what he’s going through. I am concerned about repetitions and that’s just me as a coach. It doesn’t mean I’m right. I just think guys need to get the practice reps, need to get the reps ready to play. We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to do the smart thing here. We’ve got one back with NFL experience really on our team other than (RB) Deji (Karim) getting a little time last year in Indy. When you look at that big picture right there, boy, the running back picture is concerning to you. Just getting him back healthy and just getting him back to where we feel like we’re at full-strength. We’ll listen, we’ll listen to his doctors, we’ll listen to Kap (Head Athletic Trainer Geoff Kaplan) and, when he’s ready to go, I know Arian can make up a lot of time very quickly. I think tomorrow will be our 27th football practice as a team, so there’s a lot of work ahead.” (on if it’s safe to say he will keep three quarterbacks this year) “It’s never safe to say anything.” (on if there is a chance he doesn’t keep three quarterbacks) “I don’t know. I’m going to keep good football players, I can tell you that. Those three guys are good football players right now. There’s a chance.” (on NT Terrell McClain) “If you look at last night on defense, some things that really stood out to me. (DE) Antonio Smith has had a wonderful camp and it just went back on the field last night. He did the same thing. Cush (ILB Brian Cushing) looked very good. But when you’re talking about some of the guys battling for spots, Terrell McClain for the second week in a row has been a very, very bright spot. Not just playing in at nose, but showing us that he has some pass rush ability and what he’s doing. It’s your job to go make the football team and boy is he doing his job right now. He’s doing a heck of a job.” (on the back up Nose Tackle battle) “Yeah I think what he (NT Terrell McClain) and Dan (NT Daniel Muir) and (NT David) Hunter, the competition might be the best competition we’ve had. Whoever is going to end up with that job or even if two of them find a way on this team, I think it’s been the best competition since I’ve been here at that position.” (on RB Arian Foster’s back soreness) “No, it’s my understanding that’s mostly from the injection. He had the injections I think the Thursday or Friday before the first preseason game and they say that these things take some time to work themselves out.” (on if he is concerned about RB Arian Foster) “No, they’ve done numerous MRIs and everything looks fine. They’re just trying to make sure that he’s comfortable with how he is feeling and where we’re at before we say ‘go.’ You know, the thing about nowadays it’s always a question of when you yank him off the PUP, so we’re trying to do it at the right time when we know he is ready to step out there and play.” (on getting ILB Brian Cushing back and how he looked) “Well, he looked real good. He got banged around some and he banged some people around, so that’s the way Cush plays. We had a play count on him, we had 10 plays on him. The tenth one, as I said last night, could have been his best one of the night: the sack. So he was kind of sick about that but it’s just good to have him back. One thing as a coach, or as a player too, when you see guys go through injuries like Cush went through and you watch how he worked to get back on the field. I was walking down the tunnel literally with him last night before introductions and you could just sense ‘hey, I made it back. I’m fixing to go back out there and play.’ So you’re just real proud of him and what he’s done. We’re all rooting for him. You know, it’s a big, big year for him and for our football team. Brian has always been an emotional leader of this football team and you can just see that last night. He’s energy coming back on the field.” (on his thoughts on the return game) “I’m concerned about it. Obviously last year, we lost a field position battle especially form a kickoff standpoint, at kick return and kick coverage standpoint. It’s something you’re probably down about 50 percent nowadays as far as getting the opportunity to return kicks, but we got to do it better. We had a chance last night with (WR) Keshawn (Martin). We missed a couple of things inside but we’ll keep looking. I think we’ll let (RB) Deji (Karim) return some kicks this week because of what he’s done in the past. I do like Shiloh (Keo) as a punt returner, and then obviously we know (SS) Danieal Manning’s going to go back there. We got people but we need to continue to give some guys opportunities, because with somebody like Deji is going to stand out here in the next two weeks and say, ‘Yes, I belong.’ Maybe it’s going to happen in that area. We got to see.” (on DE Tim Jamison) “It’s helped us a great deal because (DE Jared) Crick and Timmy are a lot alike. They can play the nose. They can play the end. They’re both effort players. Tim coming off of the Achilles, the same thing that (WR DeVier) Posey’s coming off of. The thing about Tim is from the first day of training camp to right now, it’s been improvement all of the time. Tim’s an effort player so I think he’s getting really close to being 100% back himself, but we’ve been pleased with his progress.” (on keeping P Shane Lechler out) “His plant leg, he had a little issue down in Minnesota so we just shut him down. But we do want him to hold to keep that continuity with (K) Randy (Bullock), but boy, you know about players taking advantage of opportunities. I mean (P Andrew) Shapiro’s done a wonderful job. I tell players all of the time, ‘you may not make this team, but go prove to everybody you can play in this league.’ And I know one thing; he’s proved he can punt. I mean he’s done a great job.” (on being happy with K Randy Bullock) “Yeah, I think Randy’s done a good job. He’s gaining more confidence each day. We’re putting him in front of the team a little more than some of the other kickers we’ve had. I think with kickoffs, he can continue to get more consistent in what he’s doing, but I think Randy’s having a good camp. He’s coming along.” (on if he thinks he will be cutting anyone before he has to) “I don’t think so, unless we got to sit here and talk about this safety issue we’ve got right now so we will see what happens.” http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...nference/4824abed-1d7e-44ea-bd3d-9841df086d8d
