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Practice report: Schaub bounces back

By Drew Dougherty
September 18, 2009 Comments (0) | Avg. Rating
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It was overcast and breezy on Friday morning at the Methodist Training Center, and the Texans practiced for the final time before their road game against the Titans on Sunday. Head coach Gary Kubiak answered questions from the media afterward.

Schaub's status: Kubiak said quarterback Matt Schaub's left ankle continues to improve and percentage-wise "if he's not 100, he's 98" percent healthy.

"He's moving around real good this week," Kubiak said. "I don't see any limitations on him going into this game. He's obviously better than he was last week."

In the season-opening loss to the Jets, Schaub struggled like the rest of the offense did, finishing with only 166 yards passing and a 55.9 passer rating. Kubiak expects a better performance from his starting quarterback, and the offense as a whole.

"Regardless of whether Matt's a hundred percent or he's nursing the ankle, which he definitely was last week, we have to play better," Kubiak said. "If you don't run the ball, you're not going to boot. There's so many things you never got a chance to look at one way or another. Is Matt limited in any way going into this game with anything we ask him to do? No."

"We were in tune to what we're doing but we've got a hell of a task ahead of us here and we're going to have to play great football, not good football."

-Gary Kubiak
In Schaub's previous two trips to Nashville as the Texans' quarterback, the Titans were rude hosts. Last year, the Tennessee defense stymied Schaub into a performance that saw him throw three interceptions and zero touchdowns, and just 188 yards. It was worse in 2007, as the Titans knocked Schaub out of the game with a shoulder injury that Dec. 2, limiting him to a mere five pass attempts in less than a quarter of action.

Fullback update: Yesterday in practice, rookie James Casey took all the reps at fullback while starter Vonta Leach rehabbed a bruised knee. Kubiak said then that Casey would start if Leach is unable to on Sunday. But Leach was back on the field this morning and took part in drills with his teammates.

"He did good today," Kubiak said of Leach. "He took a portion of the practice. He's a game-time decision, but he moved forward today. We'll work him out Sunday morning."

Should Leach wind up starting, that doesn't mean Casey will be limited in his duties against Tennesssee.

"James is going to play," Kubiak said. "James is going to play a great deal in this game. He got the bulk of the work this week and I would expect him to play in this game."

Week in review: To help prepare for the raucous environment at LP Field, the Texans practiced all week with simulated crowd noise in the background. The tempo of action was also a bit quicker on the field, so practice looked different than it did last week prior to the season opener with the Jets. When asked about whether or not he can tell if his team is ready, based on what he saw during practice, Kubiak was quick to point out that the best gauge would come once the real action starts.

"You don't respond during the week," Kubiak said. "You respond on Sunday. We practiced very physical yesterday, and today is a polish day in the NFL - polishing our game plans. We were in tune to what we're doing but we've got a hell of a task ahead of us here and we're going to have to play great football, not good football."

Injury report: For the full list of injuries on both teams, click here.

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