News

Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on the injury to ILB Brian Cushing) “It’s what we thought. He tore his ACL and we lost him for the year. He’s going to have surgery, probably in about two or three weeks, when the swelling goes down. It’s a big blow to our team. You feel bad for (ILB) Brian (Cushing) because he works so hard and has been playing so well; leading tackler on our team. He’s going to be missed. We have to have guys pick it up around him and we’ve got to find a way to move forward. We’re all just disappointed for him. It’s a tough day for him.”

(on the play that caused ILB Brian Cushing’s knee injury) “Somebody else asked me that today. I have so many things going on today. We got home at 5:30 in the morning. I saw the play. He got cut on the play. Obviously, cutting is part of football but the rule says you can’t come back to your own goal line and cut. So the question is, is the guy coming back to his own goal line? That’s in the League’s hands. We turn in plays. We turn in situations and they’ve got to do their job but it doesn’t change the fact that we sit here today, losing a heck of a player and having to deal with that. I’m more concerned with Cush (ILB Brian Cushing) and losing him and where we move forward from there and those other things, they’ll take care of themselves. That’s not my job.”

(on the options at replacing ILB Brian Cushing) “(ILB Tim) Dobbins went in and played well. He’s option number one. We do have nine linebackers on this team, so we have been a little heavy at linebacker. (ILB) Mister Alexander can play inside, too. (OLB Jesse) Nading can play inside, so those are the guys. But Dobbins will get the first shot at it. When you lose players like that, you don’t replace players like that. The rest of your football team has got to pick it up and play better. So we’re going to be calling on everybody else to do their job a little bit better. (The) offense will be a little bit better. The whole team has to pick up for that one player.”

(on ILB Darryl Sharpton’s status) “We’ve got a couple weeks here yet before there can be any decisions made on him. The best way I could answer that is to tell you that if he was available to come off today and help us, he’s still not ready today. But we do have some more time on our hands, so we are pushing him toward that date here in a few weeks, toward our bye week where we can get a good look at him and see but there still is some progress to be made.”

(on when ILB Darryl Sharpton can come off the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) List) “I think it’s after Week 7. I could be wrong. I think it’s seven weeks is when you can make a decision on him or they can actually start practicing. I’m not quite positive.”

(on how he thinks ILB Tim Dobbins will play) “(ILB Tim) Dobbins will play well. He’s a veteran player. He’s been with (Defensive Coordinator) Wade (Phillips) before. He’s been in Wade’s system. He went in there last night and played very well. It’s a lot to ask, but that’s why he’s here. Like I said, it’s an opportunity for him as a player and we’ll have to rally around him and like I said, make up for Cush’s (ILB Brian Cushing) loss as a group.”

(on if he has talked to ILB Brian Cushing today) “I have not. I talked to him at-length last night. He took my seat on the bus. I had a good conversation with him. He knew. When I went on the field after he got hit, he knew he was in pretty good pain and players tend to know when something’s not right. I could tell at that moment he didn’t feel very good about what was going on. I talked to him after the game quite a bit. That’s his hometown, so you can imagine what he went through last night. But he’ll get well. He’ll get fixed, he’ll get well. (ILB) Brian’s (Cushing) got a brilliant future ahead of him and the worker he is, he’ll probably get that done pretty quick.”

(on how the right side of the offensive line graded out and if he’s going to continue with the current offensive line rotation at right guard and right tackle) “I’m going continue. I think that’s what’s making us better, the competition. I think taking some snaps off of (RT Derek) Newton has made Newton a better player, instead of playing the whole game. Our young guard (C Ben Jones) is really making a lot of progress. Gump (RG Antoine Caldwell) played a little hurt last night, a little hobbled and a credit to him, he worked through it. We’re working with seven right now. We’re going to continue to do that. Does that settle down? Does that end up being five? I don’t know. But right now the best thing we’re doing, is all those guys going and contributing to the team.”

(on ILB Brian Cushing waiting in the tunnel to greet his teammates as they came off the field following the win against the New York Jets) “I expect that. He’s a leader on this team. Those guys really look to him. He’s an emotional leader, the way he plays, the way he works, the way he practices. Cush (ILB Brian Cushing) loves ball. That’s thing about him. Guys feed off of that. I think they kind of felt at halftime that they had lost one of their buddies. We actually talked about that a little bit before we went out for the second half. Obviously we wanted to win the football game, but I think there was some added incentive to finish that thing up last night for Cush. Like I said, everybody just feels bad for him.”

(on if there was discussion in the locker room about the play that ILB Brian Cushing got hurt on) “Those things don’t come up in the course of a game. We’re sitting there trying to win a game; talking about what we’ve got to do to try and win a game. I don’t know what two players sitting over in their locker are talking about.”

(on if it was obvious to him that anyone was talking about the play that ILB Brian Cushing was injured on) “Not at all. Actually, I didn’t even know how it happened, me, personally, until after the game.”

(on the status of RB Ben Tate and how close he was to playing against the Jets) “He was not close. I don’t know. We’ll see where he’s at. They tell me he’s much better today. We’ve got to get (RB) Ben (Tate) back on the field, get him going. I felt really good with (RB) Justin (Forsett) last night. I knew he was ready to play. He had a great week of practice. We have a lot of confidence in Justin. Ben’s got to get back out there and get to work. We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow; and that’s going to even be tough, too, because I’ve got to get this team ready to play Sunday and freshen them up. There’s not going to be a lot of physical work this week. More mental than anything.”

(on whether it has been determined where ILB Brian Cushing will have his knee surgery performed) “I don’t know. I talked to them about an hour ago, and all they told me was everything was confirmed, what had taken place and what the injury was; and that they would wait a couple of weeks for the swelling to go down before they do it.”

(on whether he has been unlucky to lose so many key players to injuries through the years) “I don’t know. I couldn’t go back and recall each and every year. I do know that there are crises in this league, and every team has them. We’ve had our share here the last couple of years, and boy, if this is the first one (this year), it’s a big one. But I do know what this group is made of and I know what they’re capable of, and we’ll find a way to work through it and somebody else will come out of this and become a good player for us, and I have a lot of confidence in that. But the biggest thing, not to be redundant, is you just feel bad for the player. The team will move on – we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do – but you feel bad for guys that have worked so hard and were playing the type of football that he (ILB Brian Cushing) was playing.”

(on whether he’s concerned with the team’s performance in kick returns and kick coverage) “I’m very concerned, special teams-wise. We’re dead last in kickoff return at this point; we didn’t get a ball past the 20 last night; we’ve given up two touchdowns; we gave up a return touchdown last night; we’re near the bottom of the League in covering kicks because of those two big returns. So I’m very concerned. Me and (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe (Marciano) spent a lot of time looking at it today. We’ve got to address it. It’s going to cost us at some point, and we’ve been fortunate, but it’s not good enough right now for us to continue to be successful. It’s going to catch up with us, so we’ve got to figure out a way to get better.”

(on whether he is considering making personnel changes on special teams) “Well, I’m looking at everything, trying to figure out where we go next to try to get better.”

(on the status of CB Johnathan Joseph) “I think he’s OK. You know, you come off those turf games and guys are beat up a little bit, and to be honest with you, I’m just catching up right now. It’s been such a long night and trying to get ready for these guys for tomorrow for Green Bay, but other than Cush (ILB Brian Cushing), we think we’re going to be OK going into next week. We think everybody else will be OK. It may be some guys will have to miss some time this week, but we think we’ll get them all to Sunday night.”

(on WR Andre Johnson being limited to one catch on Monday night) “We had some opportunities early to make some plays and some things we were trying to do with him; it’s just the ball didn’t end up going there. I’ve got to do a better job of getting him involved. He’s doing a great job, he’s working hard. We moved the heck out of the ball last night. Other guys are making plays because of Andre, I can tell you that, because they’re paying so much attention to him, but still need to get him more involved with what we’re doing, so that’s my responsibility.”

(on who he named as the team’s offensive, defensive and special teams players of the game) “Our punter (P Donnie Jones) was our Player Of The Game on Special Teams, (RB) Arian (Foster – Offense) and (DE) J.J. (Watt – Defense).”