After Friday's practice, coach Gary Kubiak annouced the Texans had released running back Mike Bell and signed left tackle Torrin Tucker. The move was made because Ephraim Salaam will need several weeks to recover from knee surgery.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on T Ephraim Salaam) "I need to fill you all in on what is going on with Ephraim. Ephraim has a knee that has bothered him in the past, and actually he's had some problems with the other one in the last week at camp. We were just practicing him once a day on grass, and he was doing fine. He woke up yesterday morning and he could feel something up under his kneecap. We went right away and fixed it at lunch yesterday. It was a cartilage problem. We feel good about what was done, but he is a three to four week scenario right now. So it's, you know, scary for us from a standpoint at the tackle position, but that's where we are at, and we expect him back for the start of the season. So we're very encouraged about that, and then we released Mike Bell and signed (Torrin) Tucker today. Those are the things that have happened, the most significant thing being losing Ephraim yesterday morning."
(on who else can fill the tackle void) "Well, we go into this game with four tackles. You know, we have our two starters and we have (Rashad) Butler and (Brandon) Frye. It's a little scary because all of the sudden you go from having Scott Jackson, having Ephraim, you know, having all of those things fine, and then all of a sudden you are a little short handed. I think everybody in the league is working with these problems, and we've got to work through it. I really see it, as tough as it is, as a great opportunity for Butler and Frye. We think that they're good young players. They're getting ready to play a ton of football, so we're going to find out."
{QUOTE}(on how much more rookie T Duane Brown will get in preseason now) "Duane is going to play more anyway. We consider Duane, Chris Myers, and (Mike) Brisiel still to be young players, and we had planned on playing them a half anyway."
(on RB Mike Bell being out of shape and getting hurt) "We don't think he was physically quite with the rest of the team. You know, he had a little tweak. He has had it before. We worked him back and probably he could have went back on the field this morning. But because of our situation having to sign the tackle yesterday, we had to make a move. And the most obvious place for us right now with Chris Brown, is to let a back go. We like the kid though, I can tell you all that. We do like the kid."
(on which knee is bothering T Ephraim Salaam) "I've got so much on my plate right now. I just know that it's the one that never bothers him."
(on whether T Torrin Tucker will play next week) "Well, he's going to suit up tomorrow, and I sure hope we're OK so that he doesn't have to go out there tomorrow. I think he could go out there in a real, real emergency situation. We've got some other options and plans in place if we do have a problem at tackle. But, you know, he needs to get in better shape. He looked good at his work out yesterday, but he's a very big man, and we would like to get him some work with us before we put him in that situation."
(on T Ephraim Salaam already having his procedure) "Yeah, what happened was he came in yesterday morning, and he called (head trainer) Kevin (Bastin), and he woke up in the morning and his knee had kind of locked up on him in his sleep. He said, 'Something's stuck in my knee.' So he comes in, we get the MRI. They see it, and they asked Ephraim where he was going and he said he was going to get some lunch. They said, 'Well you haven't eaten?', and he said, 'No, I haven't eaten all morning'. They said, 'Well, lets go get this thing done right now.' So that is how it took place, so fortunate to get it done right away, and he's fine. I talked to him this morning, and he'll be in the building today."
(on if they scoped T Ephraim Salaam for cartilage) "It was a piece of flap up under the kneecap, that is the way that I understood it, that they had to go in and repair."
(on how good of a blocker WR Kevin Walter is) "He is an excellent blocker, you know, being a receiver and being a good blocker is more about being willing in all honesty. You've got to know you stick your face in there, and what we do offensively. It's important that we have people that will do that, but he's done it since he's been here, so it's nothing new."
(on whether WR Kevin Walter has gotten better at blocking) "I think he's always been good at it. And, you know, I think what we are asking him to do now he's gotten better at it. We're doing a few different things. So, you know, he's just one of those kids he'll do whatever the hell you ask him to."
(on whether WR Kevin Walter is tough when he blocks) "Oh, he's tough. If you're a good receiver, one of the keys when you're a good receiver to getting open is to work defensive backs when you're not running routes. I mean, if I come off the ball on the run game and I'm aggressive and psychical with them - now when it is time for me to beat them one-on-one - they've got to be worried about me blocking them. So I think good receivers use that to their advantage. They get knocked around when they go over the middle, so they better be willing to go in there and knock some people around also."
G Chester Pitts
(on teammate T Ephraim Salaam) "He just got his knee scoped. I mean the guy is 430 years old, you know; it's nothing to him. It's another day at the office. He'll be back in three weeks ready to go. He actually in Denver one time got his knee scoped the day after a game and played that next game. He heals really fast, so he'll be fine. He'll be ready to go when the season starts."
(on what he looks for in tomorrow's game) "Honestly, the biggest word is to play clean. That's our deal, get out there, know what we're doing, do it right, do it fast, execute. That's kind of the biggest thing, to be smooth and consistent and work together as a team out there. As long as we do that, we'll be just fine."
(on what teammates said about the Wendy's commercial) "(laughs) Not everybody has seen it yet. Some guys are kind of poking at me a little bit about it."
(on if he knows how much he will be playing in Saturday's game) "I don't know yet, at the most probably half, but probably at the least I will play the first quarter."
