Head coach Gary Kubiak spoke to the media Monday afternoon after the Texans 34-6 loss to Dallas on Sunday.
Head coach**Gary Kubiak****
(on his review of the game film)** "Well, it looked a lot like it did yesterday. I thought our football team battled in the first half. We had opportunities in the first half of the football game to put a lot of pressure on them on the road with the first drive, and then we had a couple other opportunities offensively to put some pressure on them. We didn't do that, I mean it's 6-3 at halftime, and it's a good football game. But really we should have been in a lot better shape as a group. On the second half we turned the ball over three times and the game gets out of hand, it is what it is. We should have taken advantage of some first half opportunities much better."
(on the loss of DT Seth Payne) "It hurts a lot. This is my first time here I think you all know how much he means to this place since the day it got started, he means that much to our football team, also. He's a class act, he's a great kid, he's one you can count on to be here every day battling and for him to miss the rest of this year is very disappointing. (We'll) get him taken care of and hopefully he'll be around on a day-to-day basis and still be a part of what we're doing because he's a big part of, for these kids, he's a very positive person."
(on CB Demarcus Faggins' return) "It's time to go, I expect him to play this week unless there's some setbacks. That's a nice, welcomed return. I see him being fine, probably could tell you more Wednesday or Thursday after he works out. It's not going to be the situation, I think, where he plays the whole football game. We're definitely expecting him to be back and be ready to play."
(on the possibility of using RB Chris Taylor) "He's doing fine. (RB) Chris (Taylor), of course, is working on our practice squad. He's doing fine, he's working well. There could be a time here, at some point, where you go back and take a look at him, but right now, I think we keep going. I think it's time to get (RB) Wali (Lundy) more involved in what we're doing. With Chris, that could happen at some point, also."
(on the run game) "We didn't run it a lick yesterday. They're a good group. I give them credit. They're a very stop group, tough to move around, and we knew that. But you've got to somehow find a way to be effective against it and stay on the football field and we didn't do that, particularly in short-yardage situations. All you can do is just keep battling, but we've got to get some other people chances if some of us aren't doing it well; we've got to look at some other situation and some other runners and other guys. We've got to do something, We can't just sit still and we'll do that. (We'll) try to find a way to correct then that's all we can do is just keep working. We've paid more attention to the running game these past two weeks, that we were off, than I've ever been a part of as a coach. Maybe we paid too much attention to it, I don't know. But we're going to keep searching and trying to find a way to get better at it."
(on DE Mario Williams' game) "He did some good stuff. Was it his best game? I don't know. He was very productive; he's understanding our defense better. There's no confusion to what he's doing. I liked the way he chased the ball yesterday, they made a lot of effort plays chasing the ball across the field. He caused some havoc, made (Dallas QB) Drew (Bledsoe) get rid of the ball quickly, but I think Mario is just growing into what we're doing. It's not real hard for him right now; he just lines up and plays. Mentally I think he's settled down, and we actually moved him around a bit yesterday, I don't know if you all noticed. He played a little bit inside. He's getting better, he's getting better every week and hopefully he'll continue to do that."
(on whether there were opportunities for deeper passes that were missed) "They played us in a lot of two-deep and they played us in a lot of loaded cover-two, which, from our verbiage to you guys is a three-man rush, two-deep, which is unusual. They weren't going to give us a lot of big plays, we protected okay. We did not give up a sack. That's not always an indicator that everything was fine, we still had some pressure. He had some things he could do better, with his feet, he got confused with his feet sometimes in some drop backs and those type of things and inconsistent. It's just about everybody being consistent in what we're doing. Did we have a chance at a couple of shots in the game? Yeah, we had a couple, but that's me calling the right play at the right time. For the most part, they played us in a two-shell and were going to make us work for anything that we were going to get and they really kind of bent that way. They can make it tough on you from that standpoint."
(on whether Faggins is the missing piece for the secondary) "He's definitely a piece on this team. He needs to get back on the field. Having him and (LB) Kailee (Wong) back to me will be a big boost for this meeting room, for this football team for what they stand for and what they bring to the table. We have to be smart as coaches as we bring them back this week because they haven't played in so long, we're all eager to get them back and I know they're both eager to get back on the field."
(on how to stop the snowball-effect on this team) "You're exactly right. That was kind of a familiar scene. It been a couple weeks, but once it did get going like that in the second half, I agree with you, it seems like it has a snowball effect. The only thing that's going to correct that is leadership from players. They are the ones on the field. You come out and they go right down the field and they score and its 10-6. That's part of the NFL; you just have to go back and make the next play. We turned the ball over three of the next four possessions, offensively, and if you're doing that you're just adding fuel to the fire. We just needed to settle down right there and put a drive together and just keep it a nice close ballgame like we played in a couple weeks ago, and we didn't; do that. We helped them, and gave them great field position with the turnovers. You'd still like to see our defense step up and keep them out of the end zone even though they were on the field a great deal in the second half. I told them today; they played (and) did some very good things in the first half. 'We put you in some tough situation in the second half, but go ahead and play for four quarters. Go ahead and step up and stop them again. Do that for our squad.' But you're right, it's been kind of reoccurring, and we just have to keep continuing to keep figuring a way out of it."
(on the time frame for WR Jerome Mathis' return) "He's eligible to start working out this week. He has a 21 day grace period (from when he starts working out), I guess I would call it, before you have to make a decision on him. He's not ready to start running with us. (LB) Kailee (Wong) and (CB) Petey (Demarcus Faggins) will be on the field, full speed. You're not going to see him (Mathis) yet. He's behind those guys, I would say, a couple weeks. We'll see."
(on the confusion with timeouts before half) "We're still trying to get an answer on that. We did call time out, assuming that they did not get first down, is what happened, and then when they gave them the favorable spot I guess all hell kind of broke loose to be honest with you. (I) asked them to go back and look at it because we have no control of that challenge inside of two minutes. So they went back and looked at it. They decided that they were wrong and then restarted the clock and took our timeout away. So we're still waiting for the NFL to get back with us and to explain to us exactly what happened."
(on whether he told the officials that the clock started during that time) "It was brought up, but somehow it was explained that we lost it anyway. I don't know. I'm waiting to hear from them. It's very confusing to me too."
(on defensive coordinator] [Richard Smith description of the defense as sluggish) "Well, I could say that for our whole group. Coming out of the locker room at halftime everybody was very upbeat. We expected to play in that type of football game. And with the weather in the first half I think it kind of added to the fact that it might be that kind of football game. Our team was very upbeat. We come out; we're sluggish on the return. We give up a big return, well, I shouldn't say big, but what was it? The 34, 35 yard line. Then Dallas didn't do anything different than they did in the first half. They ran the same runs, they did the same things. We just didn't get off the field on third down in the second half. It just wasn't the same. It started with the return and then they score. Then we add fuel to the fire with a turnover. It just starts going the wrong way."
(on whether pass protection keep RB Chris Taylor from playing) "Well, I don't know. Do I worry about that? Yeah, that's a new world for them once you get into the season and all the things you do as a coach. The game escalates; the preseason is pretty basic in the National Football League. When you get in the regular season people are doing so much stuff, game plans change so much from week to week, defenses change so much from week to week. It is a big load on a player. I think (RB) Wali (Lundy) can handle it. He's not playing because I don't think he can handle it. I think we had a couple of good guys that we need to take a look at, but it is obvious right now that we have to give the kid a chance to come back and play some more. He's bee working hard, and he'll get that opportunity. We're going to keep searching with those guys until somebody steps up and plays extremely well. And it's not just them; it's everybody upfront and all of us doing our job. But we will keep searching for those guys."
(on the early substitution of G Fred Weary for G Steve McKinney) "Yeah, and you know (G) Fred (Weary) played well. We're concerned about (G) Steve (McKinney) a little bit. Physically, he's had some things bothering him. (He) battled in practice last week; took a shot to play in this game. We have some concerns. He's not here today. His wife, as a matter of fact…they're having another child today. He tried to go for this team, but he has some things physically with his body that are giving him some trouble. So we'll keep an eye on that, but Fred did come in and play well."
(on whether a defensive end might move inside to replace Seth Payne)"You know what we're going to do; we're going to figure out the way to play the best four. And if that means we have got to move some guys inside that are outside, we're going to put the best four on the field. And there were some good things that happened. (DE) Anthony Weaver continues to be a fine, fine football player. We suited up (DT Anthony) Maddox this past week, he did some really good stuff. We're going to get him on the field. But we're going to find a way to play our best four. And we'll still have to rotate to keep them fresh, but we'll do what we have to do."
(on any prospects before the trade deadline of 3 p.m. on October 17) "Well, you listen to everybody. Historically in this league there is not a lot of movement, but I know (general manager) Rick (Smith) listens to everybody. And we won't be any different."
(on the difficulties of losing) "Well, it's not just me. It's difficult for everybody. I know it's difficult for you all. It's difficult for these players, for everybody in this building. And we have a big time task on our hand and we have a long way to go. And we're not playing well right now, but we will play well if we keep working and keep finding a way to find the answer to some of these problems. And we're going to keep doing that. I'll tell you like I've told you all, our players are playing hard. Their effort in what we're doing is good, but we just have to figure out a way to do it better and do it better for four quarters to have an opportunity to win some games."
(on whether the potential for losing Domanick Davis was considered in the spring) "Oh yeah, as we went through camp we knew that the situation was starting to
escalate a little bit. We're still very hopeful, but we knew it possibly could
be coming. There were a lot of things talked about and a lot of teams that we
talked to, but we decided to go with those young kids knowing that at the last
cut there were probably going to be a couple good football players get let go,
and left that way with (RB) Ronnie (Dayne). People don't give those guys away.
We're going to keep working until one of them steps up for us, but I like our
guys. We're not doing it as well as we need to be successful, but we're going
to keep battling with these guys. They're giving us everything they have. We just
have to do it better."
