On Monday, head coach Gary Kubiak talked to the media about how the team will move forward from their 31-27 loss to the Colts.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on the players not pointing fingers) "Well, that's not going to happen with these kids. We've got a great group of kids that are going through a really, really tough time right now and it's a big challenge for everybody involved - players, coaches, everybody in this building. That's the reason that they're making so much progress because they don't do that kind of stuff. They're learning about that kind of stuff and what it is to work through things like that in sports and specifically with our situation right now. So they're very strong. They're very strong and they've got a lot of positives to pull from. Then, we've got some big negatives that have got to drive us forward. That's what I expect them to do. They expect themselves to do that too."
(on how he will deal with this situation) "I've been in this same situation before. I was with a Super Bowl team that started 0-4 or 0-5, I can't remember. I've been a part of that. If you're around long enough in this league, you'll go through it. That's a part of it. It's a very, very tough time. Like I said, we knew we would face some very good people here early. We'll continue to do that this week. It's just something we've got to battle through. You don't want any practice at it, but we're getting some right now. So, we'll find a way to work through it."
(on what he did last night after the game) "Not a whole lot, just put yourself through all of the situations, put yourself through everything that happened in the game and all of the calls and everything that took place. Try to look at yourself and the job you did for your players and the situations you put them in and try to evaluate that and sit down today with them and go through it and move forward. That's all you can do."
{QUOTE}(on why he had RB Ahman Green on the field for three plays and then the next series was with RB Steve Slaton for three plays) "We rotate them all day. Ahman (Green) looked really good throughout the game. I thought he ran very, very well, and that's exciting for us a team to know that those two right now, if Ahman is healthy, give us a heck of a one-two punch, but we've got confidence in both of them. They were just rotating all day, nothing specific."
(on if he feels better about the running game right now) "Yeah, we're making progress. I think the biggest reason we're making progress is we had a young offensive line, a young left tackle, but I really think, in all honesty, the biggest progress that's been made there has been because of the rookie running back (Steve Slaton). When we were put in that situation where he became the starter back three weeks ago, I don't think any of us really knew how he would handle that load and it's been exceptional. He's really grown up and now to add something to him, to add Ahman's (Green) ability to him should only help him, but I think he's (Slaton) had a lot to do with that."
(on if he talked to QB Sage Rosenfels today to try to encourage him) "I talked to him (Sage Rosenfels) last night and then we talked today as a football team. That's very, very difficult to go through. He had his team in tremendous position, and he had done a great job. Nobody's harder on him than he is. Any good player in this league is usually built that way and he's no different. So, it's a very tough day. The players have been there for him since yesterday evening, and they're going to continue to be there for him. They'll rally around him. They think the world of him. He'll work through it. He'll be better through it."
(on the players talking about the sense of the urgency they had) "I think we've had a sense of urgency for a few weeks now. I think our play has gotten better. I think we've done things better and better over the course of the past few weeks as a football team. Sage (Rosenfels), that's tough when you walk in the locker room on Sunday and all of the sudden the head coach says, 'Hey, you're the guy going' and you really haven't had that much practice all week, but our football team rallied around him. We played extremely well around him, and he was out there leading the way. So, you've got to give him a lot of credit."
(on the injury report) "Other than just the normal bumps and bruises, the one that looks like the biggest issue right now is (Dominique) Barber. He's got a hamstring problem. So he looks like it will be the biggest issue this week."
(on if S Will Demps will be back) "I hope so, maybe I'm getting a little fast there. Let's see Wednesday, but we're sure hoping he makes it back."
(on S Brandon Harrison) "(We're) excited about what we say from him. To go out there and start against this football team for the first time and to have to go there with a safety that hasn't been playing much in Nick (Ferguson), he played the defense very well. He disguised well, tackled well, was in very good positive. Even the fourth-down play there in the end zone, he's right there. Peyton (Manning) makes a great throw on the back shoulder, but we're very encouraged by what we saw from him, and of course we did see that throughout the preseason. So hopefully that will continue, but his growth and maturing as we move forward will have a lot to do with how we improve on defense. We improved a great deal yesterday."
(on if QB Sage Rosenfels aggressiveness is to his detriment) "I don't think so. That's the type of player he is. He expects to make plays, and that's why he does make plays. I've put myself through that - to be putting him in that situation - should we have just run the ball and punted. I sit there and think about that over and over again, but I trust him so much. We had the discussion, I said, 'Hey, first off, Owen (Daniels) was going out. If the whole world fell down, throw it to him. If not, just get what you can get and get down.' I think he had so much room to go that he got very competitive. I don't blame him for being competitive, but we've just got to find a way to hang on to the ball."
(on if you can hang your hat on all of the positive statistics that came out of the game) "Well, the players know. They know when they're playing better. You're right, statistically, that's the best football we've played on both side of the football in a long, long time. That's what you have to do to beat this team. You've got to be pretty close to perfect and not hurt yourself and we had done that for 56 minutes. But, there's a lot of good things, a lot of guys to bring up today in the meeting that are playing well and some guys who have played their best football yesterday all year, and we talked about that as a team. But they know that. They watch the film. They see it."
(on if CB DeMarcus Faggins is now the starter) "We rotate all three of them. Indianapolis started in base yesterday, which that makes you play nickel the majority of the time. Petey (DeMarcus Faggins) would have been on the field. Yes, he would have, but I consider all three of them starters. They're all going to play. They rotate every week."
(on who he thought played their best) "You know what, the list is too long. I would say Vonta Leach was exceptional in the game. Our three inside players: Chester (Pitts), on offense, our two guards and center were exceptional in the game. Defensively, DelJuan Robinson. Amobi (Okoye) played his best game this year. Zac Diles. The whole back end, the whole secondary. It was throughout the football team. It was a tremendous effort throughout the football team and a lot of guys that stepped up to the plate played their best football. And I'm missing a bunch of them. I hate to single out those few. I could sit here all day and talk about the group."
(on Miami's turn around) "Well, yeah he's (Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano) done a great job there. He's a heck of a coach. I've known him and studied him for a long time. They're in the top ten in offense and defense; that's hard to do in the National Football League. They beat the two teams that were in the AFC Championship last year (New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers) back-to-back. They're doing something very unconventional on offense right now which is giving people fits and playing excellent defense. Basically playing the Dallas defense, the three-four and playing it very, very well. A very, very sound, solid football team right now and posing a big problem for a defensive football team."
(on what QB Matt Schaub would have been able to do if he had to go into the game) "If Sage (Rosenfels) had been hurt? Well, I would have approached it as if he could do anything. I don't know. It didn't happen. So, I would have had to approach as if he could do just about anything."
(on if QB Matt Schaub will practice this week) "Yeah, he should be fine. He's feeling a lot better today. I think he's still a little weak today but I think he'll be fine. He'll be back on the field Wednesday. I don't see any reason not to be."
(on why they were so much better defensively against the Colts) "I wish I could sit here and say it was some certain defense we played. We just all played better. I thought (defensive coordinator) Richard (Smith) and the guys, game plan-wise, did a good job with a couple of fronts that gave the Colts some problems. It created some mismatches where we got Mario (Williams) on their back a couple of times. It got him on their tight end, free a couple of times. So they did a good job there. I think our players, we worked all week. As far as scheme-wise or how to sit and hold and not give your hand up too quick, I thought they did a good job of that. There was no secret defense. I just think we played better. We were very sound in what we were doing."
(on some of the long snaps being sloppy and if he's worried about LS Bryan Pittman) "Yeah, I'm very concerned. It's been going on now for about three weeks. It popped up a little bit in the preseason. (P) Matt's (Turk) been incredible. I think there were three of them yesterday that he got down that, as a guy who did that for a living for a while, it's very, very difficult to get down. So, yeah, it is a concern. We're going to work a few more guys out tomorrow but it's definitely a concern for us."
(on the defensive line playing well, including DE Earl Cochran and DT Tim Bulman) "Yeah, they really did. I could mention the whole group. I thought Timmy (Tim Bulman) made a huge step as a player. That's his second time, I think, to suit up this year. Takes to coaching very well in watching (defensive line coach) Jethro (Franklin) and (defensive assistant) Frank (Bush) work with him. He was disruptive. Earl (Cochran), the same way. I think Earl's finally getting healthy. DelJuan (Robinson) playing inside was very active, a lot of push inside. And then I think the way we used Amobi (Okoye), we cut down his snaps trying to get him in some of the positions; some of the things that we think he does maybe better than others. He showed up rushing the passer. He was very close numerous times throughout the game."
(on CB Jacques Reeves learning how to look for the ball) "You know, playing the man and finding the ball at the end of the play, that's the toughest thing in football. And that's what takes a guy from being a good corner to being a great corner. He's getting challenged. He's getting a lot of balls coming his way and yesterday he played some exceptional players. You have to give them credit. Fourth-and-one, to make that throw in that situation, that's why those are two big-time Pro Bowl players (Colts QB Peyton Manning and WR Reggie Wayne) making that play. That was a great play on their part. Jacques (Reeves) was in good shape."
(on the naked boot that QB Sage Rosenfels fumbled on) "Yeah, we felt very good about it. It's something that we kept seeing as we were working through the last quarter right there. We were working out of a bunch of two-tight personnel, so we knew we had the play whenever we wanted to take the shot. Plus, we had a timeout to talk about it so we felt real good about it. But when things don't work out, you have to sit back and look - was that too tough a situation to put a player in or whatever. So, it's part of the game."
(on so if he won't run that next time) "No, we have to build ahead on those things. Anytime things don't work out, you naturally sit there and say, 'Could you have done something better? Could you have done something else?' That's natural, but we handled those things pretty well. He handled them pretty well throughout the game. He was handling that one pretty well until contact."
(on how you guard the team against frustration) "Well, that's very difficult. It's only human nature to get frustrated. Things get negative, those types of things and that's the way it is. That's life. But what I see when I walk in here, the way I see these guys battling and talking and going about their job, I expect them to pull out and they expect themselves to pull out of it. But work is going to continue, their efforts are going to continue. They're in, believe it or not, a good frame of mind today and I expect them be the same way this week."
(on if he can see Dolphins executive vice president of football operations Bill Parcells imprint on the Dolphins) "Yeah, no doubt. When I look at their defense right now, I see a lot of Dallas when I watch them, defensively, what they are doing. And or course, (Dolphins head coach) Tony (Sparano) and Bill (Parcells) were together so long in Dallas, you know, the way they built that team very, very quickly. And then they're sitting there with two great, great backs (RBs Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams). But you have to give them a ton of credit for what they've went and done here in the last two weeks. They've found something with their football team that's giving people fits and it's our turn to deal with it this week. They've done a heck of a job. Tony is a good football coach."
