Linebacker Zac Diles celebrates his first career sack.
Head coach Gary Kubiak announced that wide receiver André Davis will undergo surgery Monday night on his left ring finger.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on how he thought CB Dunta Robinson did after he watched film) "Well, he (CB Dunta Robinson) was a little rusty with his footwork and those types of things, which you would expect. (The way) he competes and the way he flies around to the football, the way he tackles, the aggressive nature, there was nothing missing right there. So, it was good to get him back out there. As I said yesterday, he played a little bit more than probably I would have liked him to. The situation dictated that, and he also told us in the fourth quarter, 'Hey, I'm fine. Let me go.' And he came out of it good today, so it's moving in the right direction."
(on if he has ever thought of doing something different at halftime to help during the third quarter, which the Texans struggle in) "I thought we played pretty good in the third quarter at Jacksonville. Let me go back, I know at Jacksonville we played pretty well in the third quarter, battling them toe to toe. Against Indianapolis, if I recall, I thought we played pretty well throughout the third quarter and into the fourth. Yesterday, we came out and got them three-and-out. We go three-and-out as an offense, and then they go down and have the score, which we were able to answer. So, I don't know. We do the same thing. I'll go back and look at it. I did like the way we started yesterday. I thought we were much better from the start of the game, which had been something that we struggled with."
{QUOTE}(on why he thinks the team was better at the start of the game) "I don't know. There's always going to be some issue that you can get better at. There's always going to be some negatives, and that has been one. Fortunately, we were able to correct that. Now, we just need to keep the other end going. But, you just try to look at those from week to week, but I wouldn't say we do anything different. It's just something we talked about all week."
(on if after watching the film if some situations were on himself and the coaching staff) "Yeah, I think sometimes you take things for granted - whether you're a pro football player, whether you're a rookie or you've been doing it for 10 years - that one thing about football every time there's a play, whether it's offensively, defensively or special teams, there is a moment in the game, there is a situation that is going on and I think sometimes we're not handling those situations well, the way they should be handled. I look right before the half, like I talked about the turnover. That's just (QB) Matt (Schaub) being in tune with what's going on, and how well his team has played, making sure his team goes in on a positive note. That's having them backed up, knowing that everybody in the National Football League that one of the things that they (Detroit Lions) do when they're backed up is take a shot and try to make a big play. We have an 18-point lead and 10 minutes left in the game that very much controlled the football game, and we go to sleep right there. So I'm just talking about those situations, and that is coaching. That's grinding you're players and reminding them all the time what's going on, never letting them relax in a moment. They have to understand those situations out there and be aware of them."
(on if he's happy with the way the team has responded to their mistakes) "Yeah, our guys work extremely hard. I know I've said that over and over again, but we're constantly talking about those things and going over them. If we have mistakes in the game, we go back and we hit them throughout the week and reassure ourselves in this situation, here's what should have taken place. Unfortunately, if you could foresee some of those, you'd like to have hit those before they take place, but it doesn't always happen that way. But, we're always talking about those things. The thing you have to do is when you go in is you've got to make sure you still come in here and make the same corrections. You can't say, 'Ok, we won. We don't need to talk about that.' We're going to talk about those things whether we win or lose. We're going to correct our mistakes."
(on what is the difference with WR Andre Johnson in the last few weeks) "Well, we've been able to get him (WR Andre Johnson) open. We're moving him around a lot. The key really is Andre, to be honest with you. Because when you have a guy that's as productive as he is right now in this league, there's a lot of good defensive coaches in this league, a lot of good coaches and they'll find a way to shut him down. They'll find a way to say, 'You're not going to get this guy the ball today.' But when you can move a guy a lot, like we do, we play Andre both sides of the ball, x and z. We play him inside. We play him outside. When your player can keep up from that standpoint and do a lot of things, then it is tougher to take him away. So it's a big credit to Andre and what we're doing with him and him being in tune and being able to handle all of that."
(on if what WR Andre Johnson is doing open things up for TE Owen Daniel or vice-versa) "I don't know. We're getting a lot of different coverages. Normally, I would sit here and say, 'If people are rolling up outside, it opens up the tight end inside with two deep.' But that hasn't really been the case. We're still getting some eight-man front because we're running the ball better as a football team. Yesterday, we got some blitzes, got some pressure from those guys. (TE) Owen's (Daniels) beaten man coverage. He's beaten zone coverage. He also - we move him around a bunch. We play him at the y. We play him at what we call our tiger position. He can handle a lot also. The same thing I just said about (WR) Andre (Johnson), I could say the same thing about OD (TE Owen Daniels)."
(on if TE Owen Daniels football IQ is what makes him so dangerous) "He's (TE Owen Daniels) (a) very sharp player. He understands coverage. He knows the quarterbacks reads. I could send Owen out there on the practice field and put him at quarterback and he may not throw it really good, but he'd throw it to the right spot. He knows what's going on. (He's) a very sharp kid, but I just like the way he works. This kid never misses a day. As I said, we've been going now I want to say a month, five weeks with two tight ends. I've never been around that before. These two guys are really holding their own, and because of that, he's being very successful."
(on Zac Diles) "He played very well yesterday. He's getting better and better as a player, getting that opportunity to be a starter this year for the first time. Usually when a guy is going to become great pro, what you see is progress week in and week out, and that's what we're seeing from him. He had the sack yesterday and had a chance for another one. (He's) uderstanding offenses, just getting better and more and more confidence each week."
(on how T Ephraim Salaam graded out yesterday) "Well, I foresee us doing the same thing we did yesterday. As I told you, we are really monitoring (T) Duane's (Brown) reps, just watching his reps because he's playing 40, 45 plays of just big-time football and about 15 or 20 that we have to clean up. So what we decided to do was get (T) Ephraim (Salaam) in that rotation; it was every third series. Ephraim needs the work too, and I think it helped Duane. Duane played extremely well in the game, and Ephraim, I thought, brought something to the group also. It was encouraging. I think we'll continue to do the same thing."
(on how he makes the team have a killer instinct) "Well, first off you have to figure out if you can get yourself in that position. I think this football team is starting to see that on a given day when they are playing their best football, that they can get after somebody. Now, they need to learn to get after them all day long. They felt very good about themselves going into that game yesterday. I told you how well we had practiced. I think they had expected to play extremely well. We did not put them away. I thought, with the score 28-10, if we play good defense there with them backed up, I think we're going to finish the day the way that everybody wanted to finish it, but we didn't. But the thing that was encouraging to me, and I didn't say this yesterday, but after going back and looking at the film, I saw us recompose ourselves yesterday and finish the way we needed to finish it. We finished it basically on the field offensively. I wish we wouldn't have had to punt with the offsides, but we were able to steady ourselves enough to say, 'No, we're going to get this done today and it's not going to get any harder.' So, I thought that was encouraging."
(on how much developing a killer instinct is up to him and defensive coordinator Richard Smith) "You're right. That's very important. Because me as a play caller and (defensive coordinator) Richard (Smith) as a defensive caller, confidence in your players keeps you aggressive calling plays and doesn't make you say, 'Well, I better not make a mistake here.' So, we instill that in our players; we tell them we are going to do that. But you're right, that is a confidence level. I think we have been aggressive as a football team. I think that's why we're playing extremely well in spurts. Now, the maturity of football team I think will enable them to play well over a longer period of time."
(on why CB Fred Bennett has not been playing as much) "Well, we're rotating all three of them. Yeah, I was disappointed in his play back in Weeks 2, 3, 4 in there. I didn't think he was playing the way he was capable of playing. I thought Petey (CB DeMarcus Faggins) was playing very well. We had been rotating those three guys. (CB) Fred (Bennett) did play very well yesterday, I felt. But we're searching for some combinations on this team. We're playing a lot of players. Not just in the secondary, we're playing a lot of guys up front defensively and you can see what we're doing offensively by getting (T) Ephraim (Salaam) back involved. We're playing two backs. We're playing a bunch of receivers. Our team has a lot of good competition. And the message is if you're doing it and doing it well, you're going to be out there. Competition is making this football team better, and hopefully we can continue to have that."
(on why the rushing numbers are better this year) "I think it's a commitment to what we're doing, number one. We're not doing a whole lot. We're doing the same things week in and week out; that's (assistant head coach) Alex's (Gibbs) forte. We're not going to do much, we're going to do it good. So, I think we've stuck to that. I think we're getting better upfront. I think we have a chance, I think I've said this a couple of times, if this young group stays together all year long, before this thing is over they're going to be the strength of this team. We're very young upfront. We have a chance to be very good. And then I think (RB) Ahman (Green) coming back has added a presence to our football team. He played very well yesterday and it has made us better."
(on the Lions winning their challenge but still losing the timeout) "You know, I could be speaking out of turn. I don't know. It's my understanding that he challenged the first down and not the, or how did it work? Did he challenge the spot or did he challenge first down? To be honest with you, if I knew I'd answer. I don't know. If he challenged the spot, he won his challenge, right? If he challenged the first down, he lost his challenge. So, that's the way I understand it."
(on if coming out so strong against Detroit gives him confidence that they can come out strong against Cincinnati) "Well, first off, I just got through watching them against the Giants. What was that, two or three weeks ago? They had the Giants beat. They're the World Champs. They had them beat at their home stadium. The Giants score with 1:30 left to put the game into overtime. This team is very talented and very capable. I think they're very good and young on the defensive side of the ball. They had a heck of a player get hurt yesterday, the linebacker. The (LB Keith) Rivers kid from SC (University of Southern California). I don't know what his status is, but it doesn't matter. What matters is how we play, really. If we take care of our business, if we get better as a football team, then we're going to have an excellent chance to win. But this team is very capable of coming in here and beating not only us, but anybody."
(on any other health updates) "We're kind of banged up in a few places, but one thing I will mention to you. This evening about five o'clock, (WR) André Davis is going to have surgery on his finger. You guys know he's been playing with a broken finger or a dislocated finger here over the past few weeks. It's just been giving him fits so we're going to go in there today and they are going to go ahead and take a look and see if they can, it's my understanding, to see if they can set it. If they can't set it, they may have to put a small pin in there, which could set him back. But we're going to keep our fingers crossed that he plays next week. I'll know more tonight."
(on which finger) "I don't know which one it is. It's a finger."
(on if WR André Davis could have his surgery and still be able to play) "He very well could. Yes."
