Coach Gary Kubiak said that running back Ahman Green will be day-to-day with an ankle injury.
Head coach Gary Kubiak could not hide his disappointment Monday when he reviewed the Texans' 38-17 loss to the Steelers, but now he is focused on fixing Houston's mistakes and getting the team ready for the Ravens.Head coach Gary Kubiak
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on poor tackling) "We tackled extremely poorly in the third quarter. Throughout those first two drives of the third quarter, I think we had twelve missed tackles, if I counted correctly. Against that team, they're going to keep pounding you. Knowing that we had to tackle well in the game throughout the day was something that we talked about all week. So, it was disappointing to go through a stretch like that when they were putting the football game away basically. I can say that throughout those two drives in the third quarter we were extremely poor on tackling."
(on what he saw in QB Matt Schaub that shows he can bounce back) "That's part of the game. That's part of the NFL. You're never going to go through here unscathed or everything is going to be easy or perfect. That's part of being a quarterback in the National Football League. He battled through yesterday. He had a couple of decisions that he made that hurt our team. He knows that he's got to protect the ball there. He has to throw it away. He took some shots, kept battling. We've got to protect him better. What tells me he can come back—he's a quarterback in the NFL. You better be able to come back. You're going to go through those things. We've got to play better around him too. That'll help him come back quicker."
(on what if Baltimore's defense looks similar to the Steelers) "Yeah. You look at what they did to Cincinnati yesterday. They held them to, I think, 140 some yards and eight first downs. That doesn't happen in this league, and Cincinnati's had one of the better offenses in the game going on the last three to five years. What do we do offensively—it's not just one group or another. We didn't play well as a group. The things, from a game plan standpoint, that we knew that we had to do to have a chance to win—we had to find a way to avoid sacks, get rid of the ball, those types of things whenever things weren't good. We had to protect the ball and didn't do that. We had to stay on course in third downs and make some third downs. I thought our third downs were manageable, but we didn't convert like you have to convert. I can't sit here and pinpoint one thing. It was totally disappointing. We did nothing to help our defense in the first half. In the same voice, I can say that they did nothing to help the offense. Normally in the course of the game, if one side of the ball is struggling, the other side of the ball picks it up. That didn't happen. We all struggled. We struggled as a football team, special teams included."
{QUOTE}(on if the trouble on the offensive line is attributed to having three new players) "I don't think the fact that there are three new starters has anything to do with it. I think the fact that we were out of rhythm game plan-wise was the biggest problem. Anytime you get in a situation against that football team where you're throwing it that much, probably something bad is going to happen sooner or later. We knew that Duane (Brown) had his work cut out for him with (James Harrison) 92. Ninety-two is a great player. They create problems through their zone scheme, zone blitz schemes. So, asking them to hold up that many times is not really fair from a standpoint of what your trying to do game plan wise, but at the same time as I've told them today, that's part of the game. If you get caught in a game like that, hell you've got to be able to do it. We just didn't do a very good job of it. It wasn't just him (Duane Brown). There are a few guys included, and the quarterback's (QB Matt Schaub) included in that also."
(on if he plans to keep WR David Anderson in slot or if WR Kevin Walter can go in slot so WR André Davis can play) "We can rotate them. I think David (Anderson) has earned the right to go in there and play with the preseason he had. We can rotate them or put Kevin (Walter) inside in our three wides. What we're trying to do with André Davis is he plays both spots. He backs up Andre (Johnson) and Kevin, so if either one of them come out of the game he goes in. We have the capability of doing that. I just felt like coming out of camp the best things we were doing were David inside at the zebra position, and he had earned the right to play. That's how we ended up going into the game. Do we have faith in André Davis? Yeah, we do."
(on if there is anything going on with RB Cedric Benson) "Well, I am going to have to let (general manager) Rick (Smith) answer that in all honesty. I've been in coaches meetings all day. I know that we're working out a group of backs tomorrow, and I don't have that list in front of me, but Rick can get with you all on that. I'm not sure if he's on that list or not to be honest with you. I'm not avoiding the question. I've been a little busy since last night and through today, but I'll sit down and find out from him exactly who's coming in, but I know we're going to work some guys out."
(on if he has heard RB Shaun Alexander's name mentioned at all) "I'd be wrong to mention anybody's name. Like I said, I have no idea, but I know there's a group of backs coming in here to work out tomorrow, so I'll let Rick get that to you."
(on the plans with the weather issue that might occur this weekend) "That's another one that I haven't spent a lot of time on this morning. I've got to get with Rick (Smith). The organization always has a plan in place for our families and stuff. I really just heard here briefly awhile ago that there was a chance it was coming our way as of Saturday, am I right—that's what I'm being told. So, that's something else that I have to sit down with Rick about here this afternoon, but I've been totally involved in ball up to this point."
(on what is the key to getting back on track next weekend) "We've just got to play better across the board. Like I said, we're going against a football, to me, that's very, very similar to the one that we just played. (They are) a great defensive football team, a very physical football team. They're all in place. They're healthy again. They've got a good young quarterback. You look at the way that they dominated the football game yesterday even though it was 17-10 game it was like total dominance from their standpoint defensively. I can't pinpoint one thing that we have to do. We have to play totally better as a group, as a team, coach better. We've got to do everything better to give our selves a chance this weekend, but we've got to find a way to rebound."
(on if he will change up the defensive line because the Ravens are bigger upfront) "No, I don't see that. I thought actually up front our four starters, for the most part, played hard, were pretty sound. They made Ben (Roethlisberger) get rid of the ball. We didn't cover very well when he got rid of it, but I thought those four guys played hard. Can they play better? Yeah, everybody can play better, but I don't see any reason to change our starters from that standpoint."
(on where you begin when you look at the film and when he is going to trust everything) "I begin with me. I take a look at where we were at as a football team going into the game. I thought we had a pretty good preseason. I thought our work last week was very, very good. I felt like we would play good. I told them I thought that we'd play good on Saturday night. Obviously, I was wrong from that standpoint. I start with me and how I get them ready to go and the positions I had them in. Today, we watched film and everybody looks at themselves and tries to figure out what they can do better, coaching, playing, everything. There's not one thing that I can say was a factor in us getting beat yesterday. There were many, many things. We'll have to do everything better. We'll have to improve a great deal from yesterday to this Sunday coming up for us to have a chance to beat Baltimore."
(on if you tell the team to forget about the loss and move forward) "Well, you're not going to forget about it. We can't forget about it. There's too many things that went on in that game that we have to pay big time attention to today to get fixed. Now, when we walk in here Wednesday morning, it's gone, we're getting to play a new football team. I don't think anybody can forget about the performance we had yesterday. It was painful; not good. You know, if you're not hurting today, something is wrong with you. But we'll forget about it Wednesday and go to work."
(on how much of the offensive performance was on QB Matt Schaub) "It's never on one player. It will never be on one player. This is a team game and everybody has a job to do. He can do his better than he did yesterday, but golly, everybody can; up front, receivers, backs, tight ends. There wasn't any position on the offensive football team that I could sit here and tell you, he was just awesome and he's fine. That just wasn't the case. We played poorly as a group. We got our butt beat as a group."
(on how he addresses the team when it wasn't individual performances that got them beat) "You know, in this game you don't really have to address people, so to speak. You watch the film together; you sit there and watch what you're doing and how you're doing it. So, everybody sees how we play and how we went about trying to operate our game plan, so to speak, to go down there and play. We didn't get anything done that we wanted to get done. So, it's not a problem. I guess that's what you're asking. It's very easy for us to see as a football team where we fail. It's not like we have to go out of our way to pinpoint those things. I think our players are hard on themselves."
(on if he sees T Ephraim Salaam playing more this week) "No, I mean, I see (T) Duane (Brown) fine. He cramped up, had both of his calves cramp up. He's going to have to be able to go all day. He's got to come right back this week and play well. I don't see, unless Duane has a problem, I don't see anything changing up front."
(on if there are any injuries) "We have a bunch of them but I probably don't have that much time. Do you want to ask me about individuals? My list is long up here."
(on what happened to G Chester Pitts) "(G) Chester (Pitts) got his ankle rolled up again. He'll be day-to-day right now. So, I'll let you guys know from day-to-day."
(on DE Stanley McClover's injury) "(DE Stanley) McClover will have surgery on Tuesday. Has a meniscus tear, I think, if I'm correct. Yes I am right. We'll do that on Tuesday. I think he wants another opinion before he gets that done so that could move his surgery back."
(on if that puts DE Stanley McClover out for the season) "I don't know yet. Don't know yet. My understanding is it all depends on how they go about the repair."
(on if he thinks he needs to bring in more backs) "My concern right now is (RB) Ahman's (Green) ankle. So, yeah, if it's going to be a problem then, you know, (RB) Darius (Walker) is going to be our first option. To get ready to go, you cannot play in this league with two backs or operate with two halfbacks going into a game. So, that's a big concern as we evaluate Ahman's ankle right now. So, with Darius, you can always bring Darius up. The next option is you got to go out there and find somebody."
(on when RB Ahman Green's ankle was injured) "It happened in the first half. He (RB Ahman Green) played throughout the game, and then struggled with it today. So, he's getting it checked out."
(on how shocked he was to be down 21 to nothing early in the game) "Well, I was very shocked. You look at the first quarter, you put together a good drive. You don't make a fourth and short; that type of thing. All of a sudden they score. We put together another drive. I think we were sitting on the 40 yard-line, first and 10, and we take two big sacks that knock us back 20-some-odd yards. So, we had a chance to play the game on their side of the field throughout the first quarter, which is something you want to do. We didn't get that done, and all of sudden you turn around and you're down 21-3. That's a tough task on the road and especially tough against that football team."
(on some of the individual defensive performances) "Yeah, (DE) Mario (Williams) played very well. (LB) Zac (Diles) did some good things. I thought (CB) Jacques Reeves probably had his best outing since he's been here. Played well on special teams, played well on defense. Had one pass, he got beat on a slant route, but I thought he had his best outing."
(on if there is anyone that could miss a considerable amount of time) "Considerable amount of time? No. Just a bunch of banged up guys right now we are trying to evaluate here over the course of the next two days. They are all day-to-day."
(on how far you let QB Matt Schaub go before you start looking at other things) "I don't know if you assume anything. I believe in the kid. That's why he's here. He's battled really, really hard for us. He's a fine player. He's played some good football. He ran into a tough, tough place yesterday to play. He was going to have to be perfect for our football team, he wasn't. Our team wasn't. I wasn't. That's something we have to get over, we have to move onto the next one. But he will have to play better this week, but I believe in (QB) Matt Schaub. I think he's a fine player."
(on if the way the game went made QB Matt Schaub make some bad decisions) "No, it's kind of the way they played us defensively. They played us a lot of two-deep man under, which is going to make you dink and dunk the football. And the reason I think we were played like that for the most part is because they had the lead. So, I just think that's the way you have to do it. And at the same time and you're holding a ball trying to get the ball way down field against that group, we probably would have gone down eight or nine times. So, we better get it out of the pocket there."
(on how much the offense can take from this loss going against Baltimore) "Scheme-wise? They are somewhat similar. Baltimore does even more. They are even more complicated and Pittsburgh is as complicated as you'll see. But the thing with Baltimore is they have all their pieces back in place. They were missing a lot of players last year. They're all back. They're all healthy. They are playing with a ton of confidence. Very, very physical team, so we have to get over this real quick and get ready to go."
(on if you tell the team to forget about the loss and move forward) "Well, you're not going to forget about it. We can't forget about it. There's too many things that went on in that game that we have to pay big time attention to today to get fixed. Now, when we walk in here Wednesday morning, it's gone, we're getting to play a new football team. I don't think anybody can forget about the performance we had yesterday. It was painful, not good. You know, if you're not hurting today, something is wrong with you. But we'll forget about it Wednesday and go to work."
(on how much of the offensive performance was on QB Matt Schaub) "It's never on one player. It will never be on one player. This is a team game and everybody has a job to do. He can do his better than he did yesterday, but golly everybody can - upfront, receivers, backs, tight ends. There wasn't any position on the offensive football team that I could sit here and tell you he was just awesome and he's fine. That just wasn't the case. We played poorly as a group. We got our butt beat as a group."
(on how he addresses the team now) "You know, in this game you don't really have to address people, so to speak. You watch the film together. You sit there and watch what you're doing and how you're doing it. So, everybody sees how we play and how we went about trying to operate our game plan, so to speak, to go down there and play. We didn't get anything done that we wanted to get done. So, it's not a problem. I guess that's what you're asking. It's very easy for us to see as a football team where we fail. It's not like we have to go out of our way to pinpoint those things. I think our players are hard on themselves."
(on if he sees T Ephraim Salaam playing more this week) "No, I mean, I see (T) Duane (Brown) fine. He cramped up, had both of his calves cramp up. He's going to have to be able to go all day. He's got to come right back this week and play well. I don't see, unless Duane has a problem, I don't see anything changing up front."
(on if there are any injuries) "We have a bunch of them, but I probably don't have that much time. Do you want to ask me about individuals? My list is long up here."
(on what happened to G Chester Pitts) "Chester (Pitts) got his ankle rolled up again. He'll be day-to-day right now. So, I'll let you guys know from day-to-day."
(on DE Stanley McClover's injury) "(Stanley) McClover will have surgery on Tuesday. Has a meniscus tear, I think, if I'm correct. Yes, I am right. We'll do that on Tuesday. I think he wants another opinion before he gets that done so that could move his surgery back."
(on if that puts DE Stanley McClover out for the season) "I don't know yet. Don't know yet. My understanding is it all depends on how they go about the repair."
(on if he thinks he needs to bring in more backs) "My concern right now is Ahman's (Green) ankle. So, yeah, if it's going to be a problem then, you know, (RB) Darius (Walker) is going to be our first option. To get ready to go, you cannot play in this league with two backs or operate with two halfbacks going into a game. So, that's a big concern as we evaluate Ahman's ankle right now. So, with Darius (Walker), you can always bring Darius up. The next option is you got to go out there and find somebody."
(on when RB Ahman Green's ankle was injured) "It happened in the first half. He (Ahman Green) played throughout the game and then struggled with it today. So, he's getting it checked out."
(on how shocked he was to be down 21 to zero early in the game) "Well, I was very shocked. You look at the first quarter; you put together a good drive. You don't make a fourth and short, that type of thing. All of a sudden, they score. We put together another drive. I think we were sitting on the 40 yard-line, first-and-10, and we take two big sacks that knock us back 20-some-odd yards. So, we had a chance to play the game on their side of the field throughout the first quarter, which is something you want to do. We didn't get that done, and all of sudden you turn around and you're down 21-3. That's a tough task on the road and especially tough against that football team."
(on some of the individual defensive performances) "Yeah, Mario (Williams) played very well. Zac (Diles) did some good things. I thought Jacques Reeves probably had his best outing since he's been here - played well on special teams, played well on defense. Had one pass he got beat on a slant route, but I thought he had his best outing."
(on if there is anyone that could miss a considerable amount of time) "Considerable amount of time? No. Just a bunch of banged up guys right now we are trying to evaluate here over the course of the next two days. They are all day-to-day."
(on how far you let QB Matt Schaub go before you start looking at other things) "I don't know if you assume anything. I believe in the kid. That's why he's here. He's battled really, really hard for us. He's a fine player. He's played some good football. He ran into a tough, tough place yesterday to play. He was going to have to be perfect for our football team. He wasn't. Our team wasn't. I wasn't. That's something we have to get over. We have to move onto the next one. But he will have to play better this week. I believe in Matt Schaub. I think he's a fine player."
(on if the way the game went made QB Matt Schaub make some bad decisions) "No, it's kind of the way they played us defensively. They played us a lot of two-deep man under, which is going to make you dink and dunk the football. And the reason I think we were played like that for the most part is because they had the lead. So, I just think that's the way you have to do it. And at the same time and you're holding a ball trying to get the ball way down field against that group, we probably would have gone down eight or nine times. So, we better get it out of the pocket there."
(on how much the offense can take from this loss going against Baltimore) "Scheme-wise? They are somewhat similar. Baltimore does even more. They are even more complicated, and Pittsburgh is as complicated as you'll see. But the thing with Baltimore is they have all their pieces back in place. They were missing a lot of players last year. They're all back. They're all healthy. They are playing with a ton of confidence. Very, very physical team, so we have to get over this real quick and get ready to go."
