Notes from the Texans' practice and locker room on Monday at Reliant Stadium:
More news at quarterback?The Texans practiced Monday, but the team also worked out some veteran quarterbacks as well. For more on that story, click here.
Leinart's MondayQuarterback Matt Leinart returned from the bye week as the starter in place of the injured Matt Schaub, and shortly after practice concluded, head coach Gary Kubiak shared his thoughts on how things went for the lefty from Southern California.
"It was good," Kubiak said. "We came out here. We needed to get them going, get the weekend out of their system and worked them pretty good. Matt practiced good."
Leinart said his focus was good, but that things haven't changed for him since being elevated to the starting role a week ago.
"I've worked hard, I've been focused every day since I've been here preparing for an opportunity like this just in case this ever came up," Leinart said. "Like I said before, they know I work hard, I've been preparing, and now it's just time to take all that preparation onto the field, and that's what we plan on doing as a team."
Back from the byeThe Texans returned to work Monday morning, and some shared interesting tales about what happened with the free time. Left tackle Duane Brown proposed to his girlfriend, and is now engaged to be married.
"My fiancée is from LA, so I flew out there with her and had a little private dinner set up with her family and friends and made her think it was just some regular dinner and I surprised her with it," Brown said. "She was very excited, very emotional. Pretty good feeling though, man."
Wide receiver Kevin Walter and his wife, meanwhile, welcomed their son Vincent into the world, as the newest member of the Walter clan was born during the time off.
"It was very special," Walter said. "It worked out great. My wife, my son, they did great. They're doing well right now. She gets released tomorrow, so it's good stuff."
Jaguars up nextWith a trip to Jacksonville this weekend, the Texans will face the Jaguars for the second time in four games. Corner Johnathan Joseph said the familiarity and recent history with Jacksonville is just part of the business and that game plans won't be altered drastically.
"For the most part, I would probably say no just because we played them pretty much three weeks ago, so I don't think it would change much from now to then," Joseph said. "We just got to go in and keep our same game plan."
Retaliation on the way?
Following the Texans' 24-14 victory over the Jaguars in Week 8, a pair of defenders from Jacksonville said that Houston played dirty. When the subject was brought up in the locker room on Monday, the Texans stayed above the fray.
"I don't pay attention to that stuff," Myers said. "We go out and play the game that we play. Obviously there's dirty games and there's soft games, but we don't think about it, all the talk in the media and stuff. You go out there on Sunday and once the whistle blows, you don't think about what's all printed and what all you guys say nonstop throughout the week."
Quotable
"I did have an interesting bye week. I got engaged Saturday. It's a good feeling, man." –Left tackle Duane Brown, when asked if his bye week was interesting.
"Oh yeah. Kenny 'the Snake.' They used to call me that at USC. Our equipment guys used to write 'Snake' on my cleats, actually. It was funny."* *–Quarterback Matt Leinart, on if he knew about former quarterback and noted lefthander Ken Stabler.
