After the Texans beat the Seahawks, 34-7, coaches and players from both teams answered questions from the media. The following is a transcript of their respective interviews.
Houston Texans
Texans head coach Gary Kubiak Texans LT Duane Brown Texans LB Brian Cushing Texans RB Arian Foster Texans WR Andre Johnson Texans RB Ryan Moats Texans SS Bernard Pollard Texans CB Dunta Robinson Texans LB DeMeco Ryans Texans QB Matt Schaub Texans DE Antonio Smith Texans WR Kevin Walter Texans DE Mario Williams Texans RT Eric Winston
Texans head coach Gary Kubiak(on how it felt to break the losing streak) "It felt real fun. Obviously we were very explosive today as a football team today. I would say it's the most explosive half of football I've ever been around as a coach. And defensively, we were exceptional all day long. It's been a rough few weeks, so it was good to win and I liked the effort of the football team."
(on the decision to call the first play) "It just happened that way, it wasn't guaranteed. We caught the perfect coverage. We kick snapped the ball. We did a lot of quick count because this team's a big pressure and we caught them. We caught the safety not being able to get back over the top, so it just worked out. There's no given there it just happened that way."
(on how DE Mario Williams and LB DeMeco Ryans impacted the game) "Well, that's what carries teams. When your leaders, your top players, they've got to take teams on their backs. They have to be the ones that make the plays to get everyone going. You know I could go across the board, but obviously those two young men played extremely well. (S)Bernard (Pollard), the play he made, I think was huge in the second half, and you've got our quarterback (Matt Schaub) and (WR) Andre (Johnson). We've got to play well, and they're exceptional and our team's got an excellent chance to win."
(on RB Arian Foster) "Well, you know I'm sitting there looking, I think he touched the ball about 13 times. One thing I really like—when he caught the ball he was very effective a few times. Obviously that was his first time out, so we'll go back and evaluate him, but we obviously struggled to run the ball again. We're struggling across the board from that standpoint. But, it was a good opportunity, we're fixing to pick up big time and we'll go from there."
(on the great first half by WR Andre Johnson and QB Matt Schaub and whether they dialed it down in the second half) "Well, I told them at halftime, 'We're going to be just as aggressive as we were in the first half.' We took the first three snaps offensively, missed a big play on the first play with three and out. The next time we threw a pick; no, I don't think that's right, I think we kicked a field goal in the next series and then we threw a pick. I mean obviously we fumbled it with nine minutes left in the game when the game's fixing to be over. We're just trying not to do anything to give them any opportunity to get back in the football game. So did we dial it back a little bit? Yes. I tried to give (WR) Andre (Johnson) two chances to make a play there late in the game, I knew he was close to a record. I wanted to say I gave him a chance but once we didn't get that done I wasn't going to do it anymore."
(on first quarter being close to perfect) "I think the most explosive half of football I've ever been around. I don't know what we had yardage wise, 360 yards or something like that. I mean, I've never been around that. So, it was explosive. And we had probably every opportunity to be up 38 to whatever, we missed a field goal and botched a couple of snaps but that's what we're capable of. And if we find a way to bottle that someday for four quarters it will be a real happy day."
(on whether it was the most complete game he's seen all year from defense) "Yeah, I told them last week I think they've been playing very well, I think they've had this team in position to win every week. I told them I thought they could be dominant. If we hold on to the ball at all in the second half they would have totally shut them down. But I think they've been exceptional, making plays and playing very, very hard. They've gotten better all year long. The job that (defensive coordinator) Frank Bush has done is exceptional. So, was it their best? It might have been."
(on QB Matt Schaub's toughness and leadership) "You know what he went through last week to play in that game, first of all that shows me how tough he is. I was told on Tuesday that he probably wouldn't practice this week and he walked out Wednesday and said, 'I'm taking every rep'. So, it just tells you that you've got the right guy. That's what he's made of. I told him last night this is a big month for him and this football team. He stepped to the plate and did his job today."
(on whether QB Matt Schaub only got hit once) "I don't know. He threw it 39 times, I think he threw it 26 times in the first half. He was exceptional."
(on if he's worried about K Kris Brown) "There's some concern there. (K) Kris (Brown) has worked out those few misses a few weeks ago. The past two weeks he has been clean. We get the one blocked, nothing he can do about that. We come out of the locker room and he mishit a kickoff. It's a little bit like some of the other things wrong with the team. It's erratic at times and obviously he's got to get his consistency."
(on message to team last night) "I don't know. I talked probably longer than I've ever talked. I said a lot. I can't remember what I said. I can't talk that long without having some preparation. I think what I really talked about was the game and how important it was to me, I'm talking about the game of football, and how important it is to the coaches. And I let them know how important I thought it was to them. And, I just told them don't ever take it for granted. Just try to stop everybody and make them stop and think about what our job is."
(on if he can breathe easier after breaking the losing streak) "I don't know if you ever breathe easier in this league. But it sure feels a lot better today than it has the past four."
(on any disappointments about today) "I would just like to see us run the ball better to be able to help the football team whenever everyone knows we've got to run it. And we're just not at that point. And I'm tired of coming in here with reasons, but we're struggling running the ball. So, being able to control the football game with the run is very difficult for this team right now. "
(on controlling the game with the pass) "Well, I'm comfortable with what we can do throwing the ball. But it just makes it very difficult in this game when you throw it every down. Sooner or later something bad may happen. Like you said, we had the one turnover in the second half."
(on idea about throwing more to TE Joel Dreessen) "No I didn't, it just happened to go to him. (TE) Joel (Dreessen) doesn't have his personal plays. We're tacking coverage and the ball coverage said throw to (TE) Joel (Dreessen)."
Texans LT Duane Brown
(on what helped the team's drive to victory) "Honestly, Coach (Gary) Kubiak talked to us last night and we just had a new sense of intensity and passion. We have to play, we have to play for everybody, play for each other, play for the whole organization. We just played with a lot of emotion. They came out a little soft, and we jumped on them."
(on what head coach Gary Kubiak said to fire up the team) "Coach Kubiak is a players' coach, and we feel like we let him down throughout this season and he just told us about the love he had for us and he just wanted us to come out and play with emotion, and we came out with that intensity that we hadn't already had.
(on how good the win feels) "It feels great. Everyone is so happy. You get so down around here and the only thing that can cure it is a win, and not only a win, a convincing win. It feels great."
Texans LB Brian Cushing
(on stopping them on fourth down multiple times) "We played good defense today. That was the most important thing. We didn't give up any fourth downs except for that one. We played a good game. We played four quarters, too, not just a half.
(on if the team's mindset is what made them successful today) "I don't think so. I just think we were ready to go out there and play. We know our capabilities and we wanted to show them for an entire game.
(on what it feels like to play a complete game at their full potential) "It shows we are capable of doing it, and we've just got to continue it next week in St. Louis. It doesn't mean anything if you go out and lay an egg next week."
(on head coach Gary Kubiak's halftime speech) "I liked it. He just basically said it's (a second half collapse) not going to happen again, and we felt the same way and we wanted to go out there and prove it."
Texans RB Arian Foster
(on how important it is for him to have a hand in ending this losing streak) "It's very important. These coaches and this organization trust me enough to put me out there on the field, so I'm going to go ahead and do it."
(on his performance today) "It feels good, but it's just a stepping stone. We still have a lot of work to do. Practice on Wednesday, so we have to go back to the drawing board because that team we play next week don't care nothing about this win today."
(on does he expect to get more reps) "I expect to come out there and perform the best I can. I'm not about getting carries or touches, I'm about helping this team win. When we get a win, that makes me happy."
Texans WR Andre Johnson
(on his touchdown on the first play of the game) "Coming into the game, we knew that their cornerbacks like to sit on routes. So we were hoping that they would give us the coverage we were looking for, and they did. We thought that if we went on a quick count we would catch then off guard, and it did. Everything worked out for us."
(on how they knew about the quick count) "A lot of times they try to disguise their coverage and they run a lot of single safety. And a lot of the time they rotate the safety to try to disguise which safety is coming down. That's something we've seen on tape all week. So we decided to go with a go route on the first play and it all worked out."
(on how much the win means, especially coming off the four game losing streak) "It means a lot. Any time you go out there on the field, you want to win. That's always the biggest thing. And just being around the team last night and through the week and everything, we determined that we were going to go out and give it all up for each other. Every coach, every player decided we were going to go out and lay it all on the line. That's what we did today."
(on if the first half was the best half of offensive football he has seen the Texans play) "Yes. I think the first play pretty much set the tone for us. And when you have something like that happen, it puts your team in a good spot and guys kind of feed off of it. That kind of set the tone for us."
(on if he was aware of his stats at halftime) "I really don't get caught up in that. I didn't know exactly what I had at halftime."
(on if it felt like he had caught a lot of passes) "I figured I had probably caught about six or seven balls, but I didn't know exactly."
(on when he got hurt) "I don't know, I just kind of hyper-extended my leg a little bit. I just had a little pain and when I hit the ground the wind kind of got knocked out of me too. So I just had a little bit of pain when I hit the ground."
(on if his timing with QB Matt Schaub is an example of the importance of practice) "Yes, it really is. You get to get your timing down. Like they say, practice makes perfect. We practice it a whole lot, and we finally did it in a game. For it to happen at the beginning of the game, it really set the tone for us."
(on QB Matt Schaub's accuracy and arm strength) "He got his shoulder separated last weekend. For him to come back to practice the whole week and still go out there and play, I think that helped a lot."
(on what he took out of head coach Gary Kubiak's words in the locker room) "Well, what he said is how I felt. I told (WR) David Anderson before the Jacksonville game that I was going to go out and lay it all on the line for my teammates. I told him I was going to go and try to play the best five games of my life. And you never want to see somebody lose their job. I've been here for seven seasons and I've had a ton of different teammates, so that's not something that you want to see happen. We just all decided that we were going to go out and give it up for each other."
(on if this game is an indication of what the Texans can do if head coach Gary Kubiak keeps his job) "Yeah I think it is. Like I said before, Coach Kubiak can't go out and play for us. All he can do is prepare us. Today we really didn't have, I think we had two turnovers, but if you look at it you don't see all of those silly mistakes that we normally make. We were able to go out and not make those mistakes, and we were able to go out and win the football game."
Texans RB Ryan Moats
(on if that was the most complete game they have played all season) "For the most part, I can say that it was one of them. It was one of the most complete games."
(on what they were able to do differently putting two solid halves together) "Just go out there and do the same thing you did the first half. Go out and start the game over with. Second half is a whole other game. That's what we did, just go out and start earlier."
(on SS Bernard Pollard's statements about players earning their paychecks helping the team) "I think anytime you touch the field, you want to be the best can. I think, for the most part, everybody took that upon themselves to say, 'Hey, when I touch the field, I'm going to be the best I can.' "
(on keeping his rhythm when being subbed in and out) "Yeah, that is a tough thing, to keep your rhythm when you come in and out like that. But you know, when you go in, you just try to keep on your keys basically right on track with everything and then it'll come to you."
(on if it is more difficult with three running backs taking carries) "I thought it was a great thing to see us all rotating like that. It kept everybody fresh. When that opportunity comes or there is a hole or gap or anything, you can really take advantage of it."
(on how much big plays by WR Andre Johnson pick everyone up) "I thought that was a great start that we had. The most important part is that we have to come back and keep pushing after we get a good play right there."
(on not giving the points back after getting ahead) "Yeah, that was our thing when coming out of the locker room at the half—is to make sure we come out and play the same. Don't change anything. Just go out and do what you're supposed to do on every play."
Texans SS Bernard Pollard
(on what took him so long to return an interception for a touchdown) "I don't know. I think as a defense we've made strides. The last four weeks, I just really don't think our team has given all we've got. You know, today and for the rest of the season and, for once next year, I don't know what the deal is. But I know our standards are set high, and we're going to keep that standard high. We've got to play at a high level day in and day out."
(on whether it was his best game today) "You know, I don't know. The type of player I am, the last three years, I've been learning. And I'm still going to continue to learn. I believe that once a player is done learning the game is over for him. I want to learn something every day. I want to learn something every game. And, I'm just so blessed to be in the position I'm in and to have the people back me up with my teammates. It's really a blessing."
(on how head coach Gary Kubiak's speech last night affected him) "Like I tell all those guys, Herm is similar, they're similar in areas, Herm Edwards. Coach Kub is, you see the passion, and you see the fire in him. He's brilliant offensively. Like, I tell a lot of the guys last night, he wears heart on his sleeve. He wore heart on his sleeve last night. He gave it to us. I really believe players understand. Like I tell a lot of the guys, Coach Kub gives it all he's got every game. And I really believe, you don't want change. I've been through change and change is not good. Like I tell a lot of people, if he continued to come in the last few weeks saying it was his fault—no, it's not his fault. We run the ball, we catch the ball, and we make tackles. He doesn't do it. He just puts us in position."
(on what keeps team from being this explosive every game) "I think we beat ourselves. I've seen, I've watched the films from our games this year. One team beat us. One team just came out, and it was man to man we went total to total and they beat us. Every other game, I really believe—I'm not giving excuses, we can't turn back the wheels of time, but it's so many errors that we made to beat ourselves—offensively, defensively, special teams, with the penalties, just being out of position. I think everything is settled now."
(on whether errors reflect on the coaching) "The coaches don't have to do anything but put us in the position. It's on the players to go out there and play. The coaches don't tell us to go out there and hold. The coaches don't tell us to go out there and hit a guy late. The coaches, they put us in position and it's on us. I really believe that today we stepped up, and like I said our standards are up here. And we're going to continue to play at that level."
(on his touchdown) "My only thing was to cover my man. And when I saw the man come out, you know that kind of throw you either lead the guy or try to put it in his chest. And I believe he tried to put it in his chest. I jumped it, and from that time on I said run for my life. It's so much fun to see your teammates and your coaches praise what is going on in the field. I'm blessed, I'm so honored to be here, and I'm going to continue everything I have."
(on if crossing the goal line was best feeling he's had as an NFL player) "Definitely. It was definitely the best feeling I've ever had. Because I know what has happened to me the last few months and a lot of people don't get second chances. People don't get second chances. And when it's given to you, you need to take full advantage of it. And I will continue to do that. I don't know where anything stands from the last time on my cleats at the end of the season, and hope that we can go further. I really believe that things are going our way. And, we can be a wildcard. Why not? Why not win four games and go to playoffs? And we've just got to keep it going."
(on key to being so good on third and fourth down) "Manning up. I think our defense, we knew what they are capable of. We know what they are capable of. And that's the thing with every guy being his best, every guy being, sounding, in the run game and in the pass game. And if we get that, that's me going back and saying that's what's needed the last four weeks. It's a guy here, a guy there, not even a gap or a guy miss a tackle and they might even spit out 34 yards. But, I think today everyone had the mindset of being better. You know, third down, first, second, third, and fourth down we want to get the draw, and get offense back the ball. I think we did a great job of that today. I think after the fumble today, we had some times when we did and we had some times when we didn't. But you know our standards are high, and they're going to stay high from here on out."
(on if he's ready to make another touchdown) "Oh, man. I want a touchdown. I feel like that helps your team. It gets guys energized. As a player, it keeps you high, and I want to ride it out."
Texans CB Dunta Robinson
(on his reaction to the game) "It's a great feeling, especially to dominate the game on both sides of the ball the way we did. Things haven't gone our way the past couple of weeks but we came out ant we played well. It just feels good to get back in the win column."
(on the team starting out quick, followed by a little lull and then stepping up again) "That's part of the game. You're going to have highs and you're going to have lows but you want to make sure you have more highs than lows. We gave up a drive that was uncharacteristic of us as a defense but we bounced back and that's something we haven't done in the past few games and that's a credit to the guys on the defense. We went out there and we played for 60 minutes and we haven't done that in a long time."
(on looking forward to the weeks ahead) "We're doing the things that we've been doing. We're playing pretty well as a defense as of late but we know we have to pick it up more. You know, coming into this game our offense hasn't played particularly well so we take it on our shoulders as a defense and go out there and play a full game. Sometimes we're going to need the offense and sometimes they're going to need us. Coming into this game we knew that if we wanted to win we were going to be a big part of it. We went out and got the job done."
(on S Bernard Pollard's interception return for a touchdown) "That was a huge play because they had the momentum at the time. They just got the ball on a turnover and they moved the ball pretty well on the drive before that. So for Bernard to come out there and make that play, that was huge. I think it took the life out of Seattle."
(on S Bernard Pollard's speed) "I've been picking on him about that all day. I told him the fullback almost caught him from behind. He's going to have to hit that sand pit in the offseason."
(on ending the losing streak) "It's huge. We've lost four straight games, and Seattle is a dangerous football team, a great offensive football team. We knew we had our hands full coming into this game. We knew if we didn't make mistakes we would win this football game. And we didn't make mistakes, we played physical and we gave the offense chances to make plays. They went out and handled their business and we did the same thing. It's a great feeling."
(on playoff hopes) "Well, we kind of dug ourselves in a hole, we're trying to dig ourselves out. I'm really not worried about that right now, we got to get wins. That's kind of our main focus right now. We have to take care of our business first, and after 16 games, we'll see where we stand."
(on whether the play was more aggressive defensively) "Yeah, it's been that way the last couple of weeks. We've been getting at the quarterback a lot, running a lot of man on the back end, just doing some great things. We've still been mixing a lot of zones and a lot of man coverage. Today we got up so early that we played a lot of zone, so we've had a pretty good mix so far."
Texans LB DeMeco Ryans
(on the keys for playing the downs, especially in the second half) "(Defensive coordinator) Frank (Bush) put us in great situations and he made some great calls. We were more aggressive this game. We just got up and found a way to get to the quarterback. That was our plan before the game: find the quarterback and get some good hits on him."
(on if this was the best defensive game all year for the Texans) "Oh yes. Today we played a true, full game. That's what we're most proud of. The guys kept fighting all four quarters and didn't let up. Even though we got put in some bad situations there in the second half, the guys still came out and fought it. We just had that feeling that they weren't going to get into the endzone on us, and it was just a great feeling on both sides."
(on how big it is to finally be out of the losing slump) "It's really big for us. We've been trying to get this sixth win forever, but we finally have that number six. This just gives us momentum going into next week. We just hope to continue on getting better."
(on the key to only missing a few tackles today) "The guys were just more locked in. We were really focused today. We were focused on our jobs and what we had to do. When it came time to tackle it wasn't just one guy bringing him down, you could see that today. It was a lot of guys in there on the ball."
(on what he got out of head coach Gary Kubiak's speech Saturday night) "It was a great speech. He just got us ready to go."
(on what had to be done to get a positive environment back) "We just had to keep fighting through. We had to keep having fun and getting better. We had to push through, and we made it through. You're going to see a lot more smiles around here because of it."
(on what it is going to take for the Texans to play a full four quarters every week) "We have to come and do what we did today. Hopefully today rolls into next week and we did a good job out there today. We had (QB) Matt (Schaub) and (WR) Andre (Johnson) getting us going early, getting everybody into it. If we just continue to do that, continue to make plays, and keep being clean with the ball without getting any turnovers and making some turnovers on defense we can come out and win each week."
(on why the team was more aggressive this week) "That's just the calls that came out. I don't know if we were more aggressive for a particular reason, but we were just more aggressive with the calls."
(on Seattle's scoring at the end of the first half) "I was really upset when they scrored. I didn't feel like they were going to, and they shouldn't have."
(on what SS Bernard Pollard has brought to the defense) "He's brought so much consistency to the back end. He loves to play football and he's always making big plays. He stepped in at the beginning of the year and that's gotten our defense rolling."
Texans QB Matt Schaub
(on what he got from head coach Gary Kubiak's speech) "It did the same thing for me that it did for a lot of the guys. It put everything in perspective, let the team know and understand how important it is to everyone in the room that we finish this season the right way. Finish it and go out and play our style of game and just good football. It definitely hit me right between the eyes."
(on what it was like to come out into the game and do so well) "It was big for us to come out and start the way we did. The big play to (WR) Andre (Johnson) really set the tone for the game. That got us off to a good start offensively, and that gave the defense a lot of emotion and adrenaline to play. It did the same for the special teams as well. It was good to get all of that adrenaline from the get go and then to keep it playing that way throughout the beginning of the game really set the tone."
(on whether it was hard to dial down his passing after being so successful in the first half)
"Well we had a few plays in the second half that couldn't be made, but our defense played extremely well. We missed some opportunities but then in the fourth quarter we started running the ball a little bit more. We were just trying to get out of there with a win."
(on his shoulder injury and playing through the week) "It was kind of sore throughout the week, more or less in the mornings when I wake up, but they have things that I can take to help with that; some medications. It felt pretty good; it didn't bother me in practice. For the game the guys up front did a great job. Seattle brought some pressure but I was able to stay on my feet for the most part.
(on what he was able to capitalize on to get the ball to WR Andre Johnson) "We were picking our spots and getting certain coverages against some of their formations and personnel groupings that we had. They were giving us some favorable match ups, and when you get an opportunity for one-on-one like that you've got to take it because you might not get it again. Some of our routes were just designed to beat some of their coverages."
(on whether he had to talk head coach Gary Kubiak into letting him practice on Wednesday) "No."
(on why he practiced when he wasn't expected to all week) "My shoulder felt good enough, but it is also my job. I wanted to get a fair share of reps on Wednesday, splitting them with (QB) Rex (Grossman), but then Thursday and Friday take all of them."
(on how the positive environment came back after the four game losing streak) "We've got the right guys. We've got the right veterans and leaders in the group that you're going to face some adversity and tough times in this business but if you just keep your men together and don't let negative things influence you, anything is possible. You can come out of it."
(on RB Arian Foster) "He played a heck of a game. He didn't have that deer in the headlights mentality. He came in there, he knew his assignment, did his job, and he ran hard. He knew his routes and was there for me. I think the key to show his development and maturity was right before the end of the half. We ran a play and I told him it was designed for him to get a quick completion and then get out of bounds to save the second or so for the field goal, and we got in the huddle, I told him and he didn't even blink his eyes. It all turned out good and he got out of bounds. That just shows his intelligence and high football iq."
(on C Antoine Caldwell keeping it clean) "He did a great job. All of those guys. Him and (Center) Chris White who stepped in at right guard have done extremely well for us all year rotating in and out."
(on what they knew about the Seahawks and what the plan of action was) "Well we knew how they would try to play us, just like everybody else. When you get certain plays you get the opportunity to get one on low coverage and as a football team we've got to take advantage of that because they aren't going to come very often. There are plenty of plays to be made out there and we have the personnel to make them."
(on what was different in the second half as opposed to the first as far as passing to WR Andre Johnson) "We weren't really doing anything different, and neither were they. They put a little bit more coverage on him in the second half, but no we weren't really doing anything differently until the fourth quarter when we were running and trying to get time off the clock."
(on his awareness of WR Andre Johnson's records during the game) "Yeah we knew about it, that's why we tried to throw those two there at the end to him, trying to get him a few more, but talking to him before-- that really wasn't what was important to him. He just wanted to win the game."
(on what it was like playing against his former coach Jim Mora) "It was interesting. I spent three years with him so I knew what kind of coach he was. I knew he was going to try to come after us a little bit; defensive minded coach."
Texans DE Antonio Smith
(on what changed in the team's play) "To me, as a defense, we were called out. We were called out as a defense to learn how to be a dominant unit and to figure out how to get to that next level. I just love how everybody responded today."
(on who called the defense out) "Everybody. Sometimes in the beginning of the season everyone is on pins and needles and is so sensitive about everything that's said, and all of us have to be held accountable for everything that we do. We're the players, we're out there playing, and I promise you that when everyone's leading and playing hard we can go out there and dominate teams like that."
(on how it feels good to end the losing streak) "Oh you know it feels good to get that losing streak over, nobody likes to be a loser. It felt real good."
(on his mindset towards fighting back into the playoff race) "All I'm going to do is play hard and keep the faith. That's all I ever have done, and that's all you can do. Especially right know when you don't know what's going to happen, you just always stay believing. I'm not going to go home and be like, 'Is such and such going to win?' or 'Is this team going to lose?' I'm just going to go home and enjoy my family."
(on if there was more of a sense of urgency today than in the last few weeks) "I think we play hard every week. I think there was a sense of accountability this week where people were more focused on executing. We fly around out there as a defense and today we made all of the plays we needed to make."
(on DE Mario Williams taking some personal blame for the past few games) "Mario is a good person and a good man; he's got a good heart. He takes a lot of the weight of this team and it effects him. And I think that for him to go out and say 'You know what, it's going to be on me and these past couple of weeks I haven't been playing the way I want to be playing,' that's him being a great man and a great person. No defense should have that much weight on one person. A defense is a unit. If you don't play like a unit, you can have one person that is the best player in the league and you don't win."
Texans WR Kevin Walter(on whether the second half was disappointing compared to the first half) "A win's a win, when you win like that, it doesn't matter. I don't think today was a tale of two halves like it has been all year. Today we played well for 60 minutes as a team, defense, offense, and it feels great. Dre (WR Andre Johnson) started off with the first play, we played well on special teams, and it feels good to get that win today."
(on if he thought head coach Gary Kubiak was slowing it down in the second half) "No, absolutely not. In the second half, we talked from the beginning that we wanted to run the ball. We wanted to get better. Last night we talked about that in our meeting, we wanted to come here and run the ball better. The first half we threw the ball quite a bit and made some big plays and the second half, we wanted to keep the ball from their hands, so we wanted to run it and I think we ran it pretty well."
(on the offense being a thing of beauty when its working together) "It sure is, this whole team is. When we play together, when we're working on all cylinders, it's fun to watch."
Texans DE Mario Williams
(on how he felt about his play today) "It's just going out and playing hard. There's been a lot of adversity here not just with the team, especially with myself. I've just got to play harder and just keep trying to push it and that's pretty much it."
(on what kind of adversity he has had) "That's classified."
(on if he can give everyone a hint at what it involves) "It involves me—it's just a long season. Everybody's banged up and bruised up. With the way it affects the team and how things are going, it takes even more of a toll on you. We just got to find an extra gear. It's the last month of regular season play and we've got to find that gear—everybody does."
(on if he felt that as a team leader, he had to step up) "Yeah, pretty much. I think we all should be leaders and we all have to step up and play harder. That's one thing I've said, we just have to give more effort and come out with better plays and production."
(on what head coach Gary Kubiak said at halftime) "He was fired up and he said that we've been here before and we can't sit here and relax and sit-down. We just had to keep going and keep playing hard."
(on their ability to stop Seattle on fourth down) "It's just that extra play and extra effort that I was talking about. Everybody was giving extra effort. Even if they completed the ball on fourth downs with a pass, we still stopped them short, so we were able to get off the field. That's pretty much what we've got to continue to do for the next month."
(on what it means to the team to break the losing streak) "It's great, but at the same time, we've still got a lot to do. We still have got three games left in the regular season. Hopefully some things can work out for us, but as I said, we can only take it one game at a time and just give a tremendous effort."
(on how they deal with talk about if head coach Gary Kubiak should lose his job) "I don't want another coach here. I love Kubiak to death. We had a long talk this week, me and him personally. It meant a lot, the things he said to me and the way he came at me. He basically told me I need to play better. Right now, everybody is under a microscope, but if you look at it, there are some things that might've been iffy, but at the end of the day, it's the players that play and it's us that need to be accountable. Myself, I need to give a better effort. Not just for myself, but for him. I think Kubiak is a great coach. I definitely don't want to see anything different here. With that being said, I have to play harder to try and keep everyone intact, everybody together. It's late right now, but it's better now than never. Every day that you go out there now, you know you've got to give it up for the coach and for everybody else on the team."
(on if it was unusual for them to sit down and talk) "It was unusual because we talked about a lot of things, not just football—life. It meant a lot to me. He knew it meant a lot to me. Like I said, it's just a lot of energy that the players have to show on the field that we have to take care of. A lot of times, obviously the first person you blame is the coach. He always takes the responsibility, but it doesn't seem fair that way. Eventually, it's going to come down to us, if we want to have somebody different, what are they going to say then if the same things happen? So we have to take ownership and play better."
(on how the players playing well) "It's us being accountable. You can say what you want to say about the coach, but at the end of the day, it's us. We all know that and I guess you could say it's an awakening. It's crazy that it's the end of the season. We should've had it happen before we got on this little losing streak. It's us. We all, as players, know that we've got to be held accountable. At the end of the day, somebody can be held accountable because they are the leader of the whole team, but it takes the players that are out there playing and not the coach. We've definitely got to player better, man. Anything that happens out there, it's us, whatever we do."
(on how he responded to head coach Gary Kubiak after their talk) "Thank you."
Texans T Eric Winston
(on what was said in the locker room at halftime) "We just immediately pulled it up. We usually wait until the end of half to pull it up. We immediately pulled it up, and said "hey this is where we've been the last couple of games, and we've got to change the story." That's pretty much what happened."
(on what was different today) "We talked a lot about accountability to each other. We talked about how we might not be perfect but we've got to strive for it, and even though we weren't perfect today, and we made some crucial mistakes, they didn't hurt us. We've all got to be there for each other."
(on DE Mario Williams taking a lot of the blame for the team's losses) "Mario is a different guy. There's nothing wrong with that. He knows what is expected of him. A lot of people don't believe sometimes that we are the most disappointed people when we lose and when we're not playing well, and even though Mario doesn't come off like it sometimes, I know he's feeling disappointed with the way this year has gone for him. I think he realized also that he's got four games left to rewrite the script. I think we all kind of realized that we can do something this franchise has never done and we could still do some special things. Whether the playoffs become a reality or not, we'd probably have to get pretty lucky and have a few breaks go our way, but that doesn't change the fact that we go out there for each other, we play for each other, and as long as we can look one another in the eye and know that we've left it all out there, I think this team is going to be pretty happy with the outcomes."
Seattle Seahawks Seahawks head coach Jim Mora Seahawks WR Deion Branch Seahawks DL Colin Cole Seahawks SS Deon Grant Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck Seahawks LB David Hawthorne Seahawks WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh Seahawks RB Julius Jones Seahawks T Sean Locklear Seahawks G Rob Sims Seahawks head coach Jim Mora
(on today's game) "Number one, I am not happy at all with the way our offensive line is playing. We are going to take an extremely hard look at that over the next two days, and I can't promise you there won't be changes either. If there are changes that need to be made then we will make them; even at this late state in the season. Number two, we are going to find out about some people over the next three weeks. As slim as our playoff aspirations were, they were there and they are not there anymore. Now, we are trying to battle to get eight and eight, and we are going to find out about people. We are going to find out who is going to be a part of the process going forward. Those are the things I'm going to be looking extremely hard at over the course of the next two days with regards to the offensive line and the next three weeks with regards to the team."
(on injuries) "The two guys I'm most concerned with are (WR) Nate (Burleson) whose ankle will be MRI'ed in the morning, and (LB) Aaron Curry who will be imaged as well. Aaron's looked like a pain. He couldn't walk off the field. As far as I know (he will travel home with the team). (WR) T.J. (Houshmandzadeh) came down hard but he should be okay. There could be some things that crop up, but the two guys I'm most concerned with are (WR) Nate (Burleson) and (LB Aaron) Curry."
(on team's effort) "The effort is a given. You're supposed to play hard in this game and we did. We had an excellent week of practice. We practiced well; we were ready to go, and we came out and got off to a horrible start again. The first play is a 66-yard touchdown pass. You go on the road and start like that, it's tough to come in and play a good football team like this offensively who have put up a lot of numbers. To start the way we did it just digs a hole that is so hard to come out of. The effort is not a question with our team. We try hard, but we should not be commended for that. That's part of professional football."
(on the defensive line of the Houston Texans) "I'm not concerned with the Texans. I'm concerned with the Seattle Seahawks.
(on preparation for today's game) "Contain (WR Andre) Johnson. We've got to continue to improve on special teams, and we didn't do that. Secondly, I said we needed to be able to run the football. We had a little success running the football, and when you fall behind like we did you can't run the football. So we've got to protect (QB) Matt (Hasselbeck). We didn't protect him a lick. We had to stop the run. We did stop the run up until the end of the game. We have to be able to pressure the quarterback with four men on the ball, and we couldn't do it again. So, we are taking a microscope and looking at everything."
(on problems with the offensive line) "It's not effort. I want to look at it objectively tomorrow before I go too far down the road with emotion. "
(on struggling to win on the road) "It's not just this year; it has been happening a lot. We have to figure it out promptly."
(on apparent progress and then this loss being a set-back) "I'm very discouraged right now. I'm as discouraged now as I've been in any game of my career. But that doesn't mean we are going to stop fighting, kicking and scratching and trying to get better, because we are. We are going to fight our butts off and we are going to get better. We are not going to say okay status quo—no, no, I'm not happy with our offensive line. If we can make changes to get better then we are going to make them. It is unacceptable for our quarterback to stand back there and get hit the way he is getting hit."
(on going for it on fourth down) "I just want to win. A field goal was not going to do anything. It would have made it a four-score game—24 points. I was trying to get us within three scores."
(on QB Matt Hasselbeck's injuries) "It was a little bit of shoulder and I think a thumb or something. I like that I can say he is okay. He's getting punished and he's okay, but he's tough—he's tough for hanging in there. I'll give him that."
(on poor preparation for WR Andre Johnson) "That's an understatement. In the first half he tore us up—starting with the first play. We were playing quarters coverage and he just ran right by our guys. We rolled up on him and they threw it elsewhere. If we put him in single he (WR Andre Johnson) won. He's an outstanding player. (QB Matt) Schaub is doing a tremendous job getting the ball to him, and they are protecting him. We've just got to do better. We've got to be more detailed, we've got to call the game better, we've got to make plays, and we've got to challenge— all of those things. It's not any one specific thing; it's all of those things.
(on switching centers due to injuries) "I did. We've got a center that's trying to snap with his left hand because he's got a cast on his right hand. He's had that on for what seems like forever. I'm not quite sure why he still has a cast on his hand—but he does. That is a factor. We see it affecting our shotgun snaps, affecting a lot of our running plays—the timing on offense has to be crisp and when you can't get the snap to the quarterback you have no chance in getting a successful play."
(on potential offensive line changes) "I'm going to consider changing all five spots.
Seahawks WR Deion Branch(on if it was tough on the offense being down early) "It's not, those things happen. They (Texans) started off fast. I think it's something for us to go out and do the same thing as far as our offense. With those guys going out there and striking on the first play of the game we knew that it was a game. We just have to go out there and answer and we didn't."
(on if the team wasn't prepared coming into the game) "I think we were flat. I don't think it was that bad. That happens sometimes but once the game starts flowing guys start getting in their grove. We never got in a rhythm. I think to start the first drive off three-and-out, that's not going to help us at all. I think the biggest thing is for us to go out and get a couple first downs, hopefully get a touchdown."
(on if a couple of three-and-outs become contagious) "It happens in this game. We didn't have enough big plays either. That's something you can offset the three-and-outs with, a big play here and there. We didn't have but one or two big plays outside the touchdown. So that's not good. I don't think it's contagious. I think the biggest thing for our offense is to get going. We have to figure out a way to get going."
Seahawks DL Colin Cole
(on protecting LB Aaron Curry during the play he got hurt) "I felt like it was unnecessary I just saw a guy jump on top of him and I didn't take to kindly to that, so I help escort him off of him."
(on what he saw from Houston offensive line and their running attack) "They do a lot of chop blocking. That is their main running scheme like our offense. They were able to stretch us a little bit vertically. We were able to hold another rusher under 100 yards, but their running was effective enough to keep their drives going, and evidently they won the game."
Seahawks SS Deon Grant
(on what happened in the game) "They had a smart game plan. They came out with quick counters as we were just lining up. They took a shot, went to their go-to man and they scored on us."
(on how this game was a major disappointment) "Big time, any given Sunday those things happen but this is late in the season, not the beginning of the season. It's a disappointment, this loss is the biggest disappointment. Things like that, the first touchdown, in the first play you can bounce back from that. It's about how we continue to play the game and how we finish. It wasn't a good look for us."
(on if the strategy to stopping Texans WR Andre Johnson changed throughout the game) "Our focus was still on stopping him. We didn't do what we were supposed to do at the end of the day. We have to give the offensive coordinator and their offense they props. At the end of the day we didn't do what we were supposed to as a defense either to stop him."
(on what made the biggest difference the game) "I don't believe in contagious. When you win you win. You go out there and play and do your job. Today we didn't go out there and play or do our job. I don't look at the d-line or the linebackers. I just look at my group. As a whole they (Texans offense) had a lot of passing yards. So as a group we didn't do our job."
Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck
(opening statement)"I think I'm more just disappointed than I am physically hurt. I'm kind of at a loss for words. It just was a really bad performance by us today and it's just going to be one of those weeks where we'll just be uncomfortable and it's going to be a lot harder than normal and there's going to be a lot of scrutiny and that's probably what we need right now."
(on why it was so hard for the team to get going) "I felt like we know what went wrong there on those plays, you know, it's not that hard, we know what happened. Our execution right now just is not very good, not very good at all, and it's not good enough and if you come out playing like that you're going to get embarrassed and that's us today."
(on C Chris Spencer's snapping problems today) "He's been doing a great job kind of sucking it up and trying to snap left handed. I can't really describe what happened on the fumble exchanges but clearly that's not good. And that's not just on him, it's on the quarterback just as much, so I take responsibility for my part in it and that's something that I got to get right, got to get fixed."
(on if losing after winning two in a row makes the loss worse) "That momentum definitely hit a road block. To me it feels a lot like the Dallas game—we came out feeling pretty good, knowing it was a challenge, knowing that we had to play well, trying to sort of answer the issues that we had playing on the road and just fell flat on our face, didn't do it all. Not even close."
(on the lack of protection from the offensive line) "I don't know, it's not all on them. The first play on the game, that wasn't them. I don't know exactly, you got to see the film. When you watch the film you know exactly what happens. On a Sunday night right after, you don't necessarily have answers. But either way, we've all got to be better."
(on the lack of protection from the offensive line affecting his ability to make plays) "There are certain things that forever in football will be important: running the ball, tackling, applying pressure on the QB, protecting the QB—those things will always be important to the outcome of a game. But again, we all got to do our part and some of that's on me, some of that's on tight ends, running backs. The guys up front, they've been working hard, they've got a lot of pride, we just got to play better as a unit. We got to play together and we for sure got to play better on the road."
(on his shoulder) "It's cold right now.
Seahawks LB David Hawthorne
(on the defensive tackling) "I think it was us. We had guys wrapping up who players got away. Myself personally, I had a couple of guys wrapped up and they got away. I guess we need to key in and focus more on just getting the guy down."
(on what head coach Jim Mora said at the end of the game) "I think the message was that we were fixing to separate the real from the fake. We are going to see how people pish through this, through adversity. For these last two weeks, guys are going to have to play with a lot of pride. We are still building something and I don't think he is going to let us get away from what we are building."
(on if his caused fumble helped pump the team up) "Any time you are out there and get the opportunity to do something, you want to capitalize on it, no matter what the situation is. I think we did get a spark. Sometimes we need to play through adversity and see the good in things, and that is what we need to do."
Seahawks WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh
(on the Seahawks offensive performance) "It's disappointing anytime you lose. The game was a blowout I think by the end of the first quarter. We played terrible and they played great. They played really good and we didn't play that good. A lot of it has to do with the way they played. For probably the last four or five weeks we can't do anything on offense."
(on if he had any thoughts on why the Seahawks offense is not being productive in recent weeks) "No I don't have any thoughts on it. I have my thoughts, but I will keep them to myself. What I think doesn't really matter much."
(on the Seahawks struggles on the road this season) "I feel like I'm ready to play. We just go to be ready to go individually. We have to be ready to go as a team. Why is that the case? I don't know might be just a coincidence that we lose on the road, but we are probably losing to teams that are better than us, obviously."
Seahawks RB Julius Jones
(on why the team's momentum didn't carry over to this game) "I'm not sure. It's really a pathetic, pitiful performance. That's just the two words that I can think of, that's on top of my head. We had a lot riding on this game. We came out and didn't look like a professional team. I really don't have any answers for it. I don't really know what to say, just disappointment. To really come out and play like that when we had so much to lose."
(on if they were prepared coming into today's game) "We just didn't get it done in all aspects of the game. Everybody have to look at themselves, everybody. I'm the first to look at myself. I think everybody in this entire locker room who was out on the field with us everybody needs to look at themselves, every last person."
(on what the Texans defense was doing to stop their offenses' continuity) "Nothing. They weren't doing anything we hadn't seen before. We just didn't get the job done today. That's just plain and simple. You can look for answers and search, do all that stuff but when it comes down to it and watch the film we just didn't get it done."
Seahawks T Sean Locklear(on the Seahawks offensive line performance) "It was mistakes all across the board. We knew what we were doing. It was just key things like guys making mental mistakes and mishaps. It wasn't just the same person either. It was just one breakdown here and there."
(on if injuries is catching up on the team) "I don't know. That's the question of the day. I'm sitting on the bench trying to figure it out myself. It's week 14 and we shouldn't be having these problems that we are having. It's just mental breakdowns and it's everybody."
(on how the Seahawks can bounce back from this loss) "Well we've been asking ourselves this for the last three weeks. We didn't do anything that we were supposed to. We had breakdowns then, but we came out to win. It looks that much worse because it is the same thing happening. We lost and we lost big. So we just have to go back to the meeting rooms and just try to keep plugging away and try to finish out the season strong."
(on how the Seahawks can get back the winning attitude in the locker room) "We just need to get this loss out of our system and watch film and the get ready to game plan on Wednesday."
(on getting off to a bad start this game) "None of us wanted to start off like this. We've talked about this coming out of the locker room, about being productive and not starting bad. Obviously, on the first play of the game they saw something happening. They were able to see something and they got a play. I can't control that because I'm on offense. We came out and we were sacked on the first play and that was definitely not the way we wanted to start as an offense. Then we ended up playing catch up the rest of the game and never really caught up."
Seahawks G Rob Sims(on his personal performance and the performance of the Seahawks pass protection) "I take pride in keeping (QB) Matt (Hasselbeck) off the ground. Unfortunately today he was down there too much. That's the (National Football) League. It's been that way when my dad was playing when I was a little boy. It's like that now. It's the same thing, you get replaced. It's only a matter of when. It's going to happen eventually. Whenever tha, t day comes, who knows? But I'm going to keep f, ighting until they call my name."
(on the Seahawks offensive line's motivation to keep QB Matt Hasselbeck off the ground) "Its big motivation, Matt is not the one who point fingers, but what is he suppose to do when he's on the ground? That's on , all of us. That's on our tight ends, our running backs and all of us. It's our fault and that rests on our shoulders.
