The Texans practiced outside at the Methodist Training Center on Friday, in preparation for their Week 9 contest at Indianapolis. Head coach Gary Kubiak answered questions from the media afterwards, and the following is a transcript of his interview.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on any updates regarding the team) "(DT)Shaun (Cody) looked good. I think Shaun will be ready to go. He practiced today. Obviously, (LB Brian) Cushing practiced today, so we've got them all in line to go up there and take our shot."
(on if he has made any decisions on who will start at running back) "No. I'm going to go back and look at the film and make a decision sometime, probably tomorrow. I'm going to play them all and they're all going to be a big part of what we're doing."
(on if RB Steve Slaton's game in Indianapolis last year factors into the decision) "I've got a lot of confidence in Steve. Y'all know that. I'm trying to work him through this the right way. We're going to need him to win this week; I can tell you that."
(on how hard it is for a player to be in a situation like Slaton) "I've seen it a lot. It's not like the first you're seeing players. You have a 1,200 yard rookie season, it's not that easy in this league. I told him before the season, I said, 'Steve, the next 1,200 yards you gain will be the toughest you'll ever gain.' That's just the way it is. He's going through a tough time right now, but to be a great player for a long period of time, he'll work through this. We're helping him work through it but he's got the biggest piece of the puzzle and he's got to protect that football. He'll get his chances to do that this week."
(on who will long snap if TE Joel Dreessen got hurt) "(DT Jeff) Zgonina."
(on what can you do to beat Peyton Manning) "I think you go in there with the mindset that you're not going to stop Peyton. You're not going to do that. You hope to slow him down. You hope to make a few big plays in the game. It takes a total team effort to beat this football team. They don't beat themselves very often and I think you're mindset, number one, you can't let plays that he's going to make lead to a problem on the next play. I think we're better with our mindset from that standpoint. Like I said, hopefully we can make some plays to slow him down."
(on if what the 49ers did last week is the right formula for success) "They were excellent. They got him off the field on third downs. When you get seven punts out of the Colts, which I think it was, that's a lot of possessions in the game. The one game we beat them here, a few years back, there were eight possessions in the whole football game so that tells you how important those possessions are. They can win in any kind of way. They're playing good defense. They're giving up the least amount of points in football right now. We have our challenges on both sides of the ball, not just defense."
(on if coaching with Colts defensive coordinator Larry Coyer has helped him at all) "I spent a lot of time and I have a lot of respect for Larry. I think we were together in Denver for five or six years. They've changed just a little bit on defense. They're a little bit different cover team but they're still the same effort team and very sound. They don't give up big plays."
(on if coming close last year helped the team going into this weekend) "They'd have to answer that. Close in this business is still getting beat. We played them well last year, but they made the plays at the end and hopefully we're in the same type of ballgame and this Sunday the Texans make the plays at the end."