Davis will miss approximately three weeks after surgery on a dislocated finger on his left hand.
The Texans spoke to the media following their Thursday afternoon practice.
Texans owner Bob McNair
(on the comparison between Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike) "Well, with Katrina, we were sort of removed other than we had all these folks next door. But our community was somewhat removed from it, so the event occurred and people got back to normal a lot quicker who lived here. But in this event (Hurricane Ike), we had a lot of people here who lost their homes and had problems, and so there was more of a lingering effect. It wasn't as spectacular in that the cities weren't underwater the way it was in New Orleans, but the devastation was probably more widespread."
(on what the reaction was to comparing the two hurricanes) "Well, I think that everyone has recognized that we really need to come together and that it really has hurt the community. But I think it was more of a situation in which, in this case, it's, 'Let's take care of our family.' The other one was, 'Let's take care of our neighbors.'"
(on the responses of the hurricane being bigger in regard to the previous answer) "Well, it has hit home more. I haven't seen the final numbers, but the amount of damage was up in the many, many billions of dollars and it's going to take a long time, especially down along the coast, to rebuild."
(on people still giving back in relief efforts) "Yes. The giving has been there, but again, you didn't have the pictures of the city underwater. So I think as far as the nation is concerned, people outside of this area don't understand that we were hit as hard as we were."
(on the chance to have three straight wins and what it would mean) "Well, it's important to us because we have a team coming in here that's really a good team, but they have a bad record. But they are not a bad team. They've got some great athletes, and we're going to have to play hard and play good football in order to beat them. This is not a lay down, but it's easy for people to relax and ease up a little bit. That's the time that you can have some disappointing defeats. So, I'll be very happy if we come out a winner. I expect us to win, but we have to go out there and make it happen."
(on crossing thresholds like obtaining the Texans' first season three-game win streak) "Absolutely. You have to have that discipline to maintain that level of concentration for an extended period of time. You can't concentrate on your job for just a short period of time. You have to maintain that, and it takes a lot of discipline to do that."
(on how happy he is to see a consistent running game) "Well, I think you saw it in the time of possession. And I don't know, I haven't had a chance to check, but I suspect that might have been a record for us in terms of time of possession. I don't recall another game in which we had the ball for over 40 minutes, and there are not many games in which a team does that. So you don't do that unless your running game is really working well, so that's a big plus and it takes a lot of pressure off of (QB) Matt (Schaub) and the passing game will go even better. I think the first half last week, some people said, 'Oh, well the game, the second half was disappointing.' That was the most encouraging game for me because it shows you what this team can do the way they performed the first half. You eliminate those turnovers, which you can do and we will do, and we've got a team that can be a terrific team."
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on if there is anything new today with the team) "No. Everything is normal. 34 (FS Dominique Barber) still didn't practice. (TE Mark) Bruener's back fine. (DE) Mario (Williams) was limited in practice, but other than that, nothing has changed."
(on why DE Mario Williams was limited) "His shoulder. He's got a bruised shoulder, so I just kept him out of the contact portion of practice. But he did do some of the other stuff."
(on if he has firmed up what he is going to do about replacing WR André Davis on kickoff returns) "Well, it's either going to be (WR) Jacoby (Jones) or (WR) David (Anderson) probably, because I won't put (RB Steve) Slaton back there being our starting tailback right now. But, we'll keep working them again tomorrow. It will be one of those two."
(on CB Fred Bennett's good practice today) "Yeah, he (CB Fred Bennett) had a really good practice today. What we're trying to do between him and Petey (CB DeMarcus Faggins) is just trying to have competition and one of those guys step up and take that job and not let it go. So, we're splitting them right down the middle and rotating those guys and we just need one to step up big time."
(on if the rotation of CBs Fred Bennett and DeMarcus Faggins is similar to the rotation at left tackle) "No, these guys are right down the middle. Really, (T) Ephraim's (Salaam) kind of one-to-three with (T) Duane (Brown), so it is a little bit different."
(on how many more reps CB Dunta Robinson will see) "It depends on the flow of the game and how many reps you get. Last week, there weren't a lot of reps for our defense because our offense was on the field for most of the time. The way the game played out, it called for him to play a little more. This week, this team could play even three- and four-wide the whole game, so I would say, if you asked me to put a number on it, I'm looking at 30 to 35 (reps) this week. But we'll see how the game goes."
(on the winning touchdown drive against Miami and having RB Steve Slaton in the game when the defense knew the Texans were going to throw) "Well, that's how much confidence we have in him (RB Steve Slaton) right now. He's really gotten better. He's turned into a smart player. He'll man up and go in there and block wherever he's got to block. (RB) Ahman (Green) has really helped him become a better player. Ahman really works with him from a mental standpoint, so we have a lot of confidence in him. We're OK with him all of the time now."
(on the opportunity for WR David Anderson to play) "It's big. This team's full of young players that have been given opportunities and a bunch of guys that haven't let anything go, that have hung on to those opportunities. (WR) David (Anderson) had a good camp. You guys remember how well he played coming out of camp. He was really our starting Zebra there for a while. It's an opportunity for him and (WR) Jacoby (Jones) to prove that they belong, and I think they do. So, we'll see."
WR André Davis
(on having his finger wrapped up) "It stinks for this to happen, but once again, injuries are part of the game. It's not something that I really wanted to happen, but it just got to the point that we had to do something about it. I'm just glad that we were able to kind of nip it in the bud now, and I'm just looking forward to a quick recovery."
(on how has he played with a dislocated finger) "It's one of those things where you've just got to be a tough football player, and as much as it did hurt, I was just trying to do all I can and be able to get some medication to be able to go out there and just do whatever I could to help the team out. Being able to get it taped up and stuff, it just got to a point that I couldn't take the pain anymore. And when they really took a good look at it, they realized that it was dislocated still and that I was playing with it dislocated for the last couple of weeks. We just wanted to get it fixed and move on from here."
(on if he is pretty confident he will be back in three weeks) "I hope so. All I can do is look at it from day to day right now. I just know it hurts a lot right now, and I just want to be able to take it one day at a time and hopefully by the time three weeks comes around, I'll be healthy and ready to go."
(on the least and greatest amount of time he could be out) "From what I heard, it was that if they didn't have to put a pin in, then it would have been probably by the end of this week. I probably would have been able to go. Now, with them being able to put the pin in, they realized that it was a little bit more serious than I think we first thought it was going to be. So, it's just going to have to take some time for everything to heal back in the right spot, and I'll just take it, once again, one day at a time and hear what the doctors and the trainers say from day to day and go from there."
(on if it was disappointing to find out how long he would be out) "Oh, definitely. It's disappointing because you just want to be able to be out there and help the team out as much as you can. I'm just going to, once again, continue to help the younger guys out when we get out there on the field. (WR) Jacoby (Jones) and (WR) David (Anderson) are going to have an opportunity to play. We've seen with this team that whenever guys get an opportunity to play, they always do something special, so I'm looking forward to seeing those guys go out there and I'm looking forward to getting myself healthy to get back out there."
(on things not working out the way he has wanted them to since being signed) "Yeah, it's been a tough season for us as a whole, altogether. I'm not worried about anything, really, personally. I've just been able to go out there and try and help this team get back on our winning ways right now, and with these two games that we've had under our belt, we're definitely starting to turn things around right now. It just stinks that I'm not going to be able to continue to go out there and help the team out in any way I can. We're just going to have to live with it and work. Injuries are a part of the game. We're just going to have to continue to go out there and move on with it."
(on how he has been catching passes with a dislocated finger) "I really don't know. It was one of those things that, any time you catch the ball, it's hurting a lot and I think the coaches knew that. But at the same time, if I could go out there and do it, then I was going to try to go out there and do it. It just got to a point that the pain just got too much and we had to do something about it."
(on the pin actually sticking out of his hand) "It's got to come out at some point. Once again, that's something that we are going to play by ear. The first thing I heard was it was going to be three weeks. I'm praying that it's going to be sooner than that, and hopefully I'll be able to have a quicker recovery and we'll be able to go from there."
(on if he could play with the pin in and wrapped) "I don't think it's the smartest thing to do because the pin will have an opportunity to get broken, and you don't want the pin being lost in your hand anywhere. It could end up hurting someone else and even myself even worse. Once again, I'm just going to take it a day at a time."
