The Texans got ready on Wednesday for their Week 3 matchup with Jacksonville.
The Texans continued their preparations for Battle Red Day against Jacksonville, with a practice outside at the Methodist Training Center on Wednesday morning.
Schaub honored: Quarterback Matt Schaub was chosen as the AFC's Offensive Player of the Week because of his four touchdown passing performance against the Titans on Sunday. His head coach Gary Kubiak and Schaub's teammates agreed: Schaub deserved it.
"I think that's the best game I've seen him play since I've been here," Kubiak said. "It's a tough environment and part of his task was to protect the ball. I thought he did a great job with that and that's the key for him to becoming a better quarterback—protecting the football. That's a big step in the right direction and nice reward for it."
When asked about it in the locker room today, Schaub deflected the praise and explained that he couldn't have done it without the rest of his offensive mates.
"It's a team thing," Schaub said. "I'm very proud but at the same time we got the win. That was the most important thing. I think it says a lot about our team and our offense and what we're able to do."
In addition to the four scores, Schaub threw for 357 yards and finished with a quarterback rating of 127.8. One of his favorite targets Sunday was tight end Owen Daniels, as the two connected six times for 72 yard and a third quarter touchdown. Daniels wholeheartedly agreed with Schaub picking up the honor.
"I think he definitely deserves it," Daniels sad. "He played his butt off and I think we did a lot better job supporting him out there, protecting him and getting ourselves open and making plays."
Receiver Andre Johnson was Schaub's go-to receiver, again, and he wasn't at all surprised by what the quarterback was able to accomplish Sunday in Nashville.
"He's done it before," Johnson said. "I think it surprises other people because he takes so much criticism. To me, it really doesn't surprise me. I know what kind of player he is. I talk to him a lot. I watch film with him every morning, so we know what each other {QUOTE} are thinking. I know what type of player he is."
Running the ball: The Texans mustered just 63 rushing yards against the Titans, after running for a mere 38 in Week 1 versus the Jets. Kubiak expects improvement, and certainly isn't pleased right now with the ground production.
"We're last in the league," Kubiak said. "We've played two good defensive football teams. You have to give them a lot of credit, but bottom line, we haven't created enough space for (RB) Steve (Slaton) or (RB) Chris (Brown) or whoever it is. We've got to stay committed to it and be willing to grind it out until some big plays come and it gets back on track."
Despite the dearth of rushing yardage, Schaub was able to crack the 300-yard passing mark. But he says the Texans can't get by without a strong run game.
"We've just got to keep going with it," Schaub said. "Keep preparing and keep harping on it, and we can't get away from it. We still have to go out and execute and we still have to go out there and plan to run the football and just do what we do."
Jones-Drew respect: Yardage-wise in 2009, Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew has yet to eclipse the century mark in a ballgame. But the Texans still say he's an excellent, punishing ball-carrier.
"He looks for contact," linebacker Zac Diles said. "He loves to come down and hit. He has a low center of gravity. You have to really bring it to him. You can't think he's going to be down after one person. We all have to swarm to the ball this week."
In his Monday press conference, Kubiak remarked that Jones-Drew is "licking his chops" at the prospect of facing a Texans' defense that's allowed an average of 215 rushing yards per game. But today, Jones-Drew turned the tables on Kubiak.
"We know we have some holes that they're probably licking their chops at too," Jones-Drew said. "We have to correct ourselves before we can go out there and really start understanding how we're going to attack them."
Winston the enforcer: Late in the third quarter of Sunday's victory, offensive tackle Eric Winston and Titans defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch engaged in a shouting match following Kris Brown's PAT after the Daniels touchdown. The heated exchange was caught on camera, and Winston explained the reason for the tension between the two.
"He plays really hard," Winston said of Vanden Bosch. "He does what he thinks he needs to do and I personally think he gets on too many piles and falls around too much. I thought they were targeting (TE) Joel (Dreesseen) a little bit. As one of the bigger guys on the team, as an offensive lineman, we've gotta protect our skill guys. And Joel's a skill guy. He's a valuable member of this team and I'm not going to let anything happen to him. So if I feel like they're going after him, I'm going to go after them."
Winston said that he's taken it upon himself to stand up more for his teammates, and thinks it's an important component of leadership.
"I take that personally and that's something I need to do a better job of," Winston said. "If I want to be a leader on this team and I want to set an example then it's on me to do it. It's on nobody else and I've got to prove that week in and week out."
